Jane Austen's last complete novel is now available in a revised
Norton Critical Edition. The volume emphasizes new trends in
critical discourse, which have enormous importance for our
understanding of Austen's achievement.

This revised Norton Critical Edition is based on the first
edition text (dated 1818, but likely issued in late 1817). The
editor has spelled out ampersands and made superscript letters
lowercased. The novel, which is accompanied by revised and expanded
explanatory annotations, is followed by the two canceled chapters
that comprise Persuasion?s original ending.

?Backgrounds and Contexts? collects contemporary
assessments of Jane Austen as well as materials relating to the
social issues of the day. Included are an excerpt from William
Hayley?s 1785 ?Essay on Old Maids?;
Austen?s letters to Fanny Knight, which reveal her skepticism
about marriage as the key to happiness; Henry Austen?s
memorial tribute to his famous sister; assessments by
nineteenth-century critics Julia Kavanagh and Goldwin Smith, who
viewed Austen as an unassuming, sheltered, and
?feminine? rural writer; and the perspective of
Austen?s biographer, Geraldine Edith Mitten.

The Second Edition emphasizes current critical scholarship,
reflecting enormous shifts in our comprehension of Austen?s
achievement and opening the door to new ways of thinking about
Persuasion and its author. For the first time, we can think
complexly about Austen living through the Napoleonic Wars on the
Continent and experiencing their political repercussions at
home?the same as everyone else in England at that time. Four
new essays?by Linda Bree, Sidney Gottlieb, John Wiltshire,
and David Monaghan?speak to these new perspectives; those by
Gottlieb and Monaghan expand the conversation into film adaptations
of the novel.

A Chronology of Austen?s life and work, new to the Second
Edition, is included along with an updated Selected
Bibliography.