February 2012 meeting: Pride and prejudice, Vol. 2

Chapter 34. Darcy proposing to Elizabeth, illus. by Hugh Thomson in Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: George Allen, 1894. (Public Domain: Via Wikipedia)

Prepared by member Bill

JASACT members – including a new member – met on Saturday February 18th to discuss Volume 2 of Pride and Prejudice (chapters 24 to 42 of many modern editions).

Before discussion of the novel several more general Jane Austen-related items of interest were raised. The 4th edition of Deidre le Faye’s The Letters of Jane Austen is available. Several members have bought the new annotated and illustrated Harvard edition of Persuasion. The male member present quoted an essay by Amy Heckerling, the writer and film producer who in Clueless placed Emma in modern Los Angeles. Heckerling in A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 great writers on why we read Jane Austen refers to the majority of women who say “Whoo!” or entreat everyone to “Party!” or otherwise “physicalize their joie de vivre” and suggests Lydia and Kitty Bennet are good examples. Heckerling proposes that it is “among non-whooping females that one finds a large portion of Jane Austen’s fan base”.

Participants had a discursive and fascinating discussion covering many aspects of Pride and prejudice. One member, perhaps to get discussion going, asked the perennial question: of Elizabeth and Darcy who is the more proud and who the more prejudiced? Are both the hero and the heroine proud and prejudiced? Lively discussion of this began with the observation that the letter Darcy hands to Elizabeth after she refuses his marriage proposal occupies the very middle of the novel. This letter is a watershed as it leads to her prejudice and his pride beginning to mellow.

There was discussion of various tensions confronting Elizabeth during her stay with the Mr Collins and Charlotte. Several members referred to the humorous description of Elizabeth, Mr Lucas and Maria’s introduction to the parsonage and its surroundings including Mr Collins pointing out every view with “a minuteness which left beauty entirely behind” and how Charlotte seemed to enjoy the “great air of comfort” throughout the house when “Mr Collins could be forgotten” with the narrator suggesting “he must often be forgotten”.

Some discussion concerned what a modern psychologist might call the “family dynamics” of the Bennets and what Elizabeth in Vol II, Chapter XIV calls “the unhappy defects of her family”. How was it that Elizabeth and Jane were such different characters from Lydia and Kitty who were “ignorant, idle and vain”. Mr Bennet would “never exert himself to restrain the wild giddiness of his youngest daughters”. Mrs Bennet, it was speculated, was possibly in her early 40s, much younger than she has been presented in several film adaptations. One of the great achievements of the novel was the creation of this family of such diverse characters.

Other issues were discussed. Why did Jane Austen have the narrator describe Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth rather than use direct speech? Mr Collins’s earlier proposal was in direct speech and Elizabeth and Darcy’s subsequent argument is in direct speech. Maybe this was to better convey their emotions: “She stared, coloured, doubted…” , “He spoke of apprehension and anxiety, but his countenance expressed real security.” It was agreed the novel was replete with memorable phrases and observations such as Mrs Bennet’s “querulous serenity” and Mr Collins’s advice when speaking of Lady Catherine that “She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.”

Business

A few business matters were discussed:

• The JASACT blog will be amended to make details of monthly meetings more prominent.
• Dr Mitchell from the ANU may be available to talk at a meeting later in the year.
• An announcement of each meeting will be made on the blog a few days before the meeting, as a reminder. All who would like to receive this reminder should make sure that they have subscribed to the blog (via the “Follow blog via email” block in the righthand sidebar)

The meeting concluded with quotes and a quiz based on Pride and Prejudice.

The next meeting will be on March 17, to discuss Vol. 3 of Pride and prejudice.

January 2012 meeting: Pride and prejudice, Vol. 1

Some editions of P&P owned by JASACT members

Prepared by member Marilyn

Discussion

The first meeting of the year was a discussion of Volume One of Pride and prejudice. Our rereading disclosed again diverse and exciting new insights into our author and this major novel.

