A Memoir of Jane Austen: Together with Lady Susan - Literary Study

In this review the focus is on A Memoir of Jane Austen: Together with 'Lady Susan' as an essential volume for readers and scholars seeking greater access to Jane Austen's lesser-known works and family perspective. James Edward Austen-Leigh's expanded second edition collects the complete text of Lady Susan, the fragment The Watsons and a summary of Sanditon alongside a revised biographical memoir, making this edition particularly valuable for those who want historical context and the rare early texts in one scholarly package.

Key Features

• Expanded second edition: Includes the extended biographical material that answers new questions raised after the 1870 publication, providing clearer family context for Jane Austen's life.
• Complete early texts: Presents the full text of the epistolary novel Lady Susan, which makes it convenient to study Austen's earlier narrative experiments.
• Rare fragments included: Contains the fragmentary novel The Watsons, useful for readers interested in Austen's unfinished work and manuscript history.
• Summary of Sanditon: Offers a brief contemporary summary of Austen's last unfinished work, aiding readers who want an overview without separate research.
• Revised biography: Austen-Leigh updated the Memoir's biographical sections to add newly discovered information that emerged between editions, improving reliability for historians.

Who It's For

This edition is aimed at literary students, researchers and serious fans of Jane Austen who value primary texts and contemporaneous family commentary. It suits readers who want to compare published novels with earlier forms and fragments, or who need a compact source that gathers biographical notes and rare works together.

Casual readers seeking only the major completed novels may find this volume more scholarly than necessary and could prefer a modern annotated edition of a single novel with extensive explanatory notes and modern commentary.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Brings together biographical material and less accessible texts in one volume, saving time for researchers.
• Provides the complete text of Lady Susan, enabling first-hand study of Austen's letter-novel form.
• The inclusion of The Watsons fragment and a Sanditon summary supplies important context for understanding Austen's unfinished projects.

Cons

• The edition is primarily historical and textual rather than heavily annotated, so those wanting modern critical apparatus may need supplementary commentary.

Specifications

Our Verdict

A Memoir of Jane Austen: Together with 'Lady Susan' is a focused scholarly volume that delivers both family biography and early texts in one accessible package. It is best for students, researchers and dedicated Austen readers who want original material and historical context without needing extensive modern annotation, and it represents good value for those priorities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this edition include Sanditon?
It includes a brief contemporary summary of Sanditon rather than the full unfinished manuscript.

Are the texts of Lady Susan and The Watsons complete?
The edition supplies the complete text of Lady Susan and presents The Watsons as the fragmentary novel the author left.

Is this a modern annotated edition?
No, the volume is an expanded 19th century memoir edition with revised biography and original texts rather than a modern critical edition with extensive annotations.