Note:
A new edition of Emma, Jane Austen’s 1815 novel of youthful hubris and romantic misunderstandings. In Austen’s own words, Emma was her attempt to write a novel featuring a heroine “no one but myself will much like” – the titular Emma being a spoiled, head-strong, overly-imaginative and supremely over-confident young woman who goes about meddling in all of her friends’ lives. Emma is Jane Austen at the peak of her powers, crafting a highly comic, incisively satirical, yet fundamentally moral story that entertains, enlightens, and elevates. The last work published before her death, Emma is one of Jane Austen’s most enduringly popular novels and has been the subject to numerous film and tv adaptations.
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Hampshire, England, to George Austen, a rector, and his wife, Cassandra. Her novels include Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, published together posthumously in 1818. A short epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and another unfinished work, The Watsons, were publish posthumously in 1871, and a final unfinished novel, Sanditon, was eventually published in 1925. Her works are considered to be among the finest examples of early 19th century British literature, hallmarks of the transition to 19th century literary realism. |
