Persuasion: Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Contexts Criticism

The editor has spelled out ampersands and madesuperscript letters lowercase.

The novel, which is fully annotated, is followed by the two canceledchapters that comprise Persuasion’s original ending.

"Backgrounds and Contexts" collects contemporary assessments of JaneAusten as well as materials relating to social issues of the period.

Included are an excerpt from William Hayley’s 1785 "Essay on OldMaids"; Austen’s letters to Fanny Knight, which reveal her skepticismabout marriage as the key to happiness; Henry Austen’s memorial tributeto his famous sister; assessments by nineteenth-century critics JuliaKavanagh and Goldwin Smith, who saw Austen as an unassuming, sheltered,"feminine," rural writer; and the perspective of Austen’s biographerGeraldine Edith Mitten.

"Modern Critical Views" reflects a dramatic shift in the way thattwentieth-century scholars view both Austen and Persuasion.Increasingly, the focus is on Austen's moral purposefulness andpolitical acumen and on Persuasion's historical, social, and politicalimplications.

A variety of perspectives are provided by A. Walton Litz, MarilynButler, Tony Tanner, Robert Hopkins, Ann W. Astell, Claudia L. Johnson,and Cheryl Ann Weissman.

A Selected Bibliography is also included.