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Did Austen Have an Editor?

By

Isaac Fitzgerald

•

“Can’t remember the ‘i before e’ rule? Don’t worry, neither could Jane Austen.”

After studying “more than 1,000 original handwritten pages” of Austen’s work, Oxford professor Kathryn Sutherland believes the beloved writer must have had “a very good editor.” (via PW)

Update: Editor or no, don’t miss this digital archive of Austen manuscripts.

Update II: The Guardian says bollocks. (via Alana)

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Isaac Fitzgerald
Isaac Fitzgerald has been a firefighter, worked on a boat, and was once given a sword by a king, thereby accomplishing three out of five of his childhood goals. Formerly of The Rumpus and McSweeney’s and most recently the founding editor of BuzzFeed Books, Isaac is now the co-host of BuzzFeed News’ Twitter Morning Show, #AMtoDM. He also appears frequently on The Today Show to talk books, and is co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (with Recipes) (winner of an IACP award), and the author of a YA novel and picture book forthcoming from Bloomsbury. He uses Twitter.

3 responses

  1. Alana Avatar
    Alana

    If you’re going to link to this, at least be thorough on researching the story and link to the Guardian which argues the claim is unconvincing. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2010/oct/25/jane-austen-prose-style-editor?CMP=twt_fd

  2. Isaac Fitzgerald Avatar
    Isaac Fitzgerald

    Alana, it’s a big old Internet out there. Thanks for the tip! I added it to the piece above.

  3. Brian Spears Avatar
    Brian Spears

    Language Log isn’t ready to discount the claims outright, but only because the aren’t any good examples out there yet. I’d say they’re skeptical but open to more evidence.

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