In her earliest writings a precocious alarmingly assured Jane Austen views the adult world
with wide clear eyes cheekily amused at the emotions pomposity intrigues and bustle of
family and friends. Composed between the ages of eleven and seventeen they reveal a child's
excitement in language and its imaginative possibilities. Most pieces are ebullient and
anarchic many are surreal displaying gluttony drunkenness matricide theft and excess
combined with total self-absorption. The cheerful characters roar through their transgressions
without a shred of shame or responsibility. This edition prints all of Austen's childhood works
from the earliest comic pieces to the later more psychologically realistic 'Catharine or the
Bower' which anticipates themes in the adult novels. The volume also includes the comical
illustrations her sister Cassandra contributed to 'The History of England'. Prefaces and
explanatory endnotes supplied by Janet Todd illuminate cultural historical and literary
context bringing Jane Austen's world to life.