Jane Austen, Young Author - 9781472440563

Taylor & Francis

In her lively and accessibly written book, Juliet McMaster examines Jane Austen\u2019s acute and frequently uproarious juvenile works as important both in their own right and for the ways they look forward to the later novels. Her book will appeal to Austen\u2019s critics and to passionate general readers, as well as to scholars working in the fields of juvenilia, children\u2019s literature, and childhood studies. > In her lively and accessibly written book, Juliet McMaster examines Jane Austen\u2019s acute and frequently uproarious juvenile works as important in their own right and for the ways they look forward to her novels. Exploring the early works both collectively and individually, McMaster shows how young Austen\u2019s fictional world, peopled by guzzlers and unashamed self-seekers, operates by an ethic of energy rather than the sympathy that dominates the novels. A fully self-conscious artist, young Jane experimented freely with literary modes - the epistolary, the omnisc.