Customer Reviews

A Memoir of Jane Austen: And Other Family Recollections (Oxford World's Classics)

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Primary sources to Jane Austen's life are few and far between. This version includes the few personal family accounts which were published. James Edward Austen-Leighs is the largest of these, although still not very substantial. His two sisters also published them.

This includes four memoirs of Aunt Jane, all written much after her death by Caroline Austen, Anna Lefroy, James Austen_leigh and Henry Austen. Some are better reads than others but they add to the sparse amount of biographical and family information on Austen.

Handily, there is a family tree provided as well as a chronology. There are also useful explanatory notes.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone but a keen Austen fan - one of the excellent biographies available are much more readable and entertaining. For an avid Janeite this book provides a substantial source of primary information. I would highly recommend reading this with the collected letters which have been collected and edited by Claire Tomalin.

It is a nice collection and it is great to see all these published, as they ought to be together in one volume.

If you enjoy Jane Austen novels, you really should read this memoir from her nephew. It is like meeting his aunt and adds a special touch to the reading of her novels.

Jane Austen (as is so cogently noted in this volume) gained little notice or fame during her regrettably short life. Likewise, other than her six novels and some letters, little primary evidence exists to enlighten her admirers. Alas, it was common in the 19th century for families to burn all materials believed to be too personal or too revealing.

In undertaking to write this "memoir" about the life of his brilliant aunt, J.E.Austen-Leigh undoubtedly followed the mores of the times in protecting her privacy. But the little he tells his readers about his memories of Jane Austen are worth a careful perusal, if only because he knew her. Those who know from her books about the sharpness of her sense of humor and satire will take with a grain of salt her portrayal here as always genteel and decorous. But he does manage to convey a sense of her playfulness, creativity, and inventiveness, and he is justified in referring to her as a genius.

Written in a now antiquated style, portions of this slim memoir can be hard going, but it is worth the effort.

The book has taken alot of critism because the "biography" is very partial to Jane. But, I didn't find it that way. It has tons of information on her family, homes and an amazing timeline. It also has rare illustrations. While you can see that the author loved his aunt, he plainly say's this is what i remember and these are all the sources i have. He also includes some of her little known work. Overall I loved it, but the intoduction (by the newer editor) was long and repetitive, I almost suggest skipping or skimming over it and getting to the heart of the memoir.

As both her fans and her biographers know all too well, Jane Austen left behind very little in the way of biographical material. In addition to her six published novels, childhood writings, and some unpublished novel fragments, we have that correspondence which survived weeding by her family members after her death. For impressions of Jane in life, we are dependent to a significant degree on four brief memoirs written by family members, in some cases many years after her early death in 1817. "A Memoir of Jane Austen: And Other Family Recollections" contains short pieces written by her beloved brother Henry, her nieces Caroline Austen and Anna LeFroy, and her nephew James Austen-Leigh.

The most lengthy document is James Austen-Leigh's memoir of his aunt, written in 1870 at age 71. As biography, it is surprisingly well-written yet annoyingly opaque on its subject. Austen-Leigh was said to be under some pressure from the family to preserve the public image of his famous aunt. In the Victorian era, tell-all biographies were distinctly frowned upon. The result captures the basic facts of Jane Austen's life and does include some vivid recollected details. We are indebted to Austen-Leigh, for example, for descriptions of Jane Austen's appearence, manners, and accomplishments. However, his memoir passes rather too lightly over a number of other interesting matters.

Jane's handicapped brother George is omitted from the list of her siblings. Austen-Leigh suggests that the romances found in her novels had next to no basis in her life. He does mention that she refused the proposal of a weathly young man whom she did not love, without naming the young man. He also alludes to his Aunt Cassandra's recollection of a young man Jane met at a seaside resort, whose reported interest in her was cut short by his death. Austen-Leigh provides a rather idealized view of his aunt's position in the family and her feelings about it. While there seems no doubt that Jane loved her family and dutifully fulfilled her expected spinster role as temporary nurse and child care provider, other biographers have credibly suggested that she resented her status as a poor relation.

Also of interest is Henry Austen's biographical notice attached to the publication of "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey" in 1818. It is the reverential work of a loving and grieving brother, conventional in its description of her personality. It is suitable to its event, a posthumous pubication of the author's last finished works.

"A Memoir of Jane Austen: And Other Family Recollections" will be of interest primarily to her more dedicated fans and to her future biographers. It is very highly recommended to those two groups as a vital biographical resource.

You provided excellent service in processing our order. We received it, it seemed, very quickly for Christmas. My daughter loved the book. Thank you very much for your prompt service.

I've read this book three times (all three times while the electricity was out and only a lantern or flashlight at hand) and all three times I've been totally disappointed. This book gives no insight. Nothing interesting crops up. It's boring. But I give it three stars because at least it exists. I suggest if forced to read by candlelight, you turn to the Bronte bios.