• It is understandable that first-time readers with expectations of Georgian manners may be floored by the outcome of the relationship of Lydia and Wickham.
• Every rereading of the novel emphasises the clever detail of plotting especially revealed in the emergence of Darcy and Bingley’s characters. Details at first overlooked add complexity and acuteness to the text. For example, the wisdom expressed by Charlotte and Jane that perhaps it was best that prospective couples did not know each other very well is explored in the relationships of Charlotte and Mr Collins, Bingley and Jane, Lydia and Wickham, while Elizabeth takes a long time to get to know Darcy.
• Conversation drives the plot and establishes character, reflecting the dramatic model that was an influence on Austen’s writing.
• Austen’s humour is established from the beginning. For example, Elizabeth is introduced trimming a hat, but when we know Elizabeth better, we realise that this is a pastime that she hates. To introduce Elizabeth in the act of trimming a hat is the author’s ironic joke. Mary Wollstonecraft in A vindication of the rights of women (1792) describes trimming hats as a frivolous activity …

“so insipid as that of English women whose time is spent in making caps, bonnets, and the whole mischief of trimmings, not to mention shopping, bargain-hunting … and it is the decent, prudent women, who are most degraded by these practices, for their motive is simply vanity.” (Chap 4)

• Elizabeth’s perspective is trusted by the reader and so Darcy appears darker than he really is. Our perception of him changes alongside Elizabeth’s.
• The relationship between Mr and Mrs Bennet still arouses interest. Mrs Bennet was a conscientious woman of the time running an efficient household, keeping a cook and other staff. She clearly establishes her goal in Chapter 3

“If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield,” said Mrs. Bennet to her husband, “and all the others equally well married, I shall have nothing to wish for.”

• At the end of the novel Elizabeth realises that her father did not take his responsibilities seriously enough. We are told of his delighted anticipation of the arrival of Mr Collins, whom he perceives to be silly from his letter. Mr Bennet’s attitude to his wife is disrespectful and sarcastic. Did he show self-pity, or contempt for his wife? Elizabeth shares his enjoyment of laughing at the ridiculous and this sets her apart from other women in P&P.
• The family is not cohesive. There are subgroups within it: Jane and Elizabeth, Lydia and Mrs Bennet, Kitty, and Mary. Should Mary have married Mr Collins to save the household? Should Jane and Elizabeth have had a stronger influence over the younger girls, given their father’s negligence?
• Education of women is of interest to Jane Austen despite her scant formal education, but she does not make clear who educated Elizabeth and Jane .We cannot assume that Mrs Bennet was mother and governess. Did the Gardiners and her father play a significant role? Also it is not explained why Jane and Elizabeth were more refined than the younger girls.
• The likelihood that the relationship between Elizabeth and Jane Bennet mirrors the relationship between Jane and Cassandra was again raised.
• Decorum and class were discussed. Using the statement by Patrick Colquhoun, who constructed a table referring to the division of classes in Britain at the time in his Treatise on the wealth, power, and resources of the British Empire, 1815, pp 106-107, we established that the Bennets were members of the fourth class. They were lesser gentry along with lesser clergy, doctors, lawyers and teachers. Darcy would have been a member of the second class which contained baronets, knights, country gentlemen and others with a large income.
• Austen also explores the differences between city and town manners. Clara Reeve, 1792, commented on the changing value of the merchants in society. It was noted that:

Although by this time large fortunes were being made in trade, and members of the nobility intermarried with the newly rich, it was still true that inherited wealth, like Darcy’s based on the possession of land, implied higher social standing than earned wealth.

• Finally, discussion also focused on the difference between appearance and reality such as Caroline Bingley’s perception of decorum and Elizabeth’s frequent indifference to it, or the appearance of Darcy as cold and proud versus the reality of his character.

Business etc

• Thanks were expressed to Anna Steele and Marilyn Steven for hosting the December 10th anniversary and Jane’s birthday function, and particularly to Anna for her musical performance of piano pieces composed by a descendent of Jane Austen
• Speaker options offered by JASA for 2012 were discussed. Members were particularly interested in hearing Pamela Whalan address “In defence of Mrs Bennett” (because of our focus this year) and Adriana Bradley Smith to speak. However, Anna noted that there is a course on Jane Austen, History and Fiction being offered at the ANU by Dr Kate Mitchell. We agreed that Anna would try to contact Dr Mitchell with a view to asking her to be a guest speaker for us this year – and look at the JASA offer again next year.
• Jessie presented a quiz to test our knowledge of food in the time of Jane Austen.
• The Feb 18 meeting will discuss Volume 2 of Pride and prejudice

Austen Aldi Ale…

Austen Aldi Alert

For all those interested, Aldi are selling again on Saturday Feb 4th, all six novels by Jane Austen in a mini hardback version with dust jacket, published in Bath, for $3.99 each. I shall be completing my collection (hopefully).

