Jane Austen's Letters
by Jane Austen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jane AustenEditor: Deirdre Le Faye
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-04-03
ISBN: 0192832972
Number of pages: 672
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Jane Austen's Letters
Book Review: An Intimate Glimpse into the Life of Jane Austen...
Summary: 5 Stars
1995's "Jane Austen's Letters" is Austen scholar Deirdre Le Faye's updated edition of R.W. Chapman's earlier collection. Le Faye includes additional Austen letters that have come to light since 1952 and, on the basis of context and additional scholarship, revises the order of the letters. Finally, Le Faye has updated Chapman's footnotes on providence and content.
"Jane Austen's Letters" constitute one of the major sources of information on the life of Regency romance writer Jane Austen, along with her published novels and a handful of short memoirs written by members of her extended family. These letters, which survived destruction or editing by her family following her death, cover the period between December 1796, when Jane Austen was just twenty, and the summer of 1817, when she died at the age of 41. The majority are addressed to her beloved older sister Casssandra; others were intended for extended family, friends, and publishers.
Some general observations may be of interest for the prospective reader. First, the collection is difficult to appreciate without prior knowledge of Jane Austen's life and novels; Austen was writing to people who already knew her context. Second, the gaps in the available letters, which in places amount to months or years, minimize the continuity of their content. Third, those looking for direct insight into Austen's novels may be disappointed. There are relatively few direct references to the stories or their characters.
What these letters do provide is an intimate glimpse into Jane Austen herself as revealed by an ongoing dialogue of twenty years, primarily with her sister. The very first letter refers to her romance with Tom Le Froy over the winter of 1795-1796. Many of the letters capture her continuing interest in the affairs of her large family, including cousins, nieces and nephews. They document daily concerns with food, clothing, and shelter for a woman who knew genteel poverty for much of her adult life. Indeed, letters written after her novels began to be published suggest a subtle but new and unmistakable sense of financial freedom. Best of all, the letters capture the observant wit and charm of a woman who, if she accepted her place in the world, found much that was ironic or whimsical about it. In her letters, one easily finds echoes of some of her beloved characters such as Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, and Anne Elliot.
Of particular interest to Jane Austen fans may be her letters of 30 November 1814 and 21 February 1817 to her niece Fanny, which offer her sincere advice on the subject of marriage, and perhaps reveal Jane Austen's heart as well. Also of interest are three letters by Cassandra Austen in July 1817, which are heart-breaking accounts of her final days and death.
"Jane Austen's Letters" are very highly recommended to serious fans of Jane Austen as an intimate glimpse into the woman behind the novels, and to students of her life, as an irreplacable resource for scholarship.
Summary of Jane Austen's Letters
Jane Austen's letters afford a unique insight into the daily life of the novelist: intimate and gossipy, observant and informative--they read much like the novels themselves. They bring alive her family and friends, her surroundings and contemporary events with a freshness unparalleled in modern biographies. Above all we recognize the unmistakable voice of the author of such novels as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. We see the shift in her writing from witty and amusing descriptions of the social life of town and country, to a thoughtful and constructive tone while writing about the business of literary composition.R.W. Chapman's ground-breaking edition of the collected Letters first appeared in 1932, and a second edition followed twenty years later. Now in this third edition of Jane Austen's Letters, Deirdre Le Faye has added new material that has come to light since 1952, and re-ordered the letters into their correct chronological sequence. She has provided discreet and full annotation to each letter, including its provenance, and information on the watermarks, postmarks, and other physical details of the manuscripts, together with new biographical, topographical, and general indexes. Teachers, students, and fans of Jane Austen, at all levels, will find remarkable insight into one of the most popular novelists ever.
Jane Austen famously labeled her literary ambit a "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory." Luckily, her personal travels and those of her family were slightly more extensive, otherwise we should be without her letters. Not only should every Janeite possess them, but also every connoisseur of correspondence. Austen's wit is ubiquitous--even though some protest it edges into waspishness. E. M. Forster, for example, described the letters between Austen and her beloved sister, Cassandra, as "the whinnying of harpies."
On September 18, 1796, she tells Cassandra, "What dreadful Hot weather we have!--It keeps one in a continual state of Inelegance.--If Miss Pearson should return with me, pray be careful not to expect too much Beauty..." The dashes and capitalization alone make one long for the days before stylistic rules had so cemented. As for the sentiments! Austen paces her monologues to perfection, making the comic and ironic most out of the smallest incidents. Still, her frustration does occasionally emerge. "I am forced to be abusive," she implodes to Cassandra, "for want of a subject, having nothing really to say." Jane Austen has more than enough to say for lovers of literature and the cultural pinprick.
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