Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy academic reviews

Below is the list of academic reviews concerning the relationship between Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy:

• John Halperin (1985): ‘Jane Austen’s Lovers’; discussing JA’s relationship with Tom Lefroy, plus other men who were often, though not as frequent as Lefroy, mentioned to have the potential romance with JA

• Mary Ann O’Farrell (1994): ‘Austen’s Blush’; discussion of Austen’s tendencies to work with the ‘blush’, possibly derived from her unsuccessful romance with Lefroy, in ‘Pride & Prejudice’
  

• Jon Spence (2003): ‘Becoming Jane Austen’ (second edition: 2007); the first Austen biography that explicitly stated the premise that JA and TL had a more serious and long-lasting relationship than many previous biographers have suggested. The book is the base of the ‘Becoming Jane’ movie
  

• Linda R. Walker (2005): ‘Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy: Stories’; in-depth discussion of JA and TL relationship, with the coda that ‘One of the great ironies of Austen’s legacy is that so many of the commentaries handed down to us from on high have been written by people named “Lefroy.” She could not bring about a marriage to her Lefroy, but Anna Austen married Ben Lefroy, the son of Anne and George, and in 1846 their daughter Jemima married Tom’s nephew.’

• Joan K. Ray (Ray 2006): ‘The Truth about Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy’; interesting arguments that JA and TL never developed a romance beyond a ‘holiday flirtation’

Reference:

Halperin, J. 1985, 'Jane Austen's Lovers', Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 719-736.

O'Farrell, M. A. 1994, 'Austen's Blush', NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 125-139.

Ray, J. K. 2006, 'The Truth about Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy', Notes and Queries: Oxford Journals, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 311-314.

Spence, J. 2003, Becoming Jane Austen, Continuum International Publishing Group, London.

Walker, L. R. 2005, 'Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy: Stories', Persuasions On-line, vol. 27, no. 1, p. Winter 2005.