Devoney Looser
Författare till The Making of Jane Austen
Om författaren
Devoney Looser is a Foundation Professor of English at Arizona State University, a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar, and a Guggenheim Fellow. She is the author of Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750-1850 and British Women Writers and the Writing of History, visa mer 1670-1820. visa färre
Verk av Devoney Looser
Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës (2022) 56 exemplar
The Cambridge Companion to Women's Writing in the Romantic Period (Cambridge Companions to Literature) (2015) 12 exemplar
Travel and Leisure in the Georgian Era 1 exemplar
Clerks, Clergy, and Other Men's Professions 1 exemplar
The Accomplished Woman 1 exemplar
Luxury, Fashion, and Labor in the Regency 1 exemplar
Sanditon and Austen's Unfinished Fiction 1 exemplar
Health and Wellness in Austen's England 1 exemplar
Lady Susan : Austen's Merry Widow 1 exemplar
Class and Courtesy in Regency Society 1 exemplar
Austen's Relations : From Family to Fandom 1 exemplar
British Life in Revolutionary Times 1 exemplar
Persuasion : A Second Bloom 1 exemplar
Money, Inheritance, and All They Entail 1 exemplar
Marriage and Family in Austen's Era 1 exemplar
Regency Romance and Courtship 1 exemplar
Northanger Abbey : Defending the Novel 1 exemplar
Emma : The Proper Use of Power 1 exemplar
Mansfield Park : Silence, Place, and Price 1 exemplar
Pride and Prejudice : Universal Truth 1 exemplar
Sense and Sensibility : Sisters United 1 exemplar
Juvenilia : Austen's Early Raucous Works 1 exemplar
Life and Letters : The Genuine Austen 1 exemplar
Entering Jane Austen's World 1 exemplar
Pop and Popularity : Austen's Enduring Fame 1 exemplar
Associerade verk
Rational Creatures: Stirrings of Feminism in the Hearts of Jane Austen's Fine Ladies (2018) — Förord — 7 exemplar
Taggad
Allmänna fakta
- Födelsedag
- 1967-04-11
- Kön
- female
- Nationalitet
- USA
- Födelseort
- St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
- Bostadsorter
- Phoenix, Arizona, USA
White Bear Lake, Minnesota, USA - Utbildning
- Augsburg College (BA|1989)
Stony Brook University - Yrken
- Professor of English
literary scholar
biographer - Organisationer
- Arizona State University
- Priser och utmärkelser
- Guggenheim Fellowship
National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar - Kort biografi
- Devoney Looser was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and raised in White Bear Lake. She graduated from Hill-Murray School in Maplewood and then earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from Augsburg College in 1989. She obtained her doctorate in English with a certification in women's studies from Stony Brook University in New York. After teaching at several other institutions, she joined the faculty of Arizona State University, where she is now Foundation Professor of English. In 2020, she was named a Regents Professor. She has been a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow. Prof. Looser's essays and op-ed pieces have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Salon, and Slate, among others. Her numerous books include The Making of Jane Austen (2017); Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750-1850 (2001); The Life and Works of Jane Austen (ed. 2021); and Sister Novelists: Jane and Anna Maria Porter in the Age of Austen (2022).
Medlemmar
Recensioner
In the late 1970s when I was at university, my classes in the early novel didn’t include any mention of the Porter sisters. Austen had a year-long honors seminar. So, it’s remarkable to read how an author I had never heard of, Maria Porter, had been more famous than Austen. With her sister Jane, the Porter sisters published twenty-six books, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. They created the historical fiction genre. Sir Walter Scott saw their success and wrote Waverly, his fame overshadowing them.
