{"product_id":"emma-introduction-by-marilyn-butler-9780679405818","title":"Emma: Introduction by Marilyn Butler","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn Everyman's Library edition of Jane Austen's revolutionary and inspiring novel, which is once again a major motion picture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Twenty-one-year-old Emma Woodhouse is comfortably dominating the social order in the village of Highbury, convinced that she has both the understanding and the right to manage other people's lives--for their own good, of course. Her well-meant interfering centers on the aloof Jane Fairfax, the dangerously attractive Frank Churchill, the foolish if appealing Harriet Smith, and the ambitious young vicar Mr. Elton--and ends with her complacency shattered, her mind awakened to some of life's more intractable dilemmas, and her happiness assured. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Austen's comic imagination was so deft and beautifully fluent that she could use it to probe the deepest human ironies while setting before us a dazzling gallery of characters--some pretentious or ridiculous, some admirable and moving, all utterly true. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough the domain of Jane Austen's novels was as circumscribed as her life, her caustic wit and keen observation made her the equal of the greatest novelists in any language. Born the seventh child of the rector of Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16, 1775, she was educated mainly at home. At an early age she began writing sketches and satires of popular novels for her family's entertainment. As a clergyman's daughter from a well-connected family, she had an ample opportunity to study the habits of the middle class, the gentry, and the aristocracy. At twenty-one, she began a novel called \u003ci\u003eThe First Impressions\u003c\/i\u003e, an early version of \u003ci\u003ePride and Prejudice\u003c\/i\u003e. In 1801, on her father's retirement, the family moved to the fashionable resort of Bath. Two years later she sold the first version of \u003ci\u003eNorthanger Abby\u003c\/i\u003e to a London publisher, but the first of her novels to appear was \u003ci\u003eSense and Sensibility\u003c\/i\u003e, published at her own expense in 1811. It was followed by \u003ci\u003ePride and Prejudice\u003c\/i\u003e (1813), \u003ci\u003eMansfield Park\u003c\/i\u003e (1814), and \u003ci\u003eEmma\u003c\/i\u003e (1815). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAfter her father died in 1805, the family first moved to Southampton then to Chawton Cottage in Hampshire. Despite this relative retirement, Jane Austen was still in touch with a wider world, mainly through her brothers; one had become a very rich country gentleman, another a London banker, and two were naval officers. Though her many novels were published anonymously, she had many early and devoted readers, among them the Prince Regent and Sir Walter Scott. In 1816, in declining health, Austen wrote \u003ci\u003ePersuasion\u003c\/i\u003e and revised \u003ci\u003eNorthanger Abby\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e Her last work, \u003ci\u003eSandition\u003c\/i\u003e, was left unfinished at her death on July 18, 1817. She was buried in Winchester Cathedral. Austen's identity as an author was announced to the world posthumously by her brother Henry, who supervised the publication of \u003ci\u003eNorthanger Abby\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePersuasion\u003c\/i\u003e in 1818.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Everyman's Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51720782938386,"sku":"9780679405818","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_1e8449a6-cbde-4735-b8d8-fcf58519f873.jpg?v=1776157909","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/emma-introduction-by-marilyn-butler-9780679405818","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}