Emma / Lady Susan

by Jane Austen

Emma is young, rich, and independent. She has decided to never marry and instead spends her time organizing her acquaintances' love affairs. Her plans for the matrimonial success of her new friend Harriet, however, lead her into complications that ultimately test her own detachment from the world of romance.

Genres: Classics

519 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2013

About the author

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.

Reviews

[ester · Rating 1 out of 5]

Una traducción malísima.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emma:
I enjoyed Emma, it was a fine interesting tale, clearly written, with a gradual introduction to characters than led to them being easily distinguishable. It is a tale of small time life among the rich, full of drama and romance, and twists, twists, twists. I was a bit disappointed in the ending as it is very mundane. Everything is quickly glossed over, as if the author decided that they were done and decided to just wrap it up. Emma is a strong woman, and that always is to be admired.
Lady Susan:
This is a short tale made up of letters from various parties. The letter writing scheme makes it a bit hard to follow because you really have to slow down and remember to read the section that tells you who the letter is from and to. Some letters also include big blocks of remembered dialogue which are ridiculous and make the letter hard to follow because now they are in a different voice. I didn't really enjoy this story. It was only okay and the format made it more difficult than it should have been.

[Teshura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is marked as "currently reading" because I am always reading either it or another of Jane Austen's works. As soon as I finish one, I pick up another. Even when I am reading other books, I still have time for "a little Austen". The first time I read this book was in the year 2000.