The Life of the Author - Jane Austen

The Life of the Author: Jane Austen offers a fresh approach to building Jane Austen's life through her letters, demonstrating that a well-known life can be reframed by being grounded in evidence of that life. Using a non-linear approach, author Catherine Delafield explores three frames for Austen's literary life—family, correspondents, and fiction—to suggest new pathways for interpreting life writing about one of the most popular and influential English novelists of all time. The book pays special attention to the changing view of womens correspondence as personal record and to Cassandra Austen's role as editor of her sisters' surviving letters. It discusses the female circle of correspondents, the letter content and structure of Austen's novels, the use of letters as representations of places and spaces, and more. The book is an excellent resource for undergraduate and graduate courses on the novel, women's writing, British writing, and life writing, as well as for general readers interested in gaining new perspectives on Austen's chronological life and literary output.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 13 October 2022
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd

The Life of the Author: Jane Austen

A literary-biographical odyssey through Jane Austen's life is presented in Catherine Delafield's book, The Life of the Author: Jane Austen. The author looks at Austen's life through the prisms of family, correspondents, and fiction to offer fresh perspectives on life writing about one of the most well-known and influential English novelists of all time. Delafield discusses various facets of Austen's epistolary practice, including how her letters, juvenile writings, and unpublished novels have been intertwined with biography and fiction.

The book begins with a selection of readings from Austen's letters and an overview of how the family treated her life. The following chapters explore 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 other topics.

The book emphasizes how the letters, correspondents, and novels complement Jane Austen's fiction and provide evidence of her life. It also highlights Austen's use of the letter as a conversation on paper rather than as an autobiographical tool. The letters within Austen's fictional writing, as well as recipes, accounts, and needlework with links to the letters, are also explored.

A select chronology using letters as landmarks is included, as well as tables representing survivors and their relationships. Overall, The Life of the Author: Jane Austen is a valuable contribution to the study of Austen's life and work, offering new insights and perspectives on her literary legacy.

Weight: 336g
Dimension: 153 x 229 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781119779346