HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

Emma (1815)

by Jane Austen

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
37,78250562 (4.06)3 / 1746
Emma is a literary classic by Jane Austen following the genteel women of Georgian-Regency England in their most cherished sport: matchmaking. Emma is spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied. After a couple she has introduced gets married, she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities and, blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives, proceeds to forge ahead in her new interest despite objections. What follows is a comedy of manners, in which Emma repeatedly counsels her friends for or against their marriage prospects, absent any notice of their true emotions or desires. This story is often cited as a personal favorite of critics and literary historians, and Emma is set apart from other Austen heroines by her seeming immunity to romantic attraction.… (more)
  1. 167
    Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (ncgraham)
    ncgraham: Flora is very clearly modeled on Emma.
  2. 83
    The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (Sarasamsara)
    Sarasamsara: Like Austen's novels, The Makioka Sisters traces the daily lives and romances of an upper-class family-- the only difference is that this is pre-war Japan, not Regency England. Like in one of Austen's works, when you close the novel you feel like you are closing the door on someone's life.… (more)
  3. 61
    Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (kara.shamy)
    kara.shamy: In some ways the heroines in these two novels are alike, but they are very different in other respects, and more strikingly, their respective journeys to the altar/married life go in diametrically opposite ways, in a sense! Both are true classics in my estimation; reading these two novels exposes the reader to two of the greatest English-language novelists of all time in the height of their respective powers. While all readers and critics do not and will not share this superlative view, few would dispute these are two early female masters of the form and are well worth a read on that humbler basis ;) Enjoy!… (more)
  4. 74
    Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant (nessreader)
    nessreader: Both Emma and Miss M are about ambitious, capable upper class women who can only express themselves as social hostesses. Both heroines are managing and bossy - Miss M, a generation younger, is played more for laughs, but there is a strong parallel. And both end in utter satisfaction for heroine and reader alike.… (more)
  5. 23
    The Scandal of the Season: A Novel by Sophie Gee (SandSing7)
  6. 24
    The Victorian Governess by Kathryn Hughes (susanbooks)
    susanbooks: Though Austen is writing before the Victorian age, Hughes' book helps give an idea of the kind of life Jane Fairfax was facing.
  7. 25
    The Espressologist by Kristina Springer (dizzyweasel)
    dizzyweasel: Adorable remake of Emma, set in a coffeehouse with a matchmaking barista.
  8. 612
    Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (roby72)
AP Lit (90)
1810s (5)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

» See also 1746 mentions

English (477)  Italian (7)  Spanish (7)  Swedish (3)  French (2)  Portuguese (1)  Greek (1)  Danish (1)  Catalan (1)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Dutch (1)  Lithuanian (1)  German (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (505)
Showing 1-5 of 477 (next | show all)
I've read Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion, both of which I really enjoyed, but I just could not get into Emma. To put it bluntly, bat s**t boring. Didn't even finish. ( )
  jadepol | Mar 5, 2024 |
The rigid class snobbery is perfectly designed to annoy the feck out of me, but I have to admit it’s a pretty smashing book. ( )
  lelandleslie | Feb 24, 2024 |
While overall a good book, I found it incredibly longwinded. After about 20 chapters, I switched to consuming it as an audiobook, which I enjoyed more - in fact, I find it might be the best way to consume it, as it truly serves to immerse one more. Still, I would had preferred it to be a bit shorter. Emma is a character I still do not have a full grasp on, even after over 50 chapters, which I think is a shame. However, it is very skillfully written. ( )
  Danianise | Feb 15, 2024 |
I've loved this book for a long time, but rereading it last week, I almost dropped it when Mr. Knightley tells Emma he's been in love with her since she was 13. He would've been 29 when she was 13. Ugh. I know, I know, it was a different time, but still. CREEPY. Somehow in the years since I last read Emma, Mr. Knightley had become in my imagination a nearly decent 30 years old. He's only 10 years older than Emma, right? No, no. Watch yourself, people. When you start romanticizing romances you know you've lost your edge.

