A critical introduction to Jane Austen's writings, which considers in turn her letters, the minor works and the six complete novels, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. Biographical material has been kept to a minimum. Contemporary criticism is referred to where useful, but the aim of the book is to direct new and old readers of Jane Austen to the structure and intentions of the works themselves, to the richness and subtlety of their language and to the record they provide of the writer's gradual achievement, through self-discipline and continuous experimentation, of artistic and emotional maturity. The books in the series British Authors: Introductory Critical Studies are aimed at the widest student readership and are all written by authors who have experience of university teaching outside Britain.