Jane Austen: New Perspectives

by Janet Todd (Editor)

293 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1983

About the author

Janet Todd (Jan) is a novelist, biographer, literary critic and internationally renowned scholar, known for her work on
women’s writing and feminism. Her most recent books include
the novel: Don't You Know There's A War On?;
edition and essay: Jane Austen’s Sanditon;
memoir: Radiation Diaries: Cancer, Memory
and Fragments of a Life in Words;
biography: Aphra Behn: A Secret Life;
the novel: A Man of Genius 2016.
Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden: An Illustrated Novel, forthcoming 2021

A co-founder of the journal Women’s Writing, she has published biographies and critical work on many authors,including Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft, her daughters, Mary (Shelley) and Fanny (Death And The Maidens) , and the Irish-Republican sympathiser, traveller and medical student, Lady Mount Cashell (Daughters of Ireland).

Born in Wales, Janet Todd grew up in Britain, Bermuda and Ceylon/Sri Lanka and has worked at schools and universities in Ghana, Puerto Rico, India, the US (Douglass College,
Rutgers, Florida), Scotland (Glasgow, Aberdeen) and England (Cambridge, UEA). A former President of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, she is now an Honorary Fellow of
Newnham College.

Reviews

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of essays covers all of JA's complete novels. The critical viewpoints of the contributors range from historical criticism, conservative vs. more "liberal" criticism, biographical approaches, etc. I found all of these useful in informing my view of the novels (without lessening their charm and fascination for me). They deepened my understanding of her writing and pointed out new aspects of each novel that have escaped me. Probably of most value is my better understanding of the nuances of Mansfield Park, which heretofore has been my least favorite novel, but I now see it as a social critique of slavery, source of income, etc. rather than a novel with an insipid heroine and a rather stupid and self-satisfied hero (well, they are still both, but the other characters have gained in depth).