Showing results by author "Jane Austen" in Classics

First published in 1813, this is Jane Austen's most popular novel. It portrays life in the genteel rural society of the day, and tells of the initial misunderstandings and later mutual enlightenment between the lively and quick-witted Elizabeth Bennet and the proud and haughty Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters and depicts issues of marriage, gender, age, and social status.

The British Classics Collection: Volume One is a century-spanning collection of 24 classic works of fiction and poetry by British authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Stephen Fry, Joanne Froggatt, Jason Isaacs, Adjoa Andoh, and many more. Included here are stories by some of the greatest writers of all time, including Charles Dickens; Emily Brontë; Jane Austen; Thomas Hardy; George Eliot; D.H. Lawrence; and Mary Shelley, amongst a host of others.

Lady Susan is an epistolary novel by Jane Austen about a beautiful and manipulative widow scheming to arrange wealthy marriages for herself and her daughter. This book is the basis for the film Love & Friendship, written and directed by Whit Stillman, and starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny. This dramatized production is presented by the Online Stage.

Rediscover "Emma" in this new, lively audio edition, narrated by acclaimed West End actress Kathryn Drysdale. Looking to delve a little deeper into the treasure trove of Jane Austen's great works? Well, look no further. Austen's novel "Emma" was revolutionary in it's narrative technique and brilliantly showcases the evolution of Austen's writings.

Persuasión narra la historia de una mujer madura, sensible y menospreciada, que años después de dejarse persuadir para rechazar al hombre que amaba, lo ve reaparecer en su vida, rico y honorable pero aún despechado. Quizá por primera vez en la historia de la novela, la mujer debe luchar para que el amor le conceda una segunda oportunidad. Esta obra de madurez está considerada una de las novelas más oscuras de Jane Austen, y es sin duda la más crítica con la sociedad de suépoca.

Pride and Prejudice may be her most famous novel, Persuasion her most deeply affecting, but for many, Emma is Austen’s best novel; the most perfectly balanced between comedy and insight, sparkle and depth. Witty, headstrong Emma Woodhouse, more interested in making matches for others than falling in love herself, is a wholly delightful heroine.

The unlikely heroine of this novel is the bashful and unadventurous Fanny Price, who occupies a Cinderella-like position in the residence of her wealthy cousins, the Bertrams, at Mansfield Park. Fanny is the butt of ridicule for the young Bertram sisters (Maria and Julia), and is relentlessly bullied by her manipulative and penny-pinching aunt, the widowed Mrs Norris.

The one thing Mrs. Bennett most dearly wants is to see her five daughters settled. When wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley moves in to nearby Netherfield Hall and takes an interest in her eldest daughter, Jane, her dream is almost within her grasp. Yet problems arise when Bingley’s friend, the prideful Mr. Darcy, meddles in their relationship, earning him the disdain of Jane’s sister, Elizabeth. However, Mr. Darcy can’t help finding a match in the intelligent, free-spirited Lizzy Bennett, despite her country manners.

Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen’s first novels, though it was not published until after her death, and contains some of her most biting satire. Catherine Morland, the novel’s naive and provincial heroine, has formed her idea of the world from Gothic novels, full of gloomy Italian castles, long-kept secrets, and dastardly villains. However, when she travels to the city of Bath and encounters a wider society, she will discover that all her reading has ill-prepared her for the real world.

Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen’s first published novel. It tells the much-loved story of the two, very different, Dashwood sisters. Elinor suppresses her own emotions out of a keen sense of responsibility to her family and friends, while Marianne is highly expressive and romantic. When their father dies, British law leaves everything to their half-brother and his tight-fisted wife, and Elinor and Marianne, along with their mother and younger sister, have to move to a cottage on a relative’s estate where they experience the full spectrum of romance and betrayal.

Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of the British Regency. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London.

Persuasion was the last novel completed by Jane Austen and was first published posthumously in December, 1817. The story represents an interesting configuration of Austen’s characteristic narrative patterns. The heroine, Anne Eliot, is something of an old maid—she is twenty-seven years old, still single and is considered by family and friends to have lost her youthful beauty. Several years earlier, her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth had been broken off, due to the insistence of her family that the Captain lacked the wealth and status needed for a suitable husband.

Mansfield Park is the third published and perhaps most subtle of Jane Austen's novels. It tells the story of Fanny Price, who, at the age of 10, is sent from her impoverished household to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle and be raised alongside her cousins. Fanny grows up as a misfit, not truly a member of the Bertram family, but too genteel to feel comfortable with her parents.

Northanger Abbey fu il primo romanzo di Jane Austen ad essere pubblicato anche, se in precedenza erano già state stese delle versioni di Orgoglio e pregiudizio e di Ragione e Sentimento. Il suo titolo originario, Susan (nome della protagonista che fu poi mutato in Catherine) fu rivisto per la stampa dalla Austen nel 1803, e venduto ad un editore che decise poi di non pubblicarlo.

In the story, we meet young Fanny Price, an impoverished young girl who is sent to live with her wealthy family in Mansfield Park, her aunt and uncle's country estate. Fanny, seen as uncultured and boorish by her relatives, is mistreated by all of them...save cousin Edmund, for whom she kindles a secret crush. What follows is a series of love triangles (and quadrangles) among the various cousins and their prospective paramours, familial tragedies, scandals and ill-conceived affairs, all culminating in the question...will true love win in the end?

Persuasion has certain similarities with Emma, another late novel by Jane Austen. In both stories, the heroine is a young woman who lives with her widowed father, and who has an enduring attachment to her eventual spouse from the opening of the action. Persuasion also incorporates certain elements common to Austen's earlier novels, such as characters from the military, visits to Bath and calculating and cynical suitors. In the end, Anne Elliot successfully combats the destructive vanity of her father and the machinations of her villainous cousin William.

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, England, in 1775, where she lived for the first 25 years of her life. Her father, George Austen, was the rector of the local parish, and provided most of her education in their home. She began to write while in her teens and completed the original manuscript of Pride and Prejudice First Impressions, between 1796 and 1797. Pride and Prejudice was published in January 1813, two years after Sense and Sensibility, her first novel.

Persuasion follows Anne Elliot, a strong young woman, as she is reacquainted with her once-fiance, Frederick Wentworth. In Austen’s beloved witty writing, the story follows the duo and their families as they face financial troubles, crisscrossed relationships, the strong emotions of jealousy and unrequited affection, and the societal pressures of the age.

Jane Austen's first novel, Northanger Abbey, published posthumously in 1818, tells the story of Catherine Morland and her dangerously sweet nature, innocence, and sometime self-delusion. Though Austen's fallible heroine is repeatedly drawn into scrapes while vacationing at Bath and during her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey, Catherine eventually triumphs, blossoming into a discerning woman who learns truths about love, life, and the heady power of literature. The satirical Northanger Abbey pokes fun at the Gothic novel while earnestly emphasizing caution to the female sex.