Emma

by Jane Austen

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Jane Austen’s sass and satire are always wonderful companions, and nowhere are they more prominent than in Emma, the story of a hapless matchmaker and her genuine attempts to spark love. It’s heartfelt, hilarious and an endearing classic.

Esta novela cómica narra una deliciosa historia de confusiones amorosas y delicados sentimientos, donde la señorita Woodhouse, en su empeño por hacer de celestina y de procurar la felicidad amorosa de todas sus amigas, acaba descuidando su propio corazón. Escrita con un estilo esteticista de minucioso detalle y cierto tono intimista, Jane Austen retrata magistralmente la vida social de la época, con sus costumbres y rígida moral.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781407090580
Publisher:	Random House
Publication date:	08/31/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
File size:	539 KB

About the Author

Born in 1775, Jane Austen published four of her six novels anonymously. Her work was not widely read until the late nineteenth century, and her fame grew from then on. Known for her wit and sharp insight into social conventions, her novels about love, relationships, and society are more popular year after year. She has earned a place in history as one of the most cherished writers of English literature.

Date of Birth:

December 16, 1775

Date of Death:

July 18, 1817

Place of Birth:

Village of Steventon in Hampshire, England

Place of Death:

Winchester, Hampshire, England

Education:

Taught at home by her father

Read an Excerpt

Emma

Table of Contents

About the Series

v

About This Volume

vii

About the Text

xi

Part 1

Emma: The Complete Text in Cultural Context

Introduction: Biographical and Historical Contexts

3

The Complete Text

21

Contextual Documents and Illustrations

382

A Riddle

385

Robin Adair

386

from Unfortunate Situation of Females, Fashionably Educated, and Left without a Fortune. (1787)

387

from Letter to His Son (1750)

389

from Essays on the Picturesque (1810)

390

from Our Domestic Policy. No I. (1829)

391

Opinions of Emma (Ca. 1816)

392

Crossed Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra (June 20, 1808)

398

The Frolics of the Sphynx (1820)

399

Square Pianoforte (1805)

400

A Barouche Landau (1805)

401

A View of Box Hill, Surrey (1733)

401

The Lincolnshire Ox (1790)

402

Part 2

Emma: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism

A Critical History of Emma

405

Gender Criticism and Emma

425

What Is Gender Criticism?

425

Gender Criticism: A Selected Bibliography

437

A Gender Studies Perspective: Claudia L. Johnson, "Not at all what a man should be!": Remaking English Manhood in Emma

441

Marxist Criticism and Emma

456

What Is Marxist Criticism?

456

Marxist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography

470

A Marxist Perspective: Beth Fowkes Tobin, Aiding Impoverished Gentlewomen: Power and Class in Emma

473

Cultural Criticism and Emma

488

What Is Cultural Criticism?

488

Cultural Criticism: A Selected Bibliography

503

A Cultural Perspective: Paul Delany, "A Sort of Notch in the Donwell Estate": Intersections of Status and Class in Emma

508

The New Historicism and Emma

524

What Is the New Historicism?

524

The New Historicism: A Selected Bibliography

538

A New Historicist Perspective: Casey Finch and Peter Bowen, "The Tittle-Tattle of Highbury": Gossip and the Free Indirect Style in Emma

543

Feminist Criticism and Emma

559

What Is Feminist Criticism?

559

Feminist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography

569

A Feminist Perspective: Devoney Looser, "The Duty of Woman by Woman": Reforming Feminism in Emma

577

Combining Perspectives on Emma

594

Combining Perspectives: Marilyn Butler, Introduction to Emma

597

Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms

615

About the Contributors

635

What People are Saying About This

Harold. Bloom

"To me, as an American critic, Emma seems the most Englilsh of English novels....It is Austin's masterpiece, the largest triumph of her vigorous art."

From the Publisher

"No one creates silly English characters better than Austen, and Wanda McCaddon is up to the challenge." —-AudioFile

EBOOK COMMENTARY

"To me, as an American critic, Emma seems the most Englilsh of English novels....It is Austin's masterpiece, the largest triumph of her vigorous art."

Reading Group Guide

1. Describe the class and rank of various characters in the village of Highbury. Compare the positions of Mr. Weston, Mr. Elton, Miss Taylor, Harriet, and Emma with others in Highbury. How do matters of class affect the interaction of these characters, and would you describe class as being rigid or flexible as it is depicted by Jane Austen? To what extent can class be said to be of central importance to the development of the novel, since it is one of the most important considerations in marriage? Does class seem to be treated differently by those in Highbury than it does by outsiders, for example Frank Churchill and Mrs. Elton? Do you think it is significant that no woman in Highbury is of Emma's age and rank?

2. How does the relationship between Mr. Knightley and Emma change throughout the course of the novel? Although Austen does not directly tell us what their relationship was like during Emma's childhood, their long and intimate friendship is established at the novel's opening. In light of their occasional quarrels and Knightley's criticisms of Emma, for example, the criticism he made on Box Hill, how does Mr. Knightley feel about Emma? Do Mr. Knightley's feelings change as the novel progresses? If they do, what incidents account for the changes in his feelings?

3. Does Emma act as a good friend to Harriet Smith? Are Emma's concerns for Harriet's education and refinement born of an honest desire to help, or is it something less altruistic? Are Mr. Knightley's criticisms of Emma's interference with Mr. Martin's marriage proposal justified? Does Harriet ultimately benefit from Emma's friendship or her attempts to help her?

4. While matchmaking isthe central device in Emma, both for the plot and as a backdrop to develop characters, not all of the matches made in the novel are good. Compare the matches made between Mr. Weston and Miss Taylor, Emma and Mr. Knightley, Harriet and Mr. Martin, Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill, and Mr. Elton and Mrs. Elton. Which are good matches and which are bad? What character traits in the couples make them suited or unsuited for each other? Why are the mismatches so important to the story?

5. In the final analysis, is Emma a sympathetic character? Does she seem to have good intentions only marred by a slight desire to interfere with other people's lives, or is she thoughtless and unconcerned with the effects she has on others? In your estimation, is Emma ultimately moral or immoral? What specific incidents in the novel lead you to that conclusion?

Editorial Reviews

A great artist, equal in her small sphere to Shakespeare.”—Alfred Lord Tennyson

EBOOK COMMENTARY

"Jane Austen is my favorite author! ... Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers." —EM Forster

From the Publisher

Jane Austen is my favorite author! ... Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers.”

EM Forster

Austen's characters are unquestionably one key to her greatness.”

Guardian (London)

Jane Austen's novels have long been fodder for transference to other media. The same quality that makes such adaptation a good idea also makes it difficult--her elusive tone. When is she kidding? When serious? How to communicate what Sir Walter Scott called "that exquisite touch which renders ordinary, commonplace things and characters interesting?" Performance pros struggle with it as much as everybody else. For this reason, Prunella Scales's interpretation of Emma is most welcome. Scales "nails" it, as actors say. One of England's finest actresses, Scales hits the right note from the beginning and unerringly follows the author's amusing and insightful trajectory to the very end. There are no actorly pyrotechnics here, just Jane Austen, which is certainly good enough for me. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FEB/MAR 99 - AudioFile