"Bloomsbury presents the 250TH BIRTHDAY EDITION of What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan, read by Charles Armstrong
‘Almost as good as finding an unpublished novel’ The Lady
'Any new book on Austen raises the urgent question, Would I get more pleasure from reading this than from re-reading my favourite Austen novel? You'll know after a few pages here that you've made the right choice' Sunday Times
Is there any sex in Jane Austen?
Why do her plots rely on blunders?
Which important characters never actually speak?
Jane Austen’s novels have been a staple of the British canon since the nineteenth century. Yet critics of the time did not appreciate the true complexity of her work. Neither Austen’s literary innovations nor the cunning intracacy of her novels were understood – much less the fascinating patterns and puzzles thrown up by some of the most famous works of English literature. Nothing, John Mullan argues, is accidental or coincidental in Austen. As she herself said, she wrote for readers who have ‘a great deal of ingenuity themselves’.
What Matters in Jane Austen? gets to the heart of what it is that makes Austen’s work so singular. In twenty chapters, answering questions her novels have posed for over two centuries, Mullan uncovers the hidden truth of an extraordinary fictional world and reveals the true brilliance – and underappreciated complexity – of Austen’s oeuvre. C 2012 John Mullan P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Bloomsbury presents The Artful Dickens by John Mullan, read by Jonathan Oliver.
'This is a marvellous, endlessly illuminating book ... It doesn’t go on the shelf alongside other critics; it goes on the shelf alongside Dickens' Howard Jacobson
Discover the tricks of a literary master in this essential guide to the fictional world of Charles Dickens.
From Pickwick to Scrooge, Copperfield to Twist, how did Dickens find the perfect names for his characters?
What was Dickens's favourite way of killing his characters?
When is a Dickens character most likely to see a ghost?
Why is Dickens’s trickery only fully realised when his novels are read aloud?
In thirteen entertaining and wonderfully insightful essays, John Mullan explores the literary machinations of Dickens’s eccentric genius, from his delight in clichés to his rendering of smells and his outrageous use of coincidences. A treat for all lovers of Dickens, this essential companion puts his audacity, originality and brilliance on full display.
'Brilliantly sharp ... Mullan makes us see that Charles Dickens was one of the most artful, which is to say skilled, writers the world has ever seen' Mail on Sunday
'Put it on your Christmas list and spend the post-goose collapse reading the good bits aloud' Laura Freeman
'Even if you know a lot about Dickens you will find revelations in this book, and if you know nothing about him it will be the perfect appetiser' The Times, The best paperbacks of 2021 C 2020 John Mullan P 2020 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
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