Of all Jane Austen's heroines, Emma Woodhouse is the most flawed, the most infuriating, and, in the end, the most endearing. Pride and Prejudice's Lizzie Bennet has more wit and sparkle; Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey more imagination; and Sense and Sensibility's Elinor Dashwood certainly more sense--but Emma is lovable precisely because she is so imperfect. Austen only completed six novels in her lifetime, of which five feature young women whose chances for making a good marriage depend greatly on financial issues, and whose prospects if they fail are rather grim. Emma is the exception: "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." One may be tempted to wonder what Austen could possibly find to say about so fortunate a character. The answer is, quite a lot.

For Emma, raised to think well of herself, has such a high opinion of her own worth that it blinds her to the opinions of others. The story revolves around a comedy of errors: Emma befriends Harriet Smith, a young woman of unknown parentage, and attempts to remake her in her own image. Ignoring the gaping difference in their respective fortunes and stations in life, Emma convinces herself and her friend that Harriet should look as high as Emma herself might for a husband--and she zeroes in on an ambitious vicar as the perfect match. At the same time, she reads too much into a flirtation with Frank Churchill, the newly arrived son of family friends, and thoughtlessly starts a rumor about poor but beautiful Jane Fairfax, the beloved niece of two genteelly impoverished elderly ladies in the village. As Emma's fantastically misguided schemes threaten to surge out of control, the voice of reason is provided by Mr. Knightly, the Woodhouse's longtime friend and neighbor. Though Austen herself described Emma as "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like," she endowed her creation with enough charm to see her through her most egregious behavior, and the saving grace of being able to learn from her mistakes. By the end of the novel Harriet, Frank, and Jane are all properly accounted for, Emma is wiser (though certainly not sadder), and the reader has had the satisfaction of enjoying Jane Austen at the height of her powers. --Alix Wilber


From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up. Starring Kate Beckinsale, this is the story of a rich, clever and beautiful young woman who can't resist orchestrating other people's love lives.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This is another case where a classic is being reprinted simply as a tie-in to a TV/feature film presentation. Libraries, nonetheless, can benefit by picking up a quality hardcover for a nice price.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times, 2/15/97
"An 'Emma' Both Darker and Funnier" "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like," Jane Austen wrote of Emma, vastly underestimating her readers' good taste. The trick of adapting Emma is to recapture Austen's delicate balance, which allows us to see why the heroine still has friends and social influence, despite being the worst matchmaker and busybody in the village of Highbury. In this smart and spirited new version, Kate Beckinsale's Emma walks that fine line beautifully. Her Emma meddles in her friends' lives with near-disastrous results, and of course remains blind to her own romantic feelings for her old friends Mr. Knightly. But her sure-fire social assumptions are innocently wrong-headed, not willfully arrogant. In this and almost every other way, this new television film called Jane Austen's Emma represents the flip side of last year's movie with Gwyneth Paltrow. Though both are faithful to Austen's plot, the earlier film was all about brightness and pretty gardens. It was a slick commercial Emma, whose appeal depended on My. Paltrow's graceful looks; not a bad idea, but not nearly what Austen had in mind. Among the flood of recent Austen Movies, this new Emma has the most in common with Persuasion, sharing a smaller scale, a darker tone, and a focus on psychological nuance. Ms. Beckensale's Emma is plainer looking than Ms. Paltrow's, and altogether more believable and funnier. She came to the role well prepared, after playing another socially self-assured comic figure in the recent film Cold Comfort Farm. The screenplay by Andrew Davies (who also did the wise television adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and (Moll Flanders) does a deft job of letting viewers pick up the social cures that Emma misses. We see, as she should, the glances between the eligible Frank Churchill and the poor Jane Fairfax. We can guess that the clergyman Mr. Elton has designs on Emma and her dowry, not on her penniless friend Harriet. This version also makes it clear why Emma and Knightly are such a good match. Like Ms. Beckinsale's Emma, Mark Strong's Knightly does not have movie-star looks, but these two make excellent verbal sparring partners, vehemently matching wits and social observations. Prunella scales also stands out as Miss Bates, the flibbertigibbet, motor-mouthed neighbor whom Emma callously insults at a picnic. Occasionally, this film plays out Emma's fantasies. There is a brief glimpse of Harriet marrying Mr. Elton, and Frank Churchill's portrait comes alive and speaks to Emma, saying, "Miss Woodhouse, we meet at last." The device is used just enough to add an imaginative touch without becoming a useless gimmick. After so many Austen films, it would be easy to overlook this latest, but its charms are those Austen herself might have valued. It is understated and sly, loaded with a sense that even as society as well-ordered as Emma's leaves plenty of room for comic misjudgments and happy endings.


From AudioFile
The luxury of the unabridged edition requires a certain commitment. But a luxury it is. Jenny Agutter's reading is perfectly suited to the story, both in tone and pace. She brings out the comic insight that is the hallmark of Austen's stories, making one laugh out loud at times, so well has she caught the moment or the temperament of the characters. The genius of Austen's wit often depends, not on what is said, but on how it is said, and Agutter has given the perfect voice to this lighthearted classic, delicately differentiating each character's personality. A glorious way to experience the essential Austen. K.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Chris Kellett
First published in 1816, Emma is generally regarded as Jane Austen's most technically brilliant book. But that's not the reason to read it. Read it to see how a scheming heiress who is determined not to marry ends up embracing love and growing in maturity without dying or becoming impossibly insipid, the fate of so many nineteenth-century heroines. As her fourth novel was taking shape, Jane Austen noted "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." She was wrong. It is easy to love Emma Woodhouse. She is a snob, a meddler, and a spoiled child - she is also smart, funny, generous, and compassionate. Determined to control the arrangements of other people's lives, Emma takes on the self-appointed role of matchmaker in a world that grants little public power to women. Small wonder that Emma, who has a "mind lively and at ease," wastes her considerable creative powers dreaming up romantic scenarios that consistently and comically fail all reality checks. As in all of Jane Austen's works, the simple theme of courtship belies the complexity of her vision of human nature and of our need for power. Technical brilliance? Yes. Moral brilliance? Most definitely. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.


Review
"Jane Austen is my favorite author! ... Shut up in measureless content, I greet her by the name of most kind hostess, while criticism slumbers." ?EM Forster


From the Trade Paperback edition.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Charming, willful Emma Woodehouse amuses herself by planning other people's lives. When her interfering backfires, she learns a bitter lesson: well-intentioned busybodies are as resented as those motivated by ill will, and everyone should learn to respect the individuality of others.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

""Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." So begins Jane Austen's comic masterpiece Emma. In Emmma, Austen's prose brilliantly elevates, in the words of Virginia Woolf, "the trivialities of day-to-day existence, of parties, picnics, and country dances" of early-nineteenth-century life in the English countryside to an unrivaled level of pleasure for the reader. At the center of this world is the inimitable Emma Woodhouse, a self-proclaimed matchmaker who, by the novel's conclusion, just may find herself the victim of her own best intentions."--BOOK JACKET.

SYNOPSIS

Emma is the story of the eponymous Miss Woodhouse who, having lost her close companion Anne Taylor to marriage, sets out on an ill-fated career of match-making in the town of Highbury. Taking as her subject the pretty but dreary Harriet Smith, she manages to cause misunderstandings with every new tactic she employs. Though precious and spoilt, Emma is charming to all around her and so it takes her some time to learn her lesson and profit from spending less time worrying about how other people should live their lives.

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