Search results for ""author jane austen""

A fresh approach to building the life of Jane Austen through her letters, demonstrating that a well-known life can be reframed by being grounded in evidence of that life The Life of the Author: Jane Austen takes readers on a literary-biographical journey through Austen's life in letters. Using a unique non-linear approach, author Catherine Delafield explores three frames for Austen's literary life—family, correspondents, and fiction—to suggest new pathways for the interpretation of life writing about one of the most popular and influential English novelists of all time. Delafield addresses multiple aspects of Austen's epistolary practice and the ways in which her letters, juvenile writings, and unpublished novels have been overlaid on both biography and fiction. Throughout the text, special attention is paid to the changing view of women’s correspondence as personal record and to Cassandra Austen's role as editor of her sister’s surviving letters. The book opens with selected readings from Austen's letters and a review of the family treatment of the life. Subsequent chapters discuss the female circle of correspondents in both extant and missing letters, the letter content and structure of Austen's novels, the use of letters as representations of places and spaces based on Austen's own lived experience of epistolary communication, and more. Discusses how the letters, correspondents, and novels supplement Jane Austen’s fiction and substantiate her life Highlights Austen's use of the letter as a conversation on paper, rather than as an autobiographical tool Explores the letters within Austen's fictional writing as well as recipes, accounts, and needlework with links to the letters Features a select chronology using letters as landmarks, tables representing surviving letters by correspondent, and family trees tracing names and relationships The Life of the Author: Jane Austen is an excellent text for undergraduate and graduate courses on the novel, women's writing, British writing, and life writing, as well as for general readers with interest in gaining new perspectives on Austen's chronological life and literary output.

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Forever immortalised as the author of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen actually produced her first 'books' as a teenager. Taking their names from the inscriptions on their covers - Volume the First, Volume the Second, and Volume the Third - these brilliant little collections include the stories, playlets, verses, and moral fragments she wrote likely from the ages of 12 to 18. As a young author, Jane Austen delighted in language, employing it with great humour and surprising skill. She was adept at parodying the popular stories of her day and entertained her readers with outrageous plotlines and characters. Kathryn Sutherland places Austen's earliest works in context and explains how she mimicked even the style and manner in which this contemporary popular fiction was presented and arranged on the page. Volume the Second, housed at the British Library, contains Austen's famous The History of England, illustrated with watercolour portraits by her sister Cassandra, as well as Love and Friendship, Lesley Castle, and several letters and fragments she calls "scraps". This notebook was compiled between June 1790 and June 1793, from ages 14 to 17. None of her six famous novels survives in complete manuscript form. This is a unique opportunity to own likenesses of Jane Austen's notebooks as originally written - in her own hand. Learn more about the other books in the In Her Own Hand series: Volume the First and Volume the Third. All three volumes are also available in the In Her Own Hand series boxed set.

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It is no tragedy that seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is not cut out to be the heroine of one of the Gothic novels she reads so avidly with her new friend Isabella Thorpe. What may lead to tragedy on her first visit to the glamorous resort town of Bath, however, are Catherine's overactive imagination and her inability to read other people. Catherine has no clue that Isabella's tendency to say one thing and do another might make her an unreliable friend. It never occurs to her that her brother James, arriving unannounced in Bath with Isabella's brother John, has come to see Isabella, not her. After making a mistake that would shame any true heroine--falling in love with the wry and witty Henry Tilney before knowing his feelings for her--she fails to notice that the odious John Thorpe fancies himself in love with her, and vice versa. By the time Catherine visits Henry and his sister Eleanor at Northanger Abbey, her misconceptions and novel-fueled expectations virtually guarantee disaster. Yet, Catherine remains blissfully unaware of what awaits her.

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When ten-year-old Fanny Price is plucked from squalor to be raised in comfort at elegant Mansfield Park, home of her well-off relatives, the Bertrams, only her teenage cousin Edmund notices her homesickness and distress. He comforts her, instructs her, and helps her to become a competent, self-possessed young woman. Fanny thrives as a useful and happy member of the household, while her natural feelings of gratitude and respect for Edmund grow into something deeper--but then trouble arrives at Mansfield Park. Rich, sophisticated Londoners Henry and Mary Crawford are a brother-and-sister act to be reckoned with. Mary sets her romantic sights on Edmund, and Fanny is faced not only with a powerful rival, but also with Edmund's need to talk endlessly about his infatuation with the dark-eyed beauty. Forced to hide her abiding love for Edmund, Fanny must soon fend off amorous advances from a most unwelcome source--advances that Edmund encourages her to accept. With further help from Henry and Mary, even a bad situation can become much worse.

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A novel of manners about the romantic pas de deux between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, two perfectly suited lovers who, at first, find each other insufferable. Despite Elizabeth's negative feelings about Darcy, fate seems determined to keep throwing this pair together, and Darcy, almost in spite of himself, will make revelations that end up causing Elizabeth to question everything she believes. Set in a time when marrying well was a woman's only way to assure a secure and comfortable future,�Pride and Prejudice�is arguably the forerunner of all romantic comedies and certainly one of the best-loved novels of all time.

