Emma: A Norton Critical Edition / Edition 3

by Jane Austen

Overview

Sparkling comedy of provincial manners concerns a well-intentioned young heiress and her matchmaking schemes that result in comic confusion for the inhabitants of a 19th-century English village. Droll characterizations of the well-intentioned heroine—one of Austen's immortal creations—and her hypochondriacal father—plus many other finely drawn personalities. This sparkling satire of provincial life is one of Jane Austen's finest novels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900393972848
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	05/08/2000
Series:	Norton Critical Editions Series
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, in England. Her father, an Anglican clergyman, encouraged her literary pursuits from a young age and by her mid-twenties, Austen had drafted three novels. Following the success of Sense and Sensibility in 1811, she went on to publish Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815). Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published posthumously in 1818. Despite her fondness for marriage plots–all six of her novels end in weddings–Austen never married, living with her mother and sister in the years leading up to her death. She died on July 18, 1817, in the city of Winchester. Over two centuries later, Austen’s novels remain beloved classics, and she is considered one of the foremost writers in English literary history.

George Justice is Vice Provost for Advanced Studies and Dean of the Graduate School as well as Professor of English at the University of Missouri–Columbia. He is the author of The Manufacturers of Literature: Writing and the Literary Marketplace in Eighteenth-Century England as well as essays and reviews on books related to eighteenth-century literature and culture. He is editor, with Albert J. Rivero, of the scholarly journal The Eighteenth-Century Novel. He is co-editor of Women’s Writing and Circulation of Ideas: Manuscript Publication in English, 1550–1800.

Date of Birth:

December 16, 1775

Date of Death:

July 18, 1817

Place of Birth:

Village of Steventon in Hampshire, England

Place of Death:

Winchester, Hampshire, England

Education:

Taught at home by her father

Read an Excerpt

Volume One

Chapter One

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

She was the youngest of the two daughters of a most affectionate, indulgent father; and had, in consequence of her sister's marriage, been mistress of his house from a very early period. Her mother had died too long ago for her to have more than an indistinct remembrance of her caresses; and her place had been supplied by an excellent woman as governess, who had fallen little short of a mother in affection.

Sixteen years had Miss Taylor been in Mr. Woodhouse's family, less as a governess than a friend, very fond of both daughters, but particularly of Emma. Between them it was more the intimacy of sisters. Even before Miss Taylor had ceased to hold the nominal office of governess, the mildness of her temper had hardly allowed her to impose any restraint; and the shadow of authority being now long passed away, they had been living together as friend and friend very mutually attached, and Emma doing just what she liked; highly esteeming Miss Taylor's judgment, but directed chiefly by her own.

The real evils, indeed, of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself; these were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments. The danger, however, was at present so unperceived, that they did not by any means rank as misfortunes with her.

Sorrow came—a gentlesorrow—but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness.—Miss Taylor married. It was Miss Taylor's loss which first brought grief. It was on the wedding-day of this beloved friend that Emma first sat in mournful thought of any continuance. The wedding over, and the bride-people gone, her father and herself were left to dine together, with no prospect of a third to cheer a long evening. Her father composed himself to sleep after dinner, as usual, and she had then only to sit and think of what she had lost.

The event had every promise of happiness for her friend. Mr. Weston was a man of unexceptionable character, easy fortune, suitable age, and pleasant manners; and there was some satisfaction in considering with what self-denying, generous friendship she had always wished and promoted the match; but it was a black morning's work for her. The want of Miss Taylor would be felt every hour of every day. She recalled her past kindness—the kindness, the affection of sixteen years—how she had taught and how she had played with her from five years old—how she had devoted all her powers to attach and amuse her in health—and how nursed her through the various illnesses of childhood. A large debt of gratitude was owing here; but the intercourse of the last seven years, the equal footing and perfect unreserve which had soon followed Isabella's marriage, on their being left to each other, was yet a dearer, tenderer recollection. She had been a friend and companion such as few possessed: intelligent, well-informed, useful, gentle, knowing all the ways of the family, interested in all its concerns, and peculiarly interested in herself, in every pleasure, every scheme of hers—one to whom she could speak every thought as it arose, and who had such an affection for her as could never find fault.

