Bloomsbury Home
- Home
- NON-FICTION
- Popular Science
- What Matters in Jane Austen?
Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available
- Delivery and returns info
-
Free CA delivery on orders $40 or over
You must sign in to add this item to your wishlist. Please sign in or create an account
Description
"An Austen lover's greatest wish is for more of her novels. This intimate guide to the world of her books in the next best thing." -The Atlantic
Marking the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, What Matters in Jane Austen? solves the mysteries of Austen's fictional world.
Is there any sex in Jane Austen?
What are the right and wrong ways to propose marriage?
Which important characters never actually speak?
Jane Austen's novels have been a staple of the English canon since the nineteenth century. Yet critics of the time did not appreciate the true complexity of her work. Nothing, John Mullan argues, is accidental or coincidental in Austen. As Austen herself said, she wrote for readers who have "a great deal of ingenuity themselves."
What Matters in Jane Austen? gets to the heart of what it is that makes Austen's work so singular. In twenty chapters, answering questions her novels have posed for over two centuries, Mullan uncovers the hidden truth of an extraordinary fictional world and reveals the true brilliance-and underappreciated complexity-of Austen's work.
Jane Austen is the author of classics including Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility. 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth, and this beautiful, insightful book is the perfect gift for every Austen fan.
Product details
Published | Sep 09 2025 |
---|---|
Format | Hardback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 352 |
ISBN | 9781526693945 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Dimensions | 198 x 129 mm |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
-
Sends the reader back to the originals with fresh pleasure.
Tessa Hadley, The Guardian
-
Delightful . . . Mullan's humorous guidebook encourages first-time Austen readers to pick up her novels and lovers of Austen to re-read for new details.
Publishers Weekly
-
Highly entertaining . . . reveals a quite unexpected aspect to the novelist and her books.
Daily Mail
-
A box of 20 literary chocolates for Austen fans to savor.
Kirkus Reviews
-
An Austen lover's greatest wish is for more of her novels. This intimate guide to the world of her books in the next best thing.
The Atlantic
-
Any new book on Jane Austen raises the urgent question, Would I get more pleasure from reading this than from re-reading my favourite Jane Austen novel? If you decide to give What Matters in Jane Austen a chance you'll know after a few pages that you've made the right choice.
John Carey, Sunday Times