June 2023 meeting: Travel in Jane Austen’s novels

Prepared by member Anna.

Our June meeting was smatter than usual, with numerous apologies coming in for the day. However, a reduced, enthusiastic group, fuelled by Maltesers supplied by one of our number, discussed various aspects of travel in Jane Austen’s novels.

Members were asked to focus on one novel in their contributions.

We began by discussing the difference between a journey and the modern concept of travel as recreation. As there are only 2 real instances of holiday travel, ie The Gardiners and Lizzie in Derbyshire in Pride and Prejudice and the party to Lyme Regis in Persuasion, we decided on a broader definition to encompass journeys.

An absent member provided some information from the Adkins’ book, Jane Austen’s England, in which they discusses the types if travel available to everyone – rich to poor – at the time.  They argue that during Jane Austen time travelling became a bit easier than it had been a century before, and name various methods of travel characters use during her novels: walking, riding horses, carriage, stage coach and post-chaises, and of course ships and boats. Several of these forms appear in Sense and sensibility.

Overall, though, we agreed found that fact travel was so tedious, dangerous and expensive that the majority of people travelled no further than 14 miles from home.

One member referencing Sense and Sensibility said that Austen highlights the reality of this with Mrs Dashwood having to sell her carriage, and the impractical suggestion of Willoughby to gift Marianne a horse given their reduced circumstances.

Despite the obvious expense, there are 49 mentions of movement from one place to another and 46 mentions of carriages in Sense and Sensibility, noting how ludicrous is the idea that nothing happens in Jane Austen’s novels.

The changes of location in the novel have a significant impact on the characters.  The Dashwoods move to the country and Barton Cottage, Marianne’s realisation in London that Willoughby has betrayed her, Edward Ferrar’s decision that he prefers country life to the city life promoted by his mother and Marianne’s fateful walk at Cleveland, which almost results in her death.

Another member also considered the impact of travel on characters in Sense and Sensibility. Travel meant not only moving from one place to another but characters having to move out of their comfort zone and confront aspects which are physically and emotionally challenging.

At Barton Cottage, Marianne’s decision to go for a walk results in her being literally swept of her feet by Willoughby as he carries her home. At the end of the novel, Marianne and Elinor walk facing the same hills and she realises “Everybody seemed injured by me. The kindness, the unceasing kindness of Mrs Jennings, I had repaid with ungrateful contempt”. She has matured and grown emotionally through the course of the novel.

A number of carriages and men on horseback during Marianne’s illness at Cleveland heightens the tension with Austen cleverly creating movement to build emotional pressure as Elinor waits.

Another member turned to Margaret Doody’s Jane Austen’s Names and focused on the significance of the places that Austen chose to send her the characters moved to in Pride and Prejudice.

Brighton, a defended port, military camp and highly fashionable resort, was associated with entertainments and illicit sex. A totally suitable place for Lydia’s seduction by Wickham, as was Ramsgate where Wickham tried the same tactics with Georgiana.

Austen makes London central to her plot, serving as the hinge or crossroads of her story, as every important character, except Mrs Bennet either travels or lives there.

Did the Bennets live in Hertforshire because the name lends itself to wordplay, the place where hearts cross and meet? And is Rosings in Kent where Austen’s wealthy relations lived because they treated her with condescension? Hence the “vainglory and sense of entitlement” expressed through both Mr Collins and Lady Catherine.

While another member considered the significance of the journey to Hunsford, which allowed personal conversations between Elizabeth and Darcy leading to the proposal and personal conversations between Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam which added to Elizabeth’s prejudice.

The problems of travel for women were also discussed and the expense of private coaches. 

Take Emma, in which protagonist Emma is trapped in Hartfield, tied down by her father although other characters move considerable distances. Isabella and John Knighley travel from and back to London, Frank Churchill goes there for his haircut, Mr Elton travels to Bristol to find a bride and Mr Knightley also travels to London to resolve his feeling about Emma and marriage.

But three journeys do have an impact on Emma, herself, all three making her question herself and her decisions. The carriage ride home from Christmas at the Weston’s with Mr Elton, the infamous picnic at Box Hill, and her distress while Mr Knightley is in London and she thinks she’s lost him for ever.

Using Beth Wallace’s essay (citation below) as source material, our remote member considered Mansfield Park and how it is the young men who travel the most; from Tom Bertram’s accompanying his father to Antigua and his profligate trips to the races, Ramsgate, Weymouth and London, to Henry Crawford’s more purposeful journeys to Norfolk, Bath and London. 

Mr. Crawford assures all that he will return to Mansfield Park from Bath, Norfolk, London, York or any place in England at an hour’s notice. Noticeably, these land-bound men, including Edmund Bertram on his journeys to Eton, Oxford, Peterborough and London, do not comment on the travel itself.  

Modest Midshipman William Price travels the furthest and reminisces the most willingly about his naval experiences in the Mediterranean, Gibraltar and Sicily. Travel has indeed opened his mind. 

Female travellers are generally more thoughtful and the countryside is seen according to their moods and characters, such as the silent emotional turmoil during the ten miles in Henry’s barouche to and from Sotherton. 

Money and social class determined who travelled in carriages. Mrs Norris believes that ten year old Fanny can easily get from Portsmouth by public coach under the care of any creditable person who may chance to be going, such as a tradesman’s wife.

Years later, when Fanny and her brother are more respected, they travel by post back to Portsmouth and Mrs Norris ‘sees Sir Thomas actually give William notes for the purpose.’ 

Appropriateness also outweighed distance. Sir Thomas asks Fanny what time she would have the carriage come round when she is going to the vicarage close by. 

“My dear Sir Thomas!” cried Mrs Norris, red with anger, “Fanny can walk,” 
“Walk!” Repeated Sir Thomas ……”My niece walk to a dinner engagement at this time of the year!”

This was a time when consumer culture was escalating, and stories told from the point of view of material objects, their origin, manufacture, and journey taken to arrive with a particular owner, were quite popular. The journey taken by Jane Austen’s material objects, though, tell us so much more about the psychological development of her characters. The journey taken by Mary Crawford’s harp, for instance, exposes her ‘dangerous and siren-like power over Edmund’ and her insensitivity to the essential requirements of an agricultural community which prevent her from obtaining a horse and cart at harvest time. This brilliant use of material culture to focus on character exposé places Austen at the vanguard of the modern psychological novel. 

