Synopsis

The editor has spelled out ampersands and made superscript letters lowercase.

The novel, which is fully annotated, is followed by the two canceled chapters that comprise Persuasion’s original ending.

"Backgrounds and Contexts" collects contemporary assessments of Jane Austen as well as materials relating to social issues of the period.

Included are an excerpt from William Hayley’s 1785 "Essay on Old Maids"; Austen’s letters to Fanny Knight, which reveal her skepticism about marriage as the key to happiness; Henry Austen’s memorial tribute to his famous sister; assessments by nineteenth-century critics Julia Kavanagh and Goldwin Smith, who saw Austen as an unassuming, sheltered,
"feminine," rural writer; and the perspective of Austen’s biographer Geraldine Edith Mitten.

"Modern Critical Views" reflects a dramatic shift in the way that twentieth-century scholars view both Austen and Persuasion.
Increasingly, the focus is on Austen's moral purposefulness and political acumen and on Persuasion's historical, social, and political implications.

A variety of perspectives are provided by A. Walton Litz, Marilyn Butler, Tony Tanner, Robert Hopkins, Ann W. Astell, Claudia L. Johnson,
and Cheryl Ann Weissman.

A Selected Bibliography is also included.

Library Journal

Austen is the hot property of the entertainment world with new feature film versions of Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility on the silver screen and Pride and Prejudice hitting the TV airwaves on PBS. Such high visibility will inevitably draw renewed interest in the original source materials. These new Modern Library editions offer quality hardcovers at affordable prices.

Biography

Jane Austen's delightful, carefully wrought novels of manners remain surprisingly relevant, nearly 200 years after they were first published. Her novels -- Pride and Prejudice and Emma among them -- are those rare books that offer us a glimpse at the mores of a specific period while addressing the complexities of love, honor, and responsibility that still intrigue us today.