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Jane Austen - Uma Biografia
Esta é a biografia definitiva de uma das romancistas mais estimadas do Reino Unido, escrita pela biógrafa de personalidades como Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Pepys e Mary Wollstonecraft.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
491 people are currently reading
22833 people want to read
About the author
Claire Tomalin
31 books411 followersBorn Claire Delavenay in London, she was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge.
She became literary editor of the 'New Statesman' and also the 'Sunday Times'. She has written several noted biographies and her work has been recognised with the award of the 1990 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1991 Hawthornden Prize for 'The Invisible Woman The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens'.
In addition, her biography of Samuel Pepys won the Whitbread Book Award in 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 2003, the Latham Prize of the Samuel Pepys Club in 2003, and was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2003.
She married her first husband, Nicholas Tomalin, who was a prominent journalist but who was killed in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War in 1973. Her second husband is the novelist and playwright Michael Frayn.
She is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature and of the English PEN (International PEN).
She became literary editor of the 'New Statesman' and also the 'Sunday Times'. She has written several noted biographies and her work has been recognised with the award of the 1990 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1991 Hawthornden Prize for 'The Invisible Woman The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens'.
In addition, her biography of Samuel Pepys won the Whitbread Book Award in 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 2003, the Latham Prize of the Samuel Pepys Club in 2003, and was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2003.
She married her first husband, Nicholas Tomalin, who was a prominent journalist but who was killed in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War in 1973. Her second husband is the novelist and playwright Michael Frayn.
She is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature and of the English PEN (International PEN).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 545 reviews
November 21, 2011
I purchased and first read this book in Bath in 1999, after visiting Chawton (where Austen lived in the latter part of her life and wrote her last three novels) and Salisbury (where she died and was buried). After that albeit rather limited literary pilgrimage, it seemed appropriate to acquire and read a biography of the writer while I was still in what had been her environment. Although I have re-read Austen's novels in the intervening years, I have not looked at the biography again. This weekend, I re-read it in two sittings. It was good to become reacquainted with Austen and her family, to become lost in the complexity of her extended family relationships and to immerse myself in the influences on her writing.
In The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett has his central character - the Queen - conclude that authors "were probably best met within the pages of their novels, and were as much creatures of the reader's imagination as the characters in their books". I agree with this sentiment in general terms. While I love Austen's work, I am less keen on the industry which has grown up around it and around her. The prequels, the sequels, the re-imaginings, the films, the television adaptations: while some of them have undoubted merit, all pale in comparison with the wit and intelligence of her prose. It is in her novels that Austen's genius is most apparent and it is in her novels that the reader can really come to know her.
However, while I don't believe that a reader needs to know a lot about a writer's life, sometimes a well-written biography can give insight and add to an appreciation of the writer's work. This is one of those biographies. It is easy to read, not overly academic and contains excellent notes. That said, I skimmed some of it this time around. Biographical material concerning Jane Austen is not extensive (her relatives having destroyed most of her letters after her death), and Tomalin possibly writes a little too much about neighbours and acquaintances about whom more is known. However, this is not a major flaw: it's very interesting on a first reading, but less so on a re-read. Given the lack of biographical material, Tomalin mercifully strays into "she must have thought", "she must have said" territory relatively infrequently. When she does so, her speculation appears reasonable.
Possibly the best thing I can say about Tomalin's writing is that I was moved to tears on two occasions. First, as she describes the joy Austen felt when Sense and Sensibility and then Pride and Prejudice were published. Then when she describes the period leading up to Austen's death and the death itself. Inspiring tears of joy and tears of sadness in the same work is not a bad indicator of a biographer's skill.
Recommended to any reader who loves Austen's novels and wants to know more about the writer.
September 21, 2014
the short take: okay, so i found this book really clunky. the information was interesting and painted quite the picture of life during austen's time but it really took a lot of tangents. it's not so much austen's life as it is her family's life (though of course jane features more). and that's fine...but not what i expected nor what i was hoping for. i have come to understand that biographical information about austen is limited and very few letters she wrote survived. a brother and nephew each produced a biography of jane...so i am curious about them though given her penchant for privacy, i am certain they would not be such wide-ranging and voyeuristic in nature as the biographies produced in our current day and age. i do feel as though i learned about austen...but i want to know more. i am going to get a copy of Jane Austen: A Life by Carol Shields and hope it to be a better biography.
i felt, too, that tomalin inserted herself too often and made suppositions and statements that were based on imaginings...not fact. so those moments were really odd for me. it's very clear tomalin is a huge austen fan...but that love or bias seemed to seep into this text.
i felt, too, that tomalin inserted herself too often and made suppositions and statements that were based on imaginings...not fact. so those moments were really odd for me. it's very clear tomalin is a huge austen fan...but that love or bias seemed to seep into this text.
