2009 AGM Reading List

Austen’s Siblings in Fact and Fiction in JASNA Publications

These informative essays from Persuasions, Persuasions On-Line, and the 2009 JASNA Essay Contest provide insight into the Austen family, into the brothers and sisters in her fiction, and even into her relationship with a “sister” novelist. The reading list was prepared for the 2009 JASNA Annual General Meeting, "Jane Austen's Brothers and Sisters in the City of Brotherly Love,"  held in Philadelphia, PA.


The Austens

• “Austen Brothers and Sisters” by Park Honan. Persuasions 10 (1988): 59-64.

Henry

• “Henry Austen: Jane Austen’s ‘Perpetual Sunshine’” by J. David Grey. Persuasions Occasional Papers 1 (1984): 9-12.
• “Henry Austen and the Cubbington Living” by Robert Bearman. Persuasions 10 (1988): 22-26.
• “Jane Austen’s Soldier Brother: The Military Career of Captain Henry Thomas Austen” by Clive Caplan. Persuasions 18 (1996): 122-43.
• “Henry Austen’s ‘Memoir of Miss Austen’” by David Gilson. Persuasions 19 (1997): 12-19.
• “Jane Austen’s Banker Brother: Henry Thomas Austen of Austen & Co., 1801-1816” by Clive Caplan. Persuasions 20 (1998): 69-90

Cassandra

• “Letter Writing, Cassandra, and the Conventions of Romantic Love” by Susan Morgan. Persuasions 14 (1992): 104-12.

Francis

• “Francis Austen’s Logbooks.” Persuasions 4 (1982): 21-22.
• “Jane Austen’s Sailor Brothers: Francis and Charles in Life and Art” by Brian Southam. Persuasions 25 (2003): 33-45.

Charles

• “Our Little Brother” by J. David Grey. Persuasions 3 (1981): 9-11.
• “Domesticity at Sea: The Example of Charles and Fanny Austen” by Deborah Kaplan. Persuasions 14 (1992): 113-21.
• “Jane Austen’s Sailor Brothers: Francis and Charles in Life and Art” by Brian Southam. Persuasions 25 (2003): 33-45.
• “Charles Austen: Prize Chaser and Prize Taker on the North American Station 1805-1808” by Sheila Johnson Kindred. Persuasions 26 (2004): 188-94.

The Fiction

• “Born to Diverge: An Evolutionary Perspective on Sibling Personality Development in Jane Austen’s Novels” by Peter W. Graham. Persuasions On-Line 25.1 (2004).
• “‘The three Sisters’: A ‘little bit of Ivory’” by Frances Beer. Persuasions 28 (2006): 238-50.

Pride and Prejudice

• “Five Sisters and the Five Miss Bennets” by Katharine Broughton. Persuasions 7 (1985): 7-8.
• “Sisterhood and Friendship in Pride and Prejudice” by Deborah J. Knuth. Persuasions 11 (1989): 99-109.
• “‘Precious Remains of the Earliest Attachment’: Sibling Love in Pride and Prejudice” by Glenda A. Hudson. Persuasions 11 (1989): 125-31.
• “Heads and Arms and Legs Enough: Jane Austen and Sibling Dynamics” by Kay Torney Souter. Persuasions 26 (2004): 176-87.
• “George and Georgiana: Symmetries and Antitheses in Pride and Prejudice” by Margie Burns. Persuasions 29 (2007): 227-33.
• “Re-Discovering the Gardiner Family” by Joanna L. Thaler, first place student essay
• “The Four Other Misses Bennet: Reflections of Elizabeth’s Developing Empathy” by Connie Chen, first place student essay

Mansfield Park

• “Sibling Relationships in Mansfield Park” by J. David Grey. Persuasions 2 (1980): 28-29.
• “Troubled Sisterhood: When Sisters Become Rivals in Mansfield Park” by Katherine E. Curtis, first place student essay

Sister Novelist

• “Jane Austen and Anne Tyler, Sister Novelists Under the Skin: Comparison of Persuasion and Saint Maybe” by Gene Koppel. Persuasions 15 (1993): 164-69.

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