Becoming Jane Austen
by Jon Spence
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jon SpenceEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-07-03
ISBN: 1847250467
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: Continuum
Book Reviews of Becoming Jane Austen
Book Review: An Extra Bit of Background on the Author
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a wonderfully fantabulous book on the life and works of Jane Austen. The research Spence did to make his case is amazing. Just look through the Bibliography and the "Notes to" pages and you will see what I mean. You have to admire a person that tracks down all of that information! His bibliography provides a great starting point for future Austen researchers.
First of all, if you're not familiar with any of Jane Austen's works, this could be an extremely difficult read for you. Spence uses Janes letters to help track down the things that were going on in her life when she was writing her novels. He links people, places and events to her that help define the writer. There is discussion of all of her novels (and some of her juvenilia) throughout the text.
A main part of Spence's dialogue with the reader in this book is that of the romance of Jane to a Mr. Tom Lefroy. He was the nephew of a friend of Jane's, a Mrs. Lefroy. Spence argues that Jane and Tom were quite possibly in love, and that her relationship with him was a major factor in her life. (He does say there is no reason to believe they were engaged - just in case there's an Austen fanatic out there ready to yell at me.)
Tom left England without a good-bye to Jane, she discovers that he has returned to Ireland and his studies. Spence argues that Jane's use of character names was directly influenced by Tom Lefroy. Jane uses numerous character names that were in a novel called Tom Jones that was apparently Tom Lefroy's favorite novel. I believe she uses names from that novel in all of her works (maybe not in Sandition, I can't exactly recall - sorry!).
Jane's relationships with those around her really were a big part of the driving force of her genius. Yes, genius. Her commentary on the society she lived in is rich - rich in people looking for their other half that are "tempermentally, intellectually and morally well-suited to one another and have the joy of passionate fulfilment as well....social affirmation and deep personal good" (229). Jane was raised in a house where logic and sense ruled the day - there was really no room for emotion, and Jane put hers into her novels. Her last, unfinished work, took a different turn, it focuses on the body instead of temperment. Spence argues that a big reason for this is that some members of Jane's family were constantly giving birth. At the time, childbirth was extremely dangerous. She worried over her nieces, friends and sisters-in-law who were going from one pregnancy to another. Her last work was going to focus on people controlling their nature. Spence also argues that Jane does not have Anne Elliot (Persuasion) marry until she is older so that "she has not given up her youth to what Austen later called 'the business of Mothering" (214). I find this idea extremely intriguing, and is something I will have to keep in mind when I re-read her novels (yes, every so often I have to read Jane Austen again).
Spence gives a quite detailed history of Austen's family that is extremely helpful in helping him make his arguments. The drawback to the reader is that many relatives have the same names in different generations (and sometimes in the same one) which can make one pause to think about who the author is talking about.
Summary of Becoming Jane Austen
Jon Spence's fascinating biography of Jane Austen paints an intimate portrait of the much-loved novelist. Spence's meticulous research has, perhaps most notably, uncovered evidence that Austen and the charming young Irishman Tom Lefroy fell in love at the age of twenty and that the relationship inspired Pride and Prejudice, one of the most celebrated works of fiction ever written. Becoming Jane Austen gives the fullest account we have of the romance, which was more serious and more enduring than previously believed. Seeing this love story in the context of Jane Austen's whole life enables us to appreciate the profound effect the relationship had on her art and on subsequent choices that she made in her life.Full of insight and with an attentive eye for detail, Spence explores Jane Austen's emotional attachments and the personal influences that shaped her as a novelist. His elegant narrative provides a point of entry into Jane Austen's world as she herself perceived and experienced it. It is a world familiar to us from her novels, but in Becoming Jane Austen, Austen herself is the heroine.
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