Okay. What I'll tell myself is that Mr. Knightley was in love with teenage Emma in a totally pure way. Like in that movie Beautiful Girls where Timothy Hutton thinks a young Natalie Portman is a really great kid and wishes he could wait ten years and marry her because she's so cool. Yeah, that's more okay. I guess it's all okay. Of all of Austen's books that I've read, Emma is the one where the two romantic leads spend the most time together actually falling in love. So there's that. ( )
  LibrarianDest | Jan 3, 2024 |
This story is a lot of fun and continues to hold up well on every re-read. Emma is perhaps the most realistic of Austen's protagonists - a wealthy young woman who has always been the biggest fish in her little pond, spoiled, vain, arrogant, and petty. But she means well, and eventually matures as she makes blunder after blunder, not learning from the first mistake, or even the second, but she gets there in the end.

This story also features two of my favorite fictional characters - Mr. and Mrs. Elton, who thoroughly deserve one another.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library. Nadia May's narration is outstanding. ( )
  Doodlebug34 | Jan 1, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 477 (next | show all)
That’s why Emma has become the Austen novel that I can’t stand. By the end, Emma has improved her character at the cost of giving up the one thing I liked about her: her efforts to change the social order, to make a stir, to break the silly class attachments of her society.
added by vibesandall | editBook Riot, Leah Rachel von Essen (Jul 18, 2017)
 
The institution of marriage, like the novel itself, has changed greatly since Austen’s time; but as long as human beings long for this kind of mutual recognition and understanding, “Emma” will live.
added by danielx | editNew York TImes, Adam Kirsch (pay site) (Dec 27, 2015)
 

“Perhaps the key to Emma’s perfection, however, is that it is a comic novel, written in a mode that rarely gets much respect. It’s exquisitely ironic.”

“The presiding message of the novel is that we must forgive Emma for her shortcomings just as she can and does learn to excuse the sometimes vexing people around her. There is, I believe, more wisdom in that than in many, many more portentous and ambitious novels. Emma is flawed, but ‘Emma’ is flawless."
added by danielx | editSalon.com, Laura Miller (Dec 23, 2015)
 
It’s a small but striking and instructive demonstration, the careful way Emma appraises the character of the various men who jockey for her attentions and those of the women around her. We could all learn from her example.
added by danielx | editNew York Times, Anna Holmes (pay site) (Dec 1, 2015)
 
"In January 1814, Jane Austen sat down to write a revolutionary novel. Emma, the book she composed over the next year, was to change the shape of what is possible in fiction."

"The novel’s stylistic innovations allow it to explore not just a character’s feelings, but, comically, her deep ignorance of her own feelings. "

"Those who condemn the novel by saying that its heroine is a snob miss the point. Of course she is. But Austen, with a refusal of moralism worthy of Flaubert, abandons her protagonist to her snobbery and confidently risks inciting foolish readers to think that the author must be a snob too"
 