The meeting ended with quotes after a decision to delay the quiz for a month. It was an excellent topic.

Sources

Roy and Lesley Adkins, Jane Austen’s England. Viking, 2013, pp. 238 – 261)
Margaret Doody, Jane Austen’s names. University of Chicago Press, 2016
Beth Wallace, “Traveling shoe roses: The geography of things in Austen’s works” in Jane Austen’s geographies, ed. Robert Clark. Routledge, 2018

May 2023 meeting: Pride and prejudice, Vol. 3

Our May meeting saw us conclude our slow reading of Pride and prejudice, with a discussion of Volume 3 (Chapters 43 to the end). This volume starts with Elizabeth and the Gardiners visiting Pemberley and ends with, well, the ending!

Discussion

Some editions of P&P owned by JASACT members

Again, a wide range of “new” responses to the novel was shared, starting with a contribution from our remote member who made the observation that every reread of Jane Austen’s novels offers new insights into both her curiously complex characters and into our own. 

Characters

This observation proved true among our members, at least regarding our responses to Austen’s characters. There were new responses to Elizabeth, for example, with our remote member saying that in this read of volume 3 she finally came to appreciate and like Elizabeth, to admire her honesty and respect her ability to collect her thoughts and express them so instantly and lucidly. Another member noted that the usually confident Elizabeth is, at the beginning of this volume, quite discombobulated, and self-conscious. She’s uncertain of her feelings and of how to behave and react, such as in Ch, 45, where she “wisely resolved to be perfectly easy and unembarrassed; a resolution the more necessary to be made, but perhaps not the more easily kept”.

As another member said, all the characters in this volume show their individual characteristics, but only some change, Elizabeth and Mr Darcy being the two we all agreed on. Indeed, they themselves see that both have improved in civility.

Jane, for example, does not seem to change, though she’s not always as cloyingly sweet at she seems. She does see the truth of characters sometimes, such as when she writes to Elizabeth about Lydia’s disappearance, and says this about her mother, “Could she exert herself, it would be better; but this is not to be expected.”

An absent member sent in a detailed response focusing on Mr Bennet who had intrigued her from the beginning. He’s a gentleman, she wrote, but he lacks the finances to provide for five daughters. She saw him as an important catalyst in the novel for the plot, particularly regarding Lydia’s behaviour, which in turn gives Austen scope for social comment on a range of issues, including status, and the role of women.

Related to this issue of characters was one member’s reflections on the Bennets’ parenting. In the wake of hearing about Lydia’s running off, Elizabeth reflects on “the mischief of neglect [Mr Bennet] and mistaken indulgence [Mrs Bennet] towards such a girl”. She suggests to the Gardiners that Mr Bennet’s negligence might have encouraged Wickham to feel he could get away with his treatment of Lydia. Mr Collins, albeit tactlessly, makes valid points about “a faulty degree of indulgence” towards Lydia.

Eventually, Mr Bennet comes to see his own failures as a parent – in not being more attentive and in neglecting to make provisions for his daughters – and admits as much to Elizabeth. Mrs Bennet, on the other hand, learns nothing: “no sentiment of shame gave a damp to her triumph”, once the marriage is achieved.

Finally, one member observed that the plot is driven by thoughtless people, which must then be fixed by others, like Mr Darcy.

Style

Several of us talked about the style, and the various points we’d noted.

One, for example, saw that in the Pemberley scenes, the Gardiners who, although interested in Elizabeth, are not emotionally involved and are therefore more reliable in their assessment of Darcy and Wickham than is the emotionally-thrown Elizabeth.

Another talked about the dialogue, naming particularly the scenes in this volume between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine, and Elizabeth & Mr Darcy. Lady Catherine’s rudeness, she said, is extraordinary, and the scene shows Elizabeth’s resilience and presence of mind. The dialogue shows Austen’s sense of theatre. She loved Elizabeth’ statement to Lady Catherine that “He is a gentleman and I am a gentleman’s daughter”.

A few members commented on loving Austen’s language, particularly the quality of her sentences, and shared examples such as Lady Catherine to Elizabeth:

But your arts and allurements may, in a moment of infatuation, have made him forget what he owes to himself and to all his family. You may have drawn him in.

We agreed that Austen draws us in!

One member also commented on how words change over time and how this can impact our reading. In Ch 45, Austen writes that Mrs Gardiner and Elizabeth “pitied” Georgiana for her shyness, but does Austen mean “pity” the way we use it now?

Some questions posed by members

Did Austen’s readers understand signs that we do not? Was Longbourn a rundown, previously wealthy estate that had once afforded a shrubbery (behind the house), an area variously referred to as a copse (with benches), a wilderness (with a hermit in the hermitage), and a small wood, to the side of the house. In the front of the house is a lawn that is also described as a paddock, which sounds like it has been neglected. Are we to understand that the state of the property is a reflection of Mr.Bennet’s hopelessness? 

Where did Lady Catherine get the idea that Elizabeth and Mr Darcy were (or were about to be) engaged? We tossed this around, with some suggesting Caroline Bingley as being the most likely source given her dislike of, and her jealousy towards Elizabeth .

However, one of us had researched this through close reading. She said that after Lady Catherine’s visit, E is at a complete loss to know how LC learned of the engagement. LC doesn’t say, and E doesn’t ask her, but p 340 explains the likely source of the gossip as being reports by the Lucas family to Charlotte and Mr Collins. Well, they (Maria??) are certainly more observant than Elizabeth’s father who is quite incredulous when he hears the news, in turn, in a letter from Mr Collins warning him of Lady Catherine’s strong disapproval of any such match. 