Pride and prejudice: the volumes

Title page from the First Edition (Public domain. Courtesy: Wikipedia)

For the first half or so of 2012, JASACT plans to focus on Pride and prejudice and will commence by spending the first three meetings of the year discussing it volume by volume as we have done in previous years for Mansfield Park and Sense and sensibility. As not all modern editions present the book with in the three-volume arrangement, here is a guide to the original volume structure:

• Volume 1: Chapters 1-23
• Volume 2: Chapters 24-42
• Volume 3: Chapters 43-61

And here are two sites that provide the original publication structure – as well as e-texts of the novel and other interesting Jane Austen info:

• Austen.com
• Molland’s

Celebration Lunch (2011)

On 17th December, members met for lunch to celebrate both Jane Austen‘s birthday and ten years of JASA meetings in the ACT. One of the founding members, Jessie Terry was present, as were two other members who joined the group in 2001, Mary Collins and Sue Terry. Jessie brought the minutes of the meetings of the first year, which were read with considerable interest and much reminiscing.

The lunch was ‘progressive’ with the main course at 11 Elsey Street, Hawker, followed by dessert at 5 Dungowan Street, Hawker.

Member Anna plays Gwen Bevan's music

Members were entertained before lunch by a performance of a selection of piano pieces from ‘A Carriage Ride in Queen Square’ original compositions by Gwen Bevan, great-great-granddaughter of Jane Austen’s niece Fanny Knight. This was possibly the Australian premiere?

Jane Austen was toasted, as was Jessie Terry, and we lunched on oysters, fish, fowl, Martha Lloyd‘s chicken curry, herby suet pudding and potato and broccoli salads. A small journey down the road led to more toasts and desserts, cranberry jelly, trifle, lemon tarts and a splendid, beautifully decorated celebratory cake made by member Jenny.

It was a memorable event and not just because of the food. As Jane Austen said (through Anne Elliot),

My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.

Jenny's Splendid Celebratory Cake

November 2011 Meeting: No. 10, or the Rectory (Parsonages and Jane Austen)

Engraving of Steventon rectory, Austen's home for much of her life (Public Domain: Courtesy Wikipedia)

Prepared by Jessie, with a little help from Sue.

At our meeting on Saturday, 19th November a nice turn-up of members enjoyed Margaret’s entertaining and informative talk* on English parsonages, rectories and vicarages, with particular reference to those of Jane Austen’s times and the fictional ones of her novels. Margaret pointed out that Jane, being the daughter (and granddaughter and great-granddaughter) as well as sister, niece[?] and cousin of Anglican clergymen, not surprisingly featured clergy and their residences in most of her novels. In fact, in only two – Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion - the heroine does not marry a clergyman, though Elizabeth did have to endure Mr Collins’ excruciatingly embarrassing, though hugely entertaining for the reader, proposal.

In the 18/19th centuries, 4/5ths of England’s population lived in country towns, villages and hamlets and in each the parsonage was one of the three most important buildings, the others being the church itself and the local manor. Often they were situated next to each other and were usually, though not always, imposing buildings. There is no typical architectural style for parsonages.

Of most interest to us though was how Jane, in her inimitable fashion, used descriptions of and references to parsonages to expand our knowledge of her characters, often to their detriment. For example, General Tilney, trying to impress his supposed heiress future consort for Henry describes the parsonage at Woodston with mock humility, calling it “a mere parsonage” while Austen the author tells us it is “a new–built substantial stone house”. This is, in fact, Margaret told us, the only time building materials are mentioned, drawing our attention to the fact that this discrepancy is a point to note!

Austen’s descriptions of parsonages in her books also reflect the general craze  in her time for making improvements to homes, but here too she uses this to reflect on her characters. Generous Colonel Brandon, for example

talked to her [Elinor] a great deal of the parsonage at Delaford, described its deficiencies, and told her what he meant to do himself towards removing them.

Meanwhile, sensible Edmund Bertram is not greatly interested in unnecessary improvements of Thornton Lacey:

I must be satisfied with rather less ornament and beauty. I think the house and premises may be made comfortable, and given the air of a gentleman’s residence, without any very heavy expense, and that must suffice me; and, I hope, may suffice all who care about me.

