"She never spoke an unconsidered, frivolous, or harsh word," wrote Jane Austen's brother Henry after her death. Presumably, he was never present when she sharpened her wit on her fellow humans. Even as a little girl, she wrote coarse parodies; later, she was feared as the "scoffer" who listened in on the foolish chatter of others from the background. For a long time, her books were regarded as charming and unexciting. But Austen was not a tame hen pecking in her literary garden; she was the most elegant satirical talent of the 18th century. Elsemarie Maletzke has selected the most delightful wickedness from Jane Austen's letters and works and compiled them in this volume.