Austen Leigh’s biography of his ‘dear aunt Jane’ raises questions about the value of biographical accounts of writers. Austen Leigh’s Memoir maintains the stance on Jane Austen found in Henry Austen’s earlier short ‘Biographical Notice’, and so continues what has termed the family’s 'tradition of protective sanctimoniousness’. The net result is an account of Austen which is difficult to meld with the author suggested by her novels, and certainly doesn’t sit well with Austen as letter-writer. What, then, is learnt from Austen Leigh’s biography? More generally, what can a biography of a writer add to the study of their work generally?
Becoming Jane, like Miss Austen Regrets, casts Jane Austen as the heroine of her own life, and attempts to locate her writing in that context. Both films portray Austen as a modern figure. Does this approach add anything which couldn’t be achieved by a standard documentary?
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