(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Readers of Jane Austen’s six great novels are left hungering for more, and more there is: the marvelous unpublished manuscripts she left behind, collected here.
Sanditon might have been Austen’s greatest novel had she lived to finish it. Its subject matter astonishes: here is Austen observing the birth pangs of the culture of commerce, as her country-bred heroine, a foolish baronet, a family of hypochondriacs, and a mysterious West Indian heiress collide against the background hum of real-estate development at a seaside resort.
The Watsons , begun in 1804 but never completed, tells the story of a young woman who was raised by a rich aunt and who finds herself shipped back to the comparative poverty and social clumsiness of her own family.
The novella Lady Susan is a miniature masterpiece, featuring Austen’s only villainous protagonist. Lady Susan’s subtle, single-minded, and ruthless pursuit of power makes the reader regret that Austen never again wrote a novel with a scheming widow for its heroine.
The special joy of this collection lies in Austen’s juvenilia–tiny novels, the enchantingly funny Love and Freindship , comic fragments, and a (very) partial history of England–romping miniatures that she wrote in her teens. Their high spirits, hilarity, and control offer delicious proof that Austen was an artist “born, not made.”

Introduction by Peter Washington

Austen, Jane, 1775-1817; Washington, Peter

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

Random House, Incorporated

Random House AudioBooks

Everyman's Library

Everyman's library, New York, Toronto, c1996

United States, United States of America

Later Printing, PT, 1996

Includes bibliographical references (p. xxvii).

When the English-speaking world fell in love with Jane Austen's six great novels, hungering for more, the hunt began, of course, for any unpublished manuscripts she may have left behind. Treasure was found, and all of it is in this volume that rounds out the Everyman's Library edition of Jane Austen. Sanditon is the novel she was working on in the last year of her life. Its subject matter astonishes: here is Austen observing the birth pangs of the culture of commerce. The setting is a seaside town that is being promoted as a resort. The country-bred heroine, the handsome baronet who models himself after irresistible seducers he has met in novels, the family of hypochondriacs, the mysterious West Indian heiress, and others, play out their satirical or romantic or melodramatic roles against a background hum of real-estate development: modern times loom. The Watsons, begun in 1804 but never completed, tells the story of a young woman, Emma Watson, who was raised by a rich aunt and is suddenly shipped back to the comparative poverty and social clumsiness of her own family: girls explicitly on the hunt for husbands. What husbands they find we will never know. But we can check our hopes that the appealing Emma will make the right choice (she is, incidentally, the only Austen heroine ever courted by a lord) against the author's plans for her, as recollected by Jane Austen's sister, Cassandra. Lady Susan, written before Pride and Prejudice, is a complete epistolary novel. It is Jane Austen's only novel whose protagonist is a villainess, and a denizen of sophisticated London society. The alluring Lady Susan subtly, single-mindedly, and ruthlessly pursues her own fortunes. She bullies her shyyoung daughter. She dissembles, she maneuvers, she manipulates. She makes the reader both pray for her comeuppance and regret that (as a modern novelist quoted in the preface remarks) Austen never again wrote a novel with a scheming widow for its heroine.

Readers of Jane Austens six great novels are left hungering for more, and more there is: the marvelous unpublished manuscripts she left behind, collected here.
Sanditon might have been Austens greatest novel had she lived to finish it. Its subject matter astonishes: here is Austen observing the birth pangs of the culture of commerce, as her country-bred heroine, a foolish baronet, a family of hypochondriacs, and a mysterious West Indian heiress collide against the background hum of real-estate development at a seaside resort.
The Watsons , begun in 1804 but never completed, tells the story of a young woman who was raised by a rich aunt and who finds herself shipped back to the comparative poverty and social clumsiness of her own family.
The novella Lady Susan is a miniature masterpiece, featuring Austens only villainous protagonist. Lady Susans subtle, single-minded, and ruthless pursuit of power makes the reader regret that Austen never again wrote a novel with a scheming widow for its heroine.
The special joy of this collection lies in Austens juveniliatiny novels, the enchantingly funny Love and Freindship , comic fragments, and a (very) partial history of Englandromping miniatures that she wrote in her teens. Their high spirits, hilarity, and control offer delicious proof that Austen was an artist born, not made.

xxxv, 502 p. ; 22 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. xxvii)
Sanditon -- The Watsons -- Lady Susan -- The Juvenilia -- Plan of a novel -- Opinions of Mansfield Park -- Opinions of Emma -- Verses -- Prayers

2023-06-28