Publication
London : HarperPress, 2013.
Original publication date
2012
Collections
Description
This new biography explores the forces that shaped the interior life of one of the most beloved novelists in the English language. Each chapter begins by evoking an object that conjures up a key moment or theme in Austen's life and work. The woman who emerges is far tougher, more socially and politically aware, and altogether more modern that the conventional picture. The book looks at the biographical influences on her work, as well as her boundless wit and energy--Jacket.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Imprinted
An excellent non-traditional biography filled with fascinating background detail and context to Jane Austen's life and work. It was thrilling to learn so much in this one book that was new to me about Austen and her extended circle. This is a real a tribute to Paula Byrne, as I've been a member of
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the Jane Austen Society of North America for years, read several previous biographies as well as the six novels (repeatedly), and attended Austen conferences. But now I'm seeing Austen's work in a new light thanks to Paula Byrne's creative approach. Highly recommended to all, whether you've read Jane Austen before or not. Show Less
LibraryThing member PuddinTame
This is an interesting book for fans of Jane Austen. It should not be the first biography that one reads, since it does not move through her life in a conventional manner and expects a certain amount of knowledge about her life. Instead, it enriches one's understanding of her life by focussing on
For a basic biography, I would recommend Carol Shield's Jane Austen : a life, which is a reliable 120 page account of her life, although it lacks a bibliography. My current favorite among long biographies is John Halperin's The Life of Jane Austen
There are a variety of "specialized" books that focus on Jane Austen life such as Nigel Nicolson and Stephen Colover's The World of Jane Austen: Her Houses in Fact and Fiction which focuses on houses and places she lived in or visited; Audrey Hawkridge's Jane and Her Gentlemen: Jane Austen and the Men in Her Life and Novels which people who enjoy this book would probably also like.
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an item that she would have been familiar with, and enlarges upon its associations with her life. I thought that it was very interesting and gave me a much better feel for Jane Austen as a person. The problem with biographies of famous people is that there is so much material that the book focusses entirely on their public life and accomplishments, and I am very grateful to Byrne for this different approach.For a basic biography, I would recommend Carol Shield's Jane Austen : a life, which is a reliable 120 page account of her life, although it lacks a bibliography. My current favorite among long biographies is John Halperin's The Life of Jane Austen
There are a variety of "specialized" books that focus on Jane Austen life such as Nigel Nicolson and Stephen Colover's The World of Jane Austen: Her Houses in Fact and Fiction which focuses on houses and places she lived in or visited; Audrey Hawkridge's Jane and Her Gentlemen: Jane Austen and the Men in Her Life and Novels which people who enjoy this book would probably also like.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jnwelch
I haven't read Claire Tomalin's Jane Austen biography, but I have read others, like Jane's Fame. The Real Jane Austen is the best I've read so far. Like Shakespeare, there seem to be limited resources for insights into Austen's life, but Paula Byrne has taken the clever approach of looking at
She rebuts the idea that Austen had a sequestered country life, showing how well-traveled she was. She rebuts the idea that she was a lonely spinster, showing her active social life and the several men that were attracted to her. She rebuts the idea that she was isolated from the world of business, showing her fighting determination with publishers and rare ability for a woman writer at that time to make money from her books.
Unexpected topics come up, like homosexuality in the Navy, and race relations. One theme I hadn't thought about, and found quite striking, is: "marriage meant childbirth which quite often meant death." Apparently because of medical ignorance, an excruciatingly large percentage of mothers died in childbirth during her lifetime. The risk taken for love, or financial security, had life and death implications.
