Teenage Wit and Writings of Jane Austen (Annotated)

With Introduction by Virginia Woolf and Commentary by Alison Larkin

By: Jane Austen, Alison Larkin

Narrated by: Alison Larkin

Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

"Larkin herself is a comic writer and performer and she approaches Austen as a satirist." (The New Yorker)

Multi award-winning writer/narrator Alison Larkin brings the teenage writings of Jane Austen together in this delightful collection. Listeners will enjoy identifying where Jane Austen’s later comic creations came from as they listen to young Jane Austen gleefully lampooning the popular literature and culture of her time.

Introduction by Virginia Woolfe with commentary by Alison Larkin.

"Lesley Castle"

"Love and Freindship" (yes, that’s the correct spelling)

"A Collection of Letters Scraps", including more letters

"Act One of a Play and A Tale"

"The History of England"

"I've a Pain in my Head" (a poem, exclusively for this Audible edition)

“This girl of 15 sitting in her private corner of the common parlor was writing not to draw a laugh from brothers and sisters and not for home consumption. She was writing for everybody, for nobody, for her age and for our own. In other words, even at that early age, Jane Austen was writing. The girl of 15 is laughing, in her corner, at the world.” (Virginia Woolfe)

©2022 Alison Larkin Presents (P)2022 Alison Larkin Presents

Critic reviews

"Larkin, lauded for her impeccably performed recordings of the complete novels of Austen, brings sparkling wit and sly satire to her narration of this collection of writings from Austen’s teenage years, which range from epistolary novellas (Lesley Castle; Love and Freindship [sic]) to scraps of letters, one act of a play, a poem (“I’ve a Pain in My Head”), and a laugh-out-loud parody of a stodgy history book, all of which poke fun at the precious sensibility of gentle society and reveal its underlying shallowness. With a startling range of voices, accents, and characterizations, Larkin captures the self-satisfied sighing of matrons, the volatile simpering of young ladies in love, and the oily pomposity of men of letters. Listeners may wonder how Larkin keeps a straight face when intoning the melodramatic lines uttered by poor Sophia, who dies from consumption after an injudicious fainting spell (“One fatal swoon has cost me my life. Beware of Swoons, Dear Laura…”). VERDICT This entertaining collection, narrated with élan, comes alive in audio. A winner for any audio classics collection, and a treat for Austen fans." (Reviewed by Sarah Hashimoto, Library Journal, Feb 1, 2023)

Austen fans will be thrilled to discover this gem

Beginning with a fascinating introduction to the young Jane Austen by none other than Virginia Woolf, this delightful collection of stories by Jane Austen written when she was only a teenager is wonderfully entertaining. Larkin narrated The Complete Novels of Jane Austen which became a #1 bestselling audiobook, and listening to the Teenage Wit and Writings of Jane Austen one can see why she is such a popular Austen narrator. She has the gift of being able to characterize people perfectly - and to make what some might find to be difficult language really easy to digest Jane Austen's writing when she was just a teenager is so so funny. You really can see where Lady Catherine De Bourgh came from! What fun this is. I really REALLY loved it!