‘Orlando’ ~ Free Access for the Month of March!

Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present, is on free access for March at http://orlando.cambridge.org, offering 9 million words comprising 1,413 author profiles, plus generous contextual and bibliographic material, all encoded with semantic and interpretative, searchable  tags. Watch for an update during the month, adding new content and features to last year’s new interface.

When asked to log in, use:

email: OrlandoOpen@ualberta.ca
password: free-Orlando 

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One of the many women writers to research!:

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762):
https://orlando.cambridge.org/profiles/montma

c2024 JaneAustenInVermont

For Your Reading Pleasure: Susannah Fullerton’s “Literary Reader’s Guides”

 

JASAs incomparable president Susannah Fullerton has the perfect gift for you or any of your best reading buddies. You can follow her along each month for the twelve months of 2019 with a new book to read, learn about, and discuss via email or in your own book groups. Called her “Literary Reader Guides,” you can sign up for the full year or just buy those Guides individually that interest you. This year Susannah will be doing Jane Austen’s Emma (in February) – Austen is surrounded in great company as you can see:

  • Jan – Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead Revisited 
  • Feb – Jane Austen and Emma 
  • Mar – Jerome K. Jerome and Three Men in a Boat 
  • Apr – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and The Hound of the Baskervilles 
  • May – Theodor Fontane and Effi Briest 
  • Jun – Guy de Maupassant and “The Necklace”
  • Jul – L. P. Hartley and The Go-Between
  • Aug – Samuel Butler and The Way of All Flesh
  • Sep – W. Somerset Maugham and Cakes and Ale 
  • Oct – Henry James and Washington Square 
  • Nov – Jean Rhys and Wide Sargasso Sea 
  • Dec – Wilkie Collins and The Moonstone

What a reading list! Your book group would be most content following this for the year ahead! Each guide features background information about the author, a publishing history of the title, many illustrations, and thoughtful discussion questions.

I signed on for the Guides last year, and found them most interesting and helpful in facilitating in the several book groups I belong to – I haven’t done all the featured books yet, but each of the monographs is downloadable and you can keep them for future use. The cost for 2019 for all 12 Guides is 40$AU (which is about 30$US, paypal accepted). You can also purchase previous Guides here: https://susannahfullerton.com.au/store/

You can read all about it here: https://susannahfullerton.com.au/come-with-me-on-a-literary-journey/

And visit Susannah’s blog where you shall find all sorts of literary gems: Notes from a Book Addict

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I append this letter direct from Susannah (where she is celebrating a very hot Christmas Down Under…!):

Dear JASNA Member,

I think Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ is the greatest novel ever written. Would you like to find out why I think that, and also learn more about its characters, themes and setting? I’d love to share with you my views on that most gorgeous of heroes, Mr Knightley, and my opinion of Emma herself. Is she really “faultless in spite of all her faults”?

Next year I am offering you not just my thoughts on ‘Emma’, but on 11 other fascinating literary works as well. Please consider joining this exciting literary journey via email. Let me share with you my insights about an author and what drove him or her to create the book. Let me guide you through the novel’s themes and inspirations, tell you about the memorable characters, and provide you with discussion questions to really make you think (or share with your book group).

My 2019 literary series contains an extraordinary short story (you can decide if it is the world’s best?), a book to make you laugh and one to make you cry, some mystery and detection, and some madness and adultery. I have chosen an intriguing mix of works from various parts of the world and from two different centuries. I hope you’ll get the feeling that I’m at your side, sharing my love for a thought-provoking work and discussing it with you and your friends. You can even talk it over directly with me via my website, I always love to hear from JASNA members.

2019 is JASA’s 30th birthday. I hope you will want to celebrate that special anniversary by joining me to discuss ‘Emma’ and other great books. The whole course is done via email, so you do not need to live in Sydney to be a part of it all. Please watch my short film to see just what I’m offering. Find out all about it here: https://susannahfullerton.com.au/come-with-me-on-a-literary-journey/

I hope that Christmas will bring you happy occasions with your family and time to re-read Jane Austen. Don’t forget that if you are planning a visit to Australia next year, JASA would love to welcome you.

Merry Christmas to you all,
Susannah Fullerton
President of JASA

Susannah Fullerton, OAM, FRSN
Literary Lecturer, Author and Literary Tour Leader

Home


President, Jane Austen Society of Australia
Patron, Rudyard Kipling Society of Australia

 
Works:

Brief Encounters: Literary Travellers in Australia
Jane Austen & Crime [one of my all-time favorite books on Austen!]
Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’
A Dance with Jane Austen
Jane & I: A Tale of Austen Addiction

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Sign up today – you will be most pleased!

c2018, Jane Austen in Vermont

Wishing Jane Austen a Very Happy Birthday!

austen-silhouetteThe first order of business today, on this 241st birthday of Jane Austen, is the annual publication of JASNA’s Persuasions On-Line Vol. 37, No. 1 (Winter 2016). Click here for the Table of Contents to yet another inspiring collection of essays, some from the 2016 AGM in Washington DC on EMMA AT 200, “NO ONE BUT HERSELF” and other “Miscellany” – all about Jane Austen…and perfect winter reading material…

Here is the link: http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol37no1/toc.html

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Here are the essays: (you might especially notice Gillian Dow’s essay on the Emma exhibition at Chawton House Library this year (website under redevelopment til Christmas) – for those of you who could not attend, this is the next best thing to being there!)

“The Encouragement I Received”: Emma and the Language of Sexual Assault
Celia Easton

“Could He Even Have Seen into Her Heart”: Mr. Knightley’s Development of Sympathy
Michele Larrow

Emma’s “Serious Spirit”: How Miss Woodhouse Faces the Issues Raised in Mansfield Park and Becomes Jane Austen’s Most Complex Heroine
Anna Morton

“Small, Trifling Presents”: Giving and Receiving in Emma
Linda Zionkowski

Oysters and Alderneys: Emma and the Animal Economy
Susan Jones

Epistolary Culture in Emma: Secrets and Social Transgressions
L. Bao Bui

Divas in the Drawing Room, or Italian Opera Comes to Highbury
Jeffrey Nigro and Andrea Cawelti

Mrs. Elton’s Pearls: Simulating Superiority in Jane Austen’s Emma
Carrie Wright

Multimedia Emma: Three Adaptations
Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield

Jane Austen’s Emma at 200: From English Village to Global Appeal
Gillian Dow

MISCELLANY

Discerning Voice through Austen Said: Free Indirect Discourse, Coding, and Interpretive (Un)Certainty
Laura Moneyham White and Carmen Smith

“The Bells Rang and Every Body Smiled”: Jane Austen’s “Courtship Novels”
Gillian Dooley

Courtship and Financial Interest in Northanger Abbey
Kelly Coyne

Curious Distinctions in Sense and Sensibility
Ethan Smilie

“If Art Could Tell”: A Miltonic Reading of Pride and Prejudice
James M. Scott

Looking for Mr. Darcy: The Role of the Viewer in Creating a Cultural Icon
Henriette-Juliane Seeliger

Replacing Jane: Fandom and Fidelity in Dan Zeff’s Lost in Austen (2008)
Paige Pinto

Fanny Price Goes to the Opera: Jonathan Dove’s and Alasdair Middleton’s Mansfield Park
Douglas Murray

Austen at the Ends of the Earth: The Near and the Far in Persuasion
Katherine Voyles

Jane Austen Bibliography, 2015
Deborah Barnum

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Let’s look at what Austen’s father wrote about her arrival on December 16, 1775:

You have doubtless been for some time in expectation of hearing from Hampshire, and perhaps wondered a little we were in our old age grown such bad reckoners but so it was, for Cassy certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago:  however last night the time came, and without a great deal of warning, everything was soon happily over.  We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion.  She is to be Jenny, and seems to me as if she would be as like Henry, as Cassy is to Neddy.  Your sister thank God is pure well after it, and send her love to you and my brother, not forgetting James and Philly…

[Letter from Mr. Austen to his sister Philadelphia Walter, December 17, 1775, as quoted from Deirdre Le Faye, Jane Austen, A Family Record, Cambridge, 2004, p.27.]

Happy Birthday Miss Austen! – you continue to inspire, intrigue, and offer insights like no other!

c2016 Jane Austen in Vermont

Celebrating Jane Austen’s Birthday ~ December 16, 1775

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You have doubtless been for some time in expectation of hearing from Hampshire, and perhaps wondered a little we were in our old age grown such bad reckoners but so it was, for Cassy certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago:  however last nightthe time came, and without a great deal of warning, everything was soon happily over.  We have now another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion.  She is to be Jenny, and seems to me as if she would be as like Henry, as Cassy is to Neddy.  Your sister thank God is pure well after it, and send her love to you and my brother, not forgetting James and Philly…

[Letter from Mr. Austen to his sister Philadelphia Walter, December 17, 1775, as quoted from Deirdre Le Faye, Jane Austen, A Family Record, Cambridge, 2004, p.27.]

