Time and Illness in Persuasion

Abstract

Illness narrative enriches and informs both literary studies and medical researches. This essay attempts to interpret Jane Austen's last completed novel Persuasion as an illness narrative, involving both her creative efforts and real-life struggle. Early nineteenth- century England witnessed an engaging dichotomy in the conception of both time and diseases. In Persuasion, Austen interconnects time and illness, not least by exploring their causal and mutual-reinforcing relationship. This relationship leads Austen to ponder on humans' predicament given their susceptibility to the (joint) power of time and illness and to postulate possible solutions. If humans' bodies and minds are vulnerable, Austen implies, their souls are not. Austen's hypothesis of the existence of the soul represents her participation in the contemporary scientific and theological debate concerning the origin of life. A fictional illness narrative in essence, Persuasion nevertheless reflects its author's declining health. Through writing on illness, Austen seeks to mentally fortify herself when all medication proves ineffectual and to redefine health.