January 2, 2017
Conventional wisdom has it that Claire Tomalin’s biography of Jane Austen is the best out there. I would have to say that it depends on what you’re looking for in a biography.
Jane Austen is a bit of a tough subject. Unlike her contemporaries, Frances Burney and Mme de Staël, she did nothing in her life that would have attracted a historian’s notice, so the source material is all personal—her letters (heavily redacted by her sister) and the memories of her family (scrubbed of anything discomfiting during the course of the nineteenth century). When I was a student, there was little other than the texts of her novels to take you beyond those limits. After my academic years a series of biographies went further, and Tomalin’s is one of them. She has done a lot of digging into the papers, mostly unpublished, of Austen’s relatives, neighbors, and friends, and provides a much richer personal history than had previously been possible.
Her text is engaging and accessible, with little of the scholarly labor behind the work on view to the casual reader. She paints a vivid portrait of life in the Austen household, and throughout the book her strength lies in taking the reader into Austen’s quotidian experience. Her account of Austen’s childhood experiences was the liveliest, but also the most speculative, section and I did feel there was a tendency (all too common among biographers) to psychologize based on insufficient data.
Where the book felt thin to me was in the area of situating Austen’s work in her literary and cultural context. There are some passages of this sort, but they feel perfunctory. No worries; other authors have done a good job in this area, but the lack kept me from considering this the ultimate biography.
Jane Austen is a bit of a tough subject. Unlike her contemporaries, Frances Burney and Mme de Staël, she did nothing in her life that would have attracted a historian’s notice, so the source material is all personal—her letters (heavily redacted by her sister) and the memories of her family (scrubbed of anything discomfiting during the course of the nineteenth century). When I was a student, there was little other than the texts of her novels to take you beyond those limits. After my academic years a series of biographies went further, and Tomalin’s is one of them. She has done a lot of digging into the papers, mostly unpublished, of Austen’s relatives, neighbors, and friends, and provides a much richer personal history than had previously been possible.
Her text is engaging and accessible, with little of the scholarly labor behind the work on view to the casual reader. She paints a vivid portrait of life in the Austen household, and throughout the book her strength lies in taking the reader into Austen’s quotidian experience. Her account of Austen’s childhood experiences was the liveliest, but also the most speculative, section and I did feel there was a tendency (all too common among biographers) to psychologize based on insufficient data.
Where the book felt thin to me was in the area of situating Austen’s work in her literary and cultural context. There are some passages of this sort, but they feel perfunctory. No worries; other authors have done a good job in this area, but the lack kept me from considering this the ultimate biography.
March 26, 2019
I wanted to love this because of my adoration of Austen’s novels, but the truth is I found this dull and tedious. The New Yorker called it a page-turner? I want some of what that reviewer was on.
November 24, 2025
<\i> "Era il sole della mia vita, l'impulso di ogni piacere, la consolazione di ogni dolore, non le ho mai nascosto un solo pensiero e ora è come se io avessi perso una parte di me stessa."
Sono le parole di Cassandra alla morte di Jane, le parole che giungono alla fine di questa corposa biografia di una delle mie autrici preferite. Corposa sì ma mai noiosa e lenta, anzi ricca di dettagli e di rimandi, sono tante le note che chiudono ogni capitolo. Venticinque capitoli che ripercorrono una vita semplice, fatta di quotidianità, di legami, di amici e parenti; una vita semplice ma che ha come protagonista una donna intelligente e sveglia che con il proprio talento e l'ronia ha stregato milioni di lettori.
La biografia della Tomalin a tratti sembra scritta da una vera Janeite, e probabilmente così è, ma le si può perdonare qualche piccola mancanza di obiettività perché personalmente ho trovato uno scritto minuziosamente ricercato e suggestivo.
Davvero non potevo chiedere di meglio.
<\i> "Oggi la quantità di opinioni sul suo lavoro è così enorme, che probabilmente potrebbe continuare a riderci sopra per sempre."
Sono le parole di Cassandra alla morte di Jane, le parole che giungono alla fine di questa corposa biografia di una delle mie autrici preferite. Corposa sì ma mai noiosa e lenta, anzi ricca di dettagli e di rimandi, sono tante le note che chiudono ogni capitolo. Venticinque capitoli che ripercorrono una vita semplice, fatta di quotidianità, di legami, di amici e parenti; una vita semplice ma che ha come protagonista una donna intelligente e sveglia che con il proprio talento e l'ronia ha stregato milioni di lettori.
