Professor Devoney Looser

‘Sanditon’ was one of the works left unfinished by Jane Austen. She died before she could complete it. This last work of hers was first printed in 1925, more than a century after her death. […]

Jane Austen became popular as ‘Aunt Jane’, and even those not related to her began to call her by this nickname; while the readers who admired and together discussed her fiction named themselves ‘Janeites’. […]

Jane Austen wrote in a family community of writers. Her descendants may have influenced her writing. Meanwhile, her works and their success encouraged several of her own family members who became accomplished writers and publishers. […]

Jane Austen came from a large family, who were also writers. Austen’s personal letters includes notes on her parents, siblings, and other family members. Her letters show that she corresponded with them about fiction writing. […]

Lady Susan shows that, as an author, Jane Austen was powerful and bold. Some critics see Lady Susan as a significant work that offers an understanding of Austen’s fictional method and her self-concept as an author. […]

Some critics say the concluding moral in ‘Lady Susan’ is sloppily tacked on. But, there are many who consider the ending to be an intentional literary act, composed at a time when a great deal of polite fiction was expected to have a neat, pat, didactic moral lesson to tie together all of the loose ends of the story. […]

Lady Susan has a lying, cheating, beautiful widow as its main character. Lady Susan herself is not written as a character in black or white. She is someone that many readers find simultaneously captivating and horrifying. […]

When the second edition of ‘Memoir of Jane Austen’ was set to be published, it was decided to add some previously unpublished fiction from Austen as an appendix. It was ‘Lady Susan’. […]

Austen saw her family going through a series of ailments. She herself was a victim to long period of illnesses which culminated in her death. All her experiences with health issues made their way in her works. […]