Come Sunday . . .
. . . it's Emma time. (Chapter One will be Sunday's topic.)
Some interesting tidbits about the novel:
1. Emma was the fourth of Austen's novels to be published - and the last to be published during her lifetime. Emma was published as a three-volume novel in England in 1816 (actually, it's dated 1816, but came out in December of 1815 - Austen died in 1817).
2. It was also the first Austen novel to have a U.S. edition: Emma was published in Philadelphia as a two-volume novel by M. Carey in 1816.
3. Family tradition says that Austen told her sister, Cassandra, that Emma Woodhouse was "a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." She has been proven wrong, of course, as generations of readers find much to like in Austen's headstrong, impulsive yet lovable heroine.
4. Mr. Knightley, with his rather allegorical name, was one of Austen's two favorites of her own heroes -- the other was Edmund Bertram from Mansfield Park. Mr. Knightley is pretty much everything Austen believed an English gentleman ought to be - well-mannered, well-educated, well-informed, thoughtful, considerate, dutiful, charitable and more.
As a reminder, you can read text of Emma online at Mollands.net (and probably some other places). Free downloads are available for most every e-reader I've found, and it can be downloaded in text or audio format at Project Gutenberg.org. It is widely available in libraries and bookstores as well. I'll be using my Norton Critical Edition, which looks like the book pictured to the right. (A new Norton Critical Edition is due out this October, apparently.)
Some interesting tidbits about the novel:
1. Emma was the fourth of Austen's novels to be published - and the last to be published during her lifetime. Emma was published as a three-volume novel in England in 1816 (actually, it's dated 1816, but came out in December of 1815 - Austen died in 1817).
2. It was also the first Austen novel to have a U.S. edition: Emma was published in Philadelphia as a two-volume novel by M. Carey in 1816.
3. Family tradition says that Austen told her sister, Cassandra, that Emma Woodhouse was "a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." She has been proven wrong, of course, as generations of readers find much to like in Austen's headstrong, impulsive yet lovable heroine.
4. Mr. Knightley, with his rather allegorical name, was one of Austen's two favorites of her own heroes -- the other was Edmund Bertram from Mansfield Park. Mr. Knightley is pretty much everything Austen believed an English gentleman ought to be - well-mannered, well-educated, well-informed, thoughtful, considerate, dutiful, charitable and more.
As a reminder, you can read text of Emma online at Mollands.net (and probably some other places). Free downloads are available for most every e-reader I've found, and it can be downloaded in text or audio format at Project Gutenberg.org. It is widely available in libraries and bookstores as well. I'll be using my Norton Critical Edition, which looks like the book pictured to the right. (A new Norton Critical Edition is due out this October, apparently.)