Jane Austen: letters 1796 - 1817 (The World's Classics) - Hardcover

Jane Austen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0192505491 ISBN 13: 9780192505491

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1955

Synopsis

In one of her personal letters, Jane Austen wrote "Little Matters they are to be sure, but highly important." In fact, letter-writing was something of an addiction for young women of Jane Austen's time and in her social position, and Austen's letters have a freedom and familiarity that only intimate writing can convey. Wiser than her critics, who were disappointed that her correspondence dwelt on gossip and the minutiae of everyday living, Austen understood the importance of "Little Matters," of the emotional and material details of individual lives shared with friends and family through the medium of the letter. Ironic, acerbic, always entertaining, Jane Austen's letters are a fascinating record not only of her own day-to-day existence, but of the pleasures and frustrations experienced by women of her social class which are so central to her novels.

Vivien Jones's selection includes nearly two-thirds of Austen's surviving correspondence, and her lively introduction and notes set the novelist's most private writings in their wider cultural context.

About this title

About the Author

Vivien Jones is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds.

Review

...astute introduction Karen Joy Fowler, The Independent

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1955
• ISBN 10: 0192505491
• ISBN 13: 9780192505491
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 236