Living with Jane Austen

An eminent Austen authority shows us how living with Jane Austen can transform the way we look at our world.

Janet Todd (Author)

9781009569316, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 March 2025

246 pages
20.9 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm, 0.38 kg

'Todd does justice to something often said but rarely explained: how, with rereading, Austen's novels acquire fresh significance at different stages of our lives.' John Mullan, Books of the Year, New Statesman

Fanny Price, in Mansfield Park, tells her persistent suitor that 'we have all a better guide in ourselves...than any other person can be'. Sometimes, however, we crave external guidance: and when this happens we could do worse than seek it in Jane Austen's own subtle novels. Written to coincide with Austen's 250th birthday, this approachable and intimate work shows why and how - for over half a century - Austen has inspired and challenged its author through different phases of her life. Part personal memoir, part expert interaction with all the letters, manuscripts and published novels, Janet Todd's book reveals what living with Jane Austen has meant to her and what it might also mean to others. Todd celebrates the undimmable power of Austen's work to help us understand our own bodies and our environment, and teach us about patience, humour, beauty and the meaning of home.

Introduction
1. The Brightness of Pemberley
2. The Darkness of Darcy
3. Talking and Not Talking
4. Making Patterns
5. Poor Nerves
6. The Unruly Body
7. Into Nature
8. Giving and Taking Advice
9. Being in the Moment
10. How to Die
Afterword.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]