The Watsons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Watsons | |
| Author | Jane Austen |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
The Watsons is an incomplete novel by Jane Austen. She began writing it c.1803 and probably abandoned it after her father's death in January 1805. Austen only wrote 17,000 words of this novel.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Mr Watson is a widowed clergyman with two sons and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Emma, has been brought up by a wealthy aunt and is consequently better educated and more genteel than her sisters. But when her aunt contracts a foolish second marriage, Emma is obliged to return to her father's house. There she is chagrined by the crude and reckless husband-hunting of two of her twentysomething sisters. She finds the sardonic wit of her eldest and most responsible sister, Elizabeth, more attractive.
Living near the Watsons are the Osbornes, a great titled family. Emma attracts some notice from the boorish and awkward young Lord Osborne, while one of her sisters plaintively pursues Lord Osborne's arrogant, social-climbing friend, Tom Musgrave. Various minor characters provide potential matches for Emma's brothers and sisters.
Mr Watson is seriously ill in the opening chapters, and it is clear that Austen intended for him to die in the course of the work. Emma would apparently reject consequence for comfort in marrying the Osbornes' frank and virtuous young tutor.
[edit] Adaptations
Several attempts have been made to finish the novel.
Austen's niece, Catherine Hubback, completed The Watsons and published it under the title The Younger Sister in the mid-nineteenth century.
John Coates also published a completion in 1957.
One recent version was written under the pen name of Another Lady.
Laura Wade is adapting the text for the stage.
The Watsons by Jane Austen and Another Lady by Helen Baker is a completion published in 2008.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Austen, Jane (19thC). The Watsons.
- Tomalin, Claire (1997). Jane Austen: A Life. New York: Vintage.
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