Monatsarchive: Oktober 2019

Juvenilia – Jane Austen

The Juvenilia are the early works of Jane Austen, small essays, poems or plays that she compiled in three hand-written notebooks.

Juvenilia.

Format: eBook.

Juvenilia.

ISBN: 9783849655259

Excerpt from the text:

CHAPTER THE FIRST

Mr. Johnson was once upon a time about 53; in a twelve-month afterwards he was 54, which so much delighted him that he was determined to celebrate his next Birthday by giving a Masquerade to his Children & Freinds. Accordingly on the Day he attained his 55th year, tickets were dispatched to all his Neighbours to that purpose. His acquaintance indeed in that part of the World were not very numerous, as they consisted only of Lady Williams, Mr. … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

The Letters – Jane Austen

The letters included in this series comprise about three quarters of the collection in two volumes published in 1884 by her great-nephew Lord Brabourne. The lightness, almost friskiness, of their tone cannot fail to strike the reader. Modern letters written by women are filled more or less with hints and queries; questionings as to the why and the wherefore occur; allusions to the various “fads” of the day, literary or artistic,- Ibsen, Tolstoi, Browning, Esoteric Buddhism, Wagner’s Music, the Mind Cure, Social Science, Causes and Reforms. But Cowper and Crabbe were the poetical sensations in Miss Austen’s time, Scott and Byron its phenomenal novelties; it took months to get most books printed, and years to … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Persuasion – Jane Austen

This version includes a detailed introductory annotation on how the book and the plot were created.

“Persuasion” represents the ripest development of Jane Austen’s powers, that latest phase of her thoughts and feelings. It is a novel which, while not wanting in the several excellences of those which preceded it, has a mellower tone and a more finished grace of style than any of the others. It was written at a time when bodily strength had given place to weakness; and although her mind was more active than ever, her physical condition insensibly influenced her thought, giving this latest of her books that deeper note of feeling, that finer touch of sympathy and tenderness, which make … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen

This version includes a detailed introductory annotation on how the book and the plot were created.

Her style deserves the highest commendation. It has all the form and finish of the eighteenth century, without being in the least degree stilted or unnatural. It has all the tone of good society without being in the least degree insipid. For a specimen of crisp, rich English, combining all the vigour of the masculine with all the delicacy of the feminine style, we suggest the opening chapter of “Northanger Abbey” as a model for any young lady writer of the present age. – T. E. Kebbel.

Northanger Abbey.

Format: eBook.

Northanger Abbey.

ISBN: 9783849655228

Excerpt from … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Emma – Jane Austen

This version includes a detailed introductory annotation on how the book and the plot were created.

We, therefore, bestow no mean compliment upon the author of  “Emma,” when we say that, keeping close to common incidents, and to such characters as occupy the ordinary walks of life, she has produced sketches of such spirit and originality, that we never miss the excitation which depends upon a narrative of uncommon events, arising from the consideration of minds, manners and sentiments, greatly above our own. In this class she stands almost alone ; for the scenes of Miss Edgeworth are laid in higher life, varied by more romantic incident, and by her remarkable power of embodying and illustrating … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Mansfield Park – Jane Austen

This version includes a detailed introductory annotation on how the book and the plot were created.

How well I recall the greatest literary pleasure of my life, its time and place ! A dreary winter’s day without, within a generous heat and glow from the flaming grate, and I reclining at my ease on the library lounge, ”Mansfield Park” in hand. Then succeed four solid hours of literary bliss, and an absorption so great that when I mechanically close the book at the last page it is only by the severest effort that I come back to the real world of pleasant indoors and bleak outdoors. I was amazed that I, a hardened fiction reader, … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...

Pride And Prejudice – Jane Austen

This version includes a detailed introductory annotation on how the book and the plot were created. To say nothing of the supreme excellence of the dialogue, there is scarcely a page but has its little gem of exact and polished phrasing; scarcely a chapter which is not neatly opened or artistically ended ; while the whole book abounds in sentences over which the writer, it is plain, must have lingered with patient and loving craftsmanship. . . . Criticism has found little to condemn in the details of this capital novel.- Austin Dobson Never was there a book written which has given more harmless pleasure to those who have come under its spell. As … Read more.../Mehr lesen ...