But Henry Crawford sees it differently:

I never saw a house of the kind which had in itself so much the air of a gentleman’s residence, so much the look of a something above a mere parsonage–house …

Mr Elton’s vicarage, on the other hand, is “an old and not very good house” that he had merely “smartened up”. The only person to admire it is Harriet.

After showing us black and white photos of some of these old parsonages, many with their impressive sweeps so necessary to accommodate the gentleman clergyman’s (and his visitors’) carriages, Margaret brought us into the 21st century with a selection of real estate agents’ brochures. It seems that the elegant clergy residences of the past have become highly desirable (with appropriate price tags) laity residences of today. She quoted one recent real estate agent as saying “If it ain’t the manor, the rectory is the next best thing”. Their proximity to (or to the access motorways to) London and other large centres ensure they command prices of well over £1,000,000 – some quite a long way over a million, depending upon their state of repair as well as location.

We were all grateful to Margaret for the time and effort she had put in to bring us this information and hope those who were not able to be present will at least get a glimpse of our pleasure in it from this report.

Business

• Our focus for 2012 will be Pride and prejudice, which will celebrate its 200th anniversary since publication in January 2013. The  first three meetings of the year, commencing in January (see Sidebar for dates), will be devoted to discussing this book, volume by volume.
• Our annual Jane’s birthday/Xmas lunch will, this year, also be our 10th birthday celebration. It will be a progressive lunch at the homes of two members. Details will be emailed to members.
• We will discuss asking for a guest speaker, from the list send by JASA, at our January meeting.
• At afternoon tea, member Jenny produced a special cake, suitably inscribed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Sense and Sensibility, which Jenny believes was in November. We all felt well treated!
• Quotes were shared as usual but, with our quizmaster absent, our respective grey matters were given a little rest.

* Repeat of a talk, titled “No. 10 or the Rectory”, that Margaret gave at this year’s JASA Country Weekend. The weekend’s theme was Jane Austen and Architecture. 

October 2011 meeting: Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey

Prepared by member Jenny.

If Jane Austen was so concerned about Northanger Abbey being dated after only 13 years, how would she have felt about a lapse of 200 years?

The public are entreated to bear in mind that thirteen years have passed since it [Northanger Abbey] was finished many more since it was begun, and that during that period, places, manners, books and opinions have undergone considerable changes (from Austen’s special preface, 1816).

So, after 200 years how much do we fail to appreciate when reading her early novel?

Various editions of Northanger Abbey: Surprise, surprise, Penguin wins again!

It is in many respects a teenager playing a game with her readers. Virginia Woolf apparently saw it as “a girl of 15 laughing at the world”. It is so clever, sophisticated, ambitious and playful that many of the allusions are lost on us today. For instance, Jane, as a staunch supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, would have been only too aware that Sir Charles Tilney, hanged drawn and quartered for his part in the Babington Plot, in 1586 had planned to kill Elizabeth 1 (whom Jane detested). Further, his family coat of arms in the church at Shelly Hall in Suffolk revealed intermarriage between the Tilneys and the Thorpes. This in turn adds to the humour of General Tilney as a voluntary spy supposedly trawling through pamphlets in search of sedition in the dead of night, for the Association for the Preservation of Liberty and Property.

Robert Hawkins, to whom we owe the above idea, believes that the novel is the most political of Jane Austen’s works (see his “General Tilney and Affairs of State: the Political Gothic of Northanger Abbey”  in Northanger Abbey: A Norton Critical Edition). He argues that Henry Tilney’s reference on Beechen Hill to the inclosure of forests “establishes a tension between poetry and history, between the probably and the actual, so that the reader is encouraged to make comparisons between the fictional context of the narrative and the historical context outside the narrative.” This political context is further widened by the reference to the food riots in London (far more Gothic than those in the Gothic romances.)

Another critic, Susannah Carson (A Truth Universally Acknowledged. 33 Reasons Why We Can’t Stop Reading Jane Austen), suggests that Henry and Catherine are the least suited hero and heroine in any of Austen’s novels. She attributes this to Catherine not being “a study of human nature but a study of a literary heroine.” One member of the group couldn’t believe that such an intelligent man would fall in love with a twit of a girl like Catherine. However, others thought Henry might not have been quite so sophisticated as he presents himself to be. Jane is at pains to point out that Henry fell in love ,“bound as much in honour as in affection.” Earlier she writes that “his affection originated in nothing better than gratitude or, in other words, that a persuasion of her partiality for him had been the only cause of giving her a serious thought.” And Jane, having a go at sentimental romance, underlines the point with her authorial comment “dreadfully derogatory of an heroine’s dignity”:

