Some of Jane's favorites - Classic British Authors
Posted by Susan on June 29, 1998 at 23:18:23:
For those of you who are interested in the authors Jane Austen herself enjoyed (that aren't already on your list), I can recommend the following:
Mary Brunton, _Self-Control_ and _Discipline_. JA pokes gentle fun at MB in one of her letters (comments about how _she_ doesn't send her heroines canoeing down American whitewater rapids) but for all that she enjoyed her books, and you might as well. More importantly, these two are back in print for the first time since, oh, 1832 (or they were in print until very recently). You'll giggle in places that had our ancestors on the edge of their seats, but they're enjoyable, and an excellent view into a style of literature and sentiment popular in JA's day. (Mary Brunton also wrote a third novel, _Emmeline_, but as far as I know that's _still_ out of print. The only place I know to find it is in the rare book room at UCLA - in manuscript form, no less. If I'm wrong, please tell me!)
Samuel Richardson, _Pamela_, _Clarissa_, _Sir Charles Grandison_. JA greatly admired _Sir Charles_, and enjoyed all SR's books. They're epistolary novels, a form that can be somewhat difficult, and some of the passages have not stood up well through the ages, but by and large they are fascinating. A warning: they are LONG. I find _Clarissa_ particularly fascinating in that it incorporates a topic I didn't think would be acceptable in literature of that period, however euphemistically glossed over (and it isn't, very). I leave you to discover what it is.
Elizabeth Inchbald, _A Simple Story_, _Nature and Art_, or any of her plays. Tom Bertram is one of her fans - as was JA. Her humor will have you rolling on the floor - and her serious dramas are equally enjoyable. An often-overlooked early British feminist.
Happy reading!
- Literary companion Kate 08:50:59 6/30/98
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- Literary Companion page Susan MF 01:05:47 7/02/98
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- Literary Companion page Susan MF 01:05:47 7/02/98
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- Literary allusions in Austen page here... The Mysterious H.C. 03:30:51 6/30/98
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- Link Susan MF 01:06:49 7/02/98
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- Link Susan MF 01:06:49 7/02/98
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- Thank you! Very interesting! And... Marie-Bernadette 01:17:11 6/30/98
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- Now I'm in the dark... Susan MF 01:04:19 7/02/98
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- Which production of Clarissa? Susan H 19:20:12 7/10/98
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- Sorry... Marie-Bernadette 01:01:19 7/04/98
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- Which production of Clarissa? Susan H 19:20:12 7/10/98
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- Now I'm in the dark... Susan MF 01:04:19 7/02/98
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