What is Georgiana’s role? Some of the ideas our member considered were that Miss Bingley sees her as match for her brother (Vol 1) providing plot tension; Darcy explains why he dislikes Wickham and Wickham’s predatory nature (Vol 2) which marks the begininning of Elizabeth’s changing attitude to Darcy; Elizabeth realises (Vol 3) that Georgiana is not haughty but shy (adding to the “first impressions” idea). The Georgiana story explains why Darcy goes so quickly to find Lydia. Darcy’s treatment of Georgiana enables Elizabeth to see Mr Darcy in a different light. Georgiana also exemplifies the idea that whether wealthy or poor, women have predators. She is easily manipulated by Wickham, in a different way to Lydia who flaunts.

What did Darcy tell his sister about Elizabeth? When they meet unexpectedly at Pemberley, Darcy tells Elizabeth that ‘There is also one other person in the party … who more particularly wishes to be known to you’. In other words, his sister Georgiana.

Elizabeth is surprised:

She immediately felt that whatever desire Miss Darcy might have of being acquainted with her, must be the work of her brother, and without looking further, it was satisfactory, it was gratifying to know that his resentment had not made him think really ill of her. 

So, what had Darcy said to his sister about Elizabeth, posed our member? That he has met a woman to whom he is attracted? That he proposed to her and she refused him? It’s hard to believe, suggested our member, that he would have told the (whole) truth about his proposal. Might his sister have given him some advice on how a woman likes to receive a proposal of marriage? Whatever occurred between them, Georgiana is evidently well disposed towards Elizabeth, although very shy when they meet.

We discussed this issue, with various ideas put forward, but Austen is quiet on this point, so we came to no resolution.

Our final thought was that everyone in the novel contributed to the final outcome, that it’s a perfect ensemble work.

April 2023 meeting: Pride and prejudice, Vol. 2

In April, JASACT continued our slow reading of Pride and prejudice, by discussing, this month, Volume 2 (Chapters 24 to 42). This volume starts just after the Bingley retinue has moved to London, and includes Lydia’s going to Brighton and Elizabeth’s visit to Hunsford, where she receives Darcy’s proposal. It ends with her arrival in Derbyshire, in the company of her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners.

Discussion

Some editions of P&P owned by JASACT members

Again, different members noticed different aspects on this umpteenth (for most of us) read of the novel. And again, this surprised us, though we should know by now that with Austen, this is not at all surprising.

One member, for example, found Jane, at the opening of the volume, just a bit too saccharine, and she quoted American academic Patricia Meyer Spacks from her annotated edition of the novel. Spacks likened the angelic Jane to the sentimental 18th century heroines, but notes that while they are good by exerting self-control, for Jane it comes from within her nature. Philosophers David Hume and Adam Smith argued that feeling rather than reason provides the grounding for morality, and Jane exemplifies this. She sympathises with everyone, and behaves graciously to all. Our member wondered whether she should temper her view of Jane!

It was also noted how many journeys there are in this volume:

• the Gardiners come to Longbourn
• Jane goes to London with the Gardiners
• Elizabeth goes to Hunsford/Rosings, via London, with the Lucases
• Darcy and Fitzwillaim go to Rosings, and then leave Rosings
• Darcy and Fitzwilliam leave Rosings
• Lydia goes to Brighton
• Elizabeth and the Gardiners set off for Derbyshire

These comings and goings, it was suggested, enable us to contrast Mrs Bennet and Lady Catherine de Burgh who are silly and illogical in different ways. These movements also provide opportunities for Elizabeth to reflect on events.

Because we know the outcome of the romance plot, re-reads often enable us to see exactly how the romance played out. One member felt this particularly on this read, saying she clearly saw Darcy’s growing interest in Elizabeth – his frequent visits to the parsonage, his delayed departure from Rosings, his enquiry of Elizabeth regarding her attachment to her country and home, and his frequently coming across her in the park. All this provides a subtle build up to the first proposal that is not necessarily noticed by a first-time reader.

We all commented on the quality and emotional power of his letter to Elizabeth after she rejects him, with one member adding that the proposal and subsequent letter provide the novel’s turning point. We learn of Darcy’s serious interest in her, while Elizabeth discovers that she had been unduly influenced by Wickham’s condemnation and feels shame as a result.

In fact, one member characterised this volume as being “the education of Elizabeth“. She starts prejudiced, sure of herself regarding Wickham and Darcy, and is prepared to give leeway to Wickham in the marriage stakes but not to Charlotte. But, she then sees how Charlotte has managed her life, and we see what poor company really her family were anyhow! Elizabeth learns that she had misjudged Mr Darcy, and recognises her own father’s failings. She castigates herself:

“How despicably I have acted!” she cried; “I, who have prided myself on my discernment! I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameable mistrust! How humiliating is this discovery! Yet, how just a humiliation! Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind! But vanity, not love, has been my folly. Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment I never knew myself.”

Various members commented on Darcy’s cousin Fitzwilliam’s role in the novel’s plot and development. He passes on information to Elizabeth which enables her to glean some truths about Darcy’s true qualities, about his interest in her, but also about Darcy’s role in Bingley’s departure for London.

This volume also contains hints for the future. Should Elizabeth and Jane reveal Wickham’s true nature to others? What might the impact be of Mr Bennet’s inappropriate and neglectful behaviour as husband and father?

Our newest member was particularly intrigued by Mr Bennet, and asked what his purpose in the novel is. She described him as incompetent and wondered whether it was due to his being in an all-female environment. She’s seen it before, she said. We look forward to her observations on Mr Bennet when we discuss the final volume.

We discussed technique and style a little. One member commented on the changes in pace, while another asked whether Austen planned all the clues and hints to the plot, or did they happen seamlessly. (The age-old question for writers, we thought.) And, of course, there’s always some humour, provided mostly here by Mr Collins’ obsequiousness.

Overall, we agreed that this volume is the pivot for the novel. We learn a lot about the plot and the characters, relationships are developed, and we get hints of what’s to come.

Next month we move on to Volume 3, chapters 43 to 61.

Sources

Patricia Meyer Spacks, Note 9, p. 174, in Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice: Annotated edition, Belknap Press, 2010.

March 2023 meeting: Pride and prejudice, Vol. 1

JASACT commenced its 2023 year with a meeting in February at Oaks Brasserie. This is the third time we have started the year this way, easing ourselves back into meetings with a relaxed meeting under the trees. This year we played the card game Speculation (using buttons for betting). Playing the game enlightened many of us a little more about some of the nuances in Mansfield Park. We also discovered who was the card shark amongst us (but what we learnt in the garden will stay in the garden!)

