Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin (1997)

A thoroughly detailed and thoughtful biography of the insurgent novelist.

Book Review: Jane Austen: A Life is excellent, an intelligent and deep biography worthy of its subject. This book would be far shorter if it relied only on the known facts of Jane Austen's life. So few of her letters and assuredly accurate memoirs have survived that a biographer must be creative to present a more complete picture of our Jane. Claire Tomalin has done just that. Much as astronomers can detect a hidden celestial object by its effects on other bodies, so Tomalin has taken her research one step further. Not only has she deeply examined Austen's family and relatives, she's also studied the lives of her peers and contemporaries, revealing the circumstances of comparable women in the same region and period, undergoing similar life events. In this way the biographer presents a portrait that at times must be based on supposition, but also tells us much more than expected. This revelatory approach obviously leads to speculation, but it's speculation amply informed by Tomalin's judicious intelligence, clever insights, and persuasive discussion. She's also willing to extend her extrapolations: "If this ... then perhaps that ... ," but her manner is informative rather than opinionated. When Tomalin comments on the narrative, it's enjoyable rather than intrusive: "There is something fresh and pleasant about Mr. Austen's concern for well-brushed teeth."  A distant maternal relationship and family financial difficulties are well explored. There's a sad but saintly scene of Jane using three chairs and a pillow as her "sofa." Well and clearly written, Jane Austen: A Life was slow going at times only because of the immensity of the factual background presented. An invaluable map, two family trees (!), and informative notes, bibliography, and index are also included. Although Tomalin is of the opinion that Austen rarely wrote autobiography, Janeites will find many echoes from her life in her novels, to the enrichment of both. While Jane Austen: A Life is the only Austen biography I've read, I can't imagine there's much better out there.  [4½★]