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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780543900845
ISBN: 0543900843
Label: BookSurge Publishing
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
Book Pages: 248
Publication Date: 2000-11-17
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Product Release Date: 2000-11-17
Studio: BookSurge Publishing

This new collection of Austen's brilliant short fiction is the first annotated edition of her short writings. The texts have been compared with the manuscripts to give a number of new readings. In addition to prose fiction and prayers, this collection contains many of her poems written to amuse and console her friends, and are unavailable in any other single volume.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: An Author in Training....
Review: Compared to Jane Austen's mature and much polished novels, the stories contained in "Catharine and Other Works" are clearly those of an author in training. These stories, often known as the "Juvenalia", clearly show a promising young writer working out her technique, generally in short prose apparently intended for the entertainment of her immediate family.

"Catharine", dated to August 1792 and dedicated to Jane's sister Cassandra, is a promising indication of Austen's future greatness. It concerns a young orphaned woman being raised by a very strict and hypochrondriac aunt. Catharine is within a short period of time thrown in company with a much wealthier woman her own age and then with the woman's handsome and extremely charming brother. Catharine and the brother make a bit of splash at a ball, scandalizing the aunt and leading to the banishment of the young man, leaving behind a budding relationship ripe with dramatic possibilities. "Catharine" clearly foreshadows Austen's mature style. The dialogue is quite good, and numerous plot threads are set in motion for later resolution. The heroine is clearly a forerunner to later characters such as Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse, while Edward Stanley, the intended hero, bears more than passing resemblance to Henry Crawford of "Mansfield Park" and Frank Churchill of "Emma."

"Catharine and Other Works" is highly recommended to fans of Jane Austen, both for their inherent entertainment value and for the opportunity to see the author in training.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: ok - i guess -
Review: not a great read, sorta of inmature, intersting in some aspects if interested in Jane

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Oh! The Joy of Jane Austen!
Review: For those who have loved Jane Austen's more mature writings, this book is a must read. Compiled from Jane Austen's childhood notebooks, these stories are full of unmasked satire, and endless jokes, aimed to point out the absurdity of the novels of the authores' day. In her more mature years, Jane Austen learned to mask her satire and calm her wit. Such knowledge undoubtably made for better writing, but there is a great deal of enjoyment to be had from a younger pen, the open satire of a girl who was wise enough to see the folly of her times. Catharine and Other Stories will not make wise, or generally inspire, but it is delightful comic relief, as well as a window into the vivacious mind of Jane Austen, the girl.

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