What Matters in Jane Austen: Twenty Essential Questions Answered

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250TH BIRTHDAY EDITION

Almost as good as finding an unpublished novel The Lady
'Any new book on Austen raises the urgent question, Would I get more pleasure from reading this than from re-reading my favourite Austen novel You'll know after a few pages here that you've made the right choice' Sunday Times

Is there any sex in Jane Austen
Why do her plots rely on blunders
Which important characters never actually speak

Jane Austens novels have been a staple of the British canon since the nineteenth century. Yet critics of the time did not appreciate the true complexity of her work. Neither Austens literary innovations nor the cunning intracacy of her novels were understood much less the fascinating patterns and puzzles thrown up by some of the most famous works of English literature. Nothing, John Mullan argues, is accidental or coincidental in Austen. As she herself said, she wrote for readers who have a great deal of ingenuity themselves.

What Matters in Jane Austen gets to the heart of what it is that makes Austens work so singular. In twenty chapters, answering questions her novels have posed for over two centuries, Mullan uncovers the hidden truth of an extraordinary fictional world and reveals the true brilliance and underappreciated complexity of Austens oeuvre.

Reviews

There is plenty to enjoy in this parade of Austen micro-knowledge * Evening Standard *
Highly entertaining ... reveals a quite unexpected aspect to the novelist and her books * Daily Mail *
Any new book on Jane Austen raises the urgent question, Would I get more pleasure from reading this than from re-reading my favourite Jane Austen novel If you decide to give What Matters in Jane Austen a chance you'll know after a few pages that you've made the right choice * John Carey, Sunday Times *
[A] fine collection of essays ... Like all good literary critics, he has the happy knack of making you read even familiar works with fresh eyes, and the essays in this book are among the best of their kind * Daily Telegraph *
A detailed primer on Jane Austen's attitudes to sex, money, class and even the weather * Sunday Times Must Reads *
Fascinating ... If you love Jane Austen, you'll love this book too - it's almost as good as finding an unpublished novel * The Lady *

Author Bio

John Mullan is Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. He has published widely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature, his books including The Artful Dickens (Bloomsbury, 2020). He has edited Jane Austens Sense and Sensibility and Emma for Oxford Worlds Classics. He is also a broadcaster and journalist, writing on contemporary fiction for the Guardian. He has taught Austen to university students for over three decades, and has lectured widely to lovers of her fiction in both the UK and the US. He lives in London.