Jane Austen, a Family Record by William Austen-Leigh
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was another book on my required reading list in preparation for my graduate thesis. It certainly is a family record and it is rather dry.
I must confess that I read this biography with a grain of salt and a constant mental reminder that Jane’s immediate surviving family members edited the sections of her letters they used in their published biography of their aunt Jane.
Since the initial publication of this biography (by her nephew’s son and grandson) many more of Jane’s letters have resurfaced and the truth came to light that even those sections they did publish were revised to portray their aunt in a more positive way.
This particular edition was itself revised and enlarged by Deirdre Le Faye, but I still couldn’t help myself wondering, if I was reading the original or the heavily edited information.
In general, I found the biography lacking spirit, for lack of a better term. It came across as flat; yet attempting to put everything in a lighter mood. Descriptive words such as “the generous”, “the kind” etc. for the various family members, who have given gifts or paid attention to the Steventon Austen family branch.
Many family members, many names, many places were mentioned that made it difficult to keep track of everyone and their respective roles throughout Jane’s life.
In addition, it was confusing trying to figure out who was giving what statement about Jane. Quotes were added without any further explanation and the reader was left to wonder what niece was commenting on what experience they had regarding Jane.
Overall, I am rating this biography two stars, which, according to Goodreads, still means it was ok. And that’s what it essentially is: okay. For those, who have a working knowledge of Jane’s life and her family, this biography might be interesting to trace its roots back to the beginning of Jane’s legacy as shared by her family, although the very first biography was Memoir by James Edward Austen.
There are better and more up-to-date biographies on Jane available, but it’s still worth a look for those rare pieces of information not found anywhere else. I would suggest it to very curious, highly interested, die-hard fans of Jane’s work and life.
