Lady Susan and Other Works (Wordsworth Classics)

Lady Susan and Other Works by Jane Austen is a collection presented with an introduction, explanatory notes and an annotated bibliography by Nicholas Seager. This edition forms part of the Wordsworth Classics series.

Key details

• Author: Jane Austen
• Series: Wordsworth Classics
• Includes an introduction by Nicholas Seager
• Includes explanatory notes
• Includes an annotated bibliography

Synopsis

This volume gathers Jane Austen’s earliest experiments in fiction alongside novels left unfinished at the time of her death in 1817. The fragmentary juvenilia show her developing narrative form while parodying popular kinds of fiction of her day.

It includes Lady Susan, an epistolary novel centred on a captivating but unscrupulous widow, as well as The Watsons, which explores family relationships, the marriage market and attitudes to rank. Sanditon is set in a newly fashionable seaside resort and showcases Austen’s social observation. The collection is completed by shorter fictions surviving in manuscript, including Catharine, Love and Freindship [sic], and The History of England.