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The Resource Jane Austen, obstinate heart : a biography, by Valerie Grosvenor Myer

Jane Austen, obstinate heart : a biography, by Valerie Grosvenor Myer

Creator
Summary
  • At the heart of Jane Austen's story lies a mystery: how a woman of "genteel poverty," the seventh child of a country clergyman, an unmarried spinster for whom life was often a struggle against the indignities of financial dependency, could have produced works of such magnificent warmth and wisdom. Valerie Grosvenor Myer's flawless research proves Austen's books grew from the preoccupations of her social set - respectability, financial security, and most of all, marriage. "It is a truth universally acknowledged," begins Pride and Prejudice, "that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." In that one line are revealed the principal forces at work in Austen's novels - and in the world from which they were drawn
  • For many middle-class women of Austen's day, marriage was paradoxically the only method of achieving independence. Marriage could also be a life sentence. Myer shows that by many accounts Austen was pretty and flirtatious (though occasionally also sharp-tongued), and the object of at least two proposals, but obstinate in her refusal to marry for other than love. Her obstinacy condemned her to reliance on her family for financial support. As Myer points out, it also enabled Austen to write her immortal novels
  • Using letters, family memories, and of course the novels themselves, Myer provides a detailed and revealing look at Jane Austen - her relationship with her beloved sister Cassandra, her devotion to and pride in her brothers and their children (who remembered "Aunt Jane" with warm affection), and her independence of mind and spirit. Austen's fondest dream was to establish herself not as another "silly female novelist," but as a serious and self-supporting writer. She reveled in the reviews of those of the novels published - anonymously - during her brief lifetime. Yet as Myer shows, no one, least of all Austen herself, could have imagined her posthumous popularity
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
1st North American ed.
Extent
268 pages
Contents
  • What was she like?
  • Origins
  • Siblings and society
  • Upbringing
  • Flirtations and scandals
  • The marriage market
  • Brothers and their wives
  • The butterfly and the poker
  • Dancing and shopping, 1796-1800
  • Exile, 1801
  • Bath, 1801
  • Lyme and Bath, 1804-5
  • Stoneleigh Abbey, 1806
  • Southampton, 1806-9
  • Visiting
  • Grief at Godmersham, 1808
  • Regeneration, 1809
  • Publication, 1811-12
  • A bestseller, 1813
  • A brief peace, 1814
  • Royal favour, 1815-16
  • Shipwreck, bankruptcy and other disasters, 1816
  • Winchester, 1817
Isbn
9781559703871
Instance
Label
Jane Austen, obstinate heart : a biography
Title
Jane Austen, obstinate heart
Title remainder
a biography
Statement of responsibility
by Valerie Grosvenor Myer
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
  • At the heart of Jane Austen's story lies a mystery: how a woman of "genteel poverty," the seventh child of a country clergyman, an unmarried spinster for whom life was often a struggle against the indignities of financial dependency, could have produced works of such magnificent warmth and wisdom. Valerie Grosvenor Myer's flawless research proves Austen's books grew from the preoccupations of her social set - respectability, financial security, and most of all, marriage. "It is a truth universally acknowledged," begins Pride and Prejudice, "that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." In that one line are revealed the principal forces at work in Austen's novels - and in the world from which they were drawn
  • For many middle-class women of Austen's day, marriage was paradoxically the only method of achieving independence. Marriage could also be a life sentence. Myer shows that by many accounts Austen was pretty and flirtatious (though occasionally also sharp-tongued), and the object of at least two proposals, but obstinate in her refusal to marry for other than love. Her obstinacy condemned her to reliance on her family for financial support. As Myer points out, it also enabled Austen to write her immortal novels
  • Using letters, family memories, and of course the novels themselves, Myer provides a detailed and revealing look at Jane Austen - her relationship with her beloved sister Cassandra, her devotion to and pride in her brothers and their children (who remembered "Aunt Jane" with warm affection), and her independence of mind and spirit. Austen's fondest dream was to establish herself not as another "silly female novelist," but as a serious and self-supporting writer. She reveled in the reviews of those of the novels published - anonymously - during her brief lifetime. Yet as Myer shows, no one, least of all Austen herself, could have imagined her posthumous popularity
Additional physical form
Also issued online.
Biography type
individual biography
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Myer, Valerie Grosvenor
Dewey number
  • 823/.7
  • B
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
PR4036
LC item number
.M94 1997
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Austen, Jane
  • Austen, Jane
  • Austen, Jane
  • Novelists, English
  • Novelists, English
  • Biografie
  • Austen, Jane
Label
Jane Austen, obstinate heart : a biography, by Valerie Grosvenor Myer
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-243) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
What was she like? -- Origins -- Siblings and society -- Upbringing -- Flirtations and scandals -- The marriage market -- Brothers and their wives -- The butterfly and the poker -- Dancing and shopping, 1796-1800 -- Exile, 1801 -- Bath, 1801 -- Lyme and Bath, 1804-5 -- Stoneleigh Abbey, 1806 -- Southampton, 1806-9 -- Visiting -- Grief at Godmersham, 1808 -- Regeneration, 1809 -- Publication, 1811-12 -- A bestseller, 1813 -- A brief peace, 1814 -- Royal favour, 1815-16 -- Shipwreck, bankruptcy and other disasters, 1816 -- Winchester, 1817
Control code
ocm36343390
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
1st North American ed.
Extent
268 pages
Isbn
9781559703871
Lccn
97005679
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (Sirsi) o36343390
  • (OCoLC)36343390
Label
Jane Austen, obstinate heart : a biography, by Valerie Grosvenor Myer
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-243) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
What was she like? -- Origins -- Siblings and society -- Upbringing -- Flirtations and scandals -- The marriage market -- Brothers and their wives -- The butterfly and the poker -- Dancing and shopping, 1796-1800 -- Exile, 1801 -- Bath, 1801 -- Lyme and Bath, 1804-5 -- Stoneleigh Abbey, 1806 -- Southampton, 1806-9 -- Visiting -- Grief at Godmersham, 1808 -- Regeneration, 1809 -- Publication, 1811-12 -- A bestseller, 1813 -- A brief peace, 1814 -- Royal favour, 1815-16 -- Shipwreck, bankruptcy and other disasters, 1816 -- Winchester, 1817
Control code
ocm36343390
Dimensions
25 cm
Edition
1st North American ed.
Extent
268 pages
Isbn
9781559703871
Lccn
97005679
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
  • (Sirsi) o36343390
  • (OCoLC)36343390

Subject

Genre

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