How was she to bear the change?—It was true that her friend was going only half a mile from them; but Emma was aware that great must be the difference between a Mrs. Weston, only half a mile from them, and a Miss Taylor in the house; and with all her advantages, natural and domestic, she was now in great danger of suffering from intellectual solitude. She dearly loved her father, but he was no companion for her. He could not meet her in conversation, rational or playful.

The evil of the actual disparity in their ages (and Mr. Woodhouse had not married early) was much increased by his constitution and habits; for having been a valetudinarian all hi's life, without activity of mind or body, he was a much older man in ways than in years; and though everywhere beloved for the friendliness of his heart and his amiable temper, his talents could not have recommended him at any time.

Her sister, though comparatively but little removed by matrimony, being settled in London, only sixteen miles off, was much beyond her daily reach; and many a long October and November evening must be struggled through at Hartfield, before Christmas brought the next visit from Isabella and her husband, and their little children, to fill the house, and give her pleasant society again.

Highbury, the large and populous village, almost amounting to a town, to which Hartfield, in spite of its separate lawn, and shrubberies, and name, did really belong, afforded her no equals. The Woodhouses were first in consequence there. All looked up to them. She had many acquaintance in the place, for her father was universally civil, but not one among them who could be accepted in lieu of Miss Taylor for even half a day. It was a melancholy change; and Emma could not but sigh over it, and wish for impossible things, till her father awoke, and made it necessary to be cheerful. His spirits required support. He was a nervous man, easily depressed; fond of every body that he was used to, and hating to part with them; hating change of every kind. Matrimony, as the origin of change, was always disagreeable; and he was by no means yet reconciled to his own daughter's marrying, nor could ever speak of her but with compassion. . .

Table of Contents

	About the Series	v
	About This Volume	vii
	About the Text	xi
Part 1	Emma: The Complete Text in Cultural Context
	Introduction: Biographical and Historical Contexts	3
	The Complete Text	21
	Contextual Documents and Illustrations	382
	A Riddle	385
	Robin Adair	386
	from Unfortunate Situation of Females, Fashionably Educated, and Left without a Fortune. (1787)	387
	from Letter to His Son (1750)	389
	from Essays on the Picturesque (1810)	390
	from Our Domestic Policy. No I. (1829)	391
	Opinions of Emma (Ca. 1816)	392
	Crossed Letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra (June 20, 1808)	398
	The Frolics of the Sphynx (1820)	399
	Square Pianoforte (1805)	400
	A Barouche Landau (1805)	401
	A View of Box Hill, Surrey (1733)	401
	The Lincolnshire Ox (1790)	402
Part 2	Emma: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism
	A Critical History of Emma	405
	Gender Criticism and Emma	425
	What Is Gender Criticism?	425
	Gender Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	437
	A Gender Studies Perspective: Claudia L. Johnson, "Not at all what a man should be!": Remaking English Manhood in Emma	441
	Marxist Criticism and Emma	456
	What Is Marxist Criticism?	456
	Marxist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	470
	A Marxist Perspective: Beth Fowkes Tobin, Aiding Impoverished Gentlewomen: Power and Class in Emma	473
	Cultural Criticism and Emma	488
	What Is Cultural Criticism?	488
	Cultural Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	503
	A Cultural Perspective: Paul Delany, "A Sort of Notch in the Donwell Estate": Intersections of Status and Class in Emma	508
	The New Historicism and Emma	524
	What Is the New Historicism?	524
	The New Historicism: A Selected Bibliography	538
	A New Historicist Perspective: Casey Finch and Peter Bowen, "The Tittle-Tattle of Highbury": Gossip and the Free Indirect Style in Emma	543
	Feminist Criticism and Emma	559
	What Is Feminist Criticism?	559
	Feminist Criticism: A Selected Bibliography	569
	A Feminist Perspective: Devoney Looser, "The Duty of Woman by Woman": Reforming Feminism in Emma	577
	Combining Perspectives on Emma	594
	Combining Perspectives: Marilyn Butler, Introduction to Emma	597
	Glossary of Critical and Theoretical Terms	615
	About the Contributors	635

What People are Saying About This

Harold. Bloom

"To me, as an American critic, Emma seems the most English of English novels....It is Austen's masterpiece, the largest triumph of her vigorous art."