La biografia della Tomalin a tratti sembra scritta da una vera Janeite, e probabilmente così è, ma le si può perdonare qualche piccola mancanza di obiettività perché personalmente ho trovato uno scritto minuziosamente ricercato e suggestivo.
Davvero non potevo chiedere di meglio.
<\i> "Oggi la quantità di opinioni sul suo lavoro è così enorme, che probabilmente potrebbe continuare a riderci sopra per sempre."
May 16, 2019
3 1/2 Stars.
I read this biography because a number of my GR friends want to read/have read this biography.
At first I was put off by the size of the print/the space on the cover that Claire Tomalin takes compared to Jane Austen. Knopf wants to makes sales from followers of both writers. Not Classy. Business Savvy.
Some things I particularly liked.
1. Concise Family Trees. These trees helped to re-affirm and to remind me of the connections between family members.
2. The many (overabundance) of images. Portraits and other images of family members and friends. Images of buildings/parks, including Godmersham in Canterbury, the tiny church at Steventon, even an ink drawing of Steventon village. I who often wants more images is quite satisfied.
3. Extras. 1. A discussion on what happened to her family after Jane died. The discussion even covers some the children of her brothers, not just Fanny,the one most expected to be followed until her wedding. 2. A discussion, somethung more than a passing thought or two about other less popular books and writings of Austen, including Sandition and Love and Friendship.
4. What I appreciate the most. Tomalin makes connections between Austen's world and Austen's writing. Fanny Price Connection. A woman of the neighborhood adopted a daughter, kept the adopted daughter in her own room until the husband returned from a military/naval term at which time the adopted daughter was placed in a room without a fireplace.
Very Good Belles Letters Book. Satisfying in a variety of ways.
I read this biography because a number of my GR friends want to read/have read this biography.
At first I was put off by the size of the print/the space on the cover that Claire Tomalin takes compared to Jane Austen. Knopf wants to makes sales from followers of both writers. Not Classy. Business Savvy.
Some things I particularly liked.
1. Concise Family Trees. These trees helped to re-affirm and to remind me of the connections between family members.
2. The many (overabundance) of images. Portraits and other images of family members and friends. Images of buildings/parks, including Godmersham in Canterbury, the tiny church at Steventon, even an ink drawing of Steventon village. I who often wants more images is quite satisfied.
3. Extras. 1. A discussion on what happened to her family after Jane died. The discussion even covers some the children of her brothers, not just Fanny,the one most expected to be followed until her wedding. 2. A discussion, somethung more than a passing thought or two about other less popular books and writings of Austen, including Sandition and Love and Friendship.
4. What I appreciate the most. Tomalin makes connections between Austen's world and Austen's writing. Fanny Price Connection. A woman of the neighborhood adopted a daughter, kept the adopted daughter in her own room until the husband returned from a military/naval term at which time the adopted daughter was placed in a room without a fireplace.
Very Good Belles Letters Book. Satisfying in a variety of ways.
February 6, 2009
This was one of the best literary biographies I've read in a long, long time. Written with the "voice" of Jane Austen's own cadence, almost as if one was reading a Jane Austen novel, Tomalin's painstaking research brought Jane to life in a way that no other biography of Jane has for me. I was drawn in from the first chapter, and by 1/3 of the way through, I was so into the book that I even took it with me as I stood in line to vote in November 2004 (a process that year that had me standing in line for almost 2 hours). I'm sure my fellow voters-to-be wondered about the weird lady, chuckling to herself as she read some book - I was reading some sarcastically witty comments written by Jane herself to her sister about a neighbor. Jane could be caustic in her private letters. By the time I got to the chapter on her death, I had become so much a part of the world Tomalin had drawn that I felt a deep sense of loss at reading the letter from Cassandra (Jane's sister) to her brother telling him about Jane's death. I felt like a friend who'd received the sad news - I found myself crying, even though I knew how it would end.
This is how biographies should be written!
This is how biographies should be written!
July 18, 2020
Jane Austen’in hayatı, şaşalı ünlü kadın kuzenleriyle çalkantılı aşk hayatları ve üzerine kondukları miraslarla gündeme gelen erkek kardeşlerine göre bir hayli sönük. Ama aynı zamanda daha yere basıyor. Bunu da nereden bilebiliyoruz, çünkü bu biyografi 25 bölüm ve 10-15 bölümü Jane’den ziyade çevresine odaklanmış durumda. Büyük büyük annesi, komşuları, abisinin eşi, aynı abisinin ikinci eşi... Sadece birkaç bölümde kitaplarının tahlillerini görebiliyoruz ve en çok hoşuma giden kısımlar da onlar oldu zaten. Onları da saymasak kitabın adı “Jane Austen: A Life” yerine “Austen & Leigh Aileleri” tarzı bir şey olsaymış zaten.
