Jane Austen: A Life

Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomilan is an excellent biography. For one thing, Ms. Tomilan writes about the facts of Jane Austen's life and doesn't try to embellish her existence. As the she points out in the beginning, Jane Austen's life was one of sorrow and hardship. Although Jane Austen is famous for her wry take on life and detached sense of humor, she lead a life that had many difficulties, Although these days being single is a common option for women, in Jane Austen's day it was not. In the Eighteenth Century, most women married and had many children. Often, the wives were worn out bearing so many babies and died in childbirth. Jane Austen saw at first hand the situation because of her brothers, their wives, and their children. Cassandra, her sister, and she remained "old maids." Because of this, they relied on their family for lodging and care. They were forced to submit to the finances of their family. Even though, Jane Austen produced many famous novels, she had to wait until her father and brother helped her with their publishing. This is the second time that I read the biography and this time I found it very moving. The scenes are fresh and filled with family members. The English countryside is rendered as a vivid place. The trauma that made Jane Austen stop writing for eight years still comes as a shock. This event occurred when her mother and father decided after many years of living in the small town of Steventon, Hampshire, to suddenly move to Bath. Jane, who loved the countryside, her house, and her friends, became unable to continue writing her novels. During this time, Mr. and Mrs. Austen and Jane and Cassandra, traveled a great deal and lived in rented houses. After many years, the family returned to this area of England and eventually settled into a cottage; and Jane once again resumed writing. The book is a wonderful introduction to Jane Austen. The Ms. Tomalin makes a careful study of her many novels, and also shows us the strength that Jane Austen manifested through humor, warmth, and constancy to her family even under stress.

1997's "Jane Austen: A Life" is Claire Tomalin's highly readable, even dramatic account of the life of the popular romance novelist. Jane Austen left little for her future biographers beyond her published novels and some surviving letters and manuscripts. Tomalin addresses Jane in the context of her large and interesting family and their Hampshire friends and relatives. The result doesn't necessarily add a great deal to our limited store of knowledge about Jane Austen; it does provide some interesting insights into her context, and should bury forever any concerns about the source of Austen's acute understanding of human nature or the material for her novels. The good news about "Jane Austen: A Life" is that Claire Tomalin is a gifted writer and her book will be a page-turner for many fans. Tomalin has done her extensive research. In addition, Tomalin is not shy about speculating when it comes to the signficant gaps in our knowledge of Austen's life. Her speculation is generally reasonable and plausible, and almost always fascinating to read. It is less clear how much of the book is reasonable inference from the limited record and how much edges toward historical fiction. Tomalin includes her own literary criticism on Jane Austen's various works. This criticism is frankly hit or miss. Her comments on "Lady Susan" highlight its unusual leading character. Her analysis of the novel fragment "The Watson" explains why Jane Austen never finished it. However, she unfairly slights one of the main characters in "Sense and Sensibility", misreads the fate of Mr. Wickham and Lydia in "Pride and Prejudice", and perhaps misses the point of "Mansfield Park." Readers familiar with Jane Austen's novels can draw their own conclusions. Jane Austen is as vivid as Claire Tomalin can make her in this biography, a clever, acutely observant woman who must on occasion have been a little intimidating in person. She is very much a family person, at the beck and call of brothers, cousins, nieces and nephews all her life. We come to appreciation for how difficult Austen's life was after her father died. Her failure to marry lfet her, her spinster sister Cassandra, and her widowed mother in genteel poverty, dependent on support from her brothers and with few choices about where and how they would live. Unfortunately, Jane's writing did not begin to produce real income before her early death in 1817. "Jane Austen: A Life" is highly recommended as an interesting, even dramatic biography. The book includes an excellent selection of portraits of Jane Austen's family members. It is perhaps ironic that the one verified portrait of Jane Austen in life was said by her family to be inadequate, just as the person behind the novels continues to be elusive to biographers and fans alike.

This book is very valuable for a Jane Austen enthusiast, such as myself. It has brought Jane to life in ways I hadn't realized previously, a thorough, engaging study, to be sure. Its family tree note is part of its very valuable note-system, with its detailed indexing is also to be praised. I only objected to some of Claire's views of Jane's characters, so a reader needs to be prepared for some possibly disputable comments in that respect. Describing Fannie Price in Mansfield Part as a "prig" is a serious misunderstanding of that character, in my view, as one example. But this is minor against the extensive and well-arranged bio--strongly recommended. It was also interesting to read what people close to her thought of her stories, with Emma not doing so well against Pride and Prejudice, whereas Emma is now likely her masterpiece. This study also redoubles the understanding that Jane was a forerunner into modern realism, and as fine a writer as we're likely to find.

I was completely surprised learning about her life. I had the false impression that she led an uneventful life. An old spinster scratching stories in a corner. I was totally mistaken. She had a fascinating life and did enjoy commercial success while she lived. I couldn't help comparing her and Cassandra to Jane and Lizzy. I agree with some of her contemporary critics in that I loved P&P and am not a fan of Mansfield park. She is one of my favorite authors and I was pleased to learn more of her life. The note section of the E-book is clumsy and I couldn't just press the notation number to go back and forth. I think the hardback would be more appreciated especially because of the pictures. I can highly recommend. Gbash

Please AMAZON, look into this matter, I have received a xerox copy of this book "JANE AUSTEN A LIFE BY CLAIR. WHY THESE book STORES gives fake xoreox books to customar? I am totally disspointed and going to cancel all my 3 books on the way.

Etant grande fan des oeuvres de Jane Austen, j'ai lu cette bio avec grand plaisir. Elle est très bien documentée et très bien écrite. Quand bien je connaissais déjà la vie de Jane Austen, j'ai appris de nouveaux détails qui éclairent encore plus la lecture de ses romans.

I’m reading the book and I think it is really interesting and well written!

Wonderful book. An amazing addition to our collection.

Tomalin has obviously done an amazing amount of research into her subject, though sometimes she tends to begin to insert her own ideas of what Jane was thinking, feeling or doing at certain points, which I found a bit annoying. However, though this happened quite regularly, it didn't become so invasive that I had to stop reading, as I have with other biographies in the past.