… for, though Henry was now sincerely attached to her, though he felt and delighted in all the excellencies of her character and truly loved her society, I must confess that his affection originated in nothing better than gratitude, or, in other words, that a persuasion of her partiality for him had been the only cause of giving her a serious thought. It is a new circumstance in romance, I acknowledge, and dreadfully derogatory of an heroine’s dignity …

Carson points out that Northanger Abbey is a “special sort of novel that is highly self conscious of itself as a special sort of novel”, particularly in the way it borrows from “contemporary gothic and sentimental romance”.

In General Tilney’s character, Jane is able to show how real life is more Gothic than the novels. Here is a voluntary spy, whose appalling fit of anger enables him to throw Catherine out of the Abbey to travel home unaccompanied, by post, with no money, on a Sunday. He is a man, who shows an appalling greed and extravagance by growing a hundred pineapples when the poor are starving. He even reminds Catherine of Montoni (from Ann Radcliffe’s The mysteries of Udolpho) by his demeanour.

And, of course, we all agreed that Jane captures superbly the spirit of teenage romance with its uncertainty and longing.

Although often considered the least popular of Jane Austen’s novels, the group decided that the more levels one reads it on, the more one appreciates and enjoys it.

Business and next meeting

The meeting concluded with our regular challenges: the quiz and the quote. And once again the quiz master stumped most of the group with his questions. We were particularly intrigued by:

Who or what was John Thorpe referring to when he told Catherine “we had a little touch together”? (If you want to know the answer, all you have to do is ask in the comments below!)

The next meeting on November 19 will be a talk about Georgian Architecture by member Margaret.

September 2011 meeting: Gothic novels

Walpole's Gothic mansion, Strawberry Hill (Public domain, Artist unknown, via Wikipedia)

Our September 17th meeting was devoted to Gothic novels, in preparation for our discussion of Northanger Abbey at our October meeting. Rather than set a particular novel to discuss, the plan was for members to choose their own and come prepared to talk about what they’d read and Gothic novels in general. The main novels read were:

• Maria Edgeworth‘s Castle Rackrent (1800, not really Gothic, but regarded as the first historical novel)
• Ann Radcliffe’s The mysteries of Udolpho (1794)
• Ann Radcliffe‘s The romance of the forest (1791)
• Horace Walpole‘s The castle of Otranto (1765, regarded as the first Gothic novel)

Before we discussed the Gothic novels proper, we briefly talked about Castle Rackrent, which, it has been suggested, contains the first use of an unreliable narrator. We discussed its satire and agreed that it was easy to see, particularly when we look at Jane Austen’s Juvenilia, why Austen liked Edgeworth.

We then discussed the Gothic novels in particular. We looked at the characteristics of these novels, including:

• mysterious castles, caves and tunnels
• virginal maidens and lecherous villains
• supernatural happenings
• mistaken identities
• horror mixed with romance
• triumph of good over evil, order over disorder

While Gothic novels, pretty much by definition, involve a level of horror/terror, they can also be funny, with some, in fact parodying themselves. They are often melodramatic. We briefly discussed the reference to Gothic novels in Northanger Abbey and the seven horrid novels Isabella Thorpe recommended to Catherine. We were fascinated by the suggestion in Wikipedia that readers and critics at the time thought Austen had made up the titles! Anyhow, we are sure to talk more about the Gothic next month when we discuss Austen’s novel.

One member talked a little about the role of the veil in Ann Radcliffe’s novels – and the multiple meanings behind it, particularly in relation to concealment and revelation.

Finally we discussed why readers did (do) enjoy this genre (à la the Twilight vampire series which draws on Gothic traditions). We talked about how Gothic fiction enables readers to escape into other worlds and allows the vicarious experience of thrills. One member proposed that they may have provided an escape from the anxieties posed by the Napoleonic threat, particularly in the 1790s. She argued that, like crime fiction, Gothic fiction involves a disordered world which is eventually put to right. Another member paraphrased a critic* she’d read who essentially said, along similar lines, that the Gothic allows readers to “displace” real fears onto something more fictive. (“This is a bad world” says the hero of The Castle of Otranto.) This critic argued that, in Walpole and Radcliffe, these fears are somewhat paradoxical: a desire for and rejection of aristocracy and old Catholicism, by the middle class. Another member argued that these novels could also provide “excitement” (sexual titillation), particularly for young women like, say, Catherine Moreland and Isabella Thorpe in Northanger Abbey. Were these novels that generation’s young adult novels, we wondered?