Last year, JASACT commenced another cycle of slow reading of Jane Austen’s novels, with Sense and sensibility. This year we are doing Pride and prejudice, starting with Volume 1 (Chapters 1 to 23).

Discussion

Some editions of P&P owned by JASACT members

Prepared by member Jenny K.

It was generally agreed that Jane Austen’s writing is so rich with meaning that whenever we reread her work, we discover many aspects and ideas that we had failed to notice previously. 

Her structural skill was immediately in evidence with the brilliantly ironic opening sentence followed by a sentence summarizing the ensuing action.

One member declared that Pride and Prejudice is not only the best and most clever of Austen’s novels as it is witty and funny in almost every line. It is almost as if she is playing with the reader.

Fifteen major characters appear each made distinctive by their style of dialogue. The teasing Mr Bennett is immediately identified as laconic in contrast to his flighty not very bright wife whom he delights in tormenting.

The novel’s original title, First impressions, makes sense, as it is often a case of first impressions, either provided directly or indirectly. Right from the start we are presented with differing views. Local gossip is inaccurate concerning Darcy’s character. Wickham contributes further to this inaccurate view of Darcy with his selective version of the truth while speaking to Lizzie. She, in turn, chooses to ignore Caroline’s warning concerning its veracity. Lizzie cannot help being impressed by Wickham’s appearance and manners. 

Acute as she can be, Lizzie is also entirely unaware of her effect on Mr Darcy who is bewitched by her from the start but hopes her social inferiority will protect him from involvement. Austen uses dramatic irony brilliantly in Darcy’s response to Lizzie’s playful suggestion that he has no defects. His defects start to appear when he easily influences gullible Bingley concerning his attraction to Jane, misjudging Jane’s behaviour as being indifferent. 

Lizzie’s great friend, Charlotte shows obvious opportunism, in occupying Mr Collins in the guise of distracting him from Elizabeth. She is well aware of the need to flatter the man to lead him on, as witnessed by her comments to Lizzie concerning Jane’s behaviour. One member longed to know what the proposal was like or even if Charlotte did the proposing. Being so egotistical, Mr Collins is sure to have kept the upper hand.

The snobbery in the form of bitchiness and the cold civility of the Bingley sisters is both funny and appalling. Miss Bingley is desperate and so obvious in her pursuit of Darcy who could not be more indifferent. 

The humour is often buoyed up by the cringe-making behaviour of Mrs Bennett and Mr Collins, she with loud gossipy comments and he with his obsequiousness. 

What makes Volume 1 so entertaining is the masterful interplay between the characters.

Next month we move on to Volume 2, or chapters 24 to 42.

November 2018 meeting: What Carrie did next, Or, How an Australian Jane Austen sequel came into being

Prepared by member Jenny.

Janeites generally regard Austen sequels with ambivalence if not hostility.

However a meeting with an Australian writer who has recently published a sequel to Pride and Prejudice proved to be informative, entertaining and exhilarating.

A lifelong journalist and editor, Carrie Kablean, felt very strongly that Kitty was badly miscast in both the 1995 television and 2001 movie versions of the book.

Journalism work was drying up so Carrie decided upon a bold experimental project. She wanted to give Kitty a life.

“She couldn’t be that stupid, after all, she was a Bennet,” she pointed out.

Having a teenage daughter of a similar age gave her further material and understanding.

She was determined to make Kitty feel confident within herself. She wanted to rescue her.

However, Carrie also realised would be “standing on the shoulders of a giant.” She created a back story, based on the little information we have about Kitty, to develop her Kitty character. And she determined to keep the tone of Austen’s work, including some kind of romantic interest. A crisis would occur two thirds of the way through her novel.

Carrie’s only starting point was that she realised that Kitty and Georgiana Darcy were a similar age, so she decided it would be good to get them together so that they could become best friends. Carrie believed this to be feasible as they had much in common both being emotionally lonely, shy and withdrawn.

With a strong love of research and also of London where she was born, her next move was to travel there where she went on a steep learning curve as well as “going down some rabbit holes.”

Her discovery that London in 1813 to 1814 experienced a particularly dire winter provided the backdrop for part of the story. The relevant families visiting London at about the same time were confined inside due to extremely heavy fogs lasting for two weeks followed by heavy snowfalls. Part of the Thames froze over between Blackfriars and London Bridge which enabled a traditional Frost Fair to be held on the ice. However, in her story, this could only happen after an elephant had been employed to test the strength of the ice cover, providing a point of excitement for Kitty and the Gardiner children.

Initially Kitty’s musical talent is encouraged in the Bingley London home with Mr Bingley taking her to concerts. He also engaged a music teacher for her who coincidentally tutors Miss Darcy. This teacher helps to inspire her confidence in her abilities.

Eventually invited to Pemberley, her friendship with Georgiana Darcy is cemented. However a crisis occurs for which she gets unfairly accused. Not surprisingly, Lydia is involved in the background. We won’t give the plot away – but remember that this in an Austen-inspired story so it all works out in the end.

Carrie writes her heartfelt thanks to Jane Austen: “She is incomparable, of course, and this novel a mere homage. I only hope that, were she able to read it, she would not be too vexed at this trespass into her world.”

What Kitty Did Next by Carrie Kablean reveals a very thorough and deep knowledge of Jane Austen’s work and life. Convincing characters play out an entirely original plot.

Carrie also shared a bit about her publishing journey. She came close to finding an Australian publisher, but in the end it fell through, and she was able to find a hybrid publisher, Red Door Publishing, in England. She is currently working hard on marketing her book, as authors with independent and hybrid publishers need to do, while also working on her next work of historical fiction. It is also set in Georgian England, and springs from a family she imagines for What Kitty did next, but it will, she said, be a bit darker than What Kitty did next.

Business

The meeting concluded with our regular secret quote and quiz, and a reminder about our Jane’s birthday and Xmas lunch on Saturday 15 December.

