Fifty-Two years after Jane Austen’s (1775-1817) death, her nephews and nieces decided to put together this official memoir of their Aunt Jane. While it offers fascinating first hand glimpses of the famous English novelist, it does not offer any serious revelations or help to explain her particular genius. Nevertheless, Jane Austen fans should thoroughly enjoy this family memoir.
Written by Jane Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh, and pretty much conceived as a family project to memorise ‘Aunt Jane’, Memoir of Jane Austen was published 52 years after the famous English author died. The memoir first came out in 1869, and was re-published in 1871 with the deleted last chapter of Persuasion that Austen replaced with two new final chapters. Plus excerpts from Austen’s other unpublished worked were included, such as Sanditon and Lady Susan.
This family biography is the only one that contains first hand recollections of Jane Austen. J. E. Austen not only relied on his own memories; his half-sister Jane Anna Elizabeth Austen Lefroy, a younger sister Caroline Mary Craven Austen, and cousin Cassy Esten also contributed to the portrait.
Like Shakespeare, very little is known of Jane Austen’s life. Jane’s close friend and confidante, her sister Cassandra, destroyed the vast bulk of the famous novelist’s correspondence. The family was concerned with presenting a decent and upstanding portrait of Jane; it is believed that letters containing information about her love life were destroyed. In the days when all communication was by letter, it was common for sensitive material to be destroyed. Apparently, in total there were some 3,000 letters between Cassandra and Jane, but only 160 now survive.
Fascinating Glimpses of Jane Austen
J. E. Austen-Leigh’s memoir is useful as it gives fascinating glimpses of his Aunt close up. Jane Austen appears to have been an attractive woman, slightly taller than the average, kindly, affectionate, and with a gently comic attitude to life. Austen-Leigh’s somewhat reverential portrait tallies neatly with what you’d expect of the author of Pride and Prejudice and Emma.
We are also given much interesting background information about Jane Austen’s social millieu and the customs of the day. A strong, general picture is built up of the society and morals that would have informed Jane Austen’s view of the world. For those fascinated by Austen’s fine, delicate prose, the biographer informs readers that Jane was good at everything to do with her hands, which may explain the especial care that she took with her intricate prose. She had strong, clear hand writing, performed exquisite needle work, and could perfectly fold an envelope. (In those days envelopes didn’t come already made up, and letter writers had to fold and wax their own envelopes. Apparently, it was not uncommon to see many loose and baggy letters being sent about.)
More Official Family Portrait Than Revealing Biography
While Austen-Leigh writes well and perceptively, he does tend to stuff his memoir with too many lengthy quotations. His personal stories about Jane Austen are also surprisingly few and far between. He rather gives one overall impression of a genteel and ladylike aunt who never offended a single soul. Hence this memoir suffers from being more hagiography than biography.
But what more could you expect from an authorised biography, produced by a well-to-do family from the landed gentry, wanting to put forward their best face? Jane Austen fans should not be disappointed by this memoir however, as it does give tantalising glimpses of its subject. The death bed scene, put together from the memories of Jane Austen’s nieces who were by her side, is particularly affecting. If only Cassandra had not burnt thousands of those letters!
Perhaps the most effective way to build up a portrait of Jane Austen is by a deep reading of her novels, with their extraordinary insights into the human condition. But the reality is, this most ubiquitous of English novelists will always remain an almost anonymous figure.
- Austen Leigh, James Edward, A Memoir of Jane Austen, Reissued by Cambridge University Press 2009, ISBN 978-1-108-00357-5
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