Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen

by Weldon, Fay

• ISBN13: 9780786706884
• ISBN10: 0786706880
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-09
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

Wise, sharp, informative . . . shrewd and funny - A. S. Byatt, Times Literary Supplement Inspired by a series of instructive letters written by Austen to a novel-writing niece, Letters to Alice is an epistolary novel in which an important modern writer responds to her niece's complaint that Jane Austen is boring and irrelevant. By turns passionate and ironic, "Aunt Fay" makes Alice think - not only about books and literature, but also life and culture. "A study of a writer (and reader) thinking aloud about art and civilization . . . it should be required reading, a prerequisite for students of literature." - Hilma Wolitzer, New York Times Book Review

Author Biography

Fay Weldon is the author of such feminist classics as The Life and Loves of a She Devil and Splitting. She lives in England.

Table of Contents

The City of Invention	11	(17)
A terrible time to be alive	28	(15)
A training in docility	43	(18)
The mantle of the Muse	61	(11)
Pity the poor writer	72	(15)
Letter to a sister	87	(3)
Emma lives!	90	(12)
`Oh! It's only a novel!'	102	(5)
`I never read much'	107	(9)
`Are you sure they are all horrid?'	116	(9)
`An annuity is a serious business'	125	(8)
Let others deal with misery	133	(4)
`You have delighted us long enough'	137	(11)
A gently lingering illness	148	(4)
A publisher's offer	152	(2)
The marvel of creation	154