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A Portrait of Jane Austen
Not much about Jane Austen's personality can be gleaned from her works.It is from her letters, from the evidence of the friends and relations, and above all from a knowledge of the kind of life led and ideas held by the society she was born into, that we are to know her.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
January 7, 2019
Charming, elegant, and readable. In a sense more of a portrait of the Austen family - or Jane seen through the lens of her family - than a literary or traditional biography. But a lovely visit to the early 1800's.
April 28, 2013
One of the most enjoyable biographies of Jane Austen that I have ever read. Others were perhaps more detailed, more scholarly, more of an 'outsider-looking-in' kind of biography. The author of this one is, however, very much of an insider, with a perfect understanding of the world Jane Austen wrote about and her characters inhabited. Added to that is the high quality of beautiful illustrations - a definite must read for an Austen enthusiast
April 16, 2019
I have a terrible track record with biographies. I have found that there is no subject so fascinating that a good biographer can't suck all the life out of their story with a dry presentation of dates and facts. I rarely finish one.
But I LOVED this so much. I think that's because it wasn't really a biography, a distinction made clear by the title. It's a "portrait" painted in loving words by a man clearly enthralled with Jane Austen, as any sensible person should be. Using her surviving letters, drawings of places she lived, portraits of her friends and family, published recollections of her contemporaries, and known facts about her life, David Cecil provides an engrossing account of what it was like to be Jane Austen, and to live in her world at that time.
And I am happy to learn that her life seems to have been a very good one. She was fortunate to have lived in relative comfort; though never married she was always surrounded and supported by a close, witty, and fun-loving family. As a young girl she enjoyed some of the same activities and places that she describes in her books - dances and balls, walking in the beautiful countryside, visiting acquaintances, trips to Bath and Lyme, etc. Although we know her work was not autobiographical, you definitely get glimpses of how different people, places and events inspired her.
If you are a Jane Austen fan I highly recommend this. It was just lovely.
But I LOVED this so much. I think that's because it wasn't really a biography, a distinction made clear by the title. It's a "portrait" painted in loving words by a man clearly enthralled with Jane Austen, as any sensible person should be. Using her surviving letters, drawings of places she lived, portraits of her friends and family, published recollections of her contemporaries, and known facts about her life, David Cecil provides an engrossing account of what it was like to be Jane Austen, and to live in her world at that time.
And I am happy to learn that her life seems to have been a very good one. She was fortunate to have lived in relative comfort; though never married she was always surrounded and supported by a close, witty, and fun-loving family. As a young girl she enjoyed some of the same activities and places that she describes in her books - dances and balls, walking in the beautiful countryside, visiting acquaintances, trips to Bath and Lyme, etc. Although we know her work was not autobiographical, you definitely get glimpses of how different people, places and events inspired her.
If you are a Jane Austen fan I highly recommend this. It was just lovely.
June 9, 2019
So few of Jane’s letters survived. Those that did could be found, in part, in this biography. Most were what you’d expect. Typical clever Jane. Some stood out for different reasons such as her letter to her brother Frank informing him of their father’s sudden passing. The letter, if you knew nothing of the Austens, completely informs the reader of their love for one another.
Jane Austen’s wit and humor both in her novels and in her (surviving) correspondence was a force to be reckoned with. Example: I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a good deal.
Jane was a great source of entertainment to her nieces and nephews. She, naturally, told the best stories. Her niece Caroline recollects stories about fairies taking place in Fairyland. Oh if only these stories were published!
Even though this book was enjoyable - especially for a JA fan - I shall maintain my prior preference of reading autobiographies over biographies. With that being said the author did a fine job with what was available to him. I commend him on this unbelievable task!
Jane Austen’s wit and humor both in her novels and in her (surviving) correspondence was a force to be reckoned with. Example: I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a good deal.
Jane was a great source of entertainment to her nieces and nephews. She, naturally, told the best stories. Her niece Caroline recollects stories about fairies taking place in Fairyland. Oh if only these stories were published!