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Austen, Janeprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Agutter, JennyNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Alfsen, MereteTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Barnes, Annettesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bastin, MarjoleinIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Beck, Angelikasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Beechey, WilliamCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bergvall, SonjaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bertolucci, AttilioIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bickford-smith, CoralieIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Blake, VictoriaContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Blythe, RonaldEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Born, AdolfIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bown, NicolaIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bradbury, NicolaIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brock, C. E.Illustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brotherus, AuneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Butler, MarilynIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Carter, RonaldEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Castle, TerryIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Chapman, ConstanceEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Chapman, R. W.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Church, RichardIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Clark, RobertContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Connelly, Sam WolfeIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Conrad, PeterEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cronin, RichardEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Csanak, Dóra, F.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Daleski, H. M.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Davies, AndrewEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
De Zordo, OrnellaIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dedeu, AlbaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dickens, MonicaIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Drabble, MargaretIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Duckworth, Alistair M.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Duffy, John DennisIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dyke, Mildasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Eccles, Donaldsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Faverty, Frederic E.secondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ferguson, FrancesEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ferrer i Costa, Josepsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fitzgerald, PenelopeIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Forbes, DeborahAuthorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fraser, AlisonIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Froggatt, JoanneNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gibbons, StellaIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gough, PhilipIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Grawe, ChristianTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Grawe, UrsulaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Grossman, Debrasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Guerra, JuaniEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hallas, JaakkoEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Halperin, Johnsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Harad, AlyssaEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hassall, JoanIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Höckendorf, HorstTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Henze, HeleneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hough, GrahamEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jeffries, SabrinaAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Johnson, R. BrimleyIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jomantienė, Irenasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jong, Akkie deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Justice, GeorgeEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kangur, MartTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kinsley, JamesEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Klett, ElizabethNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Klinckowstroem, Charlotte vonTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kondrysová, EvaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kredel, FritzIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kronenberger, LouisIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lamont, Clairesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lane, MaggiePrefacesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lang, Belindasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Langholm, Odd IngeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lascelles, MaryEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Le Faye, DeirdreIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Leisi, IlseTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lisemore, Martinsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Litz, A. WaltonIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lodge, DavidIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Loftus, AislingNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lucas, E. V.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lycett, AndrewForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Maffi, Brunosecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Marcus, StevenIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Masters, Jillsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mathias, RobertCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mattes, Evasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
McCaddon, WandaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
McMillan, DorothyEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Meneghelli, PietroTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Millson, JosephNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Montazzoli, Paulsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Morgan, VictoriaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Motion, AndrewForewordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Moulton, CarrollAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nenadál, RadoslavAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nielsen, Rose-Mariesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nordon, PierreTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Page, MichaelNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Papetti, Violasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Parrish, Stephen M.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pinch, AdelaIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pinching, DavidAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Polderman-de Vries, C.W.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Praz, MarioTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pujol, CarlosTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Puttapipat, NirootIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rattus, UrmasTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Robinson, MorganaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Roeleveld, AnneliesTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ross, JosephinePrefacesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Salesse-Lavergne, JosetteTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Samuelian, Kristin FliegerEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sanderson, CarolinePrefacesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Scales, PrunellaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schorer, Marksecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schröeder, J.A.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schulz, HelgaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sewell, WilliamIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
SeyrÚs, HélÚneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Shaw, FionaReadersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Singh, SaraIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stafford, FionaEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stern, G. B.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stevens, MargretTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stevenson, JulietNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stolz, MaryIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Szudra, Klaus UdoAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tamaki, JillianCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tammetalu, TiinaIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Thompson, EmmaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Thomson, HughIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Trilling, LionelEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Valverde, José MaríaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vox, MaximilienIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Weldon, FayIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wells, JulietteEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wildi, MaxAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wiltshire, JohnPrefacesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Zardini, Adriana SalesTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Zazo, Anna LuisaEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Publisher Series

Amstelboeken (90-91)

Is contained in

Is retold in

Has the (non-series) sequel

Has the adaptation

Is abridged in

Is expanded in

Is replied to in

Inspired

Has as a reference guide/companion

Has as a study

Has as a commentary on the text

Has as a student's study guide

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
To His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, this work is, by His Royal Highness's permission, most respectfully dedicated, by His Royal Highness's dutiful and obedient humble servant, the author.
First words
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
Quotations
Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.
"I thank you; but I assure you, you are quite mistaken. Mr. Elton and I are very good friends, and nothing more, and she walked on, amusing herself in the consideration of the blunders which often arise from a partial knowledge of circumstances, of the mistakes which people of high pretensions to judgment are for every falling into..." (Emma)
"I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other."
Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure.
I have seen a great many lists of her drawing up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through--and very good books they were--very well chosen and very neatly arranged--sometimes alphabetically and sometimes by some other rule.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Emma is a literary classic by Jane Austen following the genteel women of Georgian-Regency England in their most cherished sport: matchmaking. Emma is spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied. After a couple she has introduced gets married, she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities and, blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives, proceeds to forge ahead in her new interest despite objections. What follows is a comedy of manners, in which Emma repeatedly counsels her friends for or against their marriage prospects, absent any notice of their true emotions or desires. This story is often cited as a personal favorite of critics and literary historians, and Emma is set apart from other Austen heroines by her seeming immunity to romantic attraction.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary
Mix-match my neighbors
Cutest narcissist am I
Don't listen to me
(city girl)
Bossy know-it-all
Privileged and doted on
Meddles. Learns lessons.
(pickupsticks)
She can do no wrong
Matchmaking busybody
Knightley sets things right.
(pickupsticks)

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.06)
0.5 5
1 111
1.5 8
2 274
2.5 50
3 1216
3.5 259
4 2710
4.5 299
5 2681

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

Penguin Australia

4 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0141439580, 0141028092, 0143106465, 0141199520

Tantor Media

An edition of this book was published by Tantor Media.

» Publisher information page

Urban Romantics

2 editions of this book were published by Urban Romantics.

Editions: 1909175951, 1909175315

Recorded Books

An edition of this book was published by Recorded Books.

» Publisher information page

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,185,871 books! | Top bar: Always visible