Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels

2002's "Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels" is author Diedre Le Faye's highly enjoyable survey of the world of romance writer Jane Austen's beloved stories. Austen's novels continue to be popular because her characters are so true to life. However, as Le Faye tellingly notes, the modern reader misses at least some aspects of the novels because we lack understanding of the Georgian and Regency England context in which they occur.Jane Austen left behind only a limited footprint for future biographers: her six completed novels, a few incomplete or juvenile manuscripts, and some surviving letters to family and friends. A few relatives captured further details in memoirs or comments. To expand this limited quantity of information, Le Faye investigates Austen's immediate and extended family, the places she lived or may reasonably have traveled to, the customs and fashions of the day, the class system, and such mundane details as food, clothing, and sanitation.The effect of this, the first half of the book, is to help us better appreciate the novels. In "Pride and Prejudice", the reader can understand why Mr. Darcy's refusal to dance with Elizabeth Bennet at their first meeting was so exceptionally rude, and why Elizabeth could not respond directly to Darcy's letter. In "Emma", the reader learns why her attempts to interest Mr. Elton in Harriet Smith were likely to be understood as Emma's interest in him, thus adding a comical sense of impending disaster to Mr. Elton's eventual marriage proposal to a shocked Emma. In "Sense and Sensibility", we learn why a man could not break an engagement to a woman (although the woman could). Thus, when Edward Feres stood by his prior engagement to Lucy Steele in the face of the opposition of his family, Jane Austen's contemporaries understood this as a noble action, an interpretation less obvious to the modern reader.The second half of the book is an extended review of Jane Austen's novels in the order in which they may have been written. Readers already familiar with Jane Austen's work can skim her gentle literary criticism for some interesting details about the writing of each novel. An example is the startling recollection by one of Jane's nieces that Jane's sister Cassandra advocated for an alternate ending to "Mansfield Park" in which Fanny agreed to marry Henry Crawford. Another example is the likelihood that Jane's brother and literary agent Henry actually selected the titles of her two posthumously published novels, "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey".A few small cautions are in order. Le Faye's discussion of Jane's life mixes mentions of Jane Austen's fictional characters and the members of her real life family in a way that may be confusing to readers new to her work. Le Faye may be overconfident in her speculations about some real life locations as the basis for their fictional counterparts in the novels. The offerings of period portraits as representative of characters in the novels may be helpful to new readers; Jane Austen fans likely already have a mental picture of those characters.This delightful book is highly recommended to fans of the Jane Austen novels and those looking for some social insight into the world of Georgian and Regency England.

This is the one additional book that belongs in EVERY Austen fan's library. It surpasses her brother's treatise and all the secondary novels written about the Austen characters I've read to date. You might, literally, read Jane in one hand and alternate with this book in the other, to gain a fuller perspective of the era and her grand novels. While (happily) it does not elaborate and will never attempt to embellish, it perfectly elucidates and you will find it nearly as encompassing as the works of this great novelist. I could not have been more pleased and it is beautifully covered, well bound and perfectly illustrated.