Even though this book was enjoyable - especially for a JA fan - I shall maintain my prior preference of reading autobiographies over biographies. With that being said the author did a fine job with what was available to him. I commend him on this unbelievable task!
September 20, 2014
In writing A Portrait Of Jane Austen, David Cecil has "taken particular pains to set [his] heroine in the context of the period and society in which she lived." The reason for this, he argues, is the often "comically misleading portrait" drawn by fellow biographers and critics who interpret Jane Austen's life from a contemporary point of view.
The prologue is dedicated to the world of Jane Austen. He describes the society in which she must have roamed, and the established classes and social conventions that were prevalent during her lifetime. Just like the many explanations for old-fashioned Edwardian customs that James Edward Austen-Leigh offers in his aunt's memoirs, David Cecil intends to familiarise his audience with a world that is mostly alien to the average modern reader by regularly sharing his knowledge of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Below, you find one of the many enlightening passages:
Realism and good sense led to a belief in moderation and balance. These characteristics cultivated a favourable environment for ironic humour to grow. According to Cecil, "realists are quick to note any comical difference between pretence and reality, between truth and day-dream; and to enjoy it." Evidently, Jane Austen was a child of her time.
The book is further divided into three parts. The first part discusses the Austen family and Jane Austen's life up to her relocation to Southampton. Part two describes the Austen ladies' life at Chawton and Jane Austen's "fulfilment", or return to her writing table. The final part of the book highlights the modest fame she acquired during her lifetime and also her tragic demise.
The contents of the chapter about the Austen family is comparable to the Austen-Leigh memoir's, but it is certainly less jumbled. Cecil offers additional snippets of eighteenth-century background information, something a Victorian like Jane Austen's nephew - living too close to the period he's describing - could not do as efficiently. In fact, this helpful sprinkling of historical facts is done consistently throughout the biography. A Portrait Of Jane Austen also includes excerpts (and scans) of letters that were written by others than the Austen family and several drawings and paintings of the Austen family, their acquaintances and their homes. These illustrations broke up the somewhat dry paragraphs and went a long way towards gratifying my curiosity.
Jane Austen, the writer
The part that I liked most was the 'Fulfilment' chapter in which David Cecil tries to explain what motivated Jane Austen as a writer and the choices that she made regarding her characters and plots. It never becomes an academic lecture, but rather feels like it is written by someone close to her (or, in Carol Shield's words, as printed in her biography of Jane Austen: "affectionate like a favored nephew"). An example:
The final two chapters do not add much to what other biographies have already said about Jane Austen. And that, in short, is unfortunately how I feel about this book in general. I warmly recommend the prologue and the fulfilment chapter, but the rest of the book will probably be more appreciated by a true Austen aficionado, who has already read all the other biographies and memoirs in circulation, and is looking for details that were not printed elsewhere.
The prologue is dedicated to the world of Jane Austen. He describes the society in which she must have roamed, and the established classes and social conventions that were prevalent during her lifetime. Just like the many explanations for old-fashioned Edwardian customs that James Edward Austen-Leigh offers in his aunt's memoirs, David Cecil intends to familiarise his audience with a world that is mostly alien to the average modern reader by regularly sharing his knowledge of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Below, you find one of the many enlightening passages:
"[The eighteenth-century English] were less concerned with man in relation to God and his own soul than with man as a member of society and in relation to his fellows. Man was primarily regarded as a social being and judged by his conduct as such. The standard of judgment employed were distinguished mainly by two characteristics. The first was its realism. A belief or an action was valued in so far as it did in practice contribute to the well-being of mankind; and this involved as a first and necessary step facing the basic facts, physical and material, of human existence. [...] For example, it realized that man had his carnal passions, though he should learn to control them; also, even if it were wrong to sacrifice principle for money or for social position, it was foolish to pretend that these things were undesirable. To refuse to recognize this would show a lack of good sense. 'Good sense' was for them a phrase of the highest commendation."
