Emma (Oxford World's Classics Hardcovers) (Hardcover)

by Jane Austen (Author), Penelope Fitzgerald (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Jane Austen is my favorite author! ... Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers." --EM Forster

"From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A superb edition--the best available."--Gregory Maertz, St. John's University
"A good, inexpensive edition with helpful notes and annotations."--Sarah V. Cleve, Mount Olive College
"Good edition, reasonably priced."--Gillian Skinner, California State University
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192100300
• ISBN-13: 978-0192100306
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 4.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,304,459 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully charming!, December 29, 1999

By A Customer

Jane Austen perfects the art of character development in Emma. The long, twisted plot carefully and slowly develops each character using rich detail that makes the characters come alive with personality. Without the rich detail and character development, I do not feel this book would have stood the test of time and become the classic that it is. Emma is a heart-warming book with enough orneriness mixed in to make it amusing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Austen...I cannot tell a lie., May 26, 2000

By	Amy R. Nix "Aspen74 - just another bibliophile" (California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Emma Woodhouse, to me, has always been the "truest" of Austen's heroines. Emma's flaws are so real. I don't know any woman who is completely innocent of vanity, so it's refreshing to find a character, like Emma, who is drawn out for us in all of her "princess syndrome" glory. The "good" Austen characters, like Jane Bennett or Fanny Price, often leave me with a false feeling that I can't relate to. Emma Woodhouse's story intrigues and envelops me. I've read it over and over again...and the book never stays on my shelf for long.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Timelessness of Emma, September 13, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen: Volume IV: Emma (Hardcover)

*Warning: there are some plot spoilers in this review!*

Jane Austen has a reputation as a witty, humorous writer with a keen eye for human folly and failings, and with this novel she certainly lives up to her reputation. While Emma isn't as popular as my personal favorite Pride and Prejudice, I believe that Emma is so popular, and can be considered "literature" (that is, a piece of art) because the story really has a universal quality to it. The fact that we can relate to the situations and characters in Emma some 300 years later is what makes it seem so timeless, and why the Emma movie with a "modern twist", Clueless, was so wildly successful. When you compare both Emma and Clueless they show how little has changed and that privileged teenagers (and young adults) will find themselves in the same situations and social patterns, whether they are in 19th century England or 21st century America.
Of course, while the wealthy and bored teenagers in Clueless might try to set up their friends on dates, the stakes were a bit higher in Emma. Emma (the heroine) attempts to match her new friend Harriet Smith with the new minister Mr. Elton not just for dating, but for marriage as long as they both shall live (remember, divorce was rare, if not nonexistent in early 19th century Britain.) Unfortunately, this plan backfires when Mr. Elton becomes interested in Emma, not Harriet. The problem was that Emma (already conceited because she successfully "guessed well" when she matched her tutor Ms. Taylor with a local widower Mr. Weston) failed to get to know Harriet and Mr. Elton well enough to figure out if they were, in fact, right for each other. Emma shows her class-snobbery when she (through some very adolescent mind games) convinces Harriet to reject the proposal that she receives from a local farmer (Mr. Martin, the man Harriet likes and eventually falls in love with), in the hopes that Mr. Elton will propose. Emma was too self-centered and (to steal the phrase from Amy Heckerling) clueless to notice that Mr. Elton was not, in fact, interested in Harriet, but in herself--a fact that leads to Harriet's heartbreak. Of course, this is only one part of the multi-faceted story that Jane Austen created about the life of a "handsome, clever and rich" woman living in Highbury, England, but it gives you a sense of the life and times of Ms. Emma Woodhouse (as we see them in the book)
Fortunately, all is well in the end when Emma learns her lesson about matchmaking and toying with emotions and discovers that she loves her brother-in-law and well loved family friend Mr. Knightly. This is a classic "happy ending by way of falling in love with the best friend that you had all along," but with a slightly dated feel. First, he is sixteen years older than her and he, in a way, helped to raise her (at least, in principles). The fact that he admits openly to having been "in love with (her) ever since (she) was thirteen at least," slightly bothered me. Who, in the 21st century, would admit to having a crush on their 13 year old sister-in-law? In the context and time of the novel it's romantic. Now Mr. Knightly might be described as a pedophile. However, the dated dialogue (like the above) is the only qualm I had about the book, and I hope that it doesn't discourage anyone from reading Emma. Overall, I would recommend this book to any Clueless fan, romantic-comedy fan, or anyone who wants to read the wonderfully universal writing of Jane Austen.