Title: The Paradox of Self-focus and Altruism in Jane Austen’s Persuasion: A Emotion Cognition Perspective

Abstract: Among all Austen’s novels, Persuasion has been established as a canonical text that marks Austen’s transformation from “rationalism” to “romanticism.” This article, inspired by the theories of emotion cognition, aims to deconstruct this binary opposition, focusing on the cognitive dimension of the characters’ emotion and taking their emotions as a trope on external culture and ethical standards. Through reassessing Anne’s transformation from altruism and self-focus, we can see that emotion is profoundly shaped by the ethical context of the 18th century and that Austen has rendered a critical evaluation of the reason-emotion dichotomy.

Keywords: Jane Austen, Persuasion, emotion cognition, reason, self-focus

Author: Haijia Guan, Ph.D. Candidate, School of International Studies, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2022.03.004