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In celebration of Jane Austen’s birthday today, JASNA has published its annual Perusasions On-Line Vol.35, No. 1 (Winter 2014).  Click here for the Table of Contents to yet another inspiring collection of essays, some from the 2014 AGM in Montreal on Mansfield Park, and other “Miscellany” – all about Jane Austen…and perfect winter reading material…!

Here are the Contents:

The “Ordination” of Fanny Price: Female Monasticism and Vocation in Mansfield Park
Kathleen Anderson

A Distracted Seminarian: The Unsuccessful Reformation of Edmund Bertram
Br. Paul Byrd, O.P.

Why Tom Bertram Cannot Die: “The Plans and Decisions of Mortals”
Theresa M. Kenney

The Monstrous Mothers of Mansfield Park
Marilyn Francus

“Assisting the Improvement of Her Mind”: Chapone’s Letters as Guide to Mansfield Park
Susan Allen Ford

Fanny Price as Fordyce’s Ideal Woman? And Why?
A. Marie Sprayberry

“Favourable to Tenderness and Sentiment”: The Many Meanings of Mary Crawford’s Harp
Jeffrey Nigro

I Sing of the Sofa, of Cucumbers, and of Fanny Price: Mansfield Park and The Task; Or, Why Fanny Price is a Cucumber
Emma Spooner

The First Soldier [She] Ever Sighed for”: Charles Pasley’s Essay and the “Governing Winds” of Mansfield Park
Kathryn Davis

Mansfield Park vs. Sotherton Court: Social Status and the Slave Trade
Sarah Parry

Mansfield Park and the News
Robert Miles

“Delighted with the Portsmouth Scene”: Why Austen’s Intimates Admired Mansfield Park’s Gritty City
Christina Denny

“Bad Smells” and “Fragrance”: Reading Mansfield Park through the Eighteenth-Century Nose
Emily C. Friedman

Among the Proto-Janeites: Reading Mansfield Park for Consolation in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1815
Sarah Emsley and Sheila Johnson Kindred

Modernizing Mansfield Park at the Millennium: Reconsidering Patricia Rozema’s Film Adaptation
Nora Foster Stovel

MISCELLANY

A Treasured Possession: Jane Austen and the Chandos Letter
Karen Thomson

Jane Austen and the Subscription List to Camilla (1796)
Jocelyn Harris

Pride, Prejudice, and the Threat to Edward Knight’s Inheritance
Christine Grover

Spontaneous Composite Portraits of Jane Austen
Lance Bertelsen

First Impressions: The Control of Readers’ Cognitions in the First Chapter of Pride and Prejudice
Kevin Alan Wells

To Forgive is Divine—and Practical, Too
Robert Mai

The Importance of Servants in Jane Austen’s Novels
Natalie Walshe

Fanny Price and Lord Nelson: Rethinking the National Hero(ine)
Elaine Bander

Imagining Future Janeites: Young Adult Adaptations and Austen’s Legacy
Andrea Coldwell

Jane Austen Bibliography, 2013
Deborah Barnum

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c2014 Jane Austen in Vermont

My Jane Austen Book Stash from the 2014 JASNA AGM in Montreal!

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The JASNA AGM in Montreal was quite wonderful – five days immersed in Mansfield Park! – Fanny Price and Jane Austen were celebrated in style and received their just due in attention and adoration… The Montreal-Quebec Region outdid themselves in making us all comfortable [much more than “tolerable”!], entertained, and enlightened! I haven’t had a chance to post anything but start here with my annual compilation of book purchases at the Emporium [Jane Austen Books, Traveller’s Tales from Picton Ontario, and The Word Bookstore in Montreal] – successful as always with finding several goodies at the book stalls! – in no particular order…

1. Mudrick, Marvin. Jane Austen: Irony as Defense and Discovery. Berkeley: U of California P, 1968. [originally published in 1952 by Princeton UP].

One of the classic works of Austen literary criticism – I’ve always borrowed this from the library – now happy to have my own copy. Mudrick was one of the earliest to appraise the ironic aspects of Jane Austen – “her ironic detachment that enabled her to expose and dissect, in novels that are masterpieces of comic wit and brilliant satire, the follies and delusions of eighteenth-century English society.” In his preface, Mudrick writes “this book began as an essay to document my conviction that Emma is a novel admired, even consecrated, for qualities which it in fact subverts or ignores.” – and he goes on from there to apply his theory to all the novels, juvenilia and minor works. A must have for your Austen collection…

MrsBeetonNeedlework 2. Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Needlework, Consisting of Descriptions and Instructions, Illustrated by 600 Engravings. London: Bounty Books, 2007.

A facsimile of the original 1870 edition by Ward, Lock and Tyler. Just because I didn’t have this, and do quite adore anything my dear Mrs. Beeton [despite being in the wrong period].

  1. 3.  Fleishman, Avrom. A Reading of Mansfield Park: An Essay in Critical Synthesis. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1967.

One of the few critical works just on an Austen novel, and in this year of celebrating MP, I wanted to add this to my collection… I have not read it other than in excerpts in other essays.

4.  Favret, Mary A. Romantic Correspondence: Women, Politics and the Fiction of Letters. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993.

Has a chapter “Jane Austen and the Look of Letters” which examines the letters in Austen’s fiction as well as her real-life correspondence. A must-have…

5. Lamb, Charles. The Book of the Ranks and Dignities of British Society. London Jonathan Cape, 1924.

Marquis-Lamb

A reprint of Lamb’s 1805 edition published by William Henry for Tabart & Co. Includes 8 coloured plates and 16 in monochrome [the original edition has 24 in color]. I couldn’t resist, as you can see from this plate of “A Marquis.” The original seems to range upwards from $350.

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6.  Tristram, W. Outram. Coaching Days and Coaching Ways. Illus. Hugh Thomson and Herbert Railton. London: Macmillan, 1894.

Tristram-Coaching-Cummins

A 3rd printing of the 2nd edition [first edition published in 1888] – another must-have for anyone with an interest in travel and the carriages of Austen’s period – with the added plus of Thomson’s and Railton’s 214 illustrations. [You also must try to say the author’s name 10 times very fast …]

7.  Waldram, Richard. Overton in Regency Times. Illus. Rosemary Trollope. Overton, Hampshire: Parsonage Farmhouse, 2008.

OvertonRegency

From an exhibition during the Overton Regency Sheep Fair, 2008. With many illustrations of ephemera from the time. Overton was near Steventon and Basingstoke; Austen would have walked there and mentions it in her letters.

8.  The Knight Family Cookbook; Preface by Richard Knight. Introd. Gillian Dow. Chawton House Press, 2013. KnightFamilyCkBk-CHL

A Facsimile edition of the handwritten cookbook of the Knight Family, never published but dated circa 1793. Who can resist this family treasure so you too can make some of the recipes that were in use at Chawton House and Godmersham Park during Jane Austen’s time:

  • To Make Plumb Porridge (p. 70)
  • To Make Cracknails (p. 51)
  • To Make Hedge-Hog-Cream (p. 35)
  • To Make Tansy without Frying (p. 28)
  • To dress a Codds-Head (p. 111)
  • To Pickle Pigeons (p. 193)

There is even a handwritten index, but alas! I find nothing to help make Mr. Woodhouse’s famous gruel – just as well I think!

This book was published by subscription; i.e. if you had made a donation to Chawton House Library as a subscriber (just as Jane Austen subscribed to Frances Burney’s Cecilia), your name will be listed on the “subscriber” page. More information on this at the CHL website. Their next book is The Duties of a Lady’s Maid; with directions for conduct, and numerous receipts for the toilette (1825). Make a donation if you can and see your name in print!

9.  Simo, Melanie Louise. Loudon and the Landscape: From County Seat to Metropolis, 1783-1843. New Haven: Yale UP, 1988. LoudonLandscape

John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843) was the designer of England’s first public park and inventor of the means to construct curvilinear glasshouses, and the first landscape gardener to address the problems of the modern city. A must-have study to have on your shelves next to your Humphry Repton, Capability Brown, and others. Illustrated with maps, photographs, and drawings.

10.  Prochaska, Alice and Frank Prochaska, eds. Margaretta Acworth’s Georgian Cookery Book. London: Pavilion / Michael Joseph, 1987.AcworthCkBk

The cookery book of a London housewife of the Georgian period, of which 90 recipes are transcribed and “updated” with modern ingredients and modern cooking practices by the Prochaskas. Lovely black and white and full-page color illustrations. The introduction offers biographical background on Acworth.

11.  Lucas, E. V. Mr. Punch’s County Songs. Illus. Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen, 1928.

A delightful book of poems by Lucas on each county in England with each on the recto, verso is blank. Shepard’s [of Winnie-the-Pooh fame] drawings get you into the spirit of each place, and the poems tell of history and story.