We also agreed on the schedule for the beginning of 2019:

• January: No meeting
• February: Read a book by one of Jane’s favourite authors. Maria Edgeworth
• March: Discuss why Jane Austen was so popular in the trenches (WW1)

 

May 2017 meeting: Who advises Jane Austen’s heroines?

Prepared by member Mary.

Our topic for the May meeting was “who advises Jane Austen’s heroines?”  A wide-ranging topic with a difficulty in distinguishing between advice, persuasion and bullying.  We considered those who may be in a position to provide helpful advice, including parents, siblings, relatives, friends and suitors.  Often they tended to do more harm than good.

Several people quoted Fanny Price’s belief that “we all have a better guide in ourselves, if we wanted to attend to it, than any other person can be.”  Despite her many trials, Fanny always keeps true to her own “better guide”; and all of Jane Austen’s heroines eventually find strength and guidance from their own moral integrity.

Margaret Mary Benson’s paper discusses the relationship between Mothers, substitute mothers and daughters in the novels of Jane Austen (Persuasions No. 11, 1989).  A mother’s role is to take care of her daughter’s early education and endeavor to develop a personal sense of responsibility.  But in Austen’s novels mothers are either absent or totally inadequate.

Benson points out that even Mrs Morland fails as a source of morality as she has “too many children to concentrate on the guidance of any individual daughter or son.”  In Bath Catherine is left to the care of Mrs Allen, who is incapable of giving advice of any kind.  When asked, Mr Allen advises Catherine that it is not seemly to be driving about the country side in an open carriage with John Thorpe.  Although fond of her brother James, Catherine questions his wisdom in encouraging a friendship with John Thorpe.  The contrast between the behavior of Isabella and John Thorpe with that of Eleanor and Henry Tilney helps Catherine to distinguish between false and trusted friends.

Catherine is mortified when a shocked Henry realizes that she has imagined that General Tilney murdered his wife, but he finds a way of being her mentor and guiding her judgment.  By the end of the novel Catherine has matured and she “acts with real dignity when she is sent home from Northanger Abbey.  ….. but like Emma, her husband will always be her mentor and superior, theirs is not a marriage of equals.”  (Benson, ibid).

Emma Woodhouse is motherless.  Clever, headstrong and self-reliant she has been managing her father’s household from an early age.  Her substitute mother is “poor Miss Taylor”, now Mrs Weston, who has been with the Woodhouse family for the past 16 years:

Even before Miss Taylor had ceased to hold the nominal office of governess, the mildness of her temper had hardly allowed her to impose any restraint; and the shadow of authority being now long passed away, they had been living together as friend and friend very mutually attached and Emma doing just what she liked; highly esteeming Miss Taylor’s judgment, but directed chiefly by her own. (Emma, Ch. 1)

Likewise Mr Woodhouse can find no fault with Emma.  He is a valetudinarian who uses emotional blackmail to keep Emma at home to care for him and entertain the limited society of Highbury.  But he is no companion for her.  “He could not meet her in conversation, rational or playful.” Frank Churchill deceives Emma. He uses his flirtation with her as a screen to hide his secret engagement to Jane Fairfax; although he claims he was not at fault: he “only supposed Emma as quick-witted as she believed herself to be”.

Mr Knightley has known Emma all her life and is in the habit of lecturing and judging her. He advises Emma not to interfere with Harriet’s relationship with Robert Martin, but she is determined to prove him wrong and plays matchmaker with disastrous results.  When all is resolved between them, Mr Knightley questions whether he had the right to judge and lecture Emma, who must have done well without him.  But Emma replies “I was often influenced rightly by you – oftener than I would own at the time.  I am sure you did me good.”

Anne Elliot is also motherless.  She has a very ‘conceited, silly father’ and an elder sister who both regard Anne and her younger sister as ‘of very inferior value’.  Anne’s substitute mother is Lady Russell, to whom she is “a most dear and highly valued god-daughter, favourite and friend.”  Lady Russell advises Anne to sever her relationship with Frederick Wentworth with whom she had fallen deeply in love with when she was 19.  Lady Russell, who valued social status, considered the relationship inappropriate for Anne with all her claims to birth, beauty and mind, to throw herself away at nineteen on a headstrong man who had nothing but himself to recommend him, and no hopes of attaining affluence, but in the chance of a most uncertain profession.  Lady Russell feared that such a marriage would sink her into a state of most wearing, anxious, youth killing dependence.  Not marrying Wentworth has done exactly that to Anne who has noticeably lost her bloom, and is faded and thin.  In one sense Anne does not regret having done her duty to Lady Russell in following her advice, but in another, later regrets being persuaded not to marry Wentworth – she felt that were any young person, in similar circumstances, to apply to her for counsel, they would never receive any of such certain immediate wretchedness, such uncertain good. (Persuasion, Vol 1. Ch.4).

Lady Russell encourages Anne, at 22, to accept a proposal from Charles Musgrove, but in this case Anne had nothing left for advice to do.  Later Lady Russell encourages Anne’s marriage to her cousin, William Elliot, the heir to Kellynch Hall.  But now at 27 Anne is no longer dependent on Lady Russell’s advice.  It was now some years since Anne had begun to learn that she and her excellent friend could sometimes think differently; and it did not surprise her, therefore, that Lady Russell could see nothing suspicious or inconsistent, nothing to require more motives than appeared in Mr Elliot’s great desire for reconciliation.  Benson notes that not only is Anne more perceptive than Lady Russell in terms of motives, but she also differs in what she truly values in her friends – such as the open-heartedness of the Musgrove family and especially of Frederick’s fellow sailors and their families – the Crofts and the Harvilles.  More than any of the heroines, at the end of Persuasion Anne totally separates herself from her family in favour of Fredrick’s open-hearted sailor friends. (Benson, ibid)

Marianne Dashwood resembles her mother who encourages Marianne’s excessive displays of romantic sensibility. Elinor, the eldest daughter “possessed a strength of understanding, and a coolness of judgement, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother…… Her feelings were strong, but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn.” (SS. 6).   John Dashwood, who promised his father that he would support the family, is persuaded by his wife that he need do nothing at all; but that does not prevent him from offering unwanted advice to Elinor that she should marry Colonel Brandon, and cultivate her friendship with Mrs Jennings in the hope that Elinor and Marianne would inherit some of her fortune.  While Mrs Jennings and Sir John Middleton are kind and hospitable, and Colonel Brandon offers practical help and the comfort of a good friend, they do not advise Elinor nor does she seek their advice.  When Edward’s secret engagement to Lucy is revealed, Marianne is astonished that Elinor has known for four months.  She exclaims “how have you been supported?”  Elinor replies “I have had all this on my mind without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature.” (p.228).  Mrs Dashwood belatedly realizes she had been inattentive to her eldest daughter.  “Marianne’s affliction, because more acknowledged, more immediately before her, had too much engrossed her tenderness, and led her away to forget that in Elinor she might have a daughter suffering almost as much, certainly with less self-provocation and greater fortitude.”  (SS p56).