Yine de bu sadece biyografi yazarının suçu değil. Jane Austen’in günlük ve mektupları gibi birinci el kaynakların çoğu, ne yazık ki kardeşi ve yeğeni tarafından yok edilmiş.
Yine de bu sadece biyografi yazarının suçu değil. Jane Austen’in günlük ve mektupları gibi birinci el kaynakların çoğu, ne yazık ki kardeşi ve yeğeni tarafından yok edilmiş.
February 26, 2022
"Jane Austen: A Life" by Claire Tomalin
4.5 Regency Teacups! I have wanted to read this one for a long time. It was well worth the wait. It is 284 pages. Sometimes it seems abit longer than that, especially in the beginning when explaining family connections. Once she gets going on Jane's life and writings, it was difficult to put the book down.
11/27/2020 reread 3.5 Her comments about some of the novels are disagreeable to me.
2/25/2022- 2.5 Yikes...so much speculation that seems unnecessary.
4.5 Regency Teacups! I have wanted to read this one for a long time. It was well worth the wait. It is 284 pages. Sometimes it seems abit longer than that, especially in the beginning when explaining family connections. Once she gets going on Jane's life and writings, it was difficult to put the book down.
11/27/2020 reread 3.5 Her comments about some of the novels are disagreeable to me.
2/25/2022- 2.5 Yikes...so much speculation that seems unnecessary.
October 14, 2024
Reading this bio by Claire Tomalin has given me a better understanding of Jane Austen’s world.
But more than that I saw Jane Austen.
For me Jane Austen is a book that I read (I don’t know if this makes sense) where the author has remained invisible; I’ve always found Austen’s novels tricky. Watching the screen adaptations is less work than trying to read her works to appreciate her comedy.
It’s remarkable, despite the hardships and Jane Austen went through, she still produced works that are full of charm and wit and entertaining, and which are still enjoyed today.
But more than that I saw Jane Austen.
For me Jane Austen is a book that I read (I don’t know if this makes sense) where the author has remained invisible; I’ve always found Austen’s novels tricky. Watching the screen adaptations is less work than trying to read her works to appreciate her comedy.
It’s remarkable, despite the hardships and Jane Austen went through, she still produced works that are full of charm and wit and entertaining, and which are still enjoyed today.
October 2, 2025
3.5 ⭐
This was pretty good as biographies go but there were a few times I disagreed with the author's interpretations of things Jane Austen or her family said. Sometimes not enough context was given to really have a strong understanding of the quote, and sometimes I think Jane was being ironic and/or silly and wasn't meant to be taken seriously.
I also disagree with almost all of her literary analysis of Austen's work, and I was left wondering if she even liked the books? Her interpretations seemed very cynical.
I did enjoy the in depth research into the entire Austen family as well as their neighbors and close friends. I feel like I got a fuller picture of Austen's life as she lived it, not in isolation but within the context of her community. I was struck by how close the Austen siblings were, even though they had their differences, and how they supported each other the best they could.
This was pretty good as biographies go but there were a few times I disagreed with the author's interpretations of things Jane Austen or her family said. Sometimes not enough context was given to really have a strong understanding of the quote, and sometimes I think Jane was being ironic and/or silly and wasn't meant to be taken seriously.
I also disagree with almost all of her literary analysis of Austen's work, and I was left wondering if she even liked the books? Her interpretations seemed very cynical.
I did enjoy the in depth research into the entire Austen family as well as their neighbors and close friends. I feel like I got a fuller picture of Austen's life as she lived it, not in isolation but within the context of her community. I was struck by how close the Austen siblings were, even though they had their differences, and how they supported each other the best they could.
June 2, 2023
In Tomalin's memoir, A Life of My Own, she writes about much preferring historical biography to historical fiction and I agree with that, having little interest in reading historical fiction, but lately I've had a desire to read biographies, and this one, on Jane Austen, is fascinating and also a fast and compelling read. A whole industry has developed around Jane Austen, but I simply love the novels, and though I knew a little about her life, Tomalin sets you down in that life, in Austen's life of family and place, in the mores and morals of that time, in the great web of Austen family and cousins and aunts and uncles and more. What a tough life women lived then, and how amazing that Austen wrote six of the major works of English literature that have lasted for centuries.
December 2, 2025
This was a tough one for me to get through...I will say I dont think that's the authors fault. It doesn't seem that JAs life was particularly eventful (at least in terms of what would have made a interesting biography). There also wasn't a lot of information available. The author did what she could with what was available. That being said...reading this was a bit of a slog.
