Summary of "'Regulated Hatred': An Aspect in the World of Jane Austen"

D.W. Harding begins his review by discussing that while Jane Austen's work is very limited and thus gathers a limited audience, she is quite successful in the type of work that she does, which is a sort of refuge and comfort from the real world, especially during times of hardship. She expresses "gentler virtues of a civilised social order" and is a "delicate satirist." Thus, the author argues that if such work does not appeal to a reader--and it only appeals to a small audience--readers are likely to stray from any of Austen's work because of the misleading impression that this type of thought is all Austen and her books have to offer. Harding notes that this false impression that many readers have of Austen is actually an indication of her success because her books are enjoyed by her exact target audience.

Harding goes on to explain why this impression of Austen's work is not in fact accurate for many reasons including that she is not necessarily a satirist but rather uses caricatures (such as Mrs. Bennett) as criticism and that her work offers much more than social commentary including thoughts about spiritual survival and other universally human concepts. Harding notes that these ideas do not paint a complete picture of Austen's work, but he details just a few features that people tend to miss from Austen's works.