I found this book disappointing and would not likely have purchased it if I could have looked through it in advance. The information isn't detailed enough (or footnoted) to be a useful reference work (I have better sources of all it's information), nor are there enough unique pictures/illustrations for it to hold my interest as a visual reference. I was hoping it would have more illustrations, particularly pictures of items mentioned in the novels that modern readers might not be familiar with - while there are a handful featured (a black and gold japanned table cabinet remarkably like the one described in Northanger Abbey, for example), I'd like to have seen more of this and less plot synopsis. It's intended not as an exhaustive history of course, but an overview. I would not normally buy a history book that doesn't have notes/sources, but as the author is a noted Austen scholar I trust its facts to be correct. The fun twist here is that Le Faye relates the history to Jane Austen specifically, either her books or self/family/friends.All this being said, it's a handsome volume printed on high quality paper that would be a nice gift for a new Austen fan or someone who is not already quite familiar with late 17th-early 18th century England. Note the cover dust jacket on this (2002, Harry Abrams, NY) edition has the same illustration as an edition of the similarly titled Jane Austen's World by Maggie Lane (2005 Carleton Books) - so just make sure you have the right one before checkout! The Lane book, as well as Jane Austen's Town & Country Style by Susan Watkins are actually more along the lines of what I was looking for.The first half of the book covers "the World" as it relates to Jane Austen: there's a concise history of her family and the places where they lived, and briefly, on the publication of the novels. Subjects also include: Royalty and the Court; the Regency; foreign affairs; the development of the English countryside; travel and transport; London; social ranks; Male occupations (including military careers), education, dress and pursuits; Feminine occupations, fashions, and cosmetics; social activities; cultural pursuits; letters, diaries and journals; needlework and handicrafts; meals and food; shops and shopping;stately homes; the cost of living; fictional houses; domestic interiors; furniture; sanitation; heating, and lighting.In addition to the illustrations there are period maps of relevant parts of England, such as Jane Austen might have used, for those of us (most of us) who don't have the rare, original guidebooks.Approximately half the book is the synopsis of the plots of the novels -but there is also some explanatory material about various relevant things, and this section is likewise illustrated (e.g., portraits of people who could stand in for certain characters, engravings and photos of places that fit the time period/description of homes in the novels - not that Le Faye is suggesting any of them were Austen's inspiration - it's just for fun).

A longtime fan of Jane Austen's novels I really enjoyed this book as a supplemental for information about the culture, politics and era that the novels take place in. I learned a lot fo things about this time period and how it relates to the books. I thought it was a excellent source of information. I also really liked reading the authors interpretations of the books and her character sketches on what she thought some of the main characters would have looked it. This is a great edition for the library of any lover of Jane Austen's works.

If you have questions about why things were happening or what events colored Austen's work this is a book for you. Many of us have had questions as we've read Austen novels or variations/sequels/prequels etc. about history, money, politics, dancing (well you name it) and perhaps wanted to know how accurate were the things we were reading. This well done book will help you answer those questions.

This is a wonderful book, and easy to read, plus contains a lot of pertinent historical information as well as information about Jane and her writing. The correlation of Jane's work and the history of the world at that time is very valuable.

This is without a doubt one of the best Jane Austen related books. Le Faye starts with a concise biography of Jane Austen, to help readers put her life into some sort of historical context. The second part of the book deals with all sorts of Life & Times issues - carriages, clothing, occupations, architecture, coinage, filigree.... and of course she explains that Gowlands Lotion, so heartily recommended by Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion, was actually a sort of chemical peel!The third part of the book looks at each of the novels in turn, and includes the fragments The Watsons and Sandition. Le Faye gives a synopsis of the plot of each novel and along the way picks out things for us that would have needed no explanation to contemporary readers, but may now need some enlargement. For example in the Sense & Sensibility chapter she tells us about the places in London where the characters live or lodge, and what this says about them and their status.On top of all this, the book is beautifully illustrated with period county maps, contemporary portraits that match Austen's character descriptions and of course illustrations of all the Life & Times elements discussed - filigree work, fashion plates, coinage examples, etc. In a word: Excellent!

This is a wonderful book that anyone keen on Jane austen's work will love. I have it and bought another copy for a friend. Very informative and so interesting as it puts the novels in context with places and customs of the time.

Le Faye has written an exceptional book which truly sets the reader in the time period Austen was writing.What impressed me most was the very readable style it has been written in with close attention to all details mentioned in her novels truly assisting the reader to have a feel of what was going on in England socially and economically aswell as highlighting world affairs at the time.A great companion to add depth in ones appreciation of Jane Austen novels as well as detailed explanations to social life and nuiances in Regency England.

Really enjoyed this book setting the works of Jane Austen in context and very well illustrated. Can recommend it to all Jane Austen fans.

delightful...good for austen fans...recommended