A Jane Austen Education

How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter

By: William Deresiewicz

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

An eloquent memoir of a young man's life transformed by literature.

In A Jane Austen Education, Austen scholar William Deresiewicz turns to the author's novels to reveal the remarkable life lessons hidden within. With humor and candor, Deresiewicz employs his own experiences to demonstrate the enduring power of Austen's teachings. Progressing from his days as an immature student to a happily married man, Deresiewicz's A Jane Austen Education is the story of one man's discovery of the world outside himself.

A self-styled intellectual rebel dedicated to writers such as James Joyce and Joseph Conrad, Deresiewicz never thought Austen's novels would have anything to offer him. But when he was assigned to read Emma as a graduate student at Columbia, something extraordinary happened. Austen's devotion to the everyday, and her belief in the value of ordinary lives, ignited something in Deresiewicz. He began viewing the world through Austen's eyes and treating those around him as generously as Austen treated her characters. Along the way, Deresiewicz was amazed to discover that the people in his life developed the depth and richness of literary characters-that his own life had suddenly acquired all the fascination of a novel. His real education had finally begun.

Weaving his own story - and Austen's - around the ones her novels tell, Deresiewicz shows how her books are both about education and themselves an education. Her heroines learn about friendship and feeling, staying young and being good, and, of course, love. As they grow up, they learn lessons that are imparted to Austen's reader, who learns and grows by their sides.

A Jane Austen Education is a testament to the transformative power of literature, a celebration of Austen's mastery, and a joy to listen. Whether for a newcomer to Austen or a lifelong devotee, Deresiewicz brings fresh insights to the novelist and her beloved works. Ultimately, Austen's world becomes indelibly entwined with our own, showing the relevance of her message and the triumph of her vision.

©2011 William Deresiewicz (P)2011 Penguin Audio

A Jane Austin fan

What made the experience of listening to A Jane Austen Education the most enjoyable?

I loved this book. There are 3 stories going on. His personal story, Jane Austins books and Jane Austins personal story. If your a fan of hers a must read and I have not read all her books but have seen all of her books movies.

A surprisingly great find!!

What made the experience of listening to A Jane Austen Education the most enjoyable?

I have never read the books and it was fun to have someone distill them down tothe basics and share his thematic summaries of each book.

What did you like best about this story?

How he became a better person through the process of his doctoral studies.

What about Sean Pratt’s performance did you like?

nice voice, regulated cadence and expressive in nature

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, just liked it a lot.

Any additional comments?

After reading this book, it made me want to go back and read the novels.

English Literature

If you could sum up A Jane Austen Education in three words, what would they be?

Great Book.Great Book.Great Book.Great Book.Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book

Who was your favorite character and why?

Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book

What about Sean Pratt’s performance did you like?

Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book

Any additional comments?

Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book. Great Book

Loved this!!

I became acquainted with this author when he came to speak to and advise my town’s high school parents about college. He gave the most inspirational advice for the parents of students who march to the rhythm of their own drums! Look him up and read his articles! Now, in regards to this beautiful book. If you love Jane Austin, like myself, you will love this memoir! Enjoy!

Pleasantly surprised

After being routinely disappointed by the Jane Austen spin-off books, I was pleasantly surprised by this approach to Austen. Dr. Deresiewicz (Phd in literature from Columbia) explores each of the six Austen books as they related to his maturing as a friend and lover. I suspect this book will appeal more to those Austen fans who prefer her books over the movies, because the author really grapples with Austen's characters as she wrote them, not the romantic ideals so often portrayed in the movies. But the result is a deeply thoughtful illumination of Austen's wisdom regarding relationships, friendship, listening, nature, and figuring out one's priorities in life.

love love loved this book

I listened to this book on an 18 hour drive alone, it kept me completely enthralled. I remembered about all of the Austen books I have read over the years, and felt like I was in an English lit class with an interesting professor. He related all of the books to his life and i could do the same.

Performance confusion

Nice, accessible review of personal reflections on Austen, a favorite author. However, reader (or author?) confused pronouns so often that it was distracting. I respect and appreciate gender fluidity, but, at times, couldn’t tell who said what when a line referenced both male and female characters.

Just the thing I needed

I got this book and let it sit in my audible for ages before finally getting around to listening to it, and for that I’m sorry I waited so long. This is now my new favorite comfort book, and something I will be reading again and again. A true journey through Jane Austen’s work, and one that gives you something you can cherish forever.

Not quite a literary critique, not quite a diary-a dialogue between two authors that spans time and space. This is a book that really gives you a lived example about how one learns and grows as a person from reading fiction, and why you can look to fiction to grow as a person!

Mr.Deresiewicz admits in the opening chapters that he wasn’t someone who really got Jane Austen’s style or appreciated her works before sitting with them and looking beyond her genre and perceived audience to see the student of human nature Ms.Austen truly was. You get the sense that as he learns and talks about her characters and her life, you can find so many parallels in your own life that old favorites come alive again with new and exciting familiarity.

I started this book thinking it would be a fun if dry way of seeing an author I loved through the lens of someone else, I put this book down feeling like I had learned more about myself. If you’re a Jane Austen fan, or if you’re not but can’t figure out why so many still love and admire her books-get this, you’ll learn about writing and society and all the times you were the hero and villain of your own story while listening to someone else take that same journey.

Give Me More!

William Deresiewicz has given the lover of Jane Austen just what she wants: validation and analysis into why Austen's stories are timeless. Mr. Deresiewicz begins by telling us how dull he found Austen when required to read "Emma" for a college class, but as he rereads the novel he discovers the magic that Austen lovers know so well. He then takes each Austen book and shows us how the lessons of love and romance she weaves into her narratives are still applicable today???and how they changed his life. I loved this book and am looking forward to rereading it!

This book really "gets" Austen

This book works on every level -- as a work of literary criticism and as a compelling story. I've read several books about Jane Austen or "sequels" to her novels before, but always been disappointed, as the non-fictional books were boring and pedantic and the fictional books failed to appreciate that Austen's work is about much more than romance. "A Jane Austen Education," on the other hand, appreciated and conveyed the depth and delight of Austen's work while, at the same time, delivering a contemporary story (the author's own) that pleasantly invoked all the elements of Austen. Narrated very well. Overall, it was a surprising delight.