Jane Austen A Literary Celebrity by Peter J. Leithart

 Although my favourite biography of Jane is by Park Honan, this was a lovely one which emphasizes her Christianity, and her humanity. As well as discussing Jane's life and relationships, Leithart gives a mostly spot-on analysis of her writing, and he also gives priority to her playfulness. He also writes about her romances, and her superior knowledge of people.

He appears to be almost a bit sneery at times, however, about Jane's writing about ordinary life, and her 'ignoring' the wars, and politics. He even seems to think this about Mansfield Park, disregarding Jane's being an abolitionist, and slavery being a fairly obvious feature of the novel if you look at it closely? The navy also plays a huge part in this book, and in Persuasion.

I also think that Leithart makes some statements without providing much, or indeed any evidence. For example, he writes that 'prior to the eighteenth century, many Church of England clergymen were little more than peasants...'. I am not sure about this! There is no footnote here, and I am not sure where the evidence for this opinion comes from. I have read about many Anglican clergymen who lived before the eighteenth century, who were extremely well-educated, and nothing like peasants! John Donne, anyone?

He also criticises Jane's education, and states that she doesn't reference Shakespeare in her novels. However, there are plenty of high-brow literary references in Austen's novels. As he states, her father had an extensive library, and Jane was extremely well-read.

I would read more books by Leithart, but watch out for statements like this.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.