Realism and good sense led to a belief in moderation and balance. These characteristics cultivated a favourable environment for ironic humour to grow. According to Cecil, "realists are quick to note any comical difference between pretence and reality, between truth and day-dream; and to enjoy it." Evidently, Jane Austen was a child of her time.
The book is further divided into three parts. The first part discusses the Austen family and Jane Austen's life up to her relocation to Southampton. Part two describes the Austen ladies' life at Chawton and Jane Austen's "fulfilment", or return to her writing table. The final part of the book highlights the modest fame she acquired during her lifetime and also her tragic demise.
The contents of the chapter about the Austen family is comparable to the Austen-Leigh memoir's, but it is certainly less jumbled. Cecil offers additional snippets of eighteenth-century background information, something a Victorian like Jane Austen's nephew - living too close to the period he's describing - could not do as efficiently. In fact, this helpful sprinkling of historical facts is done consistently throughout the biography. A Portrait Of Jane Austen also includes excerpts (and scans) of letters that were written by others than the Austen family and several drawings and paintings of the Austen family, their acquaintances and their homes. These illustrations broke up the somewhat dry paragraphs and went a long way towards gratifying my curiosity.
Jane Austen, the writer
The part that I liked most was the 'Fulfilment' chapter in which David Cecil tries to explain what motivated Jane Austen as a writer and the choices that she made regarding her characters and plots. It never becomes an academic lecture, but rather feels like it is written by someone close to her (or, in Carol Shield's words, as printed in her biography of Jane Austen: "affectionate like a favored nephew"). An example:
"Her great characters are each the product of many diverse pieces of observation, selected, assembled and fused together by the action of her individual imagination. Their peculiar vividness and the insight with which they are brought to life bear the unmistakable stamp of her unique vision.
The character of her genius shows also in the shape of her stories. Untaught and unguided, she achieved a mastery of the novel form unequalled by any other English novelist. More often than any other, she solves the chief formal problem confronting them, which is to satisfy the rival claims of art and life, to produce a work which is both a shapely artistic unity and a convincing representation of diverse, untidy reality. Jane Austen's sense of fact and feeling for order were both unusually and equally strong and she took equal pains to meet the demands of both. [...]
Most of her individual genius shows itself in the all-pervading presence of her sense of comedy. She contrives to give us a picture of life which appears true to reality and continuously amusing."
The final two chapters do not add much to what other biographies have already said about Jane Austen. And that, in short, is unfortunately how I feel about this book in general. I warmly recommend the prologue and the fulfilment chapter, but the rest of the book will probably be more appreciated by a true Austen aficionado, who has already read all the other biographies and memoirs in circulation, and is looking for details that were not printed elsewhere.
October 19, 2018
Somewhat dated in style but certainly one of the most charming biographies I have ever read and certainly a fitting tribute to that elusive mistery called Jane Austen.
David Cecil clearly knew his business and more than did her justice, and paid her a most loving tribute that only a genuine Austen fan is ever capable of.
This might not be to everyone's liking but it's certainly a must read for anyone interested in all things Austen.
Happy Readings!
David Cecil clearly knew his business and more than did her justice, and paid her a most loving tribute that only a genuine Austen fan is ever capable of.
This might not be to everyone's liking but it's certainly a must read for anyone interested in all things Austen.
Happy Readings!
March 14, 2016
Il existe peu de biographies de Jane Austen en français, c'est donc une lecture qui se savoure. J'ai mis un peu de temps à rentrer dans l'histoire, pour deux raisons. Tout d'abord, ce genre d'ouvrage débute toujours par de nombreux noms, dates, lieux et détails dans lesquels il faut se repérer. De plus, David Cecil prend le temps ici de remettre en perspective les moeurs de l'époque. Cela permet une bien meilleure compréhension du fonctionnement de la famille Austen dans ce qu'elle a de normal mais aussi dans ce qu'elle a d'exceptionnel. C'est dense, mais passionnant. D'un autre côté, cela peu paraître un peu ennuyeux quand on connait déjà bien le contexte.