July 14, 2025
I read Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin back in 2018, and it felt like walking through the quiet parlors and candlelit corridors of Georgian England with Austen herself. Far from a dry academic sketch, Tomalin’s biography is a living, breathing portrait of a woman whose life was as outwardly unremarkable as her mind was incandescent. In 350 pages of finely textured prose, Tomalin excavates the world that shaped Austen—the restrained gentry life, the sharp social eavesdropping, the burden of anonymity, and the cruel encroachment of early illness. What struck me most was the book’s emotional restraint—Tomalin neither mythologizes Austen nor flattens her into a figurehead of feminist sainthood. Instead, she lets us glimpse the fire beneath the genteel surface: a brilliant woman, aware of her era’s limitations, who still managed to carve a space for subtle rebellion through wit and irony. This biography didn’t just help me understand Austen’s novels better—it gave me the human story behind every turn of phrase and every marriage plot. It remains, for me, the gold standard in literary biography—one where the critic’s mind meets the novelist’s spirit with perfect pitch.
November 20, 2017
Truth be told, there is not enough known about Jane Austen‘s life for a 400+ page biography, and a third or more of the text focuses on her family, relatives, and neighbors. So, why read this biography instead of the memoirs written by family members and her letters, since most of the information available comes from those sources?
Actually it turns out that to better understand Ms Austen and her social milieu, it’s very helpful to have a thorough introduction to her family, relatives and neighbors. The book includes the results of research into bank, legal and other records, a family tree, numerous illustrations, and a wonderful map showing the neighbors/neighborhood of Stevenson where she grew up.
The author is thorough and creative, and the book is well written, but warning—the section on Ms Austen’s childhood includes so much speculation that it could be labeled “fiction”. I thought the book was best on her later years, but even there, the reader who is interested in evaluating evidence for themselves may reasonably come to different conclusions in some cases.
Actually it turns out that to better understand Ms Austen and her social milieu, it’s very helpful to have a thorough introduction to her family, relatives and neighbors. The book includes the results of research into bank, legal and other records, a family tree, numerous illustrations, and a wonderful map showing the neighbors/neighborhood of Stevenson where she grew up.
The author is thorough and creative, and the book is well written, but warning—the section on Ms Austen’s childhood includes so much speculation that it could be labeled “fiction”. I thought the book was best on her later years, but even there, the reader who is interested in evaluating evidence for themselves may reasonably come to different conclusions in some cases.
October 27, 2018
Felt this didn't really say much about Jane Austen? There were so many different people I just found it impossible to tell the difference between everyone to the point where I just lost interest, and as there was barely anything about Jane herself, this meant I struggled quite a bit through this. There are just loads and loads about her brothers, her neighbours, her family... and while I do think they're important, as people don't exist singularly, there is just too much focus on everything BUT the subject. Coming away from this, I feel I don't know a great deal much more about Jane Austen than I already did, which is a shame.
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July 3, 2023Find it impossible to rate. For example, appreciated the detail on family and connections while also feeling overwhelmed by them. And my thoughts on such a biography are clouded by the sense of sadness I feel at the end...a genius taken from the world far too young. Not sure if JA knew that what she created would have such a lasting impact. I hope she had an inkling.
February 15, 2021
Tomalin does the best she can with what isn't actually very much. If Austen had a diary, and she seems to have, it was destroyed by her family along with a bunch of her letters, so the extant source material to reconstruct her life is limited.
However, Tomalin does her detective work well and manages to give us a view from the sides of Austen's largely uneventful life through the letters and goings-on of her many siblings and their children, whose accounts afford us more than a little of the author's life.
Despite Tomalin's claims and her noble attempts to make it seem to the contrary, Austen didn't have a very exciting life. Anything of note happening around her didn't involve her, beyond the few courtships she experienced when she was a younger woman. Resigned to spinsterhood early, she largely just served as occasional nanny to her nieces and nephews and traveling partner for her sturdy mother. The novels and their composition figure scantily, but are in there somewhere and it is to Tomalin's credit that she enthusiastically and, I think, successfully, finds them their proper place in Austen's humdrum life.
However, Tomalin does her detective work well and manages to give us a view from the sides of Austen's largely uneventful life through the letters and goings-on of her many siblings and their children, whose accounts afford us more than a little of the author's life.
Despite Tomalin's claims and her noble attempts to make it seem to the contrary, Austen didn't have a very exciting life. Anything of note happening around her didn't involve her, beyond the few courtships she experienced when she was a younger woman. Resigned to spinsterhood early, she largely just served as occasional nanny to her nieces and nephews and traveling partner for her sturdy mother. The novels and their composition figure scantily, but are in there somewhere and it is to Tomalin's credit that she enthusiastically and, I think, successfully, finds them their proper place in Austen's humdrum life.
