A Memoir of Jane Austen (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) [Paperback]

J. E. Austen Leigh (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1409974979 | ISBN-13: 978-1409974970 | Publication Date: April 24, 2009 | Edition: Ill

A Memoir of Jane Austen is a biography of the novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817) published in 1869 by her nephew James Edward Austen Leigh. A family project, the biography was written by James Edward Austen Leigh but owed much to the recollections of Jane Austen's many relatives. However, it was the decisions of her close friend and sister, Cassandra Austen, to destroy many of Jane's letters after her death that shaped the material available for the biography. The Memoir introduced the public to the works of Jane Austen, generating interest in novels which only a literary elite had read up until that point. It remained the primary biographical work on the author for over half a century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`a must for lovers of Austen's work' Choice Magazine

`A very good introduction by Kathryn Sutherland' Derwent May, the Times, --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Book Description

This first full-length biography of Jane Austen was written by her nephew, who had known her personally. He provides fascinating details about her social, family and domestic life in rural England, while creating a portrait of a modest and devout woman which has influenced Austen scholarship ever since. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Dodo Press; Ill edition (April 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1409974979
• ISBN-13: 978-1409974970
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,112,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for Jane fans, January 14, 2011

By 

Zephyr7 "Zephyr7" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Memoir of Jane Austen (Kindle Edition)

This bio is written by Jane Austen's nephew, over a hundred years ago, so it is well-informed and full of tidbits of information about this great novelist. I only wish that someone would come along to do a bit more through telling of Jane A's life. I felt that it was a little bit rosy, something that a family would be comfortable publishing. It left me wondering why we know so little about her.

9 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars social changes, October 12, 2008

By 

amania "bingereader" - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Memoir of Jane Austen: and Other Family Recollections (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

The writer here is very informative and not at all stilted. There are some interesting questions brought up as I read this. He writes of changes which have taken place now (i.e. mid to late 19th century) from the mid 18th century.He says-who can fix twenty years hence, the date when our dinners began to be carved and handed round by servants, instead of smoking before out eyes and noses on the table?-- what is implied here? Also later in the narrative he discusses the custom of sending out babies to cottages to be nursed. He allows that this seems to strange to "us"(circa 1869) but concludes that perhaps the parsonages in those days (at the time of Jane Austen and siblings were born) were less grand and the cottages less squalid. What interests me is the reasons that the cottages in the later 19th century have become poorer than maybe 70 years before. Recognizing that there are variations in location and family situations in all periods I am wondering why he would say this. Is this the "Dickens effect"? I wish some British social historian would read this and comment.