Lucas-Hampshire

 Here is the page on Austen’s own Hampshire

But I bought this solely for its page on London:

Though a Wren built St. Paul’s, sacerdotal and grey,

That fame is a stronghold of pigeons today:

They bill there and coo there and bring up their brood,

And swarm on the pavement at lunchtime for food. 

…. Etc.

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12.  Archbold, Rick. Last Dinner on the Titanic. Recipes by Dana McCauley. Introd. Walter Lord. New York: Hyperion, 1997.Archbold-TitanicDinner

Wonderful illustrations of the Titanic interior and the various recipes from the last meal. Why you ask? Well, I have been obsessed with the Titanic since I was a little girl. Both my parents emigrated from England as children, but my father was 11 years old in 1912, when his entire family boarded a ship to take them to America only a few months after the Titanic had taken its maiden and tragic voyage. I always thought that if my father had been on the Titanic I would not exist – I also have marveled at how brave they all were to do this crossing… so hence I have collected various Titanic things for years. I do not have this book and especially like it because it is signed by the author…

 13.  The Infant’s Grammar, or a Picnic Party of the Parts of Speech. London: Scholar Press, 1977. Reprint of the original 1824 edition by Harris and Son.

This picture says it all:

InfantsGrammar

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14. Rocque’s Map of Georgian London, 1746. Colchester, Essex, UK: Old House, 2013.

Nothing to say except that this is fabulous: here is the description from their website: http://www.shirebooks.co.uk/old_house_books/

RocqueMap1746

First published in 1746, it extends from Marylebone to Bow and from Vauxhall to Knightsbridge and Hyde Park. Reproduced here in four detailed sheets, it gives a fascinating glimpse of Georgian London in the early industrial age and is a perfect research tool for the historian and genealogist. As well as over 5,500 street and place names, the survey also includes: Markets, churches, barracks, parks, bridges, hospitals, workhouses, schools, prisons, asylums, theatres, inns and much more.

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15.  Crow, Donna Fletcher. A Jane Austen Encounter (#3 The Elizabeth and Richard Mysteries). Boise: StoneHouse Ink, 2013.Crow-JAEncounter

I haven’t read the previous two mysteries (about Dorothy L. Sayers and Shakespeare), but this one is about the married professors Elizabeth and Richard on a vacation trekking through Jane Austen country – they encounter murder and mayhem and a missing letter about The Watsons. Can’t wait to read this one…

16.  Jones, Will. How to Read Houses: A Crash Course in Domestic Architecture. New York: Rizzoli, 2014.

I picked this up at the Musee des Beaux-Arts Montreal shop – a compact little guide to architecture with photographs and drawings and enlightening text to answer all your questions about the differences between Queen Ann and Georgian and Federal and all the various decorations…

Jones-Houses

17.  First Day of Issue – Royal Mint coin commemorating Charles and Diana’s wedding with stamps; and another First Day of Issue from the Falkland Islands with new stamps:

RoyalMint-FDOI

Stamps-FDOI-Falklands

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So, all in all, a goodly haul – this time I didn’t have to worry about luggage weight, only crossing through immigration from Canada into Vermont. They only seem to ask about alcohol, cigarettes and fruit! so Jane Austen passed through with nary a glitch… now to find room on the bookshelves and the added dilemma of time for reading…

What did you buy at the AGM??

c2014 Jane Austen in Vermont

Quoting Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park

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Have finished yet another re-read of Mansfield Park, in celebration of its bicentenary, and as always with a slow, deliberate re-read of anything Austen, one finds all sorts of new insights, new sentences, new cause for chuckles [yes! even Mansfield Park is chuckle-worthy!] – but as I have little time at present to engage in long semi-thoughtful posts on this novel, I shall just begin posting every few days some of my favorite lines, passages, all exhibiting the best of Jane Austen … and welcome your comments…

Today I start with a sentence in the first paragraph. Without the legendary opening line of Pride & Prejudice’s “a truth universally acknowledged” to start the tale, Mansfield Park begins rather like a family accounting – how the three Ward sisters fared with husband finding. And then we have this sentence, rather snuck in there I think to echo Pride and Prejudice:

But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them.” 

[MP, Vol. I, Ch. I]

And we find in the three Ward sisters the limited options available to women of limited fortune in Jane Austen’s day: Maria lands the baronet, Frances marries for Love and ends up the worst of the lot, and the eldest becomes a vicar’s wife and one of Austen’s most beastly characters … and thus begins Mansfield Park

Thoughts anyone?

c2014 Jane Austen in Vermont

Hot off the Press! ~ JASNA Persuasions On-Line Vol. 34, No. 2 Spring 2014

A special issue of Persuasions On-Line is now available for reading, free to all!

From JASNA:

JASNA header

As we usher in spring, we are pleased to announce the release of Persuasions On-Line, Vol. 34, No. 2, a collection of essays on “Teaching Austen and Her Contemporaries.” This issue, which is freely accessible on our website, furthers JASNA’s commitment to fostering the study and appreciation of Jane Austen’s works, life, and genius. Relatively little has been published on teaching Jane Austen, and the articles in this edition expand on that important area of Austen scholarship.

Many thanks to Persuasions Editor Susan Allen Ford and Co-Editors Bridget Draxler (Monmouth College) and Misty Krueger (University of Maine) for developing this unique issue.

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persuasionsOL34-2-2014
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Table of Contents:
Editors’ Note Bridget Draxler, Misty Krueger, and Susan Allen Ford

Discovering Jane Austen in Today’s College Classroom Devoney Looser

Teaching Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey as a “Crossover” Text Misty Krueger

Teaching Two Janes: Austen and West in Dialogue Daniel Schierenbeck

Taking Emma to the Street: Toward a Civic Engagement Model of Austen Pedagogy Danielle Spratt

Teaching to the Resistance: What to Do When Students Dislike Austen Olivera Jokic

“Hastening Together to Perfect Felicity”:  Teaching the British Gothic Tradition through Parody and Role-Playing Andrea Rehn

Teaching Jane Austen in Bits and Bytes: Digitizing Undergraduate Archival Research Bridget Draxler

Jane Austen Then and Now: Teaching Georgian Jane in the Jane-Mania Media Age Jodi L. Wyett

Dancing with Jane Austen: History and Practice in the Classroom Cheryl A. Wilson

Contributors’ Syllabi

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c2014 Jane Austen in Vermont; text and images from JASNA.org

Mr. Darcy’s Feelings; Or, More on the Inner Life of Jane Austen’s Hero. Volume III, Part 2.

Hoping you have not all been holding your breath about Mr Darcy’s feelings in Volume 3, but here I am finally to complete this series, and then can be ready to advance to Mansfield Park. We cannot in good conscience leave the ending unresolved… we last left Lizzie and Darcy at cards, neither giving the game proper attention because they are each rather otherwise occupied with their thoughts…

…They were confined for the evening at different tables, and she had nothing to hope, but that his eyes were so often turned towards her side of the room, as to make him play as unsuccessfully as herself….[p. 260]

We now move on to Vol. III, Ch. xiii, where Bingley visits Longbourn alone, Mr. Darcy to return in 10 days time…and all are in anticipation of Bingley proposing to Jane…

p. 263.

Not a word passed between the sisters concerning Bingley; but Elizabeth went to bed in the happy belief that all must speedily be concluded, unless Mr. Darcy returned within the stated time. Seriously, however, she felt tolerably persuaded that all this must have taken place with that gentleman’s concurrence.

CEBrock-BingleyandJane-1895Macmillan-Mollands

C. E. Brock – P&P (Macmillan 1895) [Mollands]
“On opening the door she perceived her sister and Bingley standing together over the hearth, as if engaged in earnest conversation…”

p. 268. Vol. III, Ch. xiv. Lady Catherine arrives at Longbourn. [something I never noticed before: when Lady C arrives, it is in the morning “too early in the morning for visitors…” – and Bingley is there, and he “instantly prevailed on Miss Bennett to avoid the confinement of such an intrusion, and walk away with him into the shrubbery” – one wonders if Bingley overheard the conversation between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine and was able to convey all that to Darcy, as well as Darcy learning it all from his Aunt directly…]

HMBrock-LadyCand Lizzie-mollands

 H. M. Brock – P&P [Mollands] “Tell me, once for all, are you engaged to him?”

p. 270. “A report of a most alarming nature” [notes refer the reader to John Sutherland’s essay on “Who Betrayed Elizabeth Bennet?” (in book of same title, Oxford, 1999.) – Sutherland points the finger at Charlotte Lucas.

p. 275.  Elizabeth ponders Lady Catherine’s visit with a “discomposure of spirits”

…but from what the report of their engagement could originate, Elizabeth was at a loss to imagine; till she recollected that his being the intimate friend of Bingley, and her being the sister of Jane, was enough, at a time when the expectation of one wedding made everybody eager for another, to supply the idea. She had not herself forgotten to feel that the marriage of her sister must bring them more frequently together. And her neighbours at Lucas Lodge, therefore (for through their communication with the Collinses the report, she concluded, had reached Lady Catherine), had only set that down as almost certain and immediate, which she had looked forward to as possible, at some future time.

p. 276. Elizabeth’s internal meanderings flip-flop yet again – “he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me…..