Elizabeth Bennet has two unsatisfactory parents. Because of her intelligence and ‘quickness’, she is her father’s favourite.  She is her mother’s least favourite daughter, and to Lizzy her mother is a constant source of embarrassment and irritation.  Mrs Bennet has neglected her daughters’ education, and is also “equally indifferent to her daughters’ moral education – and, in fact probably is incapable of providing them with any moral example.” (Benson, ibid).  Lizzy falls further out of favour with her mother when she refuses a proposal from Mr Collins, but she will not be bullied into accepting him.  She also stands up to Lady Catherine, and will not be bullied by her.  Lizzy and her sister Jane are close companions, but Jane only sees good in everyone, and does not really advise Lizzy.  Fortunately there is Aunt Gardiner, her role model and friend: “Unlike Mrs Bennet she is capable of giving real advice.  She is the only one to advise Elizabeth against Wickham; later, she is the physical instrument of Elizabeth and Darcy’s reconciliation at Pemberley.” (Benson, ibid).  Darcy seemingly remains aloof throughout, insulting Elizabeth at the ball and with his first proposal.  His letter changes her mind and her realization about herself: “How despicably have I acted! … I, who have prided myself on my discernment! … Till this moment I never knew myself.” (PP, 236).

At age 9 Fanny Price’s mother farewells her from Portsmouth and greets her return from Mansfield Park 8 years later with equal indifference.  At Mansfield Park Lady Bertram, who should have been the substitute mother, pays no attention to the education of her daughters – ‘thinking more of her pug than her children, but very indulgent to the latter, when it did not put herself to inconvenience.” (MP, p20). She delegates all the responsibility for the education of the Bertram girls and Fanny to Aunt Norris.  While Aunt Norris indulges Maria and Julia, she is cruel and vindictive towards Fanny.  She “… had no affection for Fanny, and no wish of procuring her pleasure at any time.” (MP, 79).  Fanny is gentle, sensitive and obliging: Tom calls her a “creep mouse” and the girls virtually ignore her.

It is only Edmund who kindly guides Fanny in the superficialities of life at Mansfield Park, advising her on books to read, and helping her to become more confident.  However, Edmund can be insensitive and not perceptive.  He doesn’t understand why Fanny is so appalled at the suggestion she should live with Aunt Norris.  Fanny is afraid of Sir Thomas, but stands her ground against his anger at her refusal to accept Henry’s proposal.  The only advice Lady Bertram ever gave Fanny, echoing her husband, is to tell her “It is every young woman’s duty to accept such an unexceptionable offer as this.” (MP, Ch.33). Edmund, also echoing his father, advises Fanny to accept the offer.  Fanny must be forever grateful to Henry for procuring her brother William’s promotion in the navy, but unlike the others, she recognizes his “corrupted mind” and will not marry him.  Fanny also resists Mary Crawford’s manipulation and emotional blackmail to influence her in Henry’s favour.  Fanny does not need advice.  Her moral integrity allows her to make better decisions for herself than any of her advisers.

Next Meeting:  17^th June 17: Sharing and discussing biographies of Jane Austen.

January 2015 meeting: Food in Jane Austen’s novels

Prepared by member Cheng, with help from Anna’s notes.

It would be reasonable to assume that after the indulgences of Christmas our interest in food would have staled. Not so. Our opening meeting for the year had all the enthusiasm and happy chaos of a night at the Musgroves.

First we swapped newsy items and discoveries such as the fact that the 1st edition of Persuasion & Northanger Abbey auctioned last December 6th in Sydney sold for just over $6,000. What a bargain! We examined, reverently, an 1837 5th edition of Sense & Sensibility which had been presented to one of our members on her recent retirement and we read about it in Jane Austen Cover to Cover by Margaret Sullivan. Handling a book 178 years old and published only 20 years after Jane Austen’s death, looking at its engravings and remarking on the good condition of pre 1840’s rag based paper as opposed to later 19th c acidic wood based paper, was a rare treat.

The discussion opened with the statement that, as always, Jane Austen doesn’t waste a word – she uses food to illustrate character.

Maggie Lane was extensively quoted, from both Jane Austen in Context and Jane Austen and Food. Importantly, Lane argues, no hero or heroine or other character who enjoys the narrator’s approval ever willingly speaks about food. They merely refer to the mealtimes of breakfast, dinner or tea, etc. Any mention of a specific foodstuff in Austen is made by a character who is thereby condemned for being greedy, vulgar, selfish or trivial – Mrs Bennet boasting about her soup and her partridges, Dr. Grant salivating at the prospect of turkey are good examples of this, as is Mrs Jenkins kind-hearted concern over Elinor & Marianne’s preferences for salmon or cod and boiled fowls or veal cutlets.

However, even more nuances of social class can be read into this because Mrs Bennet is also letting it be known that she has access to a game park. Many of the subtleties of Jane Austen’s wit are lost on 21st c readers.

Emma contains the most references to food and they also have a deeper meaning. The heroine is part of an interdependent village community where some have more access to food than others. She is portrayed as caring and sharing – broth to a sick cottager, a whole hind-quarter of pork to the poor Bates’, arrow-root to Jane Fairfax. Food in Emma, its production, processing and distribution is a metaphor for neighbourly love.

However, the author also uses it as a background for some of the most amusing scenes in all her novels – the strawberry excursion to Donwell Abbey and Mr. Woodhouse’s digestive foibles.