September 13, 2025
ho trovato questa biografia meravigliosa e non mi so spiegare come sia stato possibile 1) lasciarla uscire dai circuiti di vendita (io l’ho dovuta ordinare all’editore tramite il suo sito) 2) non avere in circolazione tutti gli altri libri di claire tomaline tradotti in italiano. solo questo e un altro. ma che ci siamo impazziti?
qui trovare tutto quello che che si sa sulla numerosa famiglia austen, sulla lingua lunga di jane, su come funzionasse la sua creatività, sul sostegno che ha sempre ricevuto dai suoi cari, sulla genesi dei libri, gli spunti che potrebbe aver preso dalla vita reale… non volle mai sposarsi? falso. ha perso un primo fidanzato a causa delle modeste provenienze di entrambi e ha rifiutato un secondo, il mattino dopo avergli detto di sì … e tantissime curiosità, contestualizzazioni storiche -anche se molte date per assodate- e biografiche,
il libro ha anche un corredo fotografico preziosissimo, un estratto dell’unico manoscritto esistente di jane austen (quindi la sua grafia) e l’albero genealogico!
compratelo! fatelo tornare in giro!
qui trovare tutto quello che che si sa sulla numerosa famiglia austen, sulla lingua lunga di jane, su come funzionasse la sua creatività, sul sostegno che ha sempre ricevuto dai suoi cari, sulla genesi dei libri, gli spunti che potrebbe aver preso dalla vita reale… non volle mai sposarsi? falso. ha perso un primo fidanzato a causa delle modeste provenienze di entrambi e ha rifiutato un secondo, il mattino dopo avergli detto di sì … e tantissime curiosità, contestualizzazioni storiche -anche se molte date per assodate- e biografiche,
il libro ha anche un corredo fotografico preziosissimo, un estratto dell’unico manoscritto esistente di jane austen (quindi la sua grafia) e l’albero genealogico!
compratelo! fatelo tornare in giro!
January 15, 2023
4.5 - I have been meaning to read this for years and am glad to have done so! Tomalin does a good job of illustrating the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of Austen's life. My main complaint has less to do with Tomalin's research, which is admirably thorough, but with the fact there is not nearly so much information available about her subject as we might wish. I appreciate the added context about Austen's family and came away with a better understanding of the chronology of her life, but there are still so many questions about her work and her life that we can never really know.
November 18, 2018
Disappointingly, Jane Austen disappears in the first chapter of her Biography as her Large Family takes over, as do the neighbours and friends. But this is a necessary Limb, given its due position.
And the story would be Lost without them. How much can a small baby do...write Homer's Sequel ? No!
It is some years before Jane will be setting Pen to Paper to compose those books which are still held in High Esteem, still MUCH loved, still being renewed and introduced Yet Again. Still Popular in the 21st Century.
But what came in-between?
Jane was not resting on her laurels. Hers was an Active Personality.
She was creating it, between the ages of 12 and 18 years.
This is the Essential Brickwork that is far too often overlooked in the Writer's World.
Chekhov is another who comes to mind.
Like Jane, he made an early start which seldom gets airing.
AND it is usually called...……. "The Juvenilia".
- often at the Bottom of the Pile,(read "UNREAD"!); seldom at the Top,(read "likely NevER!!")
What Jane wrote she displayed to the Family - the Two Supportive Parents; the Five Big Brothers: and the elder Sister, Cassandra, with only three years in between, may have helped her out. It was she, in 1793, who was to illustrate cleverly one of the Final Productions of 18 year old Jane's Juvenilia, "The History of England," 'by a partial, prejudiced & ignorant Historian', a gleeful parody of Oliver Goldsmith's work of 1771.
But the presses had begun rolling, on a small but not untalented scale, when Jane was 12 in 1787 and "ready" to reveal a solid humour. The family delighted in and welcomed this flowering, and Jane blossomed in her New Career. It had only just began.
Like Chekhov's, "the Juvenilia" could be Ruthless and Cruel, but always Humorous and Outrageous...and like a Good Joke ...Brief, to the Point and Hilarious.
Laughter solidified her Talent and created a Welcoming Audience of Family and Cousins.
Today, with Jane's Classics on the shelves and at the Movies,there's no need to wait for the sharp jokes, the send-up of vanities and vices of Upper Class Life, the merciless wit.
Chekhov and Jane would eventually create Jane's lengthier works in novels; and short stories for the busy Doctor Chekhov. And finally mellow and more serious work.
Goodreads fans rarely read the Early Jane and miss Laugh-Out-Loud Enjoyment...but Penguin has published them , so don't miss the Whole Range of Jane...it's Great Stuff.
The Rest is Our History , as you know...……….D'Arcy, Anyone ?????
