Review: Ah Emma. I adore her! Little did I know I fell for Emma not in her original form but rather all the way back in the 1990s when I became enamoured with Cher Horowitz, the wonderful late twentieth-century interpretation of her in cult film Clueless. Recently I re-watched Clueless, as part of a project introducing my child to classic high-school movies and not only has it lost none of its charm, the movie also made me want to finally read the original story from which it takes its inspiration.
Emma was my second Jane Austen novel after Pride and Prejudice. It is generally understood that these two novels are her most popular and perhaps her best. Most readers love one or the other. I can now say definitively that not only do I love Cher Horowitz I absolutely adore Emma. It is ironic that upon sitting down to write her novel Austen declared to her nephew “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” because there are many of us over the centuries who have loved Emma's obliviousness, or should I say cluelessness, to her faults and flaws. She is pompous, snobby, but also likeable, well-intentioned and ultimately comes to a place of realisation. She is real. Perhaps this more than anything is what makes her so charming and makes this novel so marvellous.
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: Classic
ISBN: 978-0141192475
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published: 1815
Publisher’s Description: Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen's most flawless work.Literary Atelier Review: Ah Emma. I adore her! Little did I know I fell for Emma not in her original form but rather all the way back in the 1990s when I became enamoured with Cher Horowitz, the wonderful late twentieth-century interpretation of her in cult film Clueless. Recently I re-watched Clueless, as part of a project introducing my child to classic high-school movies and not only has it lost none of its charm, the movie also made me want to finally read the original story from which it takes its inspiration.
Emma was my second Jane Austen novel after Pride and Prejudice. It is generally understood that these two novels are her most popular and perhaps her best. Most readers love one or the other. I can now say definitively that not only do I love Cher Horowitz I absolutely adore Emma. It is ironic that upon sitting down to write her novel Austen declared to her nephew “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” because there are many of us over the centuries who have loved Emma's obliviousness, or should I say cluelessness, to her faults and flaws. She is pompous, snobby, but also likeable, well-intentioned and ultimately comes to a place of realisation. She is real. Perhaps this more than anything is what makes her so charming and makes this novel so marvellous.
Jane Austen: was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon near Basingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved around with her mother; in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to London, until in May 1817 she moved to Winchester to be near her doctor. There she died on July 18, 1817.
As a girl Jane Austen wrote stories, including burlesques of popular romances. Her works were only published after much revision, four novels being published in her lifetime. These are Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma(1816). Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical notice by her brother, Henry Austen, the first formal announcement of her authorship. Persuasion was written in a race against failing health in 1815-16. She also left two earlier compositions, a short epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and an unfinished novel, The Watsons. At the time of her death, she was working on a new novel, Sanditon, a fragmentary draft of which survives.