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Becoming Jane Austen | 
 enlarge | Author: Jon Spence
Publisher: Continuum
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 25983
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 294
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 1847250467
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.6
EAN: 9781847250469
ASIN: 1847250467
Publication Date: July 3, 2007
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Product Description
Jon Spence's fascinating biography paints an intimate portrait of Jane Austen. "Becoming Jane Austen" gives the fullest account we have of her falling in love with the charming young Irishman Tom Lefroy, a relationship that was more serious and enduring than previously believed and one that had a profound effect upon her life and her art. The elegant narrative examines Austen's other emotional attachments, building a picture of her world as she herself perceived and experienced it. It is a world familiar to us from her novels, but in "Becoming Jane Austen", Jane herself is the heroine.
Book Description
Jane Austen was a great novelist and one of the central figures of English literature, but she herself lived a quiet and uneventful life, mostly in the two Hampshire villages of Steventon and Chawton. Jon Spence’s new biography focuses its attention away from the wider literary and intellectual currents that informed her writing and instead concentrates on the immediate influences on her life and work. Becoming Jane Austen shows how Jane Austen’s own personal experiences resonated throughout her work, from her juvenilia to Sanditon.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 The romantic life of a Romance writer... August 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
2003's "Becoming Jane Austen" is Jon Spence's highly readable biography of romance novelist Jane Austen. Spence is almost novelistic himself in his treatment of her life and literary work.
Spence believes the characters and events in Austen's novels can be traced back more or less directly to persons and events in Austen's life and those of her extended family. This premise leads to an intriguing mixture of biography and literary criticism, mingled with an exploration of Austen's evolving views about her life and writing. In some cases, the connections seem obvious and plausible; in others, a bit of a leap. Spence finds, for example, that Austen's rather exotic relative Eliza de Feuillide is the basis for several characters stretching from the Juvenalia to "Mansfield Park" and that Austen's stories were in effect her way of weighing in on family controversies.
Easily the most interesting theme of "Becoming Jane Austen" is Spence's claim that Austen's infatuation with Tom Lefroy at Steventon in January 1796 was deep, mutual, and lasting. He interprets Austen's surviving correspondence to indicate that she expected Lefroy to return for her once he was in a position to marry. She was obviously disappointed in this expectation; Spence sees indirect indications of Lefroy's continuing hold on her imagination in her novels. Spence's interpretation is neither impossible nor necessarily implausible; it is simply unprovable given the very limited authentic biographic material available at this remove of time. Other biographers are far more skeptical of the extent of the relationship.
"Becoming Jane Austen" was the basis for the very charming period romance "Becoming Jane," starring Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen and James McAvoy as Tom Lefroy. Spence is quick to note in his introduction that the movie screenplay exceeds even his admittedly generous interpretation of the record.
"Becoming Jane Austen" is highly recommended as an energetic, enjoyable, and intriguing life of Jane Austen. One need not agree with Jon Spence's every interpretation to appreciate his enthusiastic presentation.
 The Story Behind the Stories June 19, 2008
I really enjoyed this one! I read it right after taking a course on Jane Austen's novels, and still learned even more. This book really helped to point out the parts of Jane's life that made it into her books. It is a great read for a Jane Austen fan.
Very good source. June 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book because I'm preparing to teach a Jane Austen class. Spence makes some interesting points and does a good job of backing them up. I don't think we can take everything as fact, but he does support his arguments very well. Unfortunately, there is so much left up to guesswork when it comes to Austen. When it comes to Austen biographies, this book is very easy and enjoyable to read. It reads more like a novel than a biography. The movie that is based on this book takes a few more liberties than the books does. Considering all of the books that I have used in preparing my class, this is one of my favorites.
engaging investigation into the character of our favorite old maid March 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A well-written, well-researched biography of our beloved, complex spinster. While the book doesn't annoyingly dwell on its far-fetched claim to be the "true love story that inspired the classic novels", it does often try to make some leaps of faith (most notably the weight it places on the character names of novels as evidence). Some of the interpretations of her novels are equally improbable. But this is an engaging, interesting biography woven with Jane's letters and her novels. It is the story not only of her life and her times, but also of the people who surrounded and influenced her. It is a story of how she saw the world, of her complex character, and how the woman in love with marriage chose her novels to be her children. Well worth the read. Grade: B+
Everything you ever wanted to know and more December 17, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you are looking for every detail of Jane Austen's life and works, this is the book for you. For me, there was so much detail that it made for slow reading, but if I was an Austen fanatic (instead of an enthusiast), this would be the book for me.
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