内容简介
"Emma," by Jane Austen, is part of the "Barnes and NobleClassics"" "series, which offers quality editions at affordableprices to the student and the general reader, including newscholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully craftedextras. Here are some of the remarkable features of "Barnes andNoble Classics": New introductions commissioned from today's topwriters and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies ofcontemporary historical, biographical, and cultural eventsFootnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations,parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, andfilms inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Studyquestions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectationsBibliographies for further reading Indices and Glossaries, whenappropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed tosuperior specifications; some include illustrations of historicalinterest. "Barnes and Noble Classics "pulls together aconstellation of influences-biographical, historical, andliterary-to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduringworks. Emma Woodhouse is a wealthy, exquisite, and thoroughlyself-deluded young woman who has "lived in the world with verylittle to distress or vex her." Jane Austen exercises her taste forcutting social observation and her talent for investing seeminglytrivial events with profound moral significance as Emma traverses agentle satire of provincial balls and drawing rooms, along the wayencountering the sweet Harriet Smith, the chatty and tedious MissBates, and her absurd father Mr. Woodhouse-a memorable gallery ofAusten's finest personages. Thinking herself impervious toromanceof any kind, Emma tries to arrange a wealthy marriage for poorHarriet, but refuses to recognize her own feelings for the gallantMr. Knightley. What ensues is a delightful series of schemingescapades in which every social machination and bit of"tittle-tattle" is steeped in Austen's delicious irony. Ultimately,Emma discovers that "Perfect happiness, even in memory, is notcommon." Virginia Woolf called Jane Austen "the most perfect artistamong women," and Emma Woodhouse is arguably her most perfectcreation. Though Austen found her heroine to be a person whom "noone but myself will much like," "Emma" is her most cleverly woven,riotously comedic, and pleasing novel of manners. Steven Marcus isProfessor of English and Comparative Literature and GeorgeDelacorte Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, and aspecialist in nineteenth-century literature and culture. A fellowof both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Academyof Literary Studies, he has received Fulbright, American Council ofLearned Societies, Guggenheim, Center for Advanced Study in theBehavioral Sciences, Rockefeller, and Mellon grants. He is theauthor of more than 200 publications.