Persuasion

Austen, Jane, 1775-1817Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.8

Word count: 284K words
Chapters: 29

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Persuasion by Jane AustenAuthor: Austen, Jane, 1775-1817,Language: French, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 20, 2011

Editor's review

Persuasion is the last novel Jane Austen completed in her lifetime, telling the story of Anne Elliot's reunion years later with Captain Wentworth, whom she had once been persuaded to give up. It unfolds around second chances and the clash between prudence and feeling. Austen portrays her characters' inner uncertainty and social circumstances with restrained prose—mature and inward-looking, and distinct from the lighter irony of her earlier works. According to Project Gutenberg metadata, this electronic edition is labeled French in language and PR (English literature) in class, so readers should note the edition's language when downloading. As a public-domain classic, it suits courses in English literature, studies of women's writing, and sequential reading of Austen's works. Readers are advised to read this book after becoming familiar with Austen's overall style, to better appreciate the calm and depth of her late writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love Jane Austen and classic British fiction
Scholars and students of nineteenth-century British women's writing
Readers who prefer delicate emotional and social detail and a leisurely pace
Enthusiasts who want to read Austen's works in sequence

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast-paced plots and strong dramatic conflict
Readers who cannot read English or French and need a Chinese translation
Readers with no interest in nineteenth-century British social settings

Reading tips

Read earlier works such as Sense and Sensibility first, then compare the more mature tone of this book.
Pay attention to Anne's inner monologue and the narrative perspective to appreciate Austen's understated technique.
Confirm the electronic edition's language before downloading; if it is the French version, read it alongside the original English.
Understand the characters' choices in light of marriage and property in nineteenth-century English gentry society.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What language is this electronic edition in?

According to Project Gutenberg metadata, this edition's Language field is labeled French, while its class is PR, English literature. Readers should confirm the edition's language before downloading to avoid confusing it with the original English text.

Where does Persuasion stand among Austen's works?

It is the last novel Austen completed in her lifetime. Its tone is calmer and more inward than her earlier works, and its themes center on second chances and emotional restraint. It is often regarded as one of the representative works of her mature period.

Can I read this directly without having read other Austen works?

Yes, but reading one or two other works first helps familiarize you with her narrative rhythm and social themes. This book's emotional tone is relatively calm, which may feel slow to some readers as an introduction.

Comments

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About the author

Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 Author

Jane Austen (1775–1817) was an English novelist. Details of her life are limited in publicly available sources, yet her works have circulated widely, and nineteen of them are held in this collection. Her best-known novel is Pride and Prejudice; others include Sense and Sensibility (held here in the French translation Raison et sensibilité, ou les deux manières d'aimer) and Persuasion, along with collected editions circulating in several languages. Her novels mostly draw on the daily life of the landed gentry, centering on marriage, property, and social manners, and are distinguished by fine psychological portrayal, restrained irony, and witty dialogue, revealing character and circumstance through ordinary events. Her style has influenced the later development of the English novel, and her works have been repeatedly translated and adapted, retaining a wide readership today.