Before writing Emma, Jane Austen once expressed, "I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." Most believe that the author was at least half-joking when she said this, as Emma Woodhouse is often a great favorite among readers. The girl aside, however, the story itself is simply brilliant. Part romance, part comedy, part drama, and part "detective novel," there's an element to please anybody in this book.
Austen wrote the novel over the period encompassing January 21, 1814 - March 29, 1815. At his request, she dedicated Emma to her most high-profile fan, the Prince Regent. This is a bit strange, considering that she didn't care much for him, his conduct towards his wife, or his personality in general. He received a special first edition of the novel, in three volumes, which is kept at the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.
First published in the year 1816 (or late 1815) by John Murray, Emma was the last work Austen lived to see released. The first edition consisted of 2000 copies. Oddly, the book did not sell well, so the second printing/edition didn't happen until 1833.
-
Read the novel:
- Austen.com's HTML version.
- Plain text format from Project Gutenburg.
- PDF format from Project Gutenburg.
- A text version with audio, too!
- LibriVox also has audio available.
- Chapter-by-Chapter
Hypertext Format at Bibliomania - Beware of slight abridgements.
-
The main characters and pertinent descriptive quotations:
- Emma Woodhouse
- Mr. Knightley
- John Knightley
- Frank Churchill
- Jane Fairfax
- Mr. & Mrs. Weston
- Miss Bates COMING SOON
- Harriet Smith
- Mr. Woodhouse COMING
SOON
- Deborah Jane's hilarious and informative Mr. Woodhouse Defense League
- Mr. & Mrs. Elton COMING SOON
- How
Jane Austen's Characters Talk - Should we reevaluate our
perceptions of Emma Woodhouse? Check out Dr. E. Johnson's research (via the WayBack Machine)...
-
Useful quotations:
- Priceless quotations from the novel.
- Quotations chronicling the understated romance between Emma and Mr. Knightley.
- Quotations regarding music and
dance in the novel.
-
Charles Edmund Brock and Hugh Thomson Illustrations for various Emma editions are available in our Image Gallery!
-
For those studying the novel (Use at your own risk!):
- Bibliography of works on Emma and the film adaptations.
- Bibliomania study questions
- The Emma section from Henry Churchyard's invaluable Jane Austen Information Page. It includes text, selected scenes, and background.
- Re-reading Box Hill - A group of academic essays.
- On
liking Emma
-
Some Sequels and Allusions - Great literature? LOL.
- Joan Aiken's Jane Fairfax - 1990 . Apparently, there is another allusion by the same
name by Naomi Royde Smith (1940). Linda's read it.
- Review of Aiken's novel
- Buy Aiken's Jane Fairfax
- Joan Austen-Leigh's Two-Volume allusion, A Visit to Highbury: Another View of Emma - 1993/1995
and Later Days at Highbury: A Novel - 1996.
The former was first published as Mrs. Goddard, Mistress of a School in 1993 for A Room of One's Own Press.
- Reviews of both Highbury novels
- Buy A Visit to Highbury
- Buy Later Days at Highbury
- Buy Mrs. Goddard, Mistress of a School
- Rachel Billington's Perfect Happiness - 1996.
- Review of the novel
- See Billington's article on the recent Austen sequels, including her own.
- See also this article on the Billington-Tennant sequel war of '96.
- Buy Perfect Happiness
- Buy Emma & Knightley, which appears to be the same book with a different title.
- Grania Beckford's Virtues and Vices is supposedly a sequel or allusion to Emma. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981.
- Diana Birchall's In Defense of Mrs. Elton and The Courtship of Mrs. Elton, presented together in Mrs. Elton in America: The Compleat Mrs. Elton - 2004 (although In Defense was first published in 1999, I think).
- Christine Brooke-Rose's Textermination is supposedly a sequel or allusion to Emma. Manchester: Carcanet, 1991.
- Joan Ellen Delman's Lovers' Perjuries - 2006. Paperback, 299 pages. Published by Domestic Virtues Press.
- Brenda Finn's Anna Weston: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Emma - 2000. Released in the UK. 256 Pages. Published by Hedera Books.
ISBN: 0953755401.
- Buy Anna Weston (UK)
- Buy Anna Weston
- Jane Gillespie's Aunt Celia - 1991/2 - and Truth
and Rumor - ?
- Aunt Celia Review
- Truth and Rumor Review
- Buy Aunt Celia
- Buy Truth and Rumor
- Buy Truth and Rumor (UK)
- Amanda Grange's Mr. Knightley's Diary - 2007. Latest in her series of Austen hero diaries.
- Charlotte Grey's The Journal of Jane Fairfax - 1983. Published by Robert Hale LTD, London.
- Reginald Hill's Poor Emma, part of There are no Ghosts in the Soviet Union - 1988 - I heard it straight from the author's mouth that this sequel has Mr. Knightley as a fat old codger. And things apparently go downhill from there...
- Naomi Gwladys Royde Smith's Jane Fairfax - 1940. Published by Macmillan, London.
- G.B. Stern's Seven Years Later, included in More About Jane Austen - 1949. A hardcover book of Austen essays and sequelizations edited by Sheila Kaye-Smith (?).
- Emma Tennant's Emma in Love - 1996.
- Buy Emma in Love
- See Rachel Billington's article on the recent Austen sequels, including her own.
- If you must
know how silly this sequel is, see this article on the Billington-Tennant sequel war of '96.
- Debra White Smith's Amanda - 2006.
- What Austen Knew but Never Wrote...
- Henry's Austen Sequels page
- Linda's Emma Sequel Page
- More from Linda
- EESE Jane Austen Resources
- Joan Aiken's Jane Fairfax - 1990 . Apparently, there is another allusion by the same
name by Naomi Royde Smith (1940). Linda's read it.
-
Emma fan fiction is popular. These works were written by my friends, one of them by me!
- Emma Deja Vu. Emma and Mr. Knightley go at it again.
- Knightley's Story. The real reason behind Mr. Knightley's trip to London.
- Mr. Knightley's Side of the Story. Another version of the same.
- What Were They Thinking? The secret engagement between Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill from their perspectives. This one's mine.
- Le
Long Retour Vers Donwell. In French and English translation.
Mr. Knightley contemplates Emma and Frank.