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(Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition to this ISBN is provided here) This collection brings together Jane Austen’s earliest experiments in the art of fiction and novels that she left incomplete at the time of her premature death in 1817. Her fragmentary juvenilia show Austen developing her own sense of narrative form whilst parodying popular kinds of fiction of her day. Lady Susan is a wickedly funny epistolary novel about a captivating but unscrupulous widow seeking to snare husbands for her daughter and herself. The Watsons explores themes of family relationships, the marriage market, and attitudes to rank, which became the hallmarks of her major novels. In Sanditon, Austen exercises her acute powers of social observation in the setting of a newly fashionable seaside resort. These novels are here joined by shorter fictions that survive in Austen’s manuscripts, including critically acclaimed works like Catharine, Love and Freindship [sic], and The History of England. This edition includes: - Frederic and Elfrida - Jack and Alice - Edgar and Emma - Henry and Eliza - Love and Freindship - A History of England - The Three Sisters - Lesley Castle - Evelyn - Catharine, or the Bower - Lady Susan - The Watsons - Sanditon
Publication Year: 2013
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How could I give anything less than five stars to works by Jane Austen? This collection of writings is impressive in two parts.
The first impression is of amazement. The Juvenilia show that even the most celebrated authors start out with short, sometimes silly stories to practice their writing. You can see Austen's written voice forming in these early experiments. These works are an encouragement for any aspiring writer that it takes time and effort to find your own unique voice.
The second impression is one of regret, lying in the unfinished works. They are the beginnings of what would have been more celebrated Austen material in this day. Instead they are collected in a sadly often overlooked compilation of would-be's.
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