The
Loiterer—A Newsletter
We speak of them as they were
Male Voices in Praise of Jane
Austen
| Volume 2, Number 4 | April 1, 2003 |
|
Edited by Sophia Sentiment | |
Dear Folks,
A lot has happened since our last newsletter. With the spirit of Jane Austen as our guide, we shall carry on in these times of turmoil with our business at hand. Our prayers, thoughts, and support go with our troops and leaders through thick and thin. We regret the loss of life, especially the innocent children.
The Loiterer is evolving so you may notice a few differences here and there. Your "Editors" are now officially "Sophia Sentiment". "Sister Sophia" aka "Linda" can speak for herself in the posting area. Next month Cheryl assumes the mantle of "Sophia".
Yours, as you behave,
Sophia Sentiment,
Editor
Announcement—Final Notice: if you please: In keeping with our tradition of Mary Wollstonecraft Day on May 1st of each year at Male Voices, it will be our pleasure to accept your contributions, whether praise or complaint, for our May issue of The Loiterer. Since I may possibly be in the midst of my son's wedding, our co-editor, Cheryl, will be taking your contributions during the month of April at mvnews@theloiterer.org/ashton for the May issue.
The Male Voices web site is not, in general, intended as a place for political messages, social commentary, or discussion of current events. Rather, it is devoted to an exploration of the literary vision of Jane Austen. However, one important part of this study must be the context for Jane Austen's development and that context was one of radical political thought, rhetoric, and action. For that reason, we thought it might be useful—and fun—to emulate those conditions for at least one day of each year. Mary Wollstonecraft was a political radical, a feminist, a bisexual sexual-libertarian, and a contemporary of Jane Austen. Ms. Wollstonecraft was many other things that Miss Austen was not. So, this day is devoted to that other extreme and, in fact, should be considered a celebration. That is to say we devote this single day of the year to emulate Mary Wollstonecraft and express our own frustrations along with our utopian dreams. The day has been celebrated at this web site since 1999. There are so many domestic and international issues in the forefront of our thinking these days that this might be the best ever MW-Day in the history of this site.
You can read about what sort of thing is expected at this original announcement of our annual Wollstonecraft celebration. You can link to previous celebrations by scrolling down to Mary Wollstonecraft Day in this section of the index.
FROM LISA SANDERSON:
I am writing an introductory book to Jane Austen and would like to hear from men who like reading her novels. Why do you like her novels? Do you find them still fresh and relevant?
Lisa
From the Editor: Lisa was directed to the MV page on What some men have said about Jane Austen. I might add that Lisa is from Australia and her homepage is HERE.
FROM JULIE GRASSI:
I wonder whether you have come across an excellent book by Paula Byrne, titled Jane Austen and the Theatre (Hambledon and London, 2002)? The author undertakes a detailed study of the theatre of Jane Austen's time, the plays she is known to have seen, and how the structure of plays and the theatre influenced her work. It is the first book that I have seen in a long time that brings a fresh perspective to the novels.
Julie Grassi
From the Editor: Welcome back, Julie! It's so nice to have you back home again! You have been missed!
FROM BREE:
Here is a charade (pronounced "shurahd") to overwork our brains (or whatever computers have left us with):
My first is what my second was to King James the 1st,
and you tread on my whole.Hint: it was not written by Mary Wollstonecraft (pronounced "Wellstoncrahft").
FROM SISTER SOPHIA:
I am not there yet, but I hope to get to the conference on Women's Writing in Britain 1660-1830 in July. The first step was to secure a "place" since attendance was limited for non-speakers. That secured, a hair cut was a must for my passport photo. That accomplished, I trotted off to the courthouse to apply for a passport. I now have to wait up to six weeks to hear from that. Then and only then can air reservations be made. In the meanwhile I am optimistic and am gathering all things necessary for the trip, as well as making several lists so as to not forget anything. Since Winchester and Chawton will be the focus point, my research covers that area, including scouring the archives for the reports of Kate's adventure at Chawton and Bath, and Ray's trip. I may not understand a word those "academics" say at that conference, but this is something Linda wants to do for Linda. I call it my "Just time for Jane" tour. The Grand Tour can wait a bit. I have my heart set on going to divine services at Winchester Cathedral. One of the people in charge sent me a tour brochure for Winchester and I was amazed at the amount of things to see and do there. I am all anticipation!
FROM ASHTON:
How might we portray Jane Austen, the person? We have an Inkling!
I am studying a biography of Jane Austen, Lord David Cecil's A Portrait of Jane Austen (Hill and Wang, 1978). The book is fine, I would rank the work below Elizabeth Jenkins's or Park Honan's but above Claire Tomalin's.Actually, Cecil is careful to explain that his book is not strictly a biography:
"... [This book] is intended as neither a straightforward biographical narrative of Jane Austen's life, nor as a study of her as an author; but rather ... with the help of material drawn from her letters, her novels and other people's memories of her, to reconstruct and depict her living personality and to explore its relation to her art. ..."That is to say, his is a "portrait" rather than a "biography". Given that, my comparison of his effort with the biographies I mentioned might not be appropriate. I am enamored of Cecil's goal and I may say that he succeeds with me to some extent because his "portrait" closely—not exactly, but closely—corresponds with the picture that I have in my own mind. So, I think him a genius where others might decide he is an over-reaching crackpot.
