Product Description

Introduction and Notes Dr Nicola Bradbury, University of Reading Jane Austen teased readers with the idea of a 'heroine whom no one but myself will much like', but Emma is irresistible. 'Handsome, clever, and rich', Emma is also an 'imaginist', 'on fire with speculation and foresight'. She sees the signs of romance all around her, but thinks she will never be married. Her matchmaking maps out relationships that Jane Austen ironically tweaks into a clearer perspective. Judgement and imagination are matched in games the reader too can enjoy, and the end is a triumph of understanding.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1703 in Books
• Published on: 2000
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"I should like to see Emma in love, and in some doubt of return; it would do her good," remarks one of Jane Austen's characters in Emma.

Quick-witted, beautiful, headstrong and rich, Emma Woodhouse is inordinately fond of match-making select inhabitants of the village of Highbury, yet aloof and oblivious as to the question of whom she herself might marry. This paradox multiplies the intrigues and sparkling ironies of Jane Austen's masterpiece, her comedy of a sentimental education through which Emma discovers a capacity for love and marriage.

About the Author
Stephen M. Parrish is the Goldwin Smith Professor of English Emeritus at Cornell University.

Customer Reviews

Penguin Classics 2003/4/5 - paper, print and text quality.
I've just treated myself to Penguin's latest editions of Jane Austen's novels. I needn't review the novels themselves, trillions have already done that! But I thought it might help to tell others: the paper quality is excellent (lovely to touch and ... smells good too!), the text is clear (no burrs, light patches or 'bleeding') and of a good size (not that awful off putting dead weeny size. It's the size of an 'Arial 10'. Very easy on your eyes). Hope this helps. These things make a big difference me!

An Exquisite Novel
"Emma" by Jane Austen is easily one of the greatest novels ever written. Simple yet subtley multi-layered, it tells the story of Emma Woodhouse, the daughter of a rich landowner who finds herself living alone with him when her Governess marries and moves out of the family home of Hartfield. As a result, most of the day she is confined to staying in the house and looking after her Father and as there is precious little to do in the evening, finds herself desperate for amusement.

It is revealed very early on in the novel that Emma likes to match people up together and see how things turn out. She is a self proclaimed imaginist, although her playful games sometimes get out of hand, causing problems and hurting those involved. Soon after Miss Taylor - her former Governess - leaves, Emma meets Harriet Smith, a girl of unknown parentage and decides to take the girl under her wing, with hopes of improving her class and chances of finding a good husband. It is in these moments with Harriet that Emma's character is at her most unappealing, often seeming snobbish and rude and shocked that Harriet would be interested in marrying a farmer of all people. However, due to Austen's all seeing narrative, the reader discovers that Emma does not know as much as she thinks she does and that many events are taking place which she is completely unaware of.

Perhaps the first novel which requires a re-read in order to fully appreciate Austen's intricate plot, "Emma" is a wonderful novel. It is filled with Austen's formidable wit and humour but is also a brilliant romance which will enchant its reader. Austen herself felt that no-one but her could like the character of Emma, which may or may not be true, however it is easy to empathise with her, especially on a second reading.

One of my favourite novels, "Emma" is filled with memorable characters, wonderful descriptions of setting, excellent dialogue and a brilliant central heroine. A truly timeless novel with a story which will engross and enchant the reader, "Emma" is a book never to be forgotten.

"I seem to have been doomed to blindness.",
Emma Woodhouse, "handsome, clever, and rich," is the 21-year-old daughter of the elderly owner of Hartfield, the largest estate in Highbury. Though only a couple of hours away from London by carriage, Highbury regards itself as an isolated and virtually self-contained community, with the Woodhouse family the center of social life and at the top of its social ladder.

Emma, doting on her hypochondriac father, whom she represents to the outside world, has grown up without a mother's softening influence, and at twenty-one, she is bright, willful, and not a little spoiled. Having too little to do to keep out of trouble, Emma's hobby is matchmaking, "the greatest amusement in the world." Unfortunately, her sophistication in the social graces does not extend to much insight into human beings.

Taking Harriet Smith, a young woman of "questionable birth" under her wing, Emma makes Harriet her "project," educating her in the social graces, convincing Harriet not to marry farmer Robert Martin, who has courted her, and ultimately persuading Harriet, wrongly, that the vicar, Mr. Elton, is falling in love with her.

Bored and without a large circle of "suitable" friends, Emma is an incorrigible meddler, playing with the lives of those around her, snubbing those she considers inferior, gossiping about others in an attempt to divert attention to herself, and misreading intentions. Only Mr. Knightly, sixteen years older than Emma and a friend of her father, stands up to Emma and tells her what he thinks of her behavior, and it is through him that she eventually begins to grow.

Love and the formal protocol or marriage are a major focus here, with marriage more often a merger of "appropriate" families than the result of romance or passion. Class distinctions, acknowledged by all levels of society, limit both personal friendships and romantic possibilities, and as Emma's matchmaking fails again and again, causing grief to many of her victims, Emma begins to recognize that her pride, willfulness, and love of power over others have made her oblivious to her own faults.

Austen shines in her depiction of Emma and her upperclass friends, gently satirizing their weaknesses but leaving room for them to learn from their mistakes-if only they can learn to recognize the ironies in their lives. Though Emma may be, in some ways, Austen's least charming heroine, she is certainly vibrant and, with her annoying faults, a most realistic one. Mary Whipple