19th century
Because Austen's novels failed to conform to Romantic and Victorian expectations that "powerful
emotion [be] authenticated by an egregious display of sound and colour in the writing",[97] 19thcentury critics and audiences generally preferred the works of Charles Dickens and George
Eliot.[98] Though Austen's novels were republished in Britain beginning in the 1830s and remained
steady sellers, they were not bestsellers.[99]
One of the first two published illustrations of Pride and Prejudice, from the Richard Bentley edition.[100]Caption
reads: "She then told him [Mr Bennett] what Mr Darcy had voluntarily done for Lydia. He heard her with
astonishment."
Austen had many admiring readers in the 19th century who considered themselves part of a literary
elite: they viewed their appreciation of Austen's works as a mark of their cultural taste. Philosopher
and literary critic George Henry Lewes expressed this viewpoint in a series of enthusiastic articles
published in the 1840s and 1850s.[101] This theme continued later in the century with novelist Henry
James, who referred to Austen several times with approval and on one occasion ranked her with
Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Henry Fielding as among "the fine painters of life".[102]
The publication of James Edward Austen-Leigh's A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869 introduced
Austen to a wider public as "dear aunt Jane", the respectable maiden aunt. Publication of
the Memoir spurred the reissue of Austen's novels the first popular editions were released in 1883
and fancy illustrated editions and collectors' sets quickly followed.[103] Author and critic Leslie
Stephen described the popular mania that started to develop for Austen in the 1880s as
"Austenolatry".[104] Around the start of the 20th century, members of the literary elite reacted against
the popularization of Austen. They referred to themselves as Janeites in order to distinguish
themselves from the masses who did not properly understand her works.[105] For example, Henry
James responded negatively to what he described as "a beguiled infatuation" with Austen, a rising
tide of public interest that exceeded Austen's "intrinsic merit and interest".[106]
During the last quarter of the 19th century, the first books of criticism on Austen were published. In
fact, after the publication of theMemoir, more criticism was published on Austen in two years than
had appeared in the previous fifty.[107]
20th century and beyond
Several important works paved the way for Austen's novels to become a focus of academic study.
The first important milestone was a 1911 essay by Oxford Shakespearean scholar A. C. Bradley,
which is "generally regarded as the starting-point for the serious academic approach to Jane
Austen".[108] In it, he established the groupings of Austen's "early" and "late" novels, which are still
used by scholars today.[109] The second was R. W. Chapman's 1923 edition of Austen's collected
works. Not only was it the first scholarly edition of Austen's works, it was also the first scholarly
edition of any English novelist. The Chapman text has remained the basis for all subsequent
published editions of Austen's works.[110] With the publication in 1939 of Mary Lascelles's Jane
Austen and Her Art, the academic study of Austen took hold.[111] Lascelles's innovative work included
an analysis of the books Jane Austen read and the effect of her reading on her work, an extended
analysis of Austen's style, and her "narrative art". At the time, concern arose over the fact that
academics were taking over Austen criticism and it was becoming increasingly esoteric a debate
that has continued to the beginning of the 21st century.[112]
Janeite cookies
In a spurt of revisionist views in the 1940s, scholars approached Austen more sceptically and argued
that she was a subversive writer. These revisionist views, together with F. R. Leavis's and Ian Watt's
pronouncement that Austen was one of the great writers of English fiction, did much to cement
Austen's reputation amongst academics.[113] They agreed that she "combined [Henry Fielding's
and Samuel Richardson's] qualities of interiority and irony, realism and satire to form an author
superior to both".[114] The period since World War II has seen more scholarship on Austen using a
diversity
of
critical
approaches,
including feminist
theory,
and
perhaps
most
controversially,postcolonial theory. However, the continuing disconnection between the popular
appreciation of Austen, particularly by modern Janeites, and the academic appreciation of Austen
has widened considerably. Jane Austen was the favourite novelist of political philosopher Leo
Strauss.[115]
Sequels, prequels, and adaptations of almost every sort have been based on the novels of Jane
Austen, from soft-core pornography to fantasy.[116] Beginning in the middle of the 19th century,
Austen family members published conclusions to her incomplete novels, and by 2000 there were
over 100 printed adaptations.[117] The first film adaptation was the 1940 MGM production of Pride and
Prejudice starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson.[118] BBC television dramatisations, which were
first produced in the 1970s, attempted to adhere meticulously to Austen's plots, characterisations,
and settings.[119] In 1995 a great wave of Austen adaptations began to appear, with Ang Lee's film
of Sense and Sensibility, for which screenwriter and star Emma Thompson won an Academy Award,
and the BBC's immensely popular TV mini-series Pride and Prejudice, starring Jennifer
Ehle and Colin Firth.[120]
Books and scripts that use the general storyline of Austen's novels but change or otherwise
modernise
the
story
also
became
popular
at
the
end
of
the
20th
century.
For
example, Clueless (1995), Amy Heckerling's updated version of Emma, which takes place in Beverly
Hills, became a cultural phenomenon and spawned its own television series.[121] In 1994, American
literary critic Harold Bloom placed Austen among the greatest Western Writers of all time.[122] In a
2002 poll to determine whom the UK public considers the greatest British people in history, Austen
was ranked number 70 in the list of the "100 Greatest Britons".[123] In 2003, Austen's Pride and
Prejudice came second in the BBC's The Big Read, a national poll to find the "Nation's best-loved
book."[124]
In 2007, the article Rejecting Jane by British author David Lassman, which examined how Austen
would fare in the modern day publishing industry,[125][126][127][128][129] achieved worldwide attention when
Austen's worksubmitted under a pseudonymwas rejected by numerous publishers.[130]
List of works
Library
resources about
Jane Austen
Online books
Resources in your library
Resources in other libraries
By Jane Austen
Online books
Resources in your library
Resources in other libraries
Novels
Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Mansfield Park (1814)
Emma (1815)
Northanger Abbey (1818, posthumous)
Persuasion (1818, posthumous)
Short fiction
Lady Susan (1794, 1805)
Unfinished fiction
The Watsons (1804)
Sanditon (1817)
Other works
Sir Charles Grandison (adapted play) (1793, 1800)[131]
Plan of a Novel (1815)
Poems (1796-1817)
Prayers (1796-1817)
Letters (1796-1817)
Last page (p.4) of a letter from Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra, dated June 11, 1799, and signed "Yours
affectionately, Jane" [132]
Juvenilia Volume the First (17871793) [133]
Frederic & Elfrida
Jack & Alice
Edgar & Emma
Henry and Eliza
The Adventures of Mr. Harley
Sir William Mountague
Memoirs of Mr. Clifford
The Beautifull Cassandra
Amelia Webster
The Visit
The Mystery
The Three Sisters
A beautiful description
The generous Curate
Ode to Pity
Juvenilia Volume the Second (17871793)
Love and Freindship
Lesley Castle
The History of England
A Collection of Letters
The female philosopher
The first Act of a Comedy
A Letter from a Young Lady
A Tour through Wales
A Tale
Juvenilia Volume the Third (17871793)
Evelyn
Catharine, or the Bower