Lord David Cecil (1902-1986) taught at Oxford in the early part of the twentieth century. While there, he formed friendships with other faculty who shared his ambition to become a writer. They called themselves "The Inklings"—nudge, nudge, wink, wink. The group included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis so we can say that at least some of the "Inklings" realized their ambitions. There must have been a general approbation for Jane Austen amongst the Inklings; since, beside David Cecil's book, we have the complimentary Jane-Austen essay written by C.S. Lewis.
Incidentally—this is way off the subject—there was a Lord David Cecil who was a British Olympic champion (portrayed in the character of the aristocratic hurdler in Chariots of Fire). His dates are similar but slightly different, so I think that the hurdler was another Lord Cecil but I am not sure.
Many of Lord Cecil's ideas and characterizations are so like my own that I cannot resist quoting extensively from his book. In that way, I might lend some authority to my own opinions. That is my main goal here today. However, I also found a small number of other places in Lord Cecil's presentation where I strongly disagree, but I will save those few criticisms for the end of this letter.
The first words in Lord Cecil's book are a quotation of the Marquis of Halifax (1633-95):
"Good manners is such a part of good sense that they cannot be divided."This is an excellent way to begin thinking about Jane Austen. In his forward, David Cecil writes.
"... I have taken particular pains to set my heroine [Jane Austen] in the context of the period and society in which she lived. My reason for doing this is that I have come across critics who discuss her and her view of life and character as if they were those of a contemporary of their own. The result is a portrait comically misleading. ..."Amen to that; and, speaking of Patricia Rozema—Oh, never mind. I think that his first sentence might serve as an excellent statement of purpose for this web site. Except, I am less amused than Lord Cecil by the misleading portraits that are so common these days. These views only serve to alienate potential male readers of Jane Austen's novels, the very readers who would have much to gain from that exercise.
In his Prologue, Cecil says something else that is particularly striking to me:
"... I have read Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen's other books many times and my appreciation of them has widened and deepened and, I suppose, grown more discriminating. ... I delight in them just as much as ever; perhaps more. From the first I found them irresistibly amusing; now I have come to recognize them as penetratingly true pictures of human life and artistic achievements of a Mozartian perfection."Gulp!—I wish I had said that because that is exactly what I believe and exactly the way I evolved. So now we have two separate male voices, with established credentials who have put things on the proper plane. One referred to Jane Austen as the "prose Shakespeare" and the other referred to her "artistic achievements of a Mozartian perfection". That's about right. For me, Mozart rather than Shakespeare is the proper allusion but I would not quarrel with those who think otherwise.
And then there is this gem.
"... No wonder that readers still find [Jane Austen's] books enjoyable! But they are something more: they are also impressive, penetrating, deeply interesting. For her genius was twofold. Along with her comedy sense she possessed a subtle insight into the moral nature of man. The union of the two is the distinguishing characteristic of her achievement; and it makes these lively unpretentious comedies of social and domestic life the vehicle of profound and illuminating comments on the human drama... Human nature discloses itself as fully in little things as in big ones: a tea party reveals selfishness, kindness, self-control, ill-temper, as much as does an air raid. Only you must have the faculty to discern them. ..." [Chapter 7, Section I]Among the many other things that I agree with are these views, as I see them, of David Cecil's portrait.
1. Jane Austen was shy, and her shyness gave the impression of a haughtiness or indifference. This is an especially important opinion to me because it confirms my own, deeply held conviction that Jane Austen was shy. Further, I cited contemporaries that indicated that this aspect of her personality was misinterpreted. That, in turn, is central to my interpretation of Darcy's character in the same light. I know of no other authority that holds this same opinion. Lord Cecil puts it this way:
- "... Writing nearly twenty years later, [Jane Austen] praises the easy friendly agreeability of the new generation of children, the fact that they suffered so little from what she calls the 'Moral Disease of Shyness' ; and are so unlike herself at the same age, so that 'it makes me overcome with astonishment and shame.' ..."
"... Shyness however can make people self-conscious and self-consciousness can give the effect of affectation. It can also make people appear stiff and therefore prim. ..."
[Chapter 3, Section I]
"... Jane Austen's sense of a hidden difference between herself and the people she met in company cannot but have increased her innate reserve and confirmed in her any shyness she may have retained since childhood; with the result that there was always to be a striking difference between Jane Austen at home and as she appeared in company. ... It is a striking fact that, unlike everyone else who met her, her brothers and sister were not surprised when those novels appeared and made her famous."
[Chapter 3, Section II]Sounds like he is describing Darcy does it not? Lord Cecil goes on,
- "... Can it be that Jane Austen never completely got over the shyness in company which had afflicted her as a child and that the apparent social confidence, which she acquired when she grew up, was a superficial affair that had begun to dwindle with the dwindling of youthful spirits? ..."
[Chapter 6, Section III]
"... Moreover, Elizabeth[ Bennet]'s lack of shyness, her easy confidence and charming audacity are unlike anything we know of her creator. ..."