Cette analyse de l'auteur apporte une dimension supplémentaire et nous fait découvrir la famille Austen sous un nouvel angle. A certains moments, j'ai même trouvé qu'il les encensait même un peu trop, et pourtant dieu sait si je les aime moi-même, mais peut-on vraiment lui reprocher de les idolâtrer?
Une fois que vous êtes plongé dans l'histoire, il est assez facile d'oublier que ce n'est pas un roman. On lui a souvent reproché son côté universitaire mais je n'ai pas eu de mal pour ma part à me projeter aux côtés de Jane Austen. Il est certain que l'on est moins dans l'émotif qu'avec Claire Tomalin, plus dans le rendu des faits. On a d'ailleurs l'impression que c'est un peu plus complet, un peu plus minutieux, avec un gros travail de recherche derrière. Ça la rend peut-être un peu moins accessible mais honnêtement, quand on aime autant Jane Austen que moi, je pense qu'il est difficile de ne pas apprécier. Si je devais vraiment choisir, et bien que je leur ai donné la même note, je garde une légère préférence pour Jane Austen, Passions Discrètes. Mais pourquoi choisir? Je pense qu'on peut aisément lire et apprécier les deux.
Vous l'avez compris, j'ai donc beaucoup aimé et même si cette édition date un peu, on la trouve toujours chez Payot en format de poche et je vous la conseille vivement.
http://janeausten.hautetfort.com/arch...
Cette analyse de l'auteur apporte une dimension supplémentaire et nous fait découvrir la famille Austen sous un nouvel angle. A certains moments, j'ai même trouvé qu'il les encensait même un peu trop, et pourtant dieu sait si je les aime moi-même, mais peut-on vraiment lui reprocher de les idolâtrer?
Une fois que vous êtes plongé dans l'histoire, il est assez facile d'oublier que ce n'est pas un roman. On lui a souvent reproché son côté universitaire mais je n'ai pas eu de mal pour ma part à me projeter aux côtés de Jane Austen. Il est certain que l'on est moins dans l'émotif qu'avec Claire Tomalin, plus dans le rendu des faits. On a d'ailleurs l'impression que c'est un peu plus complet, un peu plus minutieux, avec un gros travail de recherche derrière. Ça la rend peut-être un peu moins accessible mais honnêtement, quand on aime autant Jane Austen que moi, je pense qu'il est difficile de ne pas apprécier. Si je devais vraiment choisir, et bien que je leur ai donné la même note, je garde une légère préférence pour Jane Austen, Passions Discrètes. Mais pourquoi choisir? Je pense qu'on peut aisément lire et apprécier les deux.
Vous l'avez compris, j'ai donc beaucoup aimé et même si cette édition date un peu, on la trouve toujours chez Payot en format de poche et je vous la conseille vivement.
http://janeausten.hautetfort.com/arch...
December 21, 2010
Lord David Cecil writes about Jane Austen's world, linking what was known by about 1950 to everything known about the time in which she lived. It's a rather sentimentalized view, but enjoyable even so. I actually bought this book at a second-hand store for $2, and it isn't the paperback; it's the first hardback edition on very heavy, quality paper with beautiful plates and a perfect dust cover. Book collectors, envy away!
July 5, 2015
Lord Cecil paints a picture, not just of Jane Austin, but also of the world in which she lived. She lived a fairly uneventful life, but Cecil focuses rather on portraying Austen as mensch. Before reading this book, I was on the verge of becoming a "Janeite"; this has pushed me completely over the edge. Besides being a brilliant author, Jane Austen was a charming, humorous, and pious woman – how impossible not to fall in love with her?
December 30, 2019
A delight. A "pen-portrait" of Jane Austen, which really seems to mean a biography, but includes a lot about her siblings and extended family too. Some very good illustrations. Arranged mainly according to the places she lived in, as her life seems to fall naturally into separate periods according to her moves. I had this book as a Christmas present when it was new, and it was a pleasure to read again.
