Some books help you learn to read about the author; others allow you to actually hear the author’s presence. This small, delightful group of items drawn from Jane Austen’s early writings is in the latter category. They are much more than mere writings made as a teenager—these writings show many of the same kinds of traits Austen will eventually use to create her masterpieces. They contain both the youthful angst and humor that so many authors try to forge but typically do not possess. In short, they show us Jane Austen finding herself as a comedian.
This book is so charming because it possesses a certain level of imbalance, with Austen gently ridiculing the hyper-sentimentality of romanticism through the mad exaggeration of youth. For example, “Love and Friendship” (the original spelling from the manuscript) satirizes the sometimes-dramatic “fainting fit” syndrome and the sensitively outrageous sentiments fashionable during its time; in addition, the two epistolary sections, the letters (which are mostly written to each other) and the little skits, are all portrayed in a humorous manner (the mock-epic loverbirds), in breathless declarations of love, and abrupt plot twists all fit into their respective categories as “over the top.” The same irreverence found in the mock-epic snippets is also present in the comedic vignettes and the mock-historical “History of England“; in these works, we observe a similar kind of mock-pastiche that treats history as a form of literary amusement rather than as a source of historical reference or informal, satirical writing. Overall, Austen has shown that she could take several different forms of writing (letters, one-act plays, memos, etc.) and create a parodic version of them.
There are two important features to be aware of in this work: first is the voice, where even though at times it may appear to be “wild,” there will always be a core irony to the prose similar to what one will find in “Austen’s works,” comprising an economy of phrase use, moral slyness, and a recording of “human pretension” through the simple act of reporting it; secondly, the historical significance behind this manuscript makes it more than just some private doodlings the author had laid out for herself, thus allowing us to see what is for many individuals today an important part of literary history that was carefully preserved because of its musicality, imagery, etc., and this includes Austen’s family’s continued ownership until after the 1940s.
The second feature relates directly to the first, in that there were many owners (from Cassandra (Jane’s sister) through a long chain of family owners) of the manuscript, and therefore there is a strong historic attachment to the text, as indicated by the arrival of this new edition, which provides us with an extensive collection of how these manuscripts have changed over time from their original compositions until they reached printed form in the late twentieth century.
Those who already know Austen through her later works will have a ball reading her early examples of characters and devices that would show up in the later novels: the mockingly literal father figures, the comic-like nerves that create distance from their fainting spells, and the social map of the small towns where she would later navigate with such accuracy. But it’s a pretty quick read even for those without any prior exposure; the humor comes quickly in the text, the cadence of sentences is swift, and the tone is not overly strict.
The book also looks good as a printed item; the 1922 version reproduces the original manuscripts and includes a really good preface/note section that will help put the pieces into perspective for the reader (the publisher listed in the book actually published this volume).
This collection of work will assist you in avoiding the detrimental effects of excessive emotional attachment. Read each piece in this collection as if it were a personal message to you. Additionally, to help you summarize Jane Austen’s life history in a humorous and meaningful way, we have also included related writing topics that show how laughter (not tears) as a young woman has contributed to her to greatness as a novelist.