The material relating to getting her books published is fascinating, including the infamous purchase of rights in what became Northanger Abbey by a publisher who didn't publish it for 13 years and then sold the rights back to Austen's brother. I also enjoyed the author's information and angles on Austen's writings. This includes some of the lesser-known Austen creations, like the hilarious and woefully under-read Lady Susan: "She is Jane Austen's most unscrupulous, even sadistic, female character", with a hypnotic effect on men. The main attraction is her mind; as she says, "If I am vain of anything, it is of my eloquence." For her, there's nothing better than conquering the reluctant male: "There is exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent spirit, in making a person predetermined to dislike, acknowledge one's superiority." As Byrne says, "Lady Vernon is charming, clever, beautiful, vicious, witty and morally corrupt." Ingredients for a great read.
This is a solid four stars, and probably deserves even better.
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Austen's life and books via 18 objects connected to her, e.g. a family profile done silhouette-style, a shawl from India, a cocked hat, a laptop (i.e. a small portable desk), and a bathing machine.She rebuts the idea that Austen had a sequestered country life, showing how well-traveled she was. She rebuts the idea that she was a lonely spinster, showing her active social life and the several men that were attracted to her. She rebuts the idea that she was isolated from the world of business, showing her fighting determination with publishers and rare ability for a woman writer at that time to make money from her books.
Unexpected topics come up, like homosexuality in the Navy, and race relations. One theme I hadn't thought about, and found quite striking, is: "marriage meant childbirth which quite often meant death." Apparently because of medical ignorance, an excruciatingly large percentage of mothers died in childbirth during her lifetime. The risk taken for love, or financial security, had life and death implications.
The material relating to getting her books published is fascinating, including the infamous purchase of rights in what became Northanger Abbey by a publisher who didn't publish it for 13 years and then sold the rights back to Austen's brother. I also enjoyed the author's information and angles on Austen's writings. This includes some of the lesser-known Austen creations, like the hilarious and woefully under-read Lady Susan: "She is Jane Austen's most unscrupulous, even sadistic, female character", with a hypnotic effect on men. The main attraction is her mind; as she says, "If I am vain of anything, it is of my eloquence." For her, there's nothing better than conquering the reluctant male: "There is exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent spirit, in making a person predetermined to dislike, acknowledge one's superiority." As Byrne says, "Lady Vernon is charming, clever, beautiful, vicious, witty and morally corrupt." Ingredients for a great read.
This is a solid four stars, and probably deserves even better.
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LibraryThing member mbmackay
Wow! The sassy and surprising self confidence of Jane Austen is matched by the confidence and writing skills of a biographer. What a wonderful read.
This is probably not best described as a biography of Austen, but Paula Byrne does the equivalent of a biography by knitting together aspects of
The end result is a detailed image of Austen that turned my views upside down. Far from the mousey small town reclusive vicars daughter of my understanding - Austen come across as smart, opinionated, assured, travelled and confident. The bursting into the world of Pride and Prejudice is less surprising as a result.
Thank you Paula Byrne.
Read Feb 2016
This is probably not best described as a biography of Austen, but Paula Byrne does the equivalent of a biography by knitting together aspects of
Show More
Austen's life, basing each episode on some tangible item - Austen's teenage journal; a painting of bathing machines and so on.The end result is a detailed image of Austen that turned my views upside down. Far from the mousey small town reclusive vicars daughter of my understanding - Austen come across as smart, opinionated, assured, travelled and confident. The bursting into the world of Pride and Prejudice is less surprising as a result.
Thank you Paula Byrne.
