Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: In honor of lovers everywhere we are highlighting some of Jane Austen’s insights on courtship, love, and marriage in her novels, and in her life, on the most romantic day of the year, Valentine’s Day. Here are 24 of the best quotes to include in a card, express... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Happy Friday, dear readers. How is your holiday shopping going? I find that when there are so many gift editions of classic novels available, it is difficult to choose. Here's my criteria for narrowing down the field: A beautifully designed cover and interior. Easy-to-read text. An author bio,... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen’s epistolary novel Lady Susan has never received much attention in comparison to her other six major novels. It is a short piece, only 70 pages in my edition of The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen: Minor Works containing forty-one letters and a conclusion. Scholars estimate that it was written between 1793-4 when the young... Continue Reading →
I write only to bid you farewell, the spell is removed; I see you as you are…You know how I have loved you; you can intimately judge of my present feelings, but I am not so weak as to find indulgence in describing them to a woman who will glory in having excited their anguish,... Continue Reading →
Here is a collection of bon mots, quotes and quips from Lady Susan. Even though Jane Austen wrote this epistolary novella in her late teens, she had already developed a keen eye for language and the witty retort that she would later be famous for in her mature novels. Enjoy! I take London in my way... Continue Reading →
I must warn you of one thing - - do not let Frederica Vernon be made unhappy by that Martin. He wants to marry her; her mother promotes the match, but she cannot endure the idea of it. Reginald De Courcy (Letter 23) QUICK SYNOPSIS Catherine Vernon writes to her mother delighted that Lady Susan... Continue Reading →
The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City has the largest collection of Jane Austen’s personal letters and manuscripts in the world. Among the collection is the manuscript of Lady Susan. We are very fortunate that the Morgan had the foresight to acquire and retain these items as a collection after the Austen family decided to... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen’s epistolary novel Lady Susan has never received much attention in comparison to her other six major novels. It is a short piece, only 70 pages in my edition of The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen: Minor Works containing forty-one letters and a conclusion. Scholars estimate that it was written between 1793-4 when the young... Continue Reading →
Her neglect of her husband, her encouragement of other men, her extravagance and dissipation, were so gross and notorious that no one could be ignorant of them at the time, nor can now have forgotten them. Sir Reginald De Courcy (Letter 11) QUICK SYNOPSIS Sir Reginald De Courcy writes to his son alarmed by his... Continue Reading →
In 1805, Jane Austen transcribed a fair copy of an untitled manuscript that would later be named Lady Susan by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh and published in 1871 in the second edition of his book A Memoir of Jane Austen. This was the first publication of an Austen early manuscript. The text however, was... Continue Reading →
We are now in a sad state; no house was ever more altered; the whole party are at war, and Manwaring scarcely dares speak to me. It is time for me to be gone. Lady Susan, (Letter 2) QUICK SYNOPSIS Lady Susan accepts her brother-in-law Charles Vernon’s invitation to Churchill. She will deposit her daughter... Continue Reading →
Welcome Over the next two weeks we shall be delving into Lady Susan, one of Jane Austen’s most surprisingly wicked novels. Often overlooked by scholars and readers, Lady Susan has lately become the bonus novel tacked on by publishers eager to entice buyers into purchasing yet another edition of Jane Austen’s Complete Novels, now beefed up... Continue Reading →
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