July 28, 2020
If you have been lucky enough to read Early Victorian Novelists, a study that Cecil published in the 30's, you know how fine a writer he can be. I found this portrait to be very readable; he has found every letter, every portrait or landscape painting that can flesh out the story of her life. I've got the hardcover edition with really good quality paper, probably paid a dollar for it at a rummage sale.
August 10, 2025
A bit quirky but ultimately enjoyable read. Covers the same areas as many life biographies of the Author Jane Austen but here David Cecil has very deliberately tried to sketch the woman and also the artist. He often interjects his own effusive opinions on the events and also the evidence, and quite amusingly so. There are many illustrations, but I personally found them a bit colorless and felt did not add as much as they could have to the feeling of the book.
April 12, 2020
There was a lot I was aware of already, but I learned some new things. Though there were a few places where I found Cecil's opinions a bit dated (he was born over a hundred years ago, it's probably to be expected to some degree).
May 15, 2017
Best Jane Austen biography I've read so far!
October 16, 2021
A very good biography.
February 19, 2022
The author clearly loves Jane Austen. He idolizes her and her family too much to seem realistic. It was more like a hagiography. I still liked it.
July 31, 2022
Nice biography of Jane Austen. Gave a good idea what it was like to live in her times and that helps better appreciate her novels.
March 10, 2024
“I should be seriously upset, I should worry for weeks and weeks, if I incurred the disapproval of Jane Austen.”—Lord David Cecil
February 25, 2025
Elegantly written biography of Jane Austen, padded out (since we actually know very little about her quiet life) with contemporary illustrations. A lovely book.
February 7, 2026
I enjoyed this book and its insights into Jane Austen's life
June 22, 2025
A readable and factual biography. Cecil reports the known truths while explaining the limitations to uncover the facts when much is not known about Jane herself. He includes some speculation, but he keeps it pragmatic and common sense. I enjoy the appealing subject of Jane Austen and her times and have read other biographies, but this one, published in 1978, probably encompasses the entirety of all that is substantiated. Later studies do not reveal much that is new or recent discoveries of definitive evidence. They usually involve different opinions and/or contemporary angles to provide something new to write about mostly to highlight female figures popular these days. It's fun to contemplate different conjectures, but often, it's armchair psychology that supports suppositions. In reading the author's history, I usually end up pissed again at Cassandra for destroying her sister's letters--ah, well. Families of the famous today probably do the same (assuming there are actually letters to burn, more like computer files, videos, photos)-- unless they are worth a lot of money. I'd not heard of biographer Lord David Cecil before, but he was an interesting scholarly individual with significant connections. This 1978 book evidently contains some inaccuracies, but for those who want to read only one basic concise Austen biography, I'd recommend this one.
December 18, 2020
Summary:
David Cecil explains this book is not intended to be an analysis of Jane Austen's life nor of the history of that era. It is meant to show her life through illustrations, letters, writings, and biographical information from family.
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book.
It's an inexpensive hard cover book with illustrations throughout. Some of the illustrations are of the Austen family, copies of Jane's letters and works, drawings made by the family, the homes they lived in, and other included history.
I learned about the Austen family. Jane's grandparents and parents, siblings, and their families.
I learned about how Jane's ill health in the final years had an effect on her writings.
Jane Austen was a creative genius. Her stories were not all the same, but with differing developments and expressions.
She was not afraid to branch out to something new. For example the last work, Sanditon. Sanditon was left unfinished because of her failing health, but it showed remarkable difference from previous works.
At times though, Jane Austen was not confident.
I feel A Portrait of Jane Austen is a more personal study. The letters and biography information give the book an intimate quality.
David Cecil explains this book is not intended to be an analysis of Jane Austen's life nor of the history of that era. It is meant to show her life through illustrations, letters, writings, and biographical information from family.