Devoney Looser determined to give the Porter sisters a deserved biography. The story of these women, and their brothers and friends and romantic crushes, as dramatic and exciting as any fiction. It’s the story of brilliant, independent, high minded women who make every mistake imaginable in terms of where they gave their affection and loyalty. Who gained fame but struggled with homelessness and poverty. They met the most famous writers, actors, and titled people of their time, where admired by important men, were beautiful and intelligent, but never found love or riches. Every time it looked as if their fortunes were changing, their hopes were dashed. Their brother Robert was a gifted artist, successful for a moment, then in huge debt. He married a Russian princess, but had no fairy tale ending.
Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs was Queen Victoria’s and President Andrew Jackson’s favorite book. It inspired Sir Walter Scott. Emily Dickinson owned Jane’s bestsellers. It was even included in the The Classics Illustrated Comics, No 67. And, it may be the uncredited inspiration for the move Braveheart.
Of course, the reason why we didn’t study the Porters at university was because they wrote historical fiction. My professor scoffed when I said my husband brought home a complete set of Scott, indicating that those books were not esteemed as literature.
During the writing of this book, I had moments when I wished I could shake these brilliant sisters by the shoulders and ask, “What are you doing?”
from Sister Novelists by Devoney Looser
Maria was the more outgoing of the sisters and fell in love easily. Jane was considered the more beautiful, shy and serious. They were exceedingly well-read. Influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft, they were proud of their independence. To be women and writers, with their names on their books, was still socially unacceptable.
They fell for charming, handsome scoundrels, preferring to see the best in these men.
Their fame and popularity brought entrée into the world of the wealthy and priviledged, while they economized and often went without necessities. Their friends had ‘colorful lives.’ They used their wide experience in their novels, thrilling readers while educating them in history. They believed that while entertaining readers, they could also inspire proper values and character.
I am not exaggerating to say that their lives were as full of tragedy, reversals, and serendipitous good fortune as any romance or soap opera imaginable. The stories of their brothers and their beloved friends are just as dramatic and colorful. I was riveted to the book, updating my spouse on the latest shocking episode.
This is a must read for anyone interested in women writers, the early novel, and women’s social history. Readers of history will gain insight into all levels of society.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.… (mer)
Devoney Looser determined to give the Porter sisters a deserved biography. The story of these women, and their brothers and friends and romantic crushes, as dramatic and exciting as any fiction. It’s the story of brilliant, independent, high minded women who make every mistake imaginable in terms of where they gave their affection and loyalty. Who gained fame but struggled with homelessness and poverty. They met the most famous writers, actors, and titled people of their time, where admired by important men, were beautiful and intelligent, but never found love or riches. Every time it looked as if their fortunes were changing, their hopes were dashed. Their brother Robert was a gifted artist, successful for a moment, then in huge debt. He married a Russian princess, but had no fairy tale ending.
Jane Porter’s The Scottish Chiefs was Queen Victoria’s and President Andrew Jackson’s favorite book. It inspired Sir Walter Scott. Emily Dickinson owned Jane’s bestsellers. It was even included in the The Classics Illustrated Comics, No 67. And, it may be the uncredited inspiration for the move Braveheart.
Of course, the reason why we didn’t study the Porters at university was because they wrote historical fiction. My professor scoffed when I said my husband brought home a complete set of Scott, indicating that those books were not esteemed as literature.
During the writing of this book, I had moments when I wished I could shake these brilliant sisters by the shoulders and ask, “What are you doing?”
from Sister Novelists by Devoney Looser
Maria was the more outgoing of the sisters and fell in love easily. Jane was considered the more beautiful, shy and serious. They were exceedingly well-read. Influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft, they were proud of their independence. To be women and writers, with their names on their books, was still socially unacceptable.
They fell for charming, handsome scoundrels, preferring to see the best in these men.
Their fame and popularity brought entrée into the world of the wealthy and priviledged, while they economized and often went without necessities. Their friends had ‘colorful lives.’ They used their wide experience in their novels, thrilling readers while educating them in history. They believed that while entertaining readers, they could also inspire proper values and character.