* Hogle, Jerrold, W “Hyper-reality and the Gothic affect: The sublimation of fear from Burke and Walpole to The Ring“, in English Language Notes, 48 (1): 163-176, Spring/Summer 2010.

Business

There was not a lot of business to conduct at the meeting:

• three apologies were received, including from one hospitalised member to whom we sent our best wishes and a lovely Jane Austen card provided by Anna
• Anna to prepare a report for the end of the year Chronicle (with Sue to confirm the deadline, probably mid-October)
• Sue to write the blog post for this meeting
• the 10-year anniversary dinner to be postponed, probably to December to coincide with our end-of-year Jane Austen birthday dinner

Next meeting

15 October, 1.30pm, in the Friends Lounge of the NLA, with the topic to be Northanger Abbey

July 2011 meeting: The Watsons

Bookcovers for Jane Austen's The Watsons

Thanks to member Cheng for preparing this report.

Our Saturday 16th July meeting was held in the Friends Lounge of the National Library of Australia with eight members present and two apologies.

Business

We discussed a generous offer from JASA to support the provision of a speaker, once a year, at branch meetings. JASA will cover transport costs if the branch will organise accommodation (where accommodation is needed). It was agreed that we would discuss the list of available speakers at a future meeting with a view to organising a speaker for 2012.

The planning of forthcoming meetings/events was discussed:

• Saturday 20th August: outing to the cinema to see the latest production of Jane Eyre. Booking details will be emailed to all members.
• Sunday 28th August: two members generously offered to host a progressive dinner in their homes to celebrate JASACT’s 10th birthday. Partners are invited. Details regarding food contributions will be arranged at the 20th August meeting and/or via email.
• Saturday 17th September: discussion of Gothic novels, with each member to read a Gothic novel of his/her choice.
• Saturday 15th October: discussion of Northanger Abbey.

The recent Sotheby’s London sale on 14th July that produced a heart-stopping hammer price of ₤ 993,250 (or $1,495,178.24 AUD) on a portion of Jane Austen’s draft manuscript of The Watsons was exclaimed upon and relief expressed that the precious manuscript now belongs to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, where it will be safely preserved and available for viewing.

Discussion

The meeting then moved on to a vigorous discussion of The Watsons:

• The discussion opened with a member quoting a critic who described The Watsons as the most ‘joyless’ of Jane Austen’s novels, but another member countered this with Margaret Drabble’s description of it as a ‘tantalizing, delightful & highly accomplished fragment’.
• While agreeing generally with Drabble, another member suggested that in its present state there are ‘clunky bits’ of heavy dialogue with too much information given via dialogue rather than authorial comment.
• Brian Southam, in Jane Austen: a student’s guide to the later manuscripts & works, was quoted as saying it provides fascinating glimpses of Jane Austen at work ‘polishing’, e.g., ‘he poured her wine’ is changed to ‘he helped her to wine’ which he suggested was more “refined”..
• In fact, a member suggested that ‘refinement’ is an important theme – both exterior & inner refinement. Early in the novel Elizabeth expresses concern that Emma might be too refined for them:

I suppose my aunt brought you up to be rather refined. [...] But I can see in a great many things that you are very refined.

