A Portrait Of Jane Austen David Cecil

A Portrait Of Jane Austen
The late 18th century world in which Jane Austen lived was one that combined good sense, elegant manners, intelligence and piety with a liberal dash of spirited fun. Drawing on Jane Austen's letters, novels, and other people's memories of her, David Cecil sets out to "reconstruct and depict her living personality and to explore it in relation to her art". The portrait that emerges is of a clear-sighted, observant, strong-minded woman whose witty and ironic representation of her own society has delighted millions of readers for centuries.

A Portrait Of Jane Austen Details

Book TitleA Portrait Of Jane Austen
Book Author
ISBN9780141390321
LanguageEnglish
FormatPaperback
Pages224
Rating
by 138 users

A Portrait Of Jane Austen Reviews

  • Mary Narkiewicz
    Jan 28, 2016

    Mary Narkiewicz

    fabulous book that makes Jane's life feel a little bit closer.. David Cecil gives us the social mores, the images of houses - large and small, the class system tidbits.. Jane would have been in the gentry class..so she could mix even with aristocracy.. Her mother was connected to arist...

  • Rachel Knowles
    Dec 14, 2015

    Rachel Knowles

    This is a straightforward biography of Jane Austen, from her early days in Steventon, through the years in Bath, Southampton and Chawton, to her death in Winchester. I found it readable and comprehensive and liked the inclusion of original quotes from Austen's letters, though I was dis...

  • Virtuella
    Nov 22, 2015

    Virtuella

    I enjoyed this. Most of the content was already known to me, but the author managed to present it in a vivid, engaging style and in particular succeeded in bringing the many members of the Austen family into clearer focus. ...

  • Susan Baker
    Apr 15, 2015

    Susan Baker

    Dry but good information and lovely photos, sketches, and letters. ...

  • Alice
    Sep 19, 2014

    Alice

    Il existe peu de biographies de Jane Austen en français, c'est donc une lecture qui se savoure. J'ai mis un peu de temps à rentrer dans l'histoire, pour deux raisons. Tout d'abord, ce genre d'ouvrage débute toujours par de nombreux noms, dates, lieux et détails dans lesquel...

  • Fémi Peters
    Aug 14, 2014

    Fémi Peters

    Une très bonne biographie, qui se lit comme un roman, sur un des mes auteurs de prédilection. A recommander à tous les "austeniens"! ...

  • Joana Starnes
    Apr 28, 2013

    Joana Starnes

    One of the most enjoyable biographies of Jane Austen that I have ever read. Others were perhaps more detailed, more scholarly, more of an 'outsider-looking-in' kind of biography. The author of this one is, however, very much of an insider, with a perfect understanding of the world Jane...

  • Philip
    Mar 24, 2013

    Philip

    Lord Cecil paints a picture, not just of Jane Austin, but also of the world in which she lived. She lived a fairly uneventful life, but Cecil focuses rather on portraying Austen as mensch. Before reading this book, I was on the verge of becoming a "Janeite"; this has pushed me complete...

  • Tze-Wen
    Aug 6, 2012

    Tze-Wen

    In writing A Portrait Of Jane Austen, David Cecil has "taken particular pains to set [his] heroine in the context of the period and society in which she lived." The reason for this, he argues, is the often "comically misleading portrait" drawn by fellow biographers and critics who inte...

  • Dianne
    Feb 10, 2012

    Dianne

    This is a wonderful book for insight into the life of Jane Austen. Using her letters and family members' letters you can see her sense of humor, intellect, and views on life around her. Very enjoyable. ...