In The Real Jane Austen, acclaimed literary biographer Paula Byrne provides the most intimate and revealing portrait yet of a beloved but complex novelist.Just as letters and tokens in Jane Austen’s novels often signal key turning points in the narrative, Byrne explores the small things – a scrap of paper, a gold chain, an ivory miniature – that held significance in Austen’s personal and creative … personal and creative life.
Byrne transports us to different worlds, from the East Indies to revolutionary Paris, and to different events, from a high society scandal to a case of petty shoplifting. In this ground-breaking biography, Austen is set on a wider stage than ever before, revealing a well-traveled and politically aware writer – important aspects of her artistic development that have long been overlooked.
The Real Jane Austen is a fresh, compelling, and surprising biography of the author of some of our most enduring classic books – from Pride and Prejudice to Sense and Sensibility, Emma to Persuasion – and a vivid evocation of the world that shaped her.
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This was a lovely and fascinating way to take a fresh look at Jane Austen. Seeing her world through the things that she used and loved made her come alive. The quotations from her letters could have been written last night. The censoring and filtering done by early biographers was a tremendous disservice–do yourself a favor and read this one.
Every scholar brings their own interpretations and insights to their subject. No matter how many books on Jane Austen I read, there is always something new to learn.
Byrne’s book is entertaining and I enjoyed reading it. She considers Austen through the lens of physical objects that impacted her life. Yes, the famous amber cross gifted by her …
It was interesting to read someone else’s views on it, that’s all.
This is a fine scholarly work and roughly follows a timeline; however, in order to include clarification of info it became tedious, confusing and boring since there was no plot.
A different interpretation of Jane Austen which takes a look at her world perspective rather than a limiting view of her life and times.
Not in chronological order so sometimes confusing. We’ll written and informative.
Very well-written. I loved the author’s choices of theme to use to elaborate on Jane Austen’s life. I haven’t read a great deal about her life, and now feel much more familiar with her.
An entertaining way to spend two days while sidelined by a sore knee.
Always interested in books about Jane Austen. Unique approach to discussing Jane Austen’s life along with excerpts from her novels.
Interesting, no traditional view of Jane Austen’s life.
The book have a better picture of Jane Austen than what is usually portrayed. It carefully linked her life experiences into instances in her books. An easy read.
Very good to know more about Jane Austen and understand where she found characters and settings. It seems well researched and is cautious about attributing judgemental feelings to Austen. Her amazing wit is still unexplained. Although the Austens moved around often because of their need to make a home wherever and with whomever they could among …
So very plausible as one reads it. I don’t usually like fictionalized biographies, but this was an exception. Fun!
This book tries to give insight into Jane’s real life, her friends and family , by tying them to the characters in her books. It does not succeed.