• In an interesting reversal of the situation in Mansfield Park, Emma Watson is the poor ‘refined’ orphan.
• Intriguing hints at characters & names used in future novels can be found, such as the sisters in Pride & Prejudice and in Persuasion; Mrs Robert Watson has similarities to Mrs Elton in Emma; and is the absent Penelope a Miss Steele, chasing her doctor, from Sense & Sensibility?
• And what of Tom Musgrave? Is he a Rake or a Rattle? A Willoughby or a Thorpe? It was agreed that this depended on the development of the relationships between the sisters – he is certainly a manipulative game player.
• One member wondered whether Lord Osborne is really interested in women. His behaviour is quite odd and ungentlemanly – using Musgrave to snoop for information about Emma and accompany him on a social call to the rectory – even ‘perving’ on Emma as she danced with Mr. Howard. Apparently he is the only lord in Jane Austen’s novels.
• Will Lady Osborne really become an older woman preying on a younger man? An early ‘cougar’? Or was Cassandra Austen misquoted: did she mean Miss Osborne?
• Emma’s three sisters have such potential for future development: the gentle kind Elizabeth, gossipy as well and a little bitter; the superficial Margaret with the slow articulation; and Penelope, whom everyone regretted not having returned from Chichester.
• Why did Jane Austen not go back to finish The Watsons? The opinions were varied: The lack of her father’s support and her mother’s possibly unsympathetic temper; Emma was poorer than any other heroine – Jane Austen was being very much a serious social realist and it was a story perhaps too close to her own life. Though later she did glance at the situation in the story of Jane Fairfax when her ‘foster’ family goes to Ireland; Writing the scene of the father’s death would have been too painful and morbid.
• Jane Austen’s evidently strong preferences on what constituted a good preaching manner as expressed by Mr. Watson in his description of Mr. Howard’s excellent delivery; pronouncing him ‘a scholar and a gentleman’. Was she the first to use the cliché? Aphra Benn used the phrase: “too much a gentleman to be a scholar”. It was also used by Burns and Wordsworth.
• The subtle distinctions of class: fashions, such as half boots, powdered hair, etc., used to signify naiveté, ignorance or vulgarity, and define the class of either the observer or the wearer, and is closely linked to the theme of refinement; the hours when meals were taken and how they are named varies in every household, and is used amusingly in the instance of Tom Musgrave’s thwarted attempts to escape to his dinner.
• There was appreciation for the sensitively written episode of Emma’s dancing with young Charles Blake – one of the rare examples in Jane Austen’s works of a child given credibility on a social occasion and she uses him as a plot device very well. Margaret Drabble was quoted as saying that this is a singular example when “children are not tiresome, wit is not malicious and ballrooms are not places of disaster”.
• At the end Emma, naturally strong, remains ‘uninfluenced’ – hers is a character akin to those of Elizabeth Bennet and Fanny Price who quietly stand up for themselves against pressure to marry for money.

The meeting was rounded off happily with the reading of two poems by Jane Austen; ‘I have a pain in my head’ and ‘On a headache’, the traditional round of quotes and a tricky quiz by our Master Quizmaster.

June 2011 meeting: Secondary sources on Sense and sensibility

Brandon visits Marianne, engraving by CE Brock from Ch. 46 (Public Domain, via Wikipedia)

With thanks to members Jenny, Bill and Sarah for this cobbled together report.

Due to overseas travels, winter chills and special anniversaries, it was a smaller group than usual which met in June to discuss secondary sources on this year’s focus book, Sense and sensibility. Nonetheless, those who attended did manage to cover some interesting ground.

Bill looked at a small part of Richard Jenkyns’ book A Fine Brush on Ivory concerning the question which must, he said, be the ongoing topic for millions of school and undergraduate essays:

Did JA believe sense is right and sensibility wrong?

Jenkyns, he said, suggests she was not quite in control of her technique. Jenkyns also proposes that it is an artefact that we tend to think sense is favoured because Elinor is the ‘focaliser’. This structural feature of the novel, he says, distorts our understanding of what Jane Austen was about, because if you read the novel carefully you see that she mocks too much ‘sense’ and also makes it clear that Elinor did not lack sensibility. Jenkyns also discusses the different meanings of “sensibility” in 1811.

Another member had researched several sources on that issue of endless debate:

Why did Marianne marry Brandon or more to the point what was JA thinking.

Here is what she prepared for the meeting:

WHY DID JANE AUSTEN MAKE THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN MARIANNE AND COLONEL BRANDON SO DISAPPOINTING?

[This of course begs the question that it is disappointing!]

A problem with Jane Austen’s writing is that it is often so dense with meaning and subtle humour that critics and readers alike come up with wildly differing theories about her intentions.

Sense & Sensibility seems to many unsatisfactory, especially in its conclusion. Richard Jenkyns believed that: “the author does not seem to have the working out of the story perfectly under control.” (p.37) However the American professor, Gene W. Ruoff, alerts us to “Austen’s practice in Sense & Sensibility, as it is throughout her novels, to exploit parodically the imbalance between what actually happens and the melodramatic narrative expectations her readers have brought to her fiction. (p. 102)

With this in mind, the idea that Austen wrote Sense & Sensibility as a parody of Richardson’s “Clarissa” throws interesting light on some of the difficulties readers find with the story.

