Jane Austen Boxed Set: Persuasion / Pride and Prejudice / Sense and Sensibility / Mansfield Park / Emma

by Jane Austen

Paperback. Pub Date :2006-10-08 2000 English Penguin Books Northanger AbbeyAbout this Wordsworth ??This Wordsworth Edition includes an Introduction and Notes by David Blair. University of Kent Northanger Abbey tells the story of a young girl. Catherine Morland who leaves her sheltered. rural home to enter the busy. sophisticated world of Bath in the late 1790s. Austen observes with insight and humour the interaction between Catherine and the various characters whom she meets there. and tracks her growing understanding of the world about her. In this. her first full-length novel. Austen also fixes her sharp. ironic gaze on other kinds of contemporary novel. especially the Gothic school made famous by Ann Radcliffe. Catherines reading becomes intertwined with her social and romantic adventures . adding to the uncertainties and embarrassmen...

Genres: Classics, Fiction

Paperback

First published October 8, 2006

About the author

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.

Reviews

[Katie (Romance Novel Quotes)]

Persuasion: Even more lovely than I’d remembered. The best second chance romance of all time?

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Northanger Abby

I have read and reviewed the other books in the collection before. This is the first time to read NA. I enjoyed it a much as I did Jane Austin other books. The h grows up some after her time in Bath. Learning of peoples deceptions and not to make haste judgements.

[Shay Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't write romance but I love reading classic romance books. I am obsessed with Jane Austen and have read these books several times. The writing, the characters, the speech, the strength of the author... All beautiful :)

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i looooove jane austen. i only omit 1 star because of mansfield park -- i hated mansfield park -- the heroine is SO BORING -- so boring she makes elenor from sense and sensibility look like a raging alcoholic stripper! :-o