A deliciously original study of the cheap editions of Pride and Prejudice and other novels – ignored by literary scholars – casts new light on her readershipJane Austen aficionados think that they know the story of their favourite author’s posthumous dis-appearance and then re-emergence. For half a century after she died in 1817, her books were little known or read. A few discriminating admirers such as George Henry Lewes and Lord Macaulay kept the flame of her reputation burning, but most novelists and novel readers were oblivious to her. Then, in 1869, her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published a memoir about her and the public got interested. Her novels started being republished and widely read. She has never looked back.Janine Barchas’s The Lost Books of Jane Austen puts us right. Her book about books is a beautifully illustrated exploration, indeed compendium, of the popular editions of Austen’s novels that have appeared over the last two centuries. This includes those decades when Austen was supposedly lost from sight. The first chapter is a “vignette” on a copy of Sense and Sensibility, published in 1851 for George Routledge’s Railway Library (books suitable for reading on the train). It cost one shilling and was bought for the 13-year-old Gertrude Wallace, the youngest daughter of a Plymouth naval officer. It is the first of many examples of cheap and popular editions of Austen’s work that kept it alive for ordinary readers and that literary scholars have... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-12-11 07:30:31 UTC ]
Greg Marshall’s memoir Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It is a brave and hilarious tour de force, taking us through his journey of self-acceptance as he grapples with cerebral palsy, queerness, and the early death of a parent. By offering us a front seat to the uproarious... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-06-22 11:01:00 UTC ]
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A look into Nora Roberts one of the most popular romance novelists of all time who helped redefine the genre in the 1980s and beyond. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-06-21 10:37:00 UTC ]
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Barbara Kingsolver and others are no longer oppressed – they dominate book salesThere is a point at which all special treatment becomes patronising. And we have reached that point, I think, when it comes to giving women a leg-up in the business of writing fiction.Genghis Khan sacked and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-18 06:31:35 UTC ]
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Actor Elliot Page has the #8 book in the country with the memoir 'Pageboy.' Plus 'All the Sinners Bleed' author S.A. Cosby takes a leap of faith, and Lisa See invites readers into 'Lady Tan's Circle of Women.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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When her husband was diagnosed with lung cancer, the author was haunted by a long-ago loss — one she’d already written about. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-15 09:00:49 UTC ]
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The poet and activist Rose Styron, 95, had to be talked into writing about herself and the many luminaries she has known. “I don’t like looking backward,” she said. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-13 21:08:45 UTC ]
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Author’s decision to remove The Snow Forest from publication because of Russia-Ukraine war sparks intense debateMixed reactions have met the decision by the US novelist Elizabeth Gilbert to withdraw her forthcoming novel The Snow Forest from publication after receiving criticism for its Russian... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-13 13:48:07 UTC ]
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While visiting Italy’s vanishing towns, Dominic Smith muses on abandonment both physical and emotional. | Lit Hub Memoir 26 new books out today for your summer reading glow-up. | The Hub “When we write ‘I’ in the personal essay it is a philosophical act as much as it is a creative one.” Sarah... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-13 10:30:10 UTC ]
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The poet and activist Rose Styron, 95, had to be talked into writing about herself and the many luminaries she has known. “I don’t like looking backward,” she said. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-12 13:39:45 UTC ]
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Jenny Erpenbeck’s Kairos, Deborah Levy’s August Blue, and Frieda Hughes’ George: A Magpie Memoir all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.” * Fiction 1. Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (New Directions) 10 Rave • 3... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-09 08:53:52 UTC ]
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Most actors make terrible novelists – but writing the ‘cracking thriller’ Deadly Game was life-affirming for the veteran star, so never mind the finished productGod spare us another millionaire actor who fancies themself as a bestselling author –unless the actor is Michael Caine, in which case... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-08 12:30:07 UTC ]
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Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Splinters, the first memoir from Leslie Jamison, the bestselling author of The Recovering and The Empathy Exams, coming from Little, Brown early next year. Here’s a bit about the book from the publisher: Leslie Jamison has become one of our most... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-07 14:00:32 UTC ]
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I’ve been working on a theory about novelists lately: most of us wish we were rock stars. I’m basing this on a few things, like, for example, who wouldn’t want to be a rock star? Also, with all our anonymity, social anxiety disorders, and how we tend to be at our best while wearing sweatpants […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-06-07 08:52:59 UTC ]
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In a cultural milieu that is increasingly recognizing the value of narratives that describe the experience of chronic pain and illness, Emily Wells’ memoir is a unique contribution. In some ways, A Matter of Appearance is not a memoir at all, though that’s where you’ll find it shelved in... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-06-06 11:05:00 UTC ]
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In the “brutally honest” memoir “Pageboy,” the actor recounts the fears and obstacles to gender transition, and the hard-won happiness that’s followed. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-06 09:00:19 UTC ]
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In The Race to Be Myself, the Olympian athlete will detail her battle for permission to compete as a woman with hyperandrogenismStormzy’s #Merky Books is to publish Olympian Caster Semenya’s memoir this year.South African athlete Semenya, whose book is titled The Race to Be Myself, was just 18... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-06-02 12:52:34 UTC ]
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For 17 books, Luis Alberto Urrea has highlighted the joys and sorrows of life along the U.S.-Mexican border, a territory which moves with its peoples, no matter the walls we build on the land and in our hearts. Through his memoir Nobody’s Son, novels like The House of Broken Angels, his essay... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-05-31 11:00:00 UTC ]
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"Zev's Los Angeles," a memoir by former L.A. County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, covers an era when L.A. transformed radically — and does it really well. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-29 13:00:43 UTC ]
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He exploded into the tweedy world of literature, a young, pouting and outrageously brash crusader for prose. Our writer remembers her encounters with the novelist, whose smarts and chutzpah confounded his peers‘You’ll be reading me every now and then at least until about 2080, weather... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 05:00:48 UTC ]
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Martin Amis, best known for a scathing, dazzling trilogy of novels on money-saturated '80s London and the memoir "Experience," died Friday at 73. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-05-20 20:05:38 UTC ]
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