Teenage Writings — Jane Austen

Three notebooks of Jane Austens early writings survive The pieces probably date from 1786 or 1787 around the time that Jane aged 11 or 12 and her older sister and collaborator Cassandra left school By this point Austen was already an indiscriminate and precocious reader devouring pulp fiction and classic literature alike what she read she soon began to imitate and parody Unlike many teenage writings then and now these are not secret or agonized confessions entrusted to a private journal and for the writers eyes alone Rather they are stories to be shared and admired by a named audience of family and friends Devices and themes which appear subtly in Austens later fiction run riot openly and exuberantly across the teenage page Drunkenness brawling sexual misbehavior theft and even murder prevail It is as if Lydia Bennett is the narrator

Three notebooks of Jane Austen s early writings survive The pieces probably date from 1786 or 1787 around the time that Jane aged 11 or 12 and her older sister and collaborator Cassandra left school By this point Austen was already an indiscriminate and precocious reader devouring pulp fiction and classic literature alike what she read she soon began to imitate and parody Unlike many teenage writings then and now these are not secret or agonized confessions entrusted to a private journal and for the writer s eyes alone Rather they are stories to be shared and admired by a named audience of family and friends Devices and themes which appear subtly in Austen s later fiction run riot openly and exuberantly across the teenage page Drunkenness brawling sexual misbehavior theft and even murder prevail It is as if Lydia Bennett is the narrator