I am not exaggerating to say that their lives were as full of tragedy, reversals, and serendipitous good fortune as any romance or soap opera imaginable. The stories of their brothers and their beloved friends are just as dramatic and colorful. I was riveted to the book, updating my spouse on the latest shocking episode.
This is a must read for anyone interested in women writers, the early novel, and women’s social history. Readers of history will gain insight into all levels of society.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.… (mer)
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
This was a Great Courses... course I accessed through audible about... the life and works of Jane Austen. Did what it said on the tin and all that--and did it quite well. I'm pretty familiar with Austen and her works, but I still learned some things here and had a lovely time listening to the course. Looser does an excellent job both explaining things and presenting things in an interesting way through this format. Recommended if you are interested in Austen or English lit.
Du skulle kanske också gilla
Associerade författare
Statistik
- Verk
- 32
- Även av
- 2
- Medlemmar
- 243
- Popularitet
- #93,557
- Betyg
- 4.1
- Recensioner
- 8
- ISBN
- 26
To place Jane and Anna Maria Porter in a context that many of us are comfortable with:
*They were contemporaries of Jane Austen (indeed, they had mutual acquaintances, and at one point Jane Porter even corresponded with Jane Austen's brother Charles).
*They saw baby Queen Victoria playing on the lawn next to their house and thought things like, "Hey, what a cute kid." (I paraphrase.)
*One of them (Jane Porter) was dazzled at a party one day by the most beautiful male speaking voice she had ever heard, and turned around and realized, whoops, um, that was Lord Byron, and you didn't even get anyone to introduce you, Jane, what were you thinking (which is what Anna Maria said later).
Okay, so that's when they lived. Now, what did they do? They wrote novels. But they developed a new genre--the historical novel. They combined real events with fictionalized characters and dramas, and they were wildly popular. They did this before Walter Scott did, except then he took all the credit.
This biography aims to redress some of that unfair treatment by opening up an honest, detailed, touching view of their lives and accomplishments.
In a way, what's most fascinating to me is that the sources are even available for this kind of work. Fans of Jane Austen well know how frustratingly meager her extant letters are, and what huge gaps there are in really being able to get to the heart of her personality. That's not the case with Jane and Anna Maria Porter. Private details are all there for the taking from their copious correspondence and diaries. And Devoney Looser has painstakingly compiled much of it into a coherent, compassionate account that gives them the dignity they deserve.
Obviously, I find their hot takes on the celebrities of their day to be crazy interesting. I love feeling like I'm getting a fresh eyewitness account of someone or something that feels consigned to the mists of legend. I think of it as a 360-degree view of history... Like you've been looking one direction for a long time, and then someone starts to spin you around, and your mind is blown by what else is in the same space. And I love that. But it's the account of their private lives that's most moving.
Whenever I read something that draws so heavily on private letters, even of people long-dead, I always wrestle with myself over the ethics of it. Because it's incredibly easy to think of them as fictional characters in a book. But then sometimes I stop and remember they were as real as I am. And then I think, "Whoa, this is deeply uncomfortable stuff for me to know about another human being without their permission." Like when I learn that Anna Maria secretly corresponded with and practically became engaged to a man she had seen at a distance but never been introduced to. Or when I learn how Jane Porter was painfully, intensely attracted to a war hero acquaintance and how her family worked and worked and worked to get the two of them in the same room some day.
The Porter sisters produced a huge body of work, much of it to great acclaim, but they often did it while on the brink of deep poverty, struggling with illness and caregiving. This biography respects their account of their own lives. It's so personal. And, yes, it's fascinating. But it also makes you want to protect them, even now, from injury.
Am I interested in reading any of their works now? Not necessarily, although I picked out one or two I might try. But I'm not sure that the point of this book is to get people reading their stuff in this day and age -- it's more to pay homage to "invisible" or forgotten women, which exist in all eras and all fields of interest.
If you're interested in the Regency era and want to go beyond the simplified view often presented in movies and novels today, I recommend this book. Also, of course, if you're interested in women writers, Austen contemporaries, etc.… (mer)