In 1917 , he published a long essay in the Quarterly Review . Jane Austen scholar A. Walton Litz called it the best single introduction to her works . In an effort to avoid the sentimental image of the `` Aunt Jane '' tradition and approach Austen 's fiction from a fresh perspective , in 1917 British intellectual and travel writer Reginald Farrer published a lengthy essay in the Quarterly Review which Austen scholar A. Walton Litz calls the best single introduction to her fiction .