Synopses & Reviews
Jon Spence's fascinating biography of Jane Austen paints an intimate portrait of the much-loved novelist. Spence's meticulous research has, perhaps most notably, uncovered evidence that Austen and the charming young Irishman Tom Lefroy fell in love at the age of twenty and that the relationship inspired
Pride and Prejudice, one of the most celebrated works of fiction ever written.
Becoming Jane Austen gives the fullest account we have of the romance, which was more serious and more enduring than previously believed. Seeing this love story in the context of Jane Austen's whole life enables us to appreciate the profound effect the relationship had on her art and on subsequent choices that she made in her life.
Full of insight and with an attentive eye for detail, Spence explores Jane Austen's emotional attachments and the personal influences that shaped her as a novelist. His elegant narrative provides a point of entry into Jane Austen's world as she herself perceived and experienced it. It is a world familiar to us from her novels, but in Becoming Jane Austen, Austen herself is the heroine.
Review
"Jon Spence's Becoming Jane Austen is one of the best half-dozen books published on Austen in the last quarter century. This is a book full of wisdom about [Jane Austen] and her art." Joseph Wiesenfarth, JASNA News
Review
"Becoming Jane Austen is a good, traditional biography. Clearly written, jargon-free and pleasant to read, it covers familiar ground without any sense of fatigue and makes the most of the material." Peter Washington, The Literary Review
Review
"It is the small incidents that Jon Spence puts under the microscope in his entertaining and sensitive biography. Jon Spence is painstaking, delicate, full of insight a somehow fitting, friendly biographer." Joceline Bury, Jane Austen's Regency World Magazine
Synopsis
Jon Spence's fascinating biography of Jane Austen paints an intimate portrait of the much-loved novelist. Spence's meticulous research has, perhaps most notably, uncovered evidence that Austen and the charming young Irishman Tom Lefroy fell in love at the age of twenty and that the relationship inspired Pride and Prejudice, one of the most celebrated works of fiction ever written. Becoming Jane Austen gives the fullest account we have of the romance, which was more serious and more enduring than previously believed. Seeing this love story in the context of Jane Austen's whole life enables us to appreciate the profound effect the relationship had on her art and on subsequent choices that she made in her life.Full of insight and with an attentive eye for detail, Spence explores Jane Austen's emotional attachments and the personal influences that shaped her as a novelist. His elegant narrative provides a point of entry into Jane Austen's world as she herself perceived and experienced it. It is a world familiar to us from her novels, but in Becoming Jane Austen, Austen herself is the heroine.
About the Author
Jon Spence is an American and was educated at King's College, London University. He has lived abroad for many years and now divides his time between London and Sydney. He is the editor of A Century of Wills from Jane Austen's Family and Jane Austen's Brother Abroad: The Grand Tour Journals of Edward Austen. He acted as Historical Consultant on the film Becoming Jane.
Table of Contents
IllustrationsAcknowledgements1 Legacies2 Home3 Scenes4 The Good Apprentice5 History6 Love and Art7 Place8 Ways of Escape9 Money10 Work11 The World12 The BodyAppendixNotesBibliographyIndex