The similarities can be seen in Willoughby’s courtship of Marianne breaking just about all the rules of Regency courtship mentioned by Marilynn Doore: formal means of address, discreet conversation, correspondence and gift giving. Whether there was intimate touching is left to the reader’s imagination. Willoughby instead of pursuing her relentlessly, flees from her and rebuffs her publicly. This is followed by a near fatal illness, Willoughby’s attempt at expiation and the “arranged” marriage with Brandon.

Jenkyns’ sees Brandon as “the most Byronic figure in Jane Austen’s entire cannon – the man in the flannel waistcoat.” (p.188). However, all his heroics happen off stage. The non eventful duel with Willoughby contrasts with that of Lovelace and Col Morden in Italy, during which the former receives mortal wounds. Willoughby is not quite a Lovelace but his confession is that of a sociopath pleading sympathy and entirely centred on self. (Ray p. 11) Both stories involve families whose only interests are in furthering their wealth and status by whatever means.

If we view Sense and Sensibility in this way and are mindful of Hilary Mantel’s belief that Austen’s genius lies “in the capacity to make a text that can give and give, a text that goes on multiplying meanings” (p.76) the seeming awkwardness that some find in the text is easier to understand.

Along the way, Austen makes fun of romance – love at first sight (Marianne and Willoughby compared to Brandon’s devotion), elopements (Brandon and Eliza defying his father), not to mention Marianne rhapsodising about the countryside due to her love of Cowper and Thompson versus Edward’s dour comment about mud.

Elinor’s ability to bear outrageous fortune with “the fortitude of an angel” is played for the humour with the exchanges between Elinor and Lucy similar to the duel of words between Elizabeth and Darcy. She is a much better support to Marianne than Clarissa’s friend.

Marianne constantly misunderstands Brandon as compared to Clarissa being duped by Lovelace. Marianne thinks his sincere appreciation of her musical ability is estimable even though “his pleasure in music, though it amounted not to that ecstatic delight which alone could sympathise with her own.” (p.68) She condemns him for talking about flannel waistcoats “invariably connected with aches, cramps and rheumatism and every species of ailment that can afflict the old and the feeble.” (It has been suggested that the colonel may have resorted to such garments because he felt the cold in England after living so long in India.) We need to remember, of course, that Marianne is only 17. She hates his frequent visits unaware they are due to his concern for her welfare.

On hearing the story of the two Elizas and the duel, her attitude changes so that she no longer avoids him and speaks to him with “a kind compassionate respect.” She even manages a pitying eye and gentleness of voice. And the final triumph along the “romantic” path is reached when Colonel Brandon is assured “that his exertion had produced an increase in goodwill towards himself. Finally when Marianne bursts into tears over Mrs Ferrars unkind treatment of Elinor, Colonel Brandon quite loses control and “rose up and went to them without knowing what he did.” And so it goes on with Austen tantalising us with luke warm statements and denying us any direct speech between the pair.

The parody continues with the confederacy of Edward, Elinor and Mrs Dashwood feeling Col. Brandon‘s “sorrow and their own obligations, and Marianne by general consent, was to be the reward of all.” Not as with Clarissa’s family endeavouring to get control of her fortune but still a sacrificial heroine of sorts.

Marianne’s devotion to Brandon grows out of strong esteem and lively friendship, while Brandon patiently waits for her to recover from her first love. Marianne’s experience with Willoughby, the influence of her sister and the serious reflection she indulged in after her illness, perhaps led to her using sense in making her decision to marry Brandon. She was duly rewarded, instead of “falling sacrifice to irresistible passion as once she had fondly flattered herself with expecting.” (p.367)

Sources:

• Austen, Jane, Sense & Sensibility, Penguin Books 1969-1975
• Doore, Marilyn, Love and Courtship in the Time of Jane Austen, Suite 101.com
• Jenkyns, Richard, A Fine Brush on Ivory, Oxford, 2004
• Mantel, Hilary in Literary Genius ed. by Joseph Epstein, Haus Books, London 2007
• Ray, Joan Klingal, “The Amiable Prejudices of a Young (Writer’s) Mind, The Problems of Sense and Sensibility”, Persuasions on-line V.26 No 1 (Winter 2005), Jane Austen Society of North America
• Ruoff, Gene W. Jane Austen’s “Sense & Sensibility”, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992