Synopsis
First published in 1816, Jane Austen's EMMA is about an unconventional heroine--and one whom Austen thought no one but herself would like. Emma Woodhouse is bright, beautiful, and rich; she is also snobbish and judgmental, and she can be cruel, with a tendency to interfere in other people's lives. The novel chronicles Emma's attempts to make a match between a hapless vicar who is, in fact, enamored of Emma herself, and her friend Harriet, a poor and simple young woman in love with a farmer. Unlike many of Austen's heroines, Emma is possessed of very little good sense; her absurd machinations complicate the lives of everyone involved--and, needless to say, get nowhere. Emma, however, learns from her mistakes and gains some badly needed insight into herself as she discovers her feelings for the older, steady, aristocratic Mr. Knightley. The novel moves toward a not unexpected but perfectly satisfying conclusion, and in the process introduces Austen's usual cast of amusing, pretentious, hypocritical, and/or dim-witted characters, including the appalling, nouveau riche Mrs. Elton, and Emma's widowed father, one of the most insufferable (and delightful) neurotics in literature.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2000-05-01 | | Series: | Norton Critical Editions Series | | Edition Description: | Subsequent |
| Size | | Length: | 449 pages | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 16.8 oz |
Publisher's Note
The Third Edition of Jane Austen's popular comedic novel is based on the 1816 first edition text, which has been carefully collated by the editor. "Backgrounds" includes an abundance of source material that sheds light on Austen's life and reveals some of her private attitudes toward her writing. Readers will enjoy comparing real events in Austen's life with her fictionalized accounts in Emma. Included is a selection of Austen's letters to her sister, Cassandra; an excerpt from The Watsons a novel fragment) describing that most Austenian of social events, a country ball; Virginia Woolf's commentary on The Watsons; and two biographical sketches by family members. The editor has also included Austen's "Plan of a Novel" and relevant correspondence between Austen and J.S. Clark (chaplain to the Prince Regent). "Reviews and Criticism" incldues sixteen wide-ranging assessments of the novel ,three of them new to the Third Edition. Sir Walter Scott, George Henry Lewes, Henry James, A.C. Bradley, Reginald Farrer, E.M. Forster, A. Walton Litz, Robert Alan Donovan, Marilyn Butler, Mary Poovey, Claudia L. Johnson, Ian Watt, Maggie Lane, Suzanne Juhasz, and John Wiltshire provide critical overviews. The section culminates with Suzanne Ferriss's account of the popular film version of Emma. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.
About the series: No other series of classic texts achieves the editorial standard of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with contextual and critical materials that bring the work to life for students. Careful editing, first-rate translation, thorough explanatory annotations, chronologies, and selected bibliographies make each text accessible to students while encouraging in-depth study. Each volume in the series is printed on acid-free paper, and every text remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice of excellence for scholarship for students at more than 2,500 colleges and universities worldwide.
Industry Reviews
"There are novelists, like Tolstoy and Jane Austen, who persuade us that their characters live and are complex by means of their effect upon many different people, who mirror them in the round."
Times Literary Supplement - Virginia Woolf (04/13/1916)
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