No, I'm not talking about Pride and Prejudice and Kittens. Jane Austen's novels are justifiably well known, but her shorter works are equally amusing. If you've seen the film Love and Friendship then you may be aware that it's based on a short epistolary novel entitled Lady Susan. I highly recommend seeking it out. It's often bundled together with unfinished works The Watsons and Sanditon.
Some of my favourites, however, are the ridiculously silly short stories composed when she was a teenager. They run the gamut from murder:
I murdered my father at a very early period of my Life, I have since murdered my Mother, and I am now going to murder my Sister.
Suicide:
It was not till the next morning that Charlotte recollected the double engagement she had entered into; but when she did, the reflection of her past folly, operated so strongly on her mind, that she resolved to be guilty of a greater, & to that end threw herself into a deep stream which ran thro' her Aunt's pleasure Grounds in Portland Place. She floated to Crankhumdunberry where she was picked up & buried; the following epitaph, composed by Frederic, Elfrida & Rebecca, was placed on her tomb.
EPITAPH
Here lies our friend who having promis-ed
That unto two she would be marri-ed
Threw her sweet Body & her lovely face
Into the Stream that runs thro' Portland Place.
Hooliganism:
The beautifull Cassandra then proceeded to a Pastry-cooks where she devoured six ices, refused to pay for them, knocked down the Pastry Cook & walked away.
Gold diggers:
"Oh! when there is so much Love on one side there is no occasion for it on the other. However I do not much dislike him tho' he is very plain to be sure."
And, of, course, cannibalism:
She began to find herself rather hungry, & had reason to think, by their biting off two of her fingers, that her Children were much in the same situation.
I also highly recommend Austen's History of England, by "a partial, prejudiced, & ignorant Historian". Really any Austen will do, just read the lot and tell me what you think.
Add a comment to: Lost Austens; or, Beyond Pride and Prejudice