Mr. Bingley’s white soup symbolises his wealth but at the same time his wit and generosity as he knows Mr. Hurst likes French food and Mr. Darcy can afford a French cook.

When Mr. Hurst scorns Lizzie for preferring a plain dish to a ragout he’s condemned and Elizabeth endorsed for their respective tastes by the narrator. French food was considered suspect and dishonest, just like the French, and unpatriotic.

The only meal specified in Sense & Sensibility is Willoughby’s snatched lunch at a coaching inn in Marlborough – cold beef and a pint of porter – this has a moral dimension because it shows he is behaving honourably and with feeling at last. He doesn’t foolishly starve himself in his haste to reach Marianne but neither does he waste time by ordering an elaborate dish. Some of the sterling character associated with the roast beef of old England attaches to Willoughby: he is reformed.

We strayed into related topics:

• food adulteration, particularly in flour for bread (as possibly in the French-bread that Catherine Morland ate at General Tilney’s breakfast table), the changing size of a penny loaf and the political importance of bread to feed the people.
• table etiquette: the extraordinary quantities of food consumed and the likelihood of actually being able to access every dish laid out.
• mealtimes: breakfast was as yet elegant and light and consisted mainly of tea or coffee and a selection of breads, eaten on fine china. Even Henry Crawford faced a journey to London on a few boiled eggs whilst William Price ate some cold pork with mustard. Heavy hot dishes on a groaning sideboard came later, in Victorian times.

To add even more variety to the meeting, a member had brought a facsimile copy, made of hand forged steel with bone handles, of late 18th c to early 19th c cutlery of the type used in Royal Navy ward rooms. The knife was unusually large and had a very broad blade intended for carving up one’s portion of beef. We realised that eating peas with one’s knife could have been accomplished easily. However, the much smaller 2 pronged fork was intended primarily only for transferring the pieces of meat to the mouth.

In the second half of our meeting members had brought food for afternoon tea that had featured somewhere in her novels. Our task was to identify the novel and who ate the food. Apples, walnuts, olives, seed cake, strawberries, even ratafia biscuits – all had been carefully researched and the game was brisk and laughter laden.

Food from the novels

Extremely interesting was the plate of “Stilton cheese, the North Wiltshire, the butter, the cellery, the beet-root” that had impressed Mr. Elton at the party at the socially aspiring Coles’. These cheeses were only made in certain small localities (the North Wiltshire being difficult to make), had been transported a long distance and hence were considered delicacies.

These expensive cheeses signalled that not only the Coles’ were rising financially and socially but that Mr. Elton, faced with the luxuries that the rich could command, was in raptures. Jane Austen’s readers would have known immediately that he would never marry Harriet Smith!

Our meeting rounded off with a devious quiz from our Machiavellian quiz mistress  – to see if we remembered what we had studied last year!!! We left feeling that we had had a particularly satisfying meeting.

Pride and Prejudice anniversary posts from The New Yorker and the Spectator

Supplied by Bill and Anna for your enjoyment!

William Deresiewicz, Happy two hundredth birthday, Pride and Prejudice, The New Yorker, January 28, 2013: Deresiewicz writes that Darcy and Elizabeth “are archetypes of the way we want to be: clever but good, fallible and forgiven, glamorous, amorous, and very, very happy.”

Rebecca Mead, Without Austen, no Eliot, The New Yorker, January 29, 2013: Mead quotes George Henry Lewes,  as saying “To read one of her books is like an actual experience of life.” Lewes, you probably know, later became George Eliot‘s lover and was in fact commissioned by Eliot to write an essay on Austen.

James Walton, Whatever happened to dear Aunt Jane, The Spectator, 26 January, 2013: Walton reviews Paula Byrne‘s (she of the “new” portrait) The real Jane Austen: A life in small things and our Susannah Fullerton’s Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

November 2012 meeting: Mr Darcy and masculinity in Pride and Prejudice

Prepared by member Jenny.

Charlotte Bronte’s criticism of Jane Austen in which she stated: “the passions were unknown to her” was entirely reversed during a discussion of member Sarah Ailwood’s analysis of Pride & Prejudice by JASACT members at their November meeting. Sarah’s analysis was part of her doctoral thesis entitled What a Man Ought to Be.

The powerful sexual desire experienced first by Darcy and later by Elizabeth is expressed by Austen using many innovative narrative techniques. Ailwood believes that the male (or erotic) gaze, focalisation or the one who sees, and scopophilia, gaining sexual pleasure from looking, were the keys to understanding the passion. Elizabeth, however, is constrained by female propriety and can only gaze unreservedly at Darcy’s portrait and his magnificent house and property – handsome, lofty and fine.

One member recollected that Richard Jenkyns in A Fine Brush of Ivory had described Pride & Prejudice as erotic. Darcy “is the hero in whom sexual desire is most overt and overpowering … The Sexual charge is stronger in Pride & Prejudice than any of the other novels … (P.86)”, he wrote.

Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth entirely against his will and upbringing. Ailwood notes that in their first meeting, he waits until he gets her attention and then insults her: “not pretty enough to tempt me”. However,  very soon afterwards, he notices “the beautiful expression in her dark eyes”!

Darcy’s characterisation is developed partly through comparison with the other male figures in the book, but focalisation is used to probe his interiority – the truth as he sees it.

Darcy proposing to Elizabeth, Ch. 34, from George Allen edition, 1894. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

His first proposal to Elizabeth was full of anger and frustration – so much so that one critic called it “verbal rape”. His sexual passion left him feeling humiliated and he was amazed by her refusal. Elizabeth, too, is equally angry and humiliated. But Darcy comes to realise the truth of what she tells him.

One person told the group, however, that she believed Elizabeth to be quite revolutionary in her response to Darcy, answering him back and refusing him. She wondered what contemporary critics had made of such a dangerous writer preaching insubordination.

While the patriarchal and economic structures of the time had a profound effect on both male and female behaviour, Darcy eventually chose romantic individualism over social order in deciding to marry Elizabeth.

Pride & Prejudice is deeply concerned with dramatizing the importance of men changing to please the women they love. Elizabeth wanted a man with an emotional life in which she could share. Members of the group suggested that women yearn to be able to change a man and this may partly account for the popularity of Pride & Prejudice through time.

However, just as Elizabeth was unable to do anything to express her growing love and desire for Darcy due to female modesty and propriety, our own time’s current cultural psyche has still not resolved how a women can express desire. “A positive formulation of female desire itself does not yet exist in our cultural psyche” according to Judith Mitchell, quoted by Ailwood. Indeed, we noted that current “conduct” books (such as Amanda Hooten’s Finding Mr Darcy) are still musing upon the problem.

The excellent quiz focussed on male characterisation in Pride & Prejudice: Who (said what) and When (did they say it)? The meeting concluded with the usual “guess the quote” activitiy.

Special thanks to Sarah for sharing her thesis chapter with us.

Business:

1. The main theme for next year will be emotions in Jane Austen’s writing, with anger being first up for discussion at the January meeting. Members are asked to think about how Austen uses and presents anger in any of her novels, and to come ready to discuss one or more examples.
2. The JASA annual conference will be held in Canberra on July 26-28 focussing on Pride & Prejudice.
3. Our combined Jane Austen birthday celebration and Christmas lunch  will be held on December 15. Invitations providing details will be emailed to members.

October 2012 Meeting: William Gilpin and the Picturesque

Prepared by member Cheng

JASNA’s 2012 conference

A surprise opening to the meeting was the announcement by one of our members that he had just returned from three weeks in the U.S. and had attended JASNA’s Annual Conference in New York. A “remarkable event” held from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th October, with 800 attendees.

We (enviously) pored over the programmes and brochures, amazed at the diversity of the multiples sessions and speakers. The theme was ‘Sex, Money and Power in Jane Austen’s Fiction’ and we look forward to hearing a more detailed account of it at a future meeting.

 William Gilpin and the Picturesque

Then we moved on to the subject : William Gilpin [1762-1843]. Had Jane Austen really been as enamoured of Gilpin as Henry claimed?

Gilpin’s writings were taken very seriously during his life time, particularly by the wealthy who could no longer go on the Grand Tour because of the political unrest in Europe and who started instead to enjoy ‘home tours’. Following in Gilpin’s footsteps and seeing through Gilpin’s eyes became very fashionable. His books were the equivalent of our present day guide books and photos.

The general feeling of the group was that whilst Jane Austen often referred to Gilpin’s topographical observations and facts, his pomposity would have been what appealed most to her keen sense of the ridiculous. “You could not have imagined Jane Austen not laughing – she would have laughed out loud”, said one member.

Numerous amusing quotes were produced by those who had done extensive preparatory reading of Gilpins’ works.

However, he was more than merely a source of fun and facts, this being perhaps best illustrated in Elizabeth’s response to seeing Pemberley. Heavily influenced by Gilpin’s theories on the ‘natural’ landscape, the description is also a covert description of Darcy – of the genuine morals and values that he underpins, as opposed to those of the superficial fashionable world. The ‘picturesque’, as Jane Austen applied it, was far more complex than at first apparent:

Elizabeth’s mind was too full for conversation, but she saw and admired every remarkable spot and point of view. They gradually ascended for half a mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley, into which the road with some abruptness wound. It was a large, handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; and in front a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!

“Pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked”, wrote Jane Austen in a letter to Fanny.

Discussion continued on that old intriguing subject of whether Jane Austen wrote quite unconsciously, as for example, Richardson, in the manner of her time. Did she knowingly plot and plan or did it come out as part of her, as in her letters, where her ideas just “tumble out”?

Evidence – that gorgeous dig from Gilpin’s theories on composition and grouping of cows by Elizabeth to Miss Bingley, Mrs Hurst and Darcy which quite goes over our 21st century heads. Elizabeth says to the three when they ask her to join them:

“No, no; stay where you are. You are charmingly grouped, and appear to uncommon advantage. The picturesque would be spoilt by admitting a fourth. Good-bye.”

Examples of Gilpinesque touches in the novels then tumbled out of our members notes :

• The passage in Pride and Prejudice where Elizabeth cries “What are men to rocks and mountains? Oh! What hours of transport shall we spend! And when we do return, it shall not be like other travellers…..We will know where we have gone – we will recollect what we have seen”.
• The hilarious Northanger Abbey scene overlooking Bath where Catherine dismisses the entire view.
• The description of Lyme in Persuasion which strongly recalls Gilpin’s concepts.
• Mrs Elton’s comparisons between Hartfield and Maple Grove in Emma.

A member noted that there were three aesthetic concepts regarding landscape in the 19th century: the pastoral (man-made), the picturesque (natural) and the sublime (god given). Gilpin’s principles, established in the 18th century, were overturned during the nineteenth century by the Romantic movement.

While being amused by Gilpin’s pomposity and dogmatism, members did allow that his passion for ruins had at least kindled a respect for them by a public that had previously regarded them purely as building material. And he did lead others to see beauty in barrenness.

In 1775 when Gilpin toured Southern England he found little to admire in the Steventon area. It was seen as odd by one member that he despised farmed fields for having been altered by the hand of man yet he happily moved trees in his own sketches.

His ‘artist’s eye’ was, as a member pointed out, exactly the opposite to that of the Japanese and we wondered what he would have thought of bonsai.

A kindly and tactful letter to Gilpin by Sir Joshua Reynolds was read out – a reply to Gilpin’s request for Reynold’s opinion, or plea for his imprimatur, of a new book.

How, we asked, could a man described consistently by his contemporaries as modest, appear so pompous and pretentious? Then it was suggested that his was, after all, the voice of a school master!

The December 2009 issue of the JASA Chronicle contained an article written by one of our members on the landscape of the Springs Road, between Cooma and Bega, in which he mused on the picturesque and on 19th century plans to turn the area into an Australian Bath!

The meeting concluded with quotes and a tough quiz on the Nobility in Jane Austen novels.

Business

1. November 17th meeting: Sue to ask Sarah if we can distribute and discuss the P&P chapter of her PhD thesis.
2. Sat 15th December is the date for our Christmas lunch – details will be announced at the next meeting.