“If, therefore, an excuse for not keeping his promise should come to his friend within a few days,” she added, “I shall know how to understand it. I shall then give over every expectation, every wish of his constancy. If he is satisfied with only regretting me, when he might have obtained my affections and hand, I shall soon cease to regret him at all.”

p. 276. This piece gets missed – Elizabeth thinks the letter from Mr. Collins is actually a letter from Mr. Darcy to her father:

The colour now rushed into Elizabeth’s cheeks in the instantaneous conviction of its being a letter from the nephew, instead of the aunt; and she was undetermined whether most to be pleased that he explained himself at all, or offended that his letter was not rather addressed to herself, when her father continued…

p. 277.  Elizabeth’s embarrassment at her father’s jocular teasing about Mr. Darcy:

“Mr. Darcy, you see, is the man! … Mr. Darcy, who never looks at any woman but to see a blemish, and who probably never looked at you in his life! It is admirable!”

   Elizabeth tried to join in her father’s pleasantry, but could only force one most reluctant smile. Never had his wit been directed in a manner so little agreeable to her.

p. 278. where Elizabeth questions her own supposition that Mr. Darcy does care for her still:

…To this question his daughter replied only with a laugh; and as it had been asked without the least suspicion, she was not distressed by his repeating it. Elizabeth had never been more at a loss to make her feelings appear what they were not. It was necessary to laugh, when she would rather have cried. Her father had most cruelly mortified her by what he said of Mr. Darcy’s indifference; and she could do nothing but wonder at such a want of penetration, or fear that, perhaps, instead of his seeing too little, she might have fancied too much.

p. 279. The Walk… one of “several miles”… two people completely out of it yet again…

Winston1949-Gorsline-titlpepage3

Pride & Prejudice (Winston 1949) -illus. David Gorsline [Austenprose]

Elizabeth was secretly forming a desperate resolution; and, perhaps, he might be doing the same….

while her courage was high, she immediately said —   “Mr. Darcy, I am a very selfish creature; and for the sake of giving relief to my own feelings, care not how much I may be wounding yours. I can no longer help thanking you for your unexampled kindness to my poor sister. Ever since I have known it, I have been most anxious to acknowledge to you how gratefully I feel it. Were it known to the rest of my family, I should not have merely my own gratitude to express.”

“I am sorry, exceedingly sorry,” replied Darcy, in a tone of surprise and emotion, “that you have ever been informed of what may, in a mistaken light, have given you uneasiness. I did not think Mrs. Gardiner was so little to be trusted.”

p. 280-84.  Proposal #2. [every word should be inderlined here, so not adding any emphasis – the words stand on their own!]

CEBrock-sentiments-mollands

C. E. Brock, P&P [Mollands]


“If you will thank me,” he replied, “let it be for yourself alone. That the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other inducements which led me on, I shall not attempt to deny. But your family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe I thought only of you.”   Elizabeth was too much embarrassed to say a word. After a short pause, her companion added, “You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.”Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances. The happiness which this reply produced was such as he had probably never felt before, and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his eyes, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight diffused over his face became him; but, though she could not look, she could listen, and he told her of feelings which, in proving of what importance she was to him, made his affection every moment more valuable.

They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects. She soon learnt that they were indebted for their present good understanding to the efforts of his aunt, who did call on him in her return through London, and there relate her journey to Longbourn, its motive, and the substance of her conversation with Elizabeth; dwelling emphatically on every expression of the latter which, in her ladyship’s apprehension, peculiarly denoted her perverseness and assurance, in the belief that such a relation must assist her endeavours to obtain that promise from her nephew which she had refused to give. But, unluckily for her ladyship, its effect had been exactly contrariwise.

“It taught me to hope,” said he, “as I had scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before. I knew enough of your disposition to be certain, that had you been absolutely, irrevocably decided against me, you would have acknowledged it to Lady Catherine, frankly and openly.”

Elizabeth coloured and laughed as she replied, “Yes, you know enough of my frankness to believe me capable of that. After abusing you so abominably to your face, I could have no scruple in abusing you to all your relations.”

… Your reproof, so well applied, I shall never forget: ‘Had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.’ Those were your words. You know not, you can scarcely conceive, how they have tortured me; though it was some time, I confess, before I was reasonable enough to allow their justice.”

After walking several miles in a leisurely manner, and too busy to know anything about it… (p. 283)

Elizabeth-Bennet-and-Mr-Darcy-played-by-Elizabeth-Garvie-and-David-Rintoul-in-Pride-and-Prejudice-1980

P&P 1980 – Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul [Rintoul finally smiles!**] [Regency Relfections]

 DarcyElizWalk-P&P1995

P&P 1995 – Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth

E&D-P&P2005

P&P 2005 – Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen

***************

Etc, etc – I direct you to the book! I shall take a page from Jane Austen herself and tell you no more! They later meander into that precious territory of “when did you first love me?” [with a thank you nod to Joan Klingel Ray on this!] – that all in love succumb to once the object at hand is achieved…:

Howells-Darcy-Keller

W. D. Howells, Heroines of Fiction (1901) – Illus A. I. Keller

p. 291: Elizabeth’s spirits soon rising to playfulness again, she wanted Mr. Darcy to account for his having ever fallen in love with her. “How could you begin?” said she. “I can comprehend your going on charmingly, when you had once made a beginning; but what could set you off in the first place?”

Darcy: “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

****************

Returning to the Proposal, one learns that Elizabeth has all these months kept the letter! [“The letter shall certainly be burnt…” p. 282.]

And other than “But for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!” – what are your favorites lines of Proposal #2?

******************

p. 285. The Awkward evening that follows:

The acknowledged lovers talked and laughed; the unacknowledged were silent. Darcy was not of a disposition in which happiness overflows in mirth; and Elizabeth, agitated and confused, rather knew that she was happy, than felt herself to be so…

And Jane’s response: p. 285 – how like Elizabeth’s response to Charlotte on marrying Mr. Collins!

…she was absolutely incredulous here.    “You are joking, Lizzy. This cannot be! — engaged to Mr. Darcy! — No, no, you shall not deceive me. I know it to be impossible.”

And Elizabeth’s answer to Jane’s “Will you tell me how long you have loved him?” – the one sentence that readers and scholars alike have discussed ad nauseum: [what do you think? – do you lean to seeing Elizabeth as more practical and a tad mercenary, or is she joking?? – this line recall is followed by “another intreaty that she would be serious…”]

 p. 286.  “It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.”

LymePark-P&P1995-NationalTrust

Lyme Park a.k.a. Pemberley in P&P 1995 [National Trust ]

Elizabeth told her the motives of her secrecy. She had been unwilling to mention Bingley; and the unsettled state of her own feelings had made her equally avoid the name of his friend. But now she would no longer conceal from her his share in Lydia’s marriage. All was acknowledged, and half the night spent in conversation.

And I love this, easily missed: Bingley conspires to get Elizabeth and Darcy on their own:

 [p. 287] As soon as they entered, Bingley looked at her so expressively, and shook hands with such warmth, as left no doubt of his good information; and he soon afterwards said aloud, “Mrs. Bennet, have you no more lanes hereabouts in which Lizzy may lose her way again to-day?”

   “I advise Mr. Darcy, and Lizzy, and Kitty,” said Mrs. Bennet, “to walk to Oakham Mount* this morning. It is a nice long walk, and Mr. Darcy has never seen the view.”

   “It may do very well for the others,” replied Mr. Bingley; “but I am sure it will be too much for Kitty. Won’t it, Kitty?”

   Kitty owned that she had rather stay at home. Darcy professed a great curiosity to see the view from the Mount, and Elizabeth silently consented…

Luton-Hoo-Hotel-Hertfordshire

A Hertfordshire view: The Luton Hoo Hotel [Travel Guides 101]

*****************

A few of my favorite lines:

-After Mr. Darcy returns from his visit to Mr. Bennet’s library:

p. 288. she sat in misery till Mr. Darcy appeared again, when, looking at him, she was a little relieved by his smile. [hurray, Mr. Darcy smiles! – I refer you again to John Wiltshire’s essay**]

CEBrock-MrB-and Lizzie-mollands

C. E. Brock, P&P [Mollands]

 Elizabeth to her father:  “I do, I do like him,” she replied, with tears in her eyes; “I love him. Indeed he has no improper pride. He is perfectly amiable. You do not know what he really is; then pray do not pain me by speaking of him in such terms.”

-p. 289.  Elizabeth can rest at last:

…after half an hour’s quiet reflection in her own room, she was able to join the others with tolerable composure. Everything was too recent for gaiety, but the evening passed tranquilly away; there was no longer anything material to be dreaded, and the comfort of ease and familiarity would come in time.

– and this, when Mrs. Bennet is told of the engagement – she is silent, a first perhaps? [p. 290]:

…on first hearing it, Mrs. Bennet sat quite still, and unable to utter a syllable. [p. 290] and then finally “how rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have! Jane’s is nothing to it — nothing at all. I am so pleased — so happy. Such a charming man! — so handsome! so tall!”

– Signs of Mr. Knightley [p. 292]:

“You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner.”   
“A man who had felt less, might.”

-Elizabeth’s letter to Aunt Gardiner [I love this!] [p. 293] –

“But now suppose as much as you chuse; give a loose to your fancy, indulge your imagination in every possible flight which the subject will afford…”

-Mrs. Bennet’s relief:

p. 295. Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters…

Wedding-P&P1995

The Wedding! – P&P 1995

-But I love that Austen ends her Pride and Prejudice with a final nod to the Gardiners: [p. 297-98]

Gardiners-BBC

With the Gardiners they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.

The Gardiners, P&P 1995 [BBC.co.uk]

The End…

wedding-sims

The Wedding – Simblesseoblige  http://simblesseoblige.com/viewtopic.php?t=3145

************

Notes:

* Oakham Mount: is it Real or Imaginary?

Most reader’s guides to Pride and Prejudice dismiss Oakham Mount as a mere imaginary location, ignoring the very real Hertfordshire geographical features that almost certainly inspired Jane Austen to create the prominence. Isolated heights, like the one that offered the hero and heroine of Pride and Prejudice a destination with a lovely pastoral view and a chance to speak privately, fringe the Chiltern Hills. These Marilyns command panoramic views of the Hertfordshire countryside divided by hedges, dabbed with groves, sprinkled with manors and villages, and bisected by lanes and streams. When Lizzy accompanied Darcy to Oakham Mount, the couple speak privately, at last, and enjoy the view. [from Georgian Index  ]

** See John Wiltshire, “Mr. Darcy’s Smile.” The Cinematic Jane Austen: Essays on the Filmic Sensibility of the Novels. Ed. David Monaghan, Ariane Hudelet, and John Wiltshire. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009. 94-110.

*************

Now on to Fanny and Edmund, not nearly as romantic, but a treasure just the same…

c2014, Jane Austen in Vermont

Mr. Darcy’s Feelings; Or, More on the Inner Life of Jane Austen’s Hero…Part III

Well, the Holidays certainly got in the way of Mr. Darcy’s feelings, and though we are now past celebrating the 200th of Pride and Prejudice and on to Mansfield Park, I must finally do the remaining posts on said feelings as found in volume 3 – a volume chock-full of strong feelings on both sides! – Elizabeth regresses into a Teenage-mindset on several occasions – and as for Darcy, we see his awkward behavior and efforts only through Elizabeth’s eyes – we can only hope [along with the perceptive Gardiners and the Narrator]  that since he seems to want to be around Elizabeth as much as possible that he must not be holding any grudges about his rejected first proposal – or are we, like Elizabeth and the Gardiners, reading too much into it all… ?

We left off with Elizabeth and her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner off to Pemberley and we are rapidly approaching the infamous “wet-shirt” scene of the 1995 BBC adaptation – no such shirt found on the page I am sorry to say, but you will see that Jane Austen says much to give vent to the very strong feelings of Elizabeth and Darcy as they meet on his “beautiful grounds”….

Chatsworth1880-wp

Chatsworth [a.k.a. Pemberley]
from Morris’s Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen (1880) (Wikipedia)

…so read along with me  [I underline here the stronger passages; any italics are Austen’s own] – –  this is terribly long- but so much is expressed, I couldn’t leave much out! – I suggest you just re-read the whole chapter!

Chapter 1 (p. 185 ff).  Elizabeth’s feelings as she silently surveys the house and grounds:

Elizabeth, as they drove along, watched for the first appearance of Pemberley Woods with some perturbation; and when at length they turned in at the lodge, her spirits were in a high flutter.

… 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!

… all her apprehensions of meeting its owner returned. She dreaded lest the chambermaid had been mistaken. On applying to see the place, they were admitted into the hall; and Elizabeth, as they waited for the housekeeper, had leisure to wonder at her being where she was.

…and she looked on the whole scene — the river, the trees scattered on its banks, and the winding of the valley, as far as she could trace it — with delight. As they passed into other rooms these objects were taking different positions; but from every window there were beauties to be seen. The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of their proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendor, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings.

And of this place,” thought she, “I might have been mistress! With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own, and welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt. But no” — recollecting herself — “that could never be: my uncle and aunt would have been lost to me; I should not have been allowed to invite them.” 

   This was a lucky recollection — it saved her from something like regret.

p. 187-88. and she listens to the Mrs. Reynolds in rapt attention:

CEBrock-reynolds-bw-mollands

CE Brock – P&P (Nelson & Sons, n.d.) (Mollands)

Mrs. Reynolds’s respect for Elizabeth seemed to increase on this intimation of her knowing her master. 

   “Does that young lady know Mr. Darcy?” 

   Elizabeth coloured, and said — “A little.” 

“I say no more than the truth, and what everybody will say that knows him,” replied the other [Mrs. Reynolds]. Elizabeth thought this was going pretty far; and she listened with increasing astonishment as the housekeeper added, “I have never had a cross word from him in my life, and I have known him ever since he was four years old.” 

   This was praise, of all others most extraordinary, most opposite to her ideas. That he was not a good-tempered man had been her firmest opinion. Her keenest attention was awakened; she longed to hear more… Elizabeth almost stared at her. “Can this be Mr. Darcy!” thought she. … Elizabeth listened, wondered, doubted, and was impatient for more

p. 189.  One of my favorite scenes:

Dent 1898-HMBrock-eatdpicture-adelaide

“In earnest contemplation” – H. M. Brock. P&P. Dent, 1898.  Adelaide ebook

Elizabeth walked on in quest of the only face whose features would be known to her. At last it arrested her — and she beheld a striking resemblance of Mr. Darcy, with such a smile over the face as she remembered to have sometimes seen when he looked at her. She stood several minutes before the picture in earnest contemplation, and returned to it again before they quitted the gallery… 

There was certainly at this moment, in Elizabeth’s mind, a more gentle sensation towards the original than she had ever felt in the height of their acquaintance. The commendation bestowed on him by Mrs. Reynolds was of no trifling nature. What praise is more valuable than the praise of an intelligent servant? As a brother, a landlord, a master, she considered how many people’s happiness were in his guardianship! — how much of pleasure or pain it was in his power to bestow! — how much of good or evil must be done by him! Every idea that had been brought forward by the housekeeper was favourable to his character, and as she stood before the canvas, on which he was represented, and fixed his eyes upon herself, she thought of his regard with a deeper sentiment of gratitude than it had ever raised before; she remembered its warmth, and softened its impropriety of expression.

p. 190.  I love the way Austen slyly refers to Darcy as “the owner of it himself” – surprising the reader as much as Elizabeth…

darcy-wetshirt-telegraph

 As they walked across the lawn towards the river, Elizabeth turned back to look again; her uncle and aunt stopped also: and while the former was conjecturing as to the date of the building, the owner of it himself suddenly came forward from the road which led behind it to the stables. 

   They were within twenty yards of each other, and so abrupt was his appearance that it was impossible to avoid his sight. Their eyes instantly met, and the cheeks of each were overspread with the deepest blush. He absolutely started, and for a moment seemed immoveable from surprise; but shortly recovering himself, advanced towards the party, and spoke to Elizabeth, if not in terms of perfect composure, at least of perfect civility. 

She had instinctively turned away; but, stopping on his approach, received his compliments with an embarrassment impossible to be overcome. Had his first appearance, or his resemblance to the picture they had just been examining, been insufficient to assure the other two that they now saw Mr. Darcy, the gardener’s expression of surprise, on beholding his master, must immediately have told it. They stood a little aloof while he was talking to their niece, who, astonished and confused, scarcely dared lift her eyes to his face, and knew not what answer she returned to his civil enquiries after her family. Amazed at the alteration in his manner since they last parted, every sentence that he uttered was increasing her embarrassment; and every idea of the impropriety of her being found there recurring to her mind, the few minutes in which they continued together were some of the most uncomfortable of her life. Nor did he seem much more at ease: when he spoke, his accent had none of its usual sedateness; and he repeated his enquiries as to the time of her having left Longbourn, and of her stay in Derbyshire, so often, and in so hurried a way, as plainly spoke the distraction of his thoughts.  