Read Feb 2016
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LibraryThing member jillmwo
If you are anything of a Jane-ite, you must read Paula Byrne’s book, The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things. Let me be very clear. It is not a biography in the conventional sense. It does not follow a linear narrative from birth to death. Instead, like a tour through any Jane Austen shrine
For example, there is a chapter early in the book entitled The East Indian Shawl that goes over some of Austen’s extended family’s history and travel to India. Her aunt, Philadelphia, in 1752 took the extraordinary step of taking ship with the plain ambition of finding a husband amongst what author Byrne refers to as “the lonely businessmen, soldiers and administrators who worked in the East Indies.” Phila succeeds in her aim, but the story becomes even more interesting after her marriage, One of Jane’s cousins was apparently the result of an adulterous relationship -- not something that gets covered in a standard Austen biography but the story surrounding this cousin (Eliza Hancock) is used to illuminate for us the idea that Jane was exposed to a great deal more information about the expanding economic and political shifts that were impacting on her safe world at home. She wasn’t just the spinster aunt writing at the vicarage desk in between housekeeping duties. Every chapter is used to bring this woman forward as a person, fleshed out and delightful to know. Claire Tomalin’s biography is excellent if you want the facts of Austen’s life, but Byrne’s work fleshes out far more completely the real woman, a woman who was smart enough to know when to bow to convention and dedicate a work to the Prince Regent (whom she disliked) when it was useful to her to sell a work and thereby earn a better living for herself. She paid attention to her appearance (caps, long sleeves, curls, etc.)
Every chapter focuses on an aspect of Austen’s life through items such as topaz crosses on a chain (remember Mansfield Park?) or a painting of the socially prominent Dido (again, pertaining to Mansfield Park) to note the socially-charged issues that permeate Austen’s work. She was not writing genre romance novels; she was writing for the mainstream readership of her time. In particular, I appreciated Byrne's attention to Austen’s less popular works, such as Mansfield Park and Lady Susan.
Heartily recommended
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(whether Chawton or Stoneleigh Abbey), it picks up on a few physical items tied to the author and expands on just how those items relate to the author’s work or life experience. Someone here on LT complained that this book was choppy in its presentation, but I think the real issue is that the book presumes a fairly solid familiarity with the particulars of Jane’s life and works, a familiarity that the casual reader may not really have. At the same time, those with more than a passing acquaintance with Austen will be pleased to read this and discover much that they may never have known or properly understood in context. The book is lively and chock full of details that otherwise might never come to the general Austen fan. For example, there is a chapter early in the book entitled The East Indian Shawl that goes over some of Austen’s extended family’s history and travel to India. Her aunt, Philadelphia, in 1752 took the extraordinary step of taking ship with the plain ambition of finding a husband amongst what author Byrne refers to as “the lonely businessmen, soldiers and administrators who worked in the East Indies.” Phila succeeds in her aim, but the story becomes even more interesting after her marriage, One of Jane’s cousins was apparently the result of an adulterous relationship -- not something that gets covered in a standard Austen biography but the story surrounding this cousin (Eliza Hancock) is used to illuminate for us the idea that Jane was exposed to a great deal more information about the expanding economic and political shifts that were impacting on her safe world at home. She wasn’t just the spinster aunt writing at the vicarage desk in between housekeeping duties. Every chapter is used to bring this woman forward as a person, fleshed out and delightful to know. Claire Tomalin’s biography is excellent if you want the facts of Austen’s life, but Byrne’s work fleshes out far more completely the real woman, a woman who was smart enough to know when to bow to convention and dedicate a work to the Prince Regent (whom she disliked) when it was useful to her to sell a work and thereby earn a better living for herself. She paid attention to her appearance (caps, long sleeves, curls, etc.)
Every chapter focuses on an aspect of Austen’s life through items such as topaz crosses on a chain (remember Mansfield Park?) or a painting of the socially prominent Dido (again, pertaining to Mansfield Park) to note the socially-charged issues that permeate Austen’s work. She was not writing genre romance novels; she was writing for the mainstream readership of her time. In particular, I appreciated Byrne's attention to Austen’s less popular works, such as Mansfield Park and Lady Susan.
