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Jane Austen's Letters

jane austen deirdre le faye

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Jane Austen's letters afford a unique insight into the daily life of the 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.

643 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1908

This edition

Format
643 pages, Paperback
Published
April 3, 1997 by Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN
9780192832979
ASIN
0192832972
Language
English

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About the author

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jane austen

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Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 99 votes)
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99 reviews All reviews
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MastaJ
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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I listened to Austen's letters over the last month. Her wit is extraordinary (though sometimes mean), and can take the mundane details of clothes, budgets, and visits and make them fascinating. The reader (via Librivox) brought her letters to life, making it feel as if Austen was writing to you. Finishing the final letter felt like saying a heartbreaking goodbye to a beloved friend.

I loved hearing the names of familiar characters in her neighbors and friends, and I wished I had a biography open beside me while I was listening so I could find out all the details about the family events she references.

I now want to go and re-read every single one of her books, which is the highest praise I can give to a collection of letters.
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Elveeve
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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This is a must read for any Austen fan. Not only does the author put the letters in chronological order, but she has extensive notes for each letter (in the back, which I wish they were footnotes instead), plus an alphabetical listing of all the people mentioned in the letters, who they were, and their relationship to Jane Austen. It's important to read the letters because everyone makes such a fuss over the supposed love affair of Tom LeFroy and Austen. Except she met him a handful of times, he was most likely all ready engaged to his wife, he left and got married. Yes, it probably hurt Jane to have someone led you on, but she seems to have gotten over it for the man's mentioned only 3 times in these letters. Three times in 2 years doesn't sound like much of a love affair. Of course, many letters were destroyed, but from what we do have, one gets the sense that Jane was terribly witty, funny, sassy and what we see in the novels is a toned-down version of herself.
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Jasonbear
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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I feel odd rating a collection of letters and numerical ratings are so subjective, but I would probably give this a 4/5 in terms of my enjoyment! This was such a fascinating look into Jane Austen's life, family, work/writing, etc. Some of the letters weren't as interesting which is to be expected, but some were absolutely fascinating!!!
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SaiseiRen
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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I enjoyed reading these, the problem is of course they need to be put in context of time and place. We lack the true insight from Jane's letters because we have little knowledge of her correspondents replies.
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CookieMonsternom
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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OK, so I mostly skimmed through most of the book. Although I was quite diligent in reading the first parts [and even came across my all-time favorite Jane Austen quote], I found that without knowing exactly what was happening at the time[who, what, where, etc] it wasn't exactly scintillating reading. Plus, the enormous time gaps between letters [thanks to sister Cassandra's pyromania] made it difficult for me to stay interested. Lots of talk about trimmed caps and gowns-Jane must have been quite the fashionista for her era. Great for historians who are interested in following along with her life. I was just too lazy to pull out the biographies.
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MesuGaki
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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"She was the sun of my life, the glider of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow...."-Cassandra Austen on her sister Jane.

This was so good! Jane is wonderfully herself. Her humor is similar to what appears in her books (though a bit darker). I loved seeing how much she clearly loved her sister and niece. Recommended for super fans of her books!
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skylightwl
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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An extensive collection of Austen's letters. It took awhile to get through them all. A devotee of her work, Austen's letters were a disappointment to me for their content, which was mostly meaningless family gossip and other minutia. Very little references to her novels, no characters in the letters I could identify in any of her books, nothing terribly interesting. I guess her letters were revealing in themselves what late 18th and early 19th century life was really like for the average female...boring for the most part!
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n6ah
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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A must-read for any Jane Austen fan. Knowing about her relationships with her many family members is necessary if you want to understand her on any level. Her letters are interesting, witty, and fun to read. Such a treat!
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