THE JUVENILIA OF JANE AUSTEN AND CHARLOTTE BRONTE

EDITED BY FRANCES BEER

In many ways Jane Austen and Charlotte Bront were radical opposites. Jane Austen epitomizes neoclassical elegance and proportion, Charlotte Bront the sensibility of the romantic spirit.

Their most striking similarity was that both produced a comsiderable body of juvenilia. For both authors this was a period in which to experiment and to develop character and style. Their work moved in very different directions, in her first short burlesques, Jane Austen exhibits a merciless wit as she lampoos haman vanities and vices, later sharpened in “The Three Sisters’ and ‘Catharine to reveal a maturer moral perspective. Charlotte Bronte’s appetite was for romantic adventure and, with her brot