Lionel Trilling, “Emma”
First published in 1957 as the introduction to the popular Riverside edition of Emma, this essay by Lionel Trilling was also published as a stand-alone article in the literary magazine Encounter and later appeared in a collection of his essays. Decades later, Trilling’s piece continues to be widely read and anthologized. In the essay, he makes the case that Emma is the best and most “modern” of Austen’s novels, focusing on the characterization of Emma and its complexity.