Separating fact from Made Up Stories
For those new to Jane Austen, the Jane Austen Society of North America has added a page to its Web site presenting the facts known of Jane Austen’s life and her relationship with Tom Lefroy, contrasted with the presentation of this episode of Jane’s life in the film Becoming Jane. If you have seen the film and are interested in learning how much of the film is “real,” we suggest this page is an excellent starting point.
We would also suggest some further reading for those wanting to learn more about Jane Austen’s life:
Jane Austen: A Biography by Elizabeth Jenkins (out of print, but you should be able to purchase a used copy or get it through your public library or Interlibrary Loan)
101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen by Patrice Hannon – a wonderfully readable, intelligent, information-packed introduction to Jane Austen’s life
Jane Austen: A Family Record, ed. by Deirdre Le Faye – the motherlode of pure fact about Jane Austen’s life
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Le Faye is quite probably the most knowledgeable Austen scholar alive today but she does acknowledge in the ’89 edition of A Family Record than the personal slant is arbitrary and handed down from family tradition.
The first Austen-Leigh memoir wasn’t written until 1869, and it is known now that Victorians tended to try to ‘Victorianize’ the Georgian era, a more liberal one in some aspects.
I agree with you that the book puts you in the scheme of things and it is the greatest source for a history of the family as a whole but A Family Record is a re-issue of the 1913 publication, also written from a somewhat narrow viewpoint by the Austen-Leighs. Understandable in some ways I suppose that a family would want to represent their famous relative in a specific way.
Yes, but for easily looking up dates, places, events, etc. it’s not to be beat. And I submit that the speculation is kept to a minimum and within reasonable bounds. But then I don’t think the family Victorianized Jane as much as is claimed.