by Emily Waldorf

The characters in Jane Austen’s brilliant novels inhabit your imagination indefinitely once you have had the pleasure of reading about their hopes and desires.  Who hasn’t encountered an overly passionate Marianne Dashwood or dashing but unreliable John Willoughby? Austen’s genius talent for social satire, despite being firmly planted in the world of 19th century England, is what still draws readers and audiences to her work today.

But who is Jane Austen?  If you are a real Jane Austen nut, you have probably already read Claire Tomalin’s well researched book about the notoriously elusive author, Jane Austen:  A Life.  And now you can view the Morgan Library‘s first Austen show in more than twenty five years, “A Woman’s Wit:  Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy,” curated by Declan Kiely and Clara Drummond.

The Morgan Library enjoys the largest collection in the world of Jane Austen memorabilia.  The exhibition includes many rare early editions, a revealing collection of letters written to her sister Cassandra and her niece Fannie Knight, and the Lady Susan manuscript, the only surviving complete draft of any of her novels.  Apparently, Austen wrote more than 3,000 letters in her lifetime and only 160 survive.  Most of the letters were destroyed after her death by her sister in order to preserve the family’s reputation.  This can be seen in the exhibition through letters that have been censored with whole sections cut out. Continue reading ‘The Enduring Appeal of Jane Austen’