Jane Austen For Dummies by Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray, Joan Klingel Ray

Product Details

Synopsis

Explains Austen's methods, motivations, and morals

The fun and easy way(r) to understand and enjoy Jane Austen

Want to know more about Jane Austen? This friendly guide gives the scoop on her life, works, and lasting impact on our culture. It chronicles the events of her brief life, examines each of her novels, and looks at why her stories - of women and marriage, class and money, scandal and hypocrisy, emotion and satire - still have meaning for us today.

Discover
* Why Austen is so popular
* The impact on manners, courtships, and dating
* Love and life in Austen's world
* Her life and key influences
* Her most memorable characters

Library Journal

Ray (English, Univ. of Colorado at Colorado Springs) adds to the Dummies series with this witty and informative guide to all that is Jane Austen. The author presents Austen's biographical details and creates a historical context for her works. A great deal of information is given in brief, creating a broad-stroke view of Austen's world that will be accessible to a wide-ranging audience, from nonreaders to curious Janeites. Ray, the third-term president of the Jane Austen Society of North America, uses a casual, almost conversational writing style (as do many titles in the series) in her admirable attempt to entertain while informing. The work is organized into five parts (e.g., "Living Life in Jane's World"), but they don't have to be read in sequence. Ray wants readers to move easily through the book and find information as they need it, which for the most part they can do. The only criticism is that basic information is repeated a bit in the later chapters. The text is rounded out by an Austen chronology and several indexes (general, character, and quotation). Bottom Line Perhaps not an essential purchase for every collection but a pleasure to read nonetheless, this light and engaging book makes one look forward to reading Austen again. Recommended for public libraries.-Paolina Taglienti, Las Vegas Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Biography

Joan Klingel Ray, PhD, is an English professor at the University of Colorado. She has written articles for numerous magazines and appeared on the A&E biography of Jane Austen.