Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Tracy Hickman: Austenesque fiction has produced numerous works told by supporting characters from Austen’s novels, using these fresh viewpoints to breathe life into familiar and beloved stories. Similarly, the title character of Gill Hornby’s Miss Austen is not the famous author, Jane, but her devoted elder sister, Cassandra. In many Austen... Continue Reading →
Happy New Year Janeites! I am starting off the new decade by introducing you to a fabulous forthcoming book in the Austenesque genre, Miss Austen, by Gill Hornby. I had the great pleasure of reading an early manuscript of Hornby's new novel Miss Austen last year. If like me, you have always been baffled by... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Aia A. Hussein: While many of us can certainly understand Cassandra Austen’s desire to protect the privacy and personal life of her younger sister by destroying much of their correspondence, it is nevertheless a point of frustration for Jane Austen scholars and enthusiasts. Not only did all that letter-burning deprive us... Continue Reading →
Much has been written on the cause of Jane Austen’s lingering illness and untimely death in Winchester on 18 July 1817. I have a stack of biographies that I perused in search of a poignant passage that would express the tenor of this solemn day. Her great biographers Claire Tomalin, David Nokes and Elizabeth Jenkins... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen's letters are rich repository of her life and Regency times. In this letter to her sister Cassandra, Jane is in London visiting her brother Henry Austen while her fourth novel Emma is to be published by John Murray. She also talks of shopping and running errands for her family, friends and herself. Even though she has book royalties coming in from her three previous publications, she still is keenly aware of how much a shilling is worth, concerned over her recent purchase of 4 silk stockings!
She knew herself that sometimes she overstepped the proper boundries and could only do so safely with me. In later years, when she wrote something particularly scandalous she would urge me, ‘Take the scissors to this at once.' She was right to surmise that others might judge her comments more harshly, but with me she... Continue Reading →
Allied troops entering Paris after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte "the little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush, as produces so little effect after so much labour" Letter to Edward Austen, 16 December 1816, The Letters of Jane Austen Today marks the anniversary of the Battle... Continue Reading →
If anyone out there has ever wondered where I get my inspiration to write continually about one subject - Jane Austen - for six months and counting, you might be amused at what from time-to-time inspires those brain cells into action. Many times, I will be Googling along and happen upon something that I was not... Continue Reading →
"I have no chance of seeing Mrs. Siddons. - She did act on Monday, but Henry was told by the Boxkeeper that he did not think she would, the places, & all thought of it, were given up. I should have particularly liked to see her in Constance, & could swear at her with little... Continue Reading →
PROFIT Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. It is not fair. He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and should not be taking the bread out of the mouths of other people. Letter to Cassandra Austen, The Letters of Jane Austen, 28 September 1814 Newsflash from the book... Continue Reading →
about the biopic Miss Austen Regrets. #10.) Anne Hathaway was not available for a reprise cuz she got a better gig playing Agent 99. #9.) The costume designer passed on hoop skirts and hourglass silhouettes. #8.) Even though she was a country girl at heart, she got all edgy dancing a waltz. #7.) They... Continue Reading →
We must allow for difference of taste...the more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much! Marianne Dashwood, Sense & Sensibility, Chapter 3 The name of Jane Austen may be the most recognizable British literary figure in... Continue Reading →
Austenprose 