And the story would be Lost without them. How much can a small baby do...write Homer's Sequel ? No!
It is some years before Jane will be setting Pen to Paper to compose those books which are still held in High Esteem, still MUCH loved, still being renewed and introduced Yet Again. Still Popular in the 21st Century.
But what came in-between?
Jane was not resting on her laurels. Hers was an Active Personality.
She was creating it, between the ages of 12 and 18 years.
This is the Essential Brickwork that is far too often overlooked in the Writer's World.
Chekhov is another who comes to mind.
Like Jane, he made an early start which seldom gets airing.
AND it is usually called...……. "The Juvenilia".
- often at the Bottom of the Pile,(read "UNREAD"!); seldom at the Top,(read "likely NevER!!")
What Jane wrote she displayed to the Family - the Two Supportive Parents; the Five Big Brothers: and the elder Sister, Cassandra, with only three years in between, may have helped her out. It was she, in 1793, who was to illustrate cleverly one of the Final Productions of 18 year old Jane's Juvenilia, "The History of England," 'by a partial, prejudiced & ignorant Historian', a gleeful parody of Oliver Goldsmith's work of 1771.
But the presses had begun rolling, on a small but not untalented scale, when Jane was 12 in 1787 and "ready" to reveal a solid humour. The family delighted in and welcomed this flowering, and Jane blossomed in her New Career. It had only just began.
Like Chekhov's, "the Juvenilia" could be Ruthless and Cruel, but always Humorous and Outrageous...and like a Good Joke ...Brief, to the Point and Hilarious.
Laughter solidified her Talent and created a Welcoming Audience of Family and Cousins.
Today, with Jane's Classics on the shelves and at the Movies,there's no need to wait for the sharp jokes, the send-up of vanities and vices of Upper Class Life, the merciless wit.
Chekhov and Jane would eventually create Jane's lengthier works in novels; and short stories for the busy Doctor Chekhov. And finally mellow and more serious work.
Goodreads fans rarely read the Early Jane and miss Laugh-Out-Loud Enjoyment...but Penguin has published them , so don't miss the Whole Range of Jane...it's Great Stuff.
The Rest is Our History , as you know...……….D'Arcy, Anyone ?????
February 9, 2010
Fragmentary records make for suggestive biography. Tomalin must delve archives as a detective, stretch and scrutinize the old paper, and compensate for gaps in the lone life with a narrative of the familial-social surround in which the maturing writer is presumed--and occasionally observed--to lurk and flash. “From what we know of this or that it may be supposed that Jane thought this or that.” Tomalin’s speculations seem just and her account of the surround is interesting, Olenska-like Cousin Eliza echoing with particular poignance. In the documentary gaps, Austen--ripening genius--reads as appropriately mysterious. Drafts of all novels but Persuasion lost and many letters censoriously scissored, or burned, Austen’s rag-and-bone shop remains mostly hidden; hers is a life in art.
Pushkin, though he did not know it, chiseled a tribute to Austen in the last of the Tales of Belkin:
Those of my readers who have never lived in rural parts cannot imagine how delightful these provincial young ladies are! Brought up on fresh air, in the shade of their apple orchards, they draw their knowledge of life and the world from books. Solitude, freedom, and reading are quick to develop emotions in them unknown to our light-minded beauties. For a country miss, the jingle of a coach bell is an adventure, a trip to their nearest town marks a stage in life, and a guest’s visit leaves a lingering, even permanent memory. Of course, anyone is at liberty to laugh at some of their oddities, but the gibes of a superficial observer cannot efface their essential virtues, of which the chief is: distinction of character, originality (individualité), without which, in the opinion of Jean Paul, human greatness cannot exist. In the capital cities women receive a better education, perhaps, but the ways of society iron out their character and render their minds as indistinguishable as their hats. The above is not meant as a judgement, nor yet a censure, however, nota nostra manet, as one ancient commentator puts it.
Pushkin, though he did not know it, chiseled a tribute to Austen in the last of the Tales of Belkin:
Those of my readers who have never lived in rural parts cannot imagine how delightful these provincial young ladies are! Brought up on fresh air, in the shade of their apple orchards, they draw their knowledge of life and the world from books. Solitude, freedom, and reading are quick to develop emotions in them unknown to our light-minded beauties. For a country miss, the jingle of a coach bell is an adventure, a trip to their nearest town marks a stage in life, and a guest’s visit leaves a lingering, even permanent memory. Of course, anyone is at liberty to laugh at some of their oddities, but the gibes of a superficial observer cannot efface their essential virtues, of which the chief is: distinction of character, originality (individualité), without which, in the opinion of Jean Paul, human greatness cannot exist. In the capital cities women receive a better education, perhaps, but the ways of society iron out their character and render their minds as indistinguishable as their hats. The above is not meant as a judgement, nor yet a censure, however, nota nostra manet, as one ancient commentator puts it.