   At length every idea seemed to fail him; and, after standing a few moments without saying a word, he suddenly recollected himself, and took leave.

p. 189-90.  Two people completely out of it…

… but Elizabeth heard not a word, and, wholly engrossed by her own feelings, followed them in silence. She was overpowered by shame and vexation. Her coming there was the most unfortunate, the most ill-judged thing in the world! How strange must it appear to him! In what a disgraceful light might it not strike so vain a man! It might seem as if she had purposely thrown herself in his way again! Oh! why did she come? or, why did he thus come a day before he was expected? Had they been only ten minutes sooner, they should have been beyond the reach of his discrimination; for it was plain that he was that moment arrived — that moment alighted from his horse or his carriage. She blushed again and again over the perverseness of the meeting. And his behaviour, so strikingly altered — what could it mean? That he should even speak to her was amazing! — but to speak with such civility, to inquire after her family! Never in her life had she seen his manners so little dignified, never had he spoken with such gentleness as on this unexpected meeting. What a contrast did it offer to his last address in Rosings Park, when he put his letter into her hand! She knew not what to think, nor how to account for it. 

…  but it was some time before Elizabeth was sensible of any of it; and, though she answered mechanically to the repeated appeals of her uncle and aunt, and seemed to direct her eyes to such objects as they pointed out, she distinguished no part of the scene. Her thoughts were all fixed on that one spot of Pemberley House, whichever it might be, where Mr. Darcy then was. She longed to know what at that moment was passing in his mind — in what manner he thought of her, and whether, in defiance of everything, she was still dear to him. Perhaps he had been civil only because he felt himself at ease; yet there had been that in his voice which was not like ease. Whether he had felt more of pain or of pleasure in seeing her she could not tell, but he certainly had not seen her with composure

   At length, however, the remarks of her companions on her absence of mind roused her, and she felt the necessity of appearing more like herself.

p. 192-96. The return of the surprisingly civil Mr. Darcy:

Whilst wandering on in this slow manner, they were again surprised, and Elizabeth’s astonishment was quite equal to what it had been at first, by the sight of Mr. Darcy approaching them, and at no great distance … he was immediately before them… and, to imitate his politeness, she began as they met to admire the beauty of the place; but she had not got beyond the words “delightful,” and “charming,” when some unlucky recollections obtruded, and she fancied that praise of Pemberley from her, might be mischievously construed. Her colour changed, and she said no more.

P&P-Darcypemberely-Sims

Darcy asking to be introduced to the Gardiners – P&P Sims on photobucket

Mrs. Gardiner was standing a little behind; and on her pausing, he asked her if she would do him the honour of introducing him to her friends. This was a stroke of civility for which she was quite unprepared; and she could hardly suppress a smile at his being now seeking the acquaintance of some of those very people against whom his pride had revolted in his offer to herself. “What will be his surprise,” thought she, “when he knows who they are? He takes them now for people of fashion.”

   The introduction, however, was immediately made; and as she named their relationship to herself, she stole a sly look at him, to see how he bore it, and was not without the expectation of his decamping as fast as he could from such disgraceful companions. That he was surprised by the connexion was evident; he sustained it, however, with fortitude, and, so far from going away, turned back with them, and entered into conversation with Mr. Gardiner. Elizabeth could not but be pleased, could not but triumph. It was consoling that he should know she had some relations for whom there was no need to blush. She listened most attentively to all that passed between them, and gloried in every expression, every sentence of her uncle, which marked his intelligence, his taste, or his good manners. …

… it gratified her exceedingly; the compliment must be all for herself. Her astonishment, however, was extreme, and continually was she repeating, “Why is he so altered? From what can it proceed? It cannot be for me — it cannot be for my sake that his manners are thus softened. My reproofs at Hunsford could not work such a change as this. It is impossible that he should still love me.”

…Elizabeth answered only by a slight bow. Her thoughts were instantly driven back to the time when Mr. Bingley’s name had been last mentioned between them; and, if she might judge from his complexion, his mind was not very differently engaged.

…  it was gratifying to know that his resentment had not made him think really ill of her… she was flattered and pleased… At such a time much might have been said, and silence was very awkward. She wanted to talk, but there seemed an embargo on every subject. At last she recollected that she had been travelling, and they talked of Matlock and Dovedale with great perseverance. Yet time and her aunt moved slowly [ha! – I love these two lines!]

…  The occurrences of the day were too full of interest to leave Elizabeth much attention for any of these new friends; and she could do nothing but think, and think with wonder, of Mr. Darcy’s civility, and above all, of his wishing her to be acquainted with his sister.

Chapter 2.

p. 197. Here Austen lets us see Darcy and Elizabeth from someone else’s point of view – The Gardiners are taking notice of each of them and find that…

 many of the circumstances of the preceding day, opened to them a new idea on the business. Nothing had ever suggested it before, but they now felt that there was no other way of accounting for such attentions from such a quarter than by supposing a partiality for their niece. While these newly born notions were passing in their heads, the perturbation of Elizabeth’s feelings was every moment increasing. She was quite amazed at her own discomposure; … The suspicions which had just arisen of Mr. Darcy and their niece directed their observation towards each with an earnest though guarded inquiry; and they soon drew from those inquiries the full conviction that one of them at least knew what it was to love. Of the lady’s sensations they remained a little in doubt; but that the gentleman was overflowing with admiration was evident enough.

And later [p. 200] … it was evident that he was very much in love with her.

p. 199. Elizabeth is all astonishment!

… she [Elizabeth] saw an expression of general complaisance, and in all that he said she heard an accent so far removed from hauteur or disdain of his companions, as convinced her that the improvement of manners which she had yesterday witnessed, however temporary its existence might prove, had at least outlived one day. … the difference, the change was so great, and struck so forcibly on her mind, that she could hardly restrain her astonishment from being visible.

p. 201. Wherein Elizabeth tries to figure out her feelings with the Help of the Narrator:

As for Elizabeth, her thoughts were at Pemberley this evening more than the last; and the evening, though as it passed it seemed long, was not long enough to determine her feelings towards one in that mansion; and she lay awake two whole hours endeavouring to make them out. She certainly did not hate him. No; hatred had vanished long ago, and she had almost as long been ashamed of ever feeling a dislike against him, that could be so called. The respect created by the conviction of his valuable qualities, though at first unwillingly admitted, had for some time ceased to be repugnant to her feelings; and it was now heightened into somewhat of a friendlier nature by the testimony so highly in his favour, and bringing forward his disposition in so amiable a light, which yesterday had produced. But above all, above respect and esteem, there was a motive within her of goodwill which could not be overlooked. It was gratitude — gratitude, not merely for having once loved her, but for loving her still well enough to forgive all the petulance and acrimony of her manner in rejecting him, and all the unjust accusations accompanying her rejection. He who, she had been persuaded, would avoid her as his greatest enemy, seemed, on this accidental meeting, most eager to preserve the acquaintance, and without any indelicate display of regard, or any peculiarity of manner, where their two selves only were concerned, was soliciting the good opinion of her friends, and bent on making her known to his sister. Such a change in a man of so much pride, excited not only astonishment but gratitudefor to love, ardent love, it must be attributed; and as such, its impression on her was of a sort to be encouraged, as by no means unpleasing, though it could not be exactly defined. She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him, she felt a real interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself, and how far it would be for the happiness of both that she should employ the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed, of bringing on the renewal of his addresses.

Chapter 3: p. 203. Elizabeth in Teenage-mode:

Darcy-Georgiana-P&P1995

 Darcy and Georgiana – P&P 1995 (Jane Austen wikia)

She expected every moment that some of the gentlemen would enter the room. She wished, she feared that the master of the house might be amongst them; and whether she wished or feared it most, she could scarcely determine…

… Elizabeth had a fair opportunity of deciding whether she most feared or wished for the appearance of Mr. Darcy, by the feelings which prevailed on his entering the room; and then, though but a moment before she had believed her wishes to predominate, she began to regret that he came.

p. 204.  Miss Bingley on the attack…brings up the militia in Meryton…and Elizabeth tries to ‘quiet everyone’s emotions’:

…an involuntary glance shewed her Darcy, with an heightened complexion, earnestly looking at her, and his sister overcome with confusion, and unable to lift up her eyes.

Darcy-theLook

 The Look – P&P 1995
[in my opinion, far better than the wet-shirt scene, and wherein Andrew Davies gets it completely right…]

p. 205. And Miss Bingley keeps at him, questioning Elizabeth’s beauty, her eyes, her fashion, etc… but Darcy does not take the bait:

  “Yes,” replied Darcy, who could contain himself no longer, “but that was only when I first knew her; for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”

p. 206. Communication failures between Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner:

They talked of his sister, his friends, his house, his fruit (!)— of everything but himself; yet Elizabeth was longing to know what Mrs. Gardiner thought of him, and Mrs. Gardiner would have been highly gratified by her niece’s beginning the subject.

Chapter 4. p. 209-10.  The Lydia mess:

… her pale face and impetuous manner made him start, and before he could recover himself enough to speak, she, in whose mind every idea was superseded by Lydia’s situation, hastily exclaimed, “I beg your pardon, but I must leave you. I must find Mr. Gardiner this moment…

   “Good God! what is the matter?” cried he, with more feeling than politeness…

…it was impossible for Darcy to leave her, or to refrain from saying, in a tone of gentleness and commiseration, “Let me call your maid. Is there nothing you could take to give you present relief? A glass of wine; — shall I get you one? You are very ill.”

… She burst into tears as she alluded to it, and for a few minutes could not speak another word. Darcy, in wretched suspense, could only say something indistinctly of his concern, and observe her in compassionate silence.

Darcy was fixed in astonishment….

…Darcy made no answer. He seemed scarcely to hear her, and was walking up and down the room in earnest meditation, his brow contracted, his air gloomy. Elizabeth soon observed, and instantly understood it. Her power was sinking; everything must sink under such a proof of family weakness, such an assurance of the deepest disgrace. She could neither wonder nor condemn, but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing consolatory to her bosom, afforded no palliation of her distress. It was, on the contrary, exactly calculated to make her understand her own wishes; and never had she so honestly felt that she could have loved him, as now, when all love must be vain…

p. 211. And here is Elizabeth expressing full knowledge of how she feels about Darcy, with another little tweak from the Narrator:

 …[Darcy] with only one serious, parting look, went away…. As he quitted the room, Elizabeth felt how improbable it was that they should ever see each other again on such terms of cordiality as had marked their several meetings in Derbyshire; and as she threw a retrospective glance over the whole of their acquaintance, so full of contradictions and varieties, sighed at the perverseness of those feelings which would now have promoted its continuance, and would formerly have rejoiced in its termination.

 [Austen on love-at-first-sight] If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection, Elizabeth’s change of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty. But if otherwise — if the regard springing from such sources is unreasonable or unnatural, in comparison of what is so often described as arising on a first interview with its object, and even before two words have been exchanged — nothing can be said in her defence, except that she had given somewhat of a trial to the latter method in her partiality for Wickham, and that its ill success might, perhaps, authorise her to seek the other less interesting mode of attachment. Be that as it may, she saw him go with regret

p. 212. The ever-astute Mrs. Gardiner questions it all:

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   Mrs. Gardiner – P&P 1995 (Joanna David)
(Jane Austen Today)

[Elizabeth] “Yes; and I told him we should not be able to keep our engagement. That is all settled.”

  “That is all settled” repeated the other, as she ran into her room to prepare. “And are they upon such terms as for her to disclose the real truth? Oh, that I knew how it was!” 

And later [p. 226]:  Mrs. Gardiner … went away in all the perplexity about Elizabeth and her Derbyshire friend that had attended her from that part of the world. His name had never been voluntarily mentioned before then by her niece; and the kind of half-expectation which Mrs. Gardiner had formed, of their being followed by a letter from him, had ended in nothing. Elizabeth had received none since her return, that could come from Pemberley….

p. 227. More of Elizabeth’s inner thoughts:

…though Elizabeth, who was by this time tolerably well acquainted with her own feelings, was perfectly aware that, had she known nothing of Darcy, she could have borne the dread of Lydia’s infamy somewhat better. It would have spared her, she thought, one sleepless night out of two. [!]

p. 236.  She had no fear of its spreading farther through his means. There were few people on whose secrecy she would have more confidently depended; but, at the same time, there was no one whose knowledge of a sister’s frailty would have mortified her so much — not, however, from any fear of disadvantage from it individually to herself, for, at any rate, there seemed a gulf impassable between them.

   From such a connexion she could not wonder that he should shrink. The wish of procuring her regard, which she had assured herself of his feeling in Derbyshire, could not in rational expectation survive such a blow as this. She was humbled, she was grieved; she repented, though she hardly knew of what. She became jealous of his esteem, when she could no longer hope to be benefited by it. She wanted to hear of him, when there seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence. She was convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they should meet.

   What a triumph for him, as she often thought, could he know that the proposals which she had proudly spurned only four months ago, would now have been gladly and gratefully received! He was as generous, she doubted not, as the most generous of his sex; but while he was mortal, there must be a triumph.

   She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.

   But no such happy marriage could now teach the admiring multitude what connubial felicity really was…. [ha!]

p. 243.  Elizabeth’s reaction to discovering that Mr. Darcy was at Lydia and Wickham’s wedding:

Lydiawedding-P&P1995-OFCblog

Lydia and Wickham – P&P 1995 (Old-Fashioned Charm blog)

But to live in ignorance on such a point was impossible…. Conjectures as to the meaning of it, rapid and wild, hurried into her brain; but she was satisfied with none. Those that best pleased her, as placing his conduct in the noblest light, seemed most improbable. She could not bear such suspense

p. 244. Mrs. Gardiner writes:

“If he had another motive, I am sure it would never disgrace him. [p. 247] Will you be very angry with me, my Dear Lizzy, if I take this opportunity of saying (what I was never bold enough to say before) how much I like him?…. His understanding and opinions all please me; he wants nothing but a little more liveliness, and that, if he marry prudently, his wife may teach him. I thought him very sly; — he hardly ever mentioned your name. But slyness seems the fashion.   “Pray forgive me if I have been very presuming; or at least do not punish me so far as to exclude me from P. …

p. 248. The contents of this letter threw Elizabeth into a flutter of spirits, in which it was difficult to determine whether pleasure or pain bore the greatest share…. Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her. But it was a hope shortly checked by other considerations, and she soon felt that even her vanity was insufficient…

BrockCE-P&P-V3Ch10

 CE Crock – P&P – Vol. 3, Ch.10 (Mollands)

… They owed the restoration of Lydia, her character, everything to him. Oh! how heartily did she grieve over every ungracious sensation she had ever encouraged, every saucy speech she had ever directed towards him. For herself, she was humbled; but she was proud of him. Proud that in a cause of compassion and honour he had been able to get the better of himself.

p. 254. On Darcy arriving at Longbourn:

… whom she regarded herself with an interest, if not quite so tender, at least as reasonable and just as what Jane felt for Bingley. Her astonishment at his coming — at his coming to Netherfield, to Longbourn, and voluntarily seeking her again, was almost equal to what she had known on first witnessing his altered behaviour in Derbyshire.

The colour, which had been driven from her face, returned for half a minute with an additional glow, and a smile of delight added lustre to her eyes, as she thought for that space of time that his affection and wishes must still be unshaken. But she would not be secure.

p. 255.   Elizabeth back in Teenage-mode…

Let me first see how he behaves,” said she; “it will then be early enough for expectation.”

…  Elizabeth said as little to either as civility would allow, and sat down again to her work, with an eagerness which it did not often command. She had ventured only one glance at Darcy. He looked serious as usual, and, she thought, more as he had been used to look in Hertfordshire, than as she had seen him at Pemberley. But, perhaps, he could not in her mother’s presence be what he was before her uncle and aunt. It was a painful, but not an improbable, conjecture.

…unable to resist the impulse of curiosity, she raised her eyes to his face, she as often found him looking at Jane as at herself, and frequently on no object but the ground. More thoughtfulness, and less anxiety to please than when they last met, were plainly expressed. She was disappointed, and angry with herself for being so.

“Could I expect it to be otherwise!” said she. “Yet why did he come?”

She was in no humour for conversation with any one but himself; and to him she had hardly courage to speak.

And for the next several pages, Elizabeth is described thus – again, perfect teenage behavior!

…dared not lift up her eyes; such misery of shame; misery increased;

“The first wish of my heart,” said she to herself, “is never more to be in company with either of them. Their society can afford no pleasure that will atone for such wretchedness as this! Let me never see either one or the other again!”

p. 258-60. and more of the same…!

As soon as they were gone Elizabeth walked out to recover her spirits; or, in other words, to dwell without interruption on those subjects that must deaden them more. Mr. Darcy’s behaviour astonished and vexed her.

“Why, if he came only to be silent, grave, and indifferent,” said she, “did he come at all?”

She could settle it in no way that gave her pleasure.

“He could be still amiable, still pleasing to my uncle and aunt, when he was in town; and why not to me? If he fears me, why come hither? If he no longer cares for me, why silent? teasing, teasing, man! I will think no more about him.”

 …she was in no cheerful humour. Mr. Darcy was almost as far from her as the table could divide them….

She was in hopes that the evening would afford some opportunity of bringing them together…. Anxious and uneasy,  “If he does not come to me then,” said she, “I shall give him up for ever.”

…Darcy had walked away to another part of the room. She followed him with her eyes, envied every one to whom he spoke, had scarcely patience enough to help anybody to coffee, and then was enraged against herself for being so silly!

“A man who has once been refused! How could I ever be foolish enough to expect a renewal of his love? Is there one among the sex who would not protest against such a weakness as a second proposal to the same woman? There is no indignity so abhorrent to their feelings!”

…They were confined for the evening at different tables, and she had nothing to hope, but that his eyes were so often turned towards her side of the room, as to make him play as unsuccessfully as herself….

playing cards-thefamilyparty-princeton

Isaac Cruikshank (1764-1811), The Family Party or Prince Bladduds Man Traps!!
May 11, 1799 (Princeton.edu blog)

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Well, this has been a very long post! – very difficult to edit Austen! – I am stopping here and will pick up with a final post on the eventual happiness of all concerned … What are some of your favorite scenes between Elizabeth and Darcy, or favorite commentary from the Narrator, in Volume 3?

Read Part I of Mr. Darcy’s Feelings here;
and Part II here

c2014, Jane Austen in Vermont

Book Review: Nicholas Ennos’ Jane Austen: A New Revelation ~ “Conspiracy is the Sincerest Form of Flattery”

Dear Gentle Readers: I welcome today Janine Barchas with her review of the recently published Jane Austen: A New Revelation by Nicholas Ennos – his book tackles the question of who really authored Jane Austen’ s six novels and juvenilia…

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“Conspiracy is the Sincerest Form of Flattery”

Review of Nicholas Ennos, Jane Austen: A New Revelation (Senesino Books, Oct. 2013).  Pp. 372.  £25.  Available from Amazon.com as an e-book for Kindle for $10.99. 

cover-ennos-jarevelation

The litmus test of true literary achievement is whether your works are deemed so great that you simply could not have written them.

Janeites need no longer envy students of Shakespeare their intricate web of Renaissance conspiracy theories.  Whereas Shakespeare scholarship has long enjoyed the spectral presence of the Earl of Oxford, Austen studies can now boast a countess named Eliza de Feuillide.

The self-published Jane Austen: A New Revelation alleges that “a poor, uneducated woman with no experience of sex or marriage” could not possibly have written the sophisticated works of social satire and enduring romance that we traditionally attribute to Jane Austen.  The book’s author, Nicholas Ennos (the aura of conspiracy allows that this is not necessarily his/her real name), asserts that biographers have been leading everyone by the nose.  The true author of the Austen canon is, instead, Madame la Comtesse de Feuillide, born Eliza Hancock (1761-1813).  Eliza was the worldly and well-educated older cousin of Jane Austen who, after being made a young widow by the French Revolution, married Henry Austen, Jane’s favorite brother.  The sassy Eliza has long been pointed to as a model for the morally challenged characters of Lady Susan and Mary Crawford in the fictions.  To identify Eliza as the actual author was, Ennos explains, the next logical step.

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Shakespeare’s First Folio – Haverford.edu

Just so, and also about two centuries into his literary afterlife, William Shakespeare’s lofty literary achievements were judged incompatible with his humble origins, sowing seeds of doubt that a person so little known could have achieved so much.  Slowly, the man named Will Shakespeare from Stratford-upon-Avon came to be considered by a small-but-articulate fringe to be a mere front shielding the genuine author (or authors) of the works written under the pen name of Shakespeare.  Austen’s genteel poverty, relative isolation, and biographical quiet allows for a similar approach.  For how, asks Ennos, can genius thrive with so little food of experience to feed it?

The arguments for Shakespeare reattribution rely heavily upon biographical allusions as well as the absence of works in manuscript.  Similarly, Austen critics who have been keen to spot biographical references to real places and family members in the fictions have apparently opened the door to skeptics who can now point to Cassandra’s “systematic destruction” of her sister’s letters as proof of a conspiracy.  Ennos also draws attention to the “suspicious” parallel fact that no Austen novel survives in manuscript.  The juvenilia, which does survive in Jane’s hand, is explained away as early secretarial work for Eliza during her visits to the Steventon household.

Eliza died in April of 1813, well before the publication of Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), or Persuasion and Northanger Abbey (Dec 1817).  The so-called Oxfordians overcame the timeline obstacles posed by Edward de Vere’s early death in 1604 by redating many Shakespeare texts, which (their logic dictates) must have been composed earlier than previously thought and squirreled away for later publication by an appointed agent.  So too is the Austen corpus deftly redated by Ennos—with husband Henry, cousin Cassandra, and amanuensis Jane as co-conspirators.  Some historians allow that Eliza was in all probability the natural daughter of politician Warren Hastings.  Ennos adds to this existing context of secrecy that Eliza’s illegitimacy was the “disgrace” that the Austens “were determined to cover up after Eliza’s death” and the reason that “the myth of Jane Austen’s authorship was invented.”

Readers of Austen will doubtless need some time to process the implications of these revelations.  For example, what of the presumed poignancy of Persuasion’s temporal setting?  The events in this novel take place during the false peace of the summer of 1814—a short reprieve in the Napoleonic wars that saw the premature return of Britain’s navy men after the initial exile of Napoleon to Elba.  Persuasion has been on record as composed between August 1815 and August 1816, in the full knowledge of both the false hopes of that summer and the true end to the war that came with the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.  Ennos moves the novel’s date of composition prior to April 1813.  Although he does not go so far as to urge Eliza’s historical prescience, he suggests that these features are merely evidence of judicious tweaks to manuscripts left in Henry’s care at Eliza’s death.

Eliza de Feuillide                 Frances Burney                 Jane Austen

This is not all.  Ennos further declares that the precocious Eliza also wrote the novels conventionally attributed to Frances Burney (1752-1840).  The resemblances between Evelina and Pride and Prejudice have long been acknowledged by scholars who have (mistakenly, according to Ennos) attributed this to Burney’s literary influence upon the young Austen.  Ennos reasons that Frances Burney’s lack of literary success after Eliza’s death, including her “truly dreadful” novel The Wanderer in 1814, is evidence of her being, in fact, an imposter.  While future stylometric analysis may eventually confirm that Jane and Fanny were one and the same Eliza, this method has not settled the authorship question irrevocably for Shakespeare.  Perhaps this is why Ennos does not turn to computer analysis or linguistics for help.  He does identify Elizabeth Hamilton, the name of another minor authoress, as a further pseudonym used by the talented Eliza—ever widening the corpus of works that might appeal to those already interested in Austen.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the novels attributed to Jane Austen were published anonymously during her lifetime.  Logically, any book written anonymously must be in want of a conspiracy.   The grassy knoll of this particular conspiracy is the biographical notice in Northanger Abbey, released simultaneously with Persuasion six months after Jane Austen’s death in 1817.  History has taken Henry Austen, a failed banker, at his word in identifying the author as his sister.  Ennos, who is not very gallant towards the species of academics and literary critics whom he dismisses as “simple souls,” suggests that Austen scholarship has been surprisingly gullible in accepting Henry’s attribution without question.

In the wake of the Ireland forgeries of the 1790s, generations of Shakespeare scholars offered dozens of different names for the man behind the mask of “Will Shakespeare.”  Although the Earl of Oxford has garnered Hollywood’s vote, Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe are next in popularity.  We can only hope that these allegations by Ennos prop open the doors of Austen authorship so that additional candidates can step forward to provide generations of graduate students with dissertation fodder.

Does the Eliza attribution theory expect to be taken seriously?  Or does this maverick publication deliberately mock established scholarship by means of cartoonish imitation?  I’m not sure it really matters.  If this project had ambitions to be a serious Sokal-style hoax, then it did not manage to convince a top publisher and, as a result, lacks the ability to wound deeply.  The prose is also too earnest and unadorned for an academic satire—devoid of the jargon that should dutifully accompany a spoof.  The resulting pace is too sluggish for irony.  That said, there are plenty of moments that even David Lodge could not improve upon.  For example, Ennos points to an acrostic “proof” of hidden clues in the dedicatory poem to Evelina (only visible if decoded into Latin abbreviations).  There is also the syllogistic central assertion that if the novels of both Burney and Austen resemble the Latinate style of Tacitus, then these could only have been written by 1) the same person and 2) someone schooled in Latin.  Ergo, Eliza is the true author behind both, since only she could have learned Latin from Reverend George Austen, Jane’s father (who might teach a niece but never his youngest daughter).  Finally, there are gestures towards wider bodies of knowledge: “In this respect the philosophy of both authors has been linked to the views of the Swedish philosopher, Swedenborg.”  Perhaps Ennos is simply angling for someone to buy the movie option.  “Anonymous” did well at the box office, so why not a film dubbed “Eliza”?

No matter what the intention, hearty congratulations are due to Jane Austen.  For her, this news makes for a strong start to the New Year.  Exactly two centuries into her literary afterlife, a doubting Thomas was the last requirement of literary celebrity still missing from her resume.  Austen can now take her seat next to Shakespeare, secure in the knowledge that her authorship, too, has begun to be questioned.

You know you’ve hit the big time when you didn’t write your own work.

— Reviewed by Janine Barchas

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Barchas is the author of Matters of Fact in Jane Austen: History, Location, and Celebrity (Johns Hopkins, 2012).  She is also the creator of “What Jane Saw”, an on-line reconstruction of an art exhibit attended by Jane Austen on 24 May 1813.   Recently, she has written for The New York Times and the Johns Hopkins University Press Blog.

c2014 Jane Austen in Vermont; text c2014 Janine Barchas