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book.
It's an inexpensive hard cover book with illustrations throughout. Some of the illustrations are of the Austen family, copies of Jane's letters and works, drawings made by the family, the homes they lived in, and other included history.
I learned about the Austen family. Jane's grandparents and parents, siblings, and their families.
I learned about how Jane's ill health in the final years had an effect on her writings.
Jane Austen was a creative genius. Her stories were not all the same, but with differing developments and expressions.
She was not afraid to branch out to something new. For example the last work, Sanditon. Sanditon was left unfinished because of her failing health, but it showed remarkable difference from previous works.
At times though, Jane Austen was not confident.
I feel A Portrait of Jane Austen is a more personal study. The letters and biography information give the book an intimate quality.
January 23, 2025
2025 re-read. As good as ever.
A charming and very perceptive portrait of the life, work, and family, of Jane Austen. Only 200 pages, but this 1978 work has given me a better understanding of Austen's work, and position in the literary canon than other, longer works. Bravo.
The GR blurb:
'The late 18th century world in which Jane Austen lived was one that combined good sense, elegant manners, intelligence and piety with a liberal dash of spirited fun. Drawing on Jane Austen's letters, novels, and other people's memories of her, David Cecil sets out to "reconstruct and depict her living personality and to explore it in relation to her art". The portrait that emerges is of a clear-sighted, observant, strong-minded woman whose witty and ironic representation of her own society has delighted millions of readers for centuries.'
A charming and very perceptive portrait of the life, work, and family, of Jane Austen. Only 200 pages, but this 1978 work has given me a better understanding of Austen's work, and position in the literary canon than other, longer works. Bravo.
The GR blurb:
'The late 18th century world in which Jane Austen lived was one that combined good sense, elegant manners, intelligence and piety with a liberal dash of spirited fun. Drawing on Jane Austen's letters, novels, and other people's memories of her, David Cecil sets out to "reconstruct and depict her living personality and to explore it in relation to her art". The portrait that emerges is of a clear-sighted, observant, strong-minded woman whose witty and ironic representation of her own society has delighted millions of readers for centuries.'
January 31, 2010
Interesting insights into the famous author, Jane Austen. Unfortunately, her history has been pieced together because some of her journals/letters have been burned (mostly by her sister Cassandra). So I think there's still some discrepancies and confusion on some of the facts of her life. For instance, this book downplays her relationship with Tom Lefroy; yet other accounts point out that it was more serious and in fact greatly influenced her writing.
This biography was well written. Cecil brushes an intimate picture of Austen, her family, and her writing.
This biography was well written. Cecil brushes an intimate picture of Austen, her family, and her writing.
October 28, 2010
I've just started reading this wonderful book! He writes so sweetly about Jane Austen's time and her way of life that I just want to be there... The images in the book are lovely!
It was a delightful read. Utterly charming and sweet. The portrayal of Jane, Cassandra and Fanny reminded me a great deal of them in "Miss Austen Regrets", which I'm thinking of watching now. I really liked it. I wish though that Jane would have lived 100 years! It pains me to read about her untimely departure...
It was a delightful read. Utterly charming and sweet. The portrayal of Jane, Cassandra and Fanny reminded me a great deal of them in "Miss Austen Regrets", which I'm thinking of watching now. I really liked it. I wish though that Jane would have lived 100 years! It pains me to read about her untimely departure...
January 20, 2016
This is a straightforward biography of Jane Austen, from her early days in Steventon, through the years in Bath, Southampton and Chawton, to her death in Winchester. I found it readable and comprehensive and liked the inclusion of original quotes from Austen's letters, though I was disappointed that these were not better referenced.
June 8, 2016
fabulous book that makes Jane's life feel a little bit closer.. David Cecil gives us the social mores, the images of houses - large and small, the class system tidbits.. Jane would have been in the gentry class..so she could mix even with aristocracy.. Her mother was connected to aristocrats.. etc.etc.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews