Love and Freindship: and Other Youthful ...

Synopsis: Austens hilarious early stories and sketches--complete with her delightfully quirky spelling habits--now collected in one gorgeous clothbound volume, including Lady Susan, the basis for Whit Stillmans feature film Love and Friendship starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny Jane Austens earliest writing dates from when she was just eleven-years-old, and already shows the hallmarks of her mature work. But it is also a product of the times in which she grew up--dark, grotesque, often surprisingly bawdy, and a far cry from the polished, sparkling novels of manners for which she became famous. Drunken heroines, babies who bite off their mothers fingers, and a letter-writer who has murdered her whole family all feature in these highly spirited pieces. This edition includes all of Austens juvenilia, including her "History of England" and the novella Lady Susan, in which the anti-heroine schemes and cheats her way through high society. With a title that captures a young Austens original idiosyncratic spelling habits and an introduction by Christine Alexander that shows how Austen was self-consciously fashioning herself as a writer from an early age, this is a must-have for any Austen lover. Book Description: Jane Austens remarkable juvenilia are now receiving the scholarly attention they deserve. This edition provides a fresh transcription of Austens manuscripts, with comprehensive explanatory notes, an extensive critical introduction, covering the context and publication history of the juvenilia, a chronology of Austens life and an authoritative textual apparatus.