Heartily recommended
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LibraryThing member Pamici
Such a good book. I found myself dragging my feet on the last chapter and epilogue because I didn't want to be finished. Wonderful, clever concept to use significant artifacts to move the biography along and to more clearly illuminate Austen's life and works. I enjoyed it from cover to cover and
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recommend it highly! Show Less
LibraryThing member cameling
Referencing letters, notes and objects she cherished in her personal life, the author provides an interesting biography of Jane Austen. Within lie many links between the characters in the books she wrote and characters she grew up with or met along her life's journey. Through stories told to her by
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her seafaring and clergyman brothers as well as a favorite rather wild aunt who had lived in France, in addition to their letters and gifts, Jane Austen broadened and enriched the lives of her characters beyond what she herself may have personally experienced. Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Paula Byrne takes several items belonging to Jane Austen or of her era and talks about how they were an influence or a inspiration on her. How they reflect her life and the kind of person she was, there's colour illustrations of the sketches that are the theme of the book and now, dammit, I have to
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find my writing slope, get it recovered and use the damned thing. Show Less
LibraryThing member nancyadair
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
Of particular interest are insights into Austen's novel Mansfield Park.
Jane had visited the estate of the real Lord Mansfield who adopted a niece to be their heir. She was raised with Dido, the illegitimate daughter of Mansfield's nephew and an enslaved black woman. Byrnes explores Jane's knowledge of slavery through Mansfield, close and distant relatives, and her naval brother Franks' interception of slave vessels and his abolitionist beliefs. The Norris family name also had associations, for it was the name of a notorious slave trader.
Byrnes dissects the background to the novel's plot as reflecting what was going on in Antigua, the reliance on slave labor, the depletion of the soil, and brewing unrest. She notes that Fanny is the only one who wished to ask Mr. Bertram about the slave trade.
After reading Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, I was the only one of my university classmates who liked Mansfield Park. The morally superior, powerless, and sensitive Fanny stood her ground, which impressed me. But I did not consider what Byrnes addresses: that the word 'home' was used 140 times in the novel. She asserts that the importance of home is a main theme. "Is it a place or is it a family?", she queries. One of the transformative events in my life was moving at age ten, leaving me homesick and forever wondering about true homes and the homes we make out of necessity.
We can only know Austen through her surviving letters, her novels, and one authenticated portrait--of her back. I appreciate Byrnes deep exploration of these sources which helps to further fill out our understanding of the 'real' Jane Austen.
Byrne's book is entertaining and I enjoyed reading it. She considers Austen through the lens of physical objects that impacted her
Show More
life. Yes, the famous amber cross gifted by her brother is one, and her writing desk gifted from her father. Also, the card of lace her aunt was accused of stealing and the bathing machines Austen would have used when staying at her beloved oceanside resorts. Each object is symbolic of an aspect of Austen's life discussed in the chapter. Of particular interest are insights into Austen's novel Mansfield Park.
Jane had visited the estate of the real Lord Mansfield who adopted a niece to be their heir. She was raised with Dido, the illegitimate daughter of Mansfield's nephew and an enslaved black woman. Byrnes explores Jane's knowledge of slavery through Mansfield, close and distant relatives, and her naval brother Franks' interception of slave vessels and his abolitionist beliefs. The Norris family name also had associations, for it was the name of a notorious slave trader.
Byrnes dissects the background to the novel's plot as reflecting what was going on in Antigua, the reliance on slave labor, the depletion of the soil, and brewing unrest. She notes that Fanny is the only one who wished to ask Mr. Bertram about the slave trade.
After reading Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, I was the only one of my university classmates who liked Mansfield Park. The morally superior, powerless, and sensitive Fanny stood her ground, which impressed me. But I did not consider what Byrnes addresses: that the word 'home' was used 140 times in the novel. She asserts that the importance of home is a main theme. "Is it a place or is it a family?", she queries. One of the transformative events in my life was moving at age ten, leaving me homesick and forever wondering about true homes and the homes we make out of necessity.
We can only know Austen through her surviving letters, her novels, and one authenticated portrait--of her back. I appreciate Byrnes deep exploration of these sources which helps to further fill out our understanding of the 'real' Jane Austen.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nx74defiant
I learned a lot about Jane Austen's family and her times. This does not go in chronological order. It uses "small things" as a jumping off point to expand on her life, family and times.
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
9780007358335
Physical description
xi, 380 p.; 24 cm
Pages
xi; 380