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Bring your favorite classic to life with STICKER JIGSAW: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE! With 15 utterly charming puzzles to complete, you''ll experience Jane Austen''s writing like never before.Visit the Bennet family in Longbourne, puzzle together Elizabeth and Darcy in Pemberley, and be transported to one of the most beloved stories of all time.Simply use the stickers like jigsaw pieces: Peel them, then place them in the right spots for each puzzle. Not sure if you placed a sticker correctly? No problem! Our removable stickers are easy to peel again and replace until you complete your masterpiece.Great for traveling, and fun with friends or solo, STICKER JIGSAW finally makes puzzles transportable and effortless to save. Cherish your completed puzzles as an illustrated edition of your favorite Edgar Allen Poe tales, or frame the pages and display your gorgeous artwork.

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Now a Major Film ‘You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever.’ Anne Elliot is persuaded to reject a marriage proposal from handsome Captain Wentworth because he lacks rank or fortune. But when he returns home from the Navy, more than seven years later, Anne realises she still has strong feelings for him, despite the fact that his attentions have now turned towards her friend. Moving, tender and intrinsically ‘Austen’ in style, with its satirical portrayal of society in eighteenth-century England, Persuasion is a story of heartache and missed opportunities, and a celebration of enduring love and hope.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’ Elizabeth Bennet, full of vivacity and wit, lives a quiet country existence with her four sisters. To the delight of their mother, determined to find her daughters suitable matches, the eligible Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley arrive in the neighbourhood, bringing with them dancing, wealth – and opportunity. Unimpressed at first by Darcy’s haughty air, Elizabeth vows to have nothing to do with him. But as she makes her own errors of judgement, the pair begin to understand each other, and come to realise that first impressions are not always as they seem. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s best-loved tale of marriage and society in Georgian England, continues to delight modern readers with its social comedy, well-drawn characters and subtle nuances.

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This complete and unabridged edition contains a biography of the author and a new introduction and afterword. Anne falls in love with Wentworth, who had nothing but himself to recommend him, and no hopes of attaining influence, so persuaded by friends and family she breaks off the match and sends him away. Years later, he returns, is it too late?

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HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Jane Austen is remembered for her six masterpieces of the Regency era: from the heroines of Elizabeth Bennett and Emma Woodhouse, to the villains of Mrs. Norris and John Willoughby. But these characters were not born overnight. They sprung from Austen’s experiences as a young girl, and many early iterations can be found in the earliest of her writing: her Juvenilia. Austen was only a teenager when she wrote her Juvenilia. In the 'History of England', Austen champions (and laments) the great kings of England as 'a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant Historian'; in ‘Lady Susan’, she writes a titular anti-heroine that schemes and cheats her way through high society; and in ‘Love and Freindship’, Austen paints a picture of a woman looking back on her extremely unfortunate life. Writing on the cusp of literary greatness, Love and Freindship offers a fascinating – and often surprising – insight into a young Jane Austen.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Young Charlotte Heywood arrives in Sanditon, a newly established seaside resort, with the Parkers: patrons and enthusiastic promoters of the town. Just as the town seeks to reinvent itself as a fashionable destination, Charlotte Heywood attempts to begin anew amongst its residents. As she begins to settle into Sanditon society, with the Parkers and the rich widow Lady Denham, a slew of new arrivals stir up emotions. Among them are relatives of Lady Denham, seeking her generous fortune; Miss Lambe, a rich heiress; and Sydney Parker, the handsome young man who catches Charlotte's eye. Charlotte must navigate the complicated web of liaisons, finding herself more involved than she ever intended… Collected here with her unfinished work The Watsons, and the much-loved novella-in-letters, Lady Susan, Austen’s final, unfinished novel demonstrates her biting sense of humour and will give readers a thrilling glimpse of a genius at work.

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HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘Northanger Abbey! These were thrilling words, and wound up Catherine's feelings to the highest point of ecstasy.’ Considered the most light-hearted and satirical of Austen’s novels, Northanger Abbey tells the story of an unlikely young heroine Catherine Morland. While staying in Bath, Catherine meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor who invite her to their family estate, Northanger Abbey. A fan of Gothic Romance novels, naive Catherine is soon letting her imagination run wild in the atmospheric abbey, fuelled by her friendship with the vivacious Isabella Thorpe. It is only when the realities of life set in around her that Catherine’s fantastical world is shattered. A coming-of-age novel, Austen expertly parodies the Gothic romance novels of her time and reveals much about her unsentimental view of love and marriage in the eighteenth century.

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A dazzling collection of early stories and later fragments which throw an entirely new light on Jane Austen. In particular, they reveal a precociously brilliant genius with a talent for broad comedy and even farce. Most of the pieces in this collection are very funny indeed, and several - including the novella LADY SUSAN and the unfinished novel SANDITION are also neglected masterpieces. Other material includes the celebrated HISTORY OF ENGLAND, poems, prayers, the Plan of a Novel, etc. The volume is arranged in two parts, with the mature stories in Part 1 edited for easy reading, and the juvenilia collected by Austen herself presented exactly as she wrote them in Part 2. It includes everything she wrote apart from letters and the six famous novels, and is the final volume in the complete Everyman edition of her works now available in seven uniform volumes.

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