Claire Harman

An engaging study of Jane Austen’s life and works, and their reception and appreciation (or lack thereof) at different times in history. This is not a weighty academic tome, but it is filled with interesting tidbits about Austen’s relationships with various family members; Harman makes a convincing argument for Austen’s acerbity and ambition, two traits that were papered over by her family after her death in favor of a “Saint Jane” hagiography. Not being a scholar, and not having show more read much in the way of Austen’s biography, I found this book to be both entertaining and informative. I especially enjoyed the section towards the end on various film and TV adaptations of the novels, as well as treatments of Austen’s life, from Becoming Jane to Miss Austen Regrets. Overall, a good survey of some primary questions about Jane Austen for the casual reader or curious fan. show less

It must take a certain chutzpah to write anything other than a hagiography of the Divine Jane and in this witty history of the writer's life and the reception of her works Claire Harman peels away layers of revisionism without diminishing our appreciation of the works. Harman's convincing theory is that Austen was a far more ambitious and abrasive woman than her family described after her death. She then explores the social dynamics of the development of her posthumous reputation and the show more adaptations of her work. Harman looks at the various forms of modern Austen fandom and identifies the past supporters and denigrators of her work. This fascinating cultural history will interest readers who already have extensive knowledge of Austen's life as much as it will those who are more interested in her work. show less

Unlike some biographies I've read (er, attempted to read) of Bronte's contemporaries, this didn't make me want to immediately stop reading anything written by the subject. Yes, she seems like she was a fairly complicated person (her opinions on anyone not British-yikes!-but probably not unusual) and not always a joy to live with, but those complications just make her so fascinating. And sympathetic. I'm not enough of a Bronte scholar/fan to know how well-researched/thought out this biography show more is, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. show less

As well as a brief biography of Miss Austen, this book examines how she came to be so incredibly popular when other authors of her time are only read by a few. I'd recommend this book to people who aren't massive fans of JA as well as those who are, because Claire Harman includes criticisms from those who hated JA's books as well as those who loved them (and there are some fantastic quotes from writers like Charlotte Bronte and Mark Twain who really disliked her books).

Harman ends the book show more by giving her theories as to why JA is so popular. The first is that she is popular because her books are neither trash nor works of blinding greatness but somewhere in between:

"The middle-aged, the middle class and those who consider themselves slightly above the middlebrow are Austen's natural constituency. They (we!) love Austen - the idea as much as the books - because she comes from our own ranks and rocks no boats. With Austen, we know that we are never going to be taken to extremes."

Her other theory relates to the delay between Austen writing S&S, P&P and NA and those books being published. Harman posits that JA would have had to update these books to remove now obsolete references to events and include references to current events. She theorises that because of this exercise, JA included far fewer references to current events in her novels, simply to save herself work if the novels were published at a later date. Although this is often a criticism levelled at JA by some (why does she not mention the slave trade in detail or the Napoleonic war or politics etc?) the absence of these period-specific references give her books a timeless feel that make it a lot easier for a 20th or 21st century reader to understand her work compared to her contemporaries'.

Fascinating stuff. show less