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I downloaded the Oxford edition. It has a brilliant introduction by Kathryn Sutherland and those other "Family Recollections". Sutherland puts the Memoir in its historical perspective and reminds us that one cannot expect the kind of analytical deconstruction of character that occurs in modern biography. But there is little doubt but that Austen-Leigh does try very hard to "domesticate" his aunt. And part of the problem is owing to the fact that Jane's sister, who was very close to her, destroyed all the letters in her possession which she felt might militate against Jane's image.
However, Sutherland cites an early and perceptive writer, Margaret Oliphant, who
"refuses to have any truck with Austen-Leigh's idealized portrait of a selfless spinster aunt . . ." She felt that the novelist Austen wrote "books so calm and cold and keen" that in the portrayal of human nature they were "cruel" in their "perfection".
Despite this, the Memoir does still give us some vivid glimpses of Jane Austen. She clearly inspired love in those around her and the examples cited by Bookpossum demonstrate her ironic humour so well.
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