September 4, 2016
For my full review: http://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/2...
Claire Tomalin has rather cornered the market recently when it comes to literary biography but this is actually the first one of hers that I have ever sat down to read – it turns out that I should have got to it sooner – the woman behind all of the Austen mania is constructed here far more vividly than I have ever seen her before. This is not to denigrate previous biographies but merely to applaud what Tomalin has achieved, to shine a light on an author who has always managed to hide behind the mania, who has remained private, unknowable. Unlike Dickens who basked in the spotlight or the Brontes who had a cluster of sycophants around to mythologise, Jane Austen managed to fly below the radar. With a host of tight-lipped and highly respectable family members keeping schtum and a personal no-nonsense approach to attention-seeking, the question of who Jane Austen really was has persisted down the centuries meaning that the appetite for biographies remains as fierce as ever. With this though, I can’t help the feeling that Tomalin has managed to capture something of the real woman ...
Claire Tomalin has rather cornered the market recently when it comes to literary biography but this is actually the first one of hers that I have ever sat down to read – it turns out that I should have got to it sooner – the woman behind all of the Austen mania is constructed here far more vividly than I have ever seen her before. This is not to denigrate previous biographies but merely to applaud what Tomalin has achieved, to shine a light on an author who has always managed to hide behind the mania, who has remained private, unknowable. Unlike Dickens who basked in the spotlight or the Brontes who had a cluster of sycophants around to mythologise, Jane Austen managed to fly below the radar. With a host of tight-lipped and highly respectable family members keeping schtum and a personal no-nonsense approach to attention-seeking, the question of who Jane Austen really was has persisted down the centuries meaning that the appetite for biographies remains as fierce as ever. With this though, I can’t help the feeling that Tomalin has managed to capture something of the real woman ...
April 16, 2008
Generally regarded as one of the best biographies, it focuses heavily on Jane’s family, connections, and time period. Not as quick and easy a read as the Penguin biography, but lots of well-written information without too much dubious psycho-analyzing (always a danger because although we have many of Jane’s letters, we don’t have them all, nor do we have opportunity for a Q&A session, nor are our social/family/child-rearing views and expectations necessarily the same as hers). Great details on Jane’s extended family, who were quite a collection of characters.
November 29, 2024
Bazen biyografileri okurken acaba ne kadarı doğru önyargısı ile süzgeçten geçiririm. Tomalin de bende o kadar dürüst inanılır bir gerçekçilikle yazmadığı şüphesini verdi neden se. yinede yazarla ilgili onun dahi okurlarını aldatamayacağı gerçekler var mutlaka.Mine Urgan'nın İngiliz edebiyatı ile ilgili külliyattan tekrardan bir bakmak istiyorum açıkcası. şu anda hatırlamıyorum amma Austen ile ilgili bir şeyler yazmış mı.! Genelde kitabı pek beğenmedim ne varki başka kaynaklar yoktu elimde. Zaten yazara olan hayranlığım öylece bir tarafa atmam hiçbir zaman.
July 23, 2016
I'm too picky by half, it would seem, when it comes to Austen. I had read this about 4 months ago, and it so impressed me that it took 4 months to comment on it. (!?) Make what you will of that. Tomalin is not the greatest of story tellers, and when you're writing "A Life" of someone, for goodness sake, make sure you have a few interesting stories to tell. How can you be boring when you write of Jane Austen? Somehow, Tomalin has managed that, her scholarly efforts notwithstanding.
August 7, 2022
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. A solid and traditional biography of Jane Austen. As the information of her life is limited this focused a lot on her family which I didn't mind at all. The writing is a bit dry at places but definitely worth of read if you want to learn more about the life of Jane Austen.
November 10, 2018
Слишком много Остинов для одной книги и слишком мало самой Джейн. Главный роман — про свою жизнь, Дж.О. Так и не написала. Но книга все же любопытная: черпать вдохновение и сюжеты романистке было откуда - многочисленные соседи и родственники жили весьма нескучно.
September 2, 2007
A must-read for any Jane Austen fan.
September 21, 2025
Perhaps one of the definitive texts on Jane Austen. However some of the terms used and writing style made me uncomfortable and that is the main reason for three stars and the other reason is the amount of irrelevant information. It was a toil.
This said when Tomalin spoke about the background to Austen’s books the text became interesting and well informed.
I do think that this text is well researched however it is judgemental and plain rude in places.
This said when Tomalin spoke about the background to Austen’s books the text became interesting and well informed.
I do think that this text is well researched however it is judgemental and plain rude in places.
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