Jane Austen

Emma Jane Austen

This is a new edition of "EMMA," originally published in 1896 by Macmillan and Co., Ltd., of London, England, with an introduction by Austin Dobson and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. Part of the project Immortal Literature Series of classic literature, this is a new edition of the classic work published in 1896-not a facsimile reprint. Obvious typographical errors have been carefully corrected and the entire text has been reset and redesigned by Pen House Editions to enhance readability, while respecting the original edition. Jane Austen's EMMA is-together with Pride and Prejudice-perhaps one of the finest and most popular novels ever written. It tells the story of the "Miss Dashwoods" sisters, the sensible Elinor and the passionate Marianne, whose chances at marriage seem doomed by their family's sudden loss of fortune. The reader will be delighted with this romantic suspense and with Austen's elegant narrative style, and with the story's fascinating characters and their social interactions. About the Author: Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist whose seminal works, inspired by her own upbringing as well as in the landed gentry, have influenced successive generations. She was the seventh child-out of eight-and second daughter of Cassandra (née Leigh) and the Reverend George Austen. She was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, England. Her parents were well-respected middle-class community members. Her father was the local Anglican clergyman and supplemented the family income by taking private pupils in the family home and parsonage. Her mother, Cassandra Leigh Austen, came from an aristocratic family and influenced Jane's sense of social class and self-worth. When they were young, Jane and her six brothers and sister were encouraged to read from their father's extensive library. With a romantic vein, but nevertheless a realist-known for her style and ironic humor as well as for her fascinating depiction of women's domestic roles of the early nineteenth century-Austen wrote "Sense and Sensibility" (1811), "Pride and Prejudice" (1813), "Mansfield Park" (1814), "Emma" (1815), "Northanger Abbey" (1817), and "Persuasion" (1818), all of which replete with memorable protagonists.