LoveReading Says
May 2014 Guest Editor Daisy Goodwin on Persuasion...
I love Jane Austen with a deep and enduring passion, and I think the story of Anne Elliott’s second chance is possibly my favourite. The way that she revives as a character like a flower soaking up water is quite miraculous. It is also has a plot of clockwork perfection. I read this book at least once a year and I always find something new to marvel at.
The Lovereading view...
Set in the fashionable societies of Lyme Regis and Bath, Persuasion is a brilliant satire of vanity and pretension, but, above all, it is a love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities. In her introduction, Gillian Beer discusses Austen's portrayal of the double-edged nature of persuasion and the clash between old and new worlds. This edition also includes a new chronology and full textual notes.
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Persuasion Synopsis
Like most of her other novels, Jane Austen's Persuasion (1818) is an exploration of human relations in a society governed by family bonds, materialism, social hypocrisy and the pressures of persuasion. The story is set in the English city of Bath where the young protagonist, Anne Elliot, lives with her noble and conservative family in their Kellynch Hall estate. At only 19 years old, Anne develops a relationship with the young naval officer Frederick Wentworth and accepts his marriage proposal. However, she is soon persuaded to leave him by her friend Lady Russell. The latter is incited by Anne's supercilious father and elder sister who think that Wentworth is too poor to be a match for an Elliot. Years later, and after rejecting a number of other suitors, Anne meets her first love again. Wentworth is now a well-off sea captain while Mr. Elliot's irresponsible spendthrift behavior forces him to rent the family estate. Although Wentworth still bears the bitterness of being jilted by Anne, he gradually starts to regain confidence in her and to discover that she regrets what she has been persuaded to do. By the end of the narrative, the couple is reunited in a highly romantic scene. We've also included a concise and informative biography of Jane's works and life at the end of the book. We hope it helps to give a little context and colour about how her life interacted with her art.
About This Edition
About Jane Austen
Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon near Basingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved around with her mother; in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to London, until in May 1817 she moved to Winchester to be near her doctor. There she died on 18 July 1817.
As a girl Jane Austen wrote stories, including burlesques of popular romances. Her works were only published after much revision, four novels being published in her lifetime. These are Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical notice by her brother, Henry Austen, the first formal announcement of her authorship. Persuasion was written in a race against failing health in 1815-16. She also left two earlier compositions, a short epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and an unfinished novel, The Watsons. At the time of her death, she was working on a new novel, Sanditon, a fragmentary draft of which survives.
Fellow novelist Katharine McMahon on Jane Austen...
I can't not choose her. And whichever I've read last is always my favourite. The nuance of emotion, the understanding of human nature revealed by Austen constantly delights me. When I reread Sense and Sensibility recently, for the first time Elinor came across as quite prissy and destined to marry a rather spineless husband. I wonder if that was intended?
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