The Watsons and Sanditon are generally published in a volume with either Jane Austen’s Lady Susan or her Juvenilia, but aren’t actually very much like either of them. The Juvenilia is a group of short, intentionally ridiculous pieces written “for the fun of it.” They don’t do much for me, but I find them easier to follow than what survives of the Brontes’ early fantasy worlds: Glass Town, Angria and Gondal. Lady Susan, on the other hand, is a complete novella, told mostly through letters, which was apparently circulated within the family for entertainment but not intended for publication.

The Watsons, meanwhile, is the opening of an unfinished novel,

Continue reading “Weird Wednesday: The Unfinished First Drafts of Jane Austen” →