Résumé
Résumé de Amour et Amitié
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love Austen's wit, parody and comic exaggeration, and anyone curious about how she began. Enjoy sudden marriages, instant friendships and fainting fits in a tale that makes extravagant feelings look absurd.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Love and Freindship is a short comic novel in letters, written by Jane Austen when she was a teenager, in the early 1790s. She wrote it for the amusement of her family, and she dedicated it to her cousin Eliza, a Frenchwoman by marriage. The odd spelling in the title is Austen's own, and it belongs to the joke. Austen copied it into a notebook she called Volume the Second, a book of stories she wrote while still a girl.
The story is told through letters from a woman named Laura. She writes to the young daughter of her old friend, and she promises to explain how she came to be so unfortunate. What follows is a parody of the sentimental novels of the time, in which lovers fall in love at first sight, swoon at every shock, and scorn money and common sense. You get a fast, silly tale and an early look at the sharp ear that later made Pride and Prejudice. Let us begin with Laura herself, and the letter that starts her story.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A Letter Promising a Tale of WoeFree
- 2Love at First Sight, Marriage in an Hour
- 3Friendship Sworn Within Minutes
- 4Fainting, Madness and Borrowed Money
- 5What the Parody Is Really Aimed At
- 6A Teenager's Voice, Told in Letters
Point clé 1 sur 6
A Letter Promising a Tale of Woe
The book opens with a request. Laura's close friend Isabel asks Laura to tell the story of her misfortunes to Isabel's daughter, Marianne. Marianne believes that Laura's suffering may teach her how to live. Laura agrees, though she says she is sure that nobody has been as unlucky as she has.
This frame is the first joke. Laura assumes that her own misfortunes are the most important events in the world. She writes with total seriousness, and she never doubts her own judgement. The reader soon sees that her judgement is poor.
The frame also sets the rules of the parody. The letters follow the habits of the sentimental novel, with its tearful confessions and its warnings to the young. Austen's Laura thinks she is writing a lesson in virtue. The reader sees that she is writing a catalogue of foolishness.
For a listener, the pleasure lies in the gap between what Laura says and what we understand. She calls herself sensitive, generous and wise. Her actions show that she is vain, selfish and impulsive. Austen never has to say so, because Laura's own words do the work.
The early pages also tell us about Laura's strange background. She boasts of a mixed and romantic family and an education abroad. She says that she has learned all the accomplishments of a heroine. Austen lets the claims pile up until the reader can only smile.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Laura
- Laura writes her misfortunes to Marianne, presenting herself as a sensitive heroine and Sophia's devoted friend.
- Sophia
- Sophia is Augustus's wife and Laura's instantly devoted friend, sharing her extravagant feelings and disregard for practical matters.
- Edward
- Edward is Augustus's friend, a passionate young stranger who meets Laura at her parents' cottage.
- Augustus
- Augustus is Sophia's husband and Edward's friend, sharing the group's contempt for money and common sense.
- Marianne
- Marianne is Isabel's young daughter, whom Laura addresses with the supposedly instructive account of her misfortunes.
- Isabel
- Isabel is Laura's longstanding friend and Marianne's mother, who requests Laura's account for her daughter's benefit.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 34,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 15 min
- Listening time3 h 45 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Amour et Amitié
What is Love and Freindship about?
It is a comic story told in letters by a woman named Laura. She describes her sudden marriage, her instant friendship with Sophia, and a string of dramatic misfortunes, while the reader sees how silly her behaviour is.
When did Jane Austen write Love and Freindship?
She wrote it about 1790, when she was around fourteen. It was part of her juvenilia, the stories she wrote as a girl for her family, and it was not published until long after her death.
Why is Freindship spelled wrong in the title?
The spelling is Austen's own, from her manuscript. It is not a typing slip. It reflects her teenage hand and the loose spelling of her day, and it adds to the playful tone.
Is Love and Freindship a parody?
Yes. It mocks the sentimental novels of Austen's time, in which lovers fell in love at once, fainted at bad news and scorned money. She exaggerates each habit until it becomes absurd.
Is Love and Freindship hard to read?
No. It is short, quick and funny. The jokes are clear, and you need no knowledge of the novels it mocks.