[Chapter 8, Section III]2. Jane Austen's time was very different than the later, Victorian era. This is another gratifying coincidence of my long-held belief with that of this authority—Jane Austen's time was not much like the Victorian. That is an important thing to remember for anyone who would strive to understand Jane Austen's intent. Lord Cecil puts it this way:
- "It is a mark of the difference between eighteenth-century and Victorian ideas of what was proper that a respectable clergyman like George Austen should have thought it quite all right for his little daughter to read 'Tristram Shandy' and 'Tom Jones'. ..."
[Chapter 2, Section I]
"... In fact, Fielding and writers like him did benefit her by making her better acquainted than Victorian girls would be with the tough male world. The result is that, though she never wrote about this world, she does take men more naturally and see them more objectively than most later female novelists were able to do, neither shrinking nervously from their masculinity nor vainly trying to imitate it. ..."
[Chapter 2, Section II]This is remindful of something that G.K. Chesterson said about Jane Austen's ability to portray men. Lord Cecil continues in this way.
"... The eighteenth-century, though it recognized the existence of inherited traits, never thought that they decided a man's destiny, for his free will was free to modify them for good or ill. Which he opted for depended greatly on how he was brought up. ..."
[Chapter 5, Section IV]
"... [In certain parts of 'Persuasion'] we see how very much Jane Austen was a child of the eighteenth century. Nothing like these sentences is to be found in the works of any Victorian or post-Victorian novelist."
"... But her mind agreed with that of her age; she happened to be born with a disposition naturally in sympathy with the point of view of the world in which she found herself. ..."
[Chapter 7, Section I]Lord Cecil said this about one of Jane Austen's nieces:
- "... The youthful Fanny, from the few hints that have come down to us, was very different from her Aunt Jane, a more Victorian type, sentimental, shockable, and not noticeably humorous. ..."
[Chapter 8, Section V]
- "... Altogether, in Sanditon we feel ourselves back in the eighteenth century, stylish, sparkling, robust, outspoken."
[Chapter 9, Section II]3. Jane Austen was at ease with the world she was born into. This is not to say that Jane Austen was indifferent to the problems of her time. Lord Cecil states,
- "Indeed, [Jane Austen] was in most respects startlingly unlike most authors of genius. In particular she differed from them in that she was at ease in the world she was born into. ..."
"... Jane Austen was not a villager but a child of the gentry; she came from the world of squires, of naval and military officers and the fellows of Oxford and Cambridge colleges. ..."
"... [eighteenth century England] realized that man had his carnal passions, though he should learn to control them; also even if it were wrong to sacrifice principle for money or for social position, it was foolish to pretend that these things were undesirable. To refuse to recognize this would show a lack of good sense. ..."
"... Here we come to ... [a] distinguishing characteristic of the eighteenth-century point of view. In addition to being realistic, it was civilized. 'The man of sense' was all the better for being a 'man of taste'. Taste implied learning and discrimination; learning and discrimination were acquired by a thorough grounding in the established and classical tradition of scholarship and the arts. ..."
"This growing refinement of manners went along with the growing social influence of women. Of course, in high society women had often been influential, even formidable; ... In the later eighteenth century, growing refinement of feeling and taste led to women exercising influence by their characteristically feminine qualities and talents: intimacy, imaginative sympathy, graceful manners. ... Always, in so far as a society cultivates social pleasures and sets store by private life, women grow more powerful. Women rule private life as men rule public. ... At the same time, women's intellectual position became more important. ... It was now that the phrase 'blue stocking' was coined to describe such formidable ladies as Mrs. Montagu, the Shakespearean critic, and Miss Anna Seward whose poems earned her the name of the 'The Swan of Lichfield'. Fanny Burney herself is the first female novelist to achieve the rank of a classic. ..."
[Prologue, Section II]
"... Critics, ignorant of social history, sometimes speak of Jane Austen as coming from the middle class and as lumped together with George Eliot and Dickens. In fact their families would not have been on visiting terms with Jane Austen's. For she was a child of the gentry, a member of an hereditary ruling class of England, whereas they were not. There was no such gulf between the gentry and the aristocracy. ..."
[Chapter 1, Section I]
"... [Jane Austen] is one of the few persons of genius who, so far as we know, managed to reach the age of eighteen without having felt noticeably lonely or rebellious or misunderstood. ..."
[Chapter 2, Section I]
"... Strong patriot that she was, she liked [the English countryside] better for being English. It is characteristic that she ends her account in Emma of the pretty view to be seen from Mr Knightley's grounds by remarking, 'It was a sweet view--sweet to the eye and mind, English verdure, English culture, English comfort seen under a sun bright without being oppressive."
[Chapter 2, Section II]
"She had no quarrel with the orthodox feminine world she was born into; never complained that it was limited or evinced the slightest wish to break away from it. But ultimately she was detached from it, an artist, a contemplative, absorbedly and amusedly concerned to observe and reflect on its inhabitants as nourishment for what was—whether she was conscious of it or not—the vital principle of her existence. ..."
[Chapter 3, Section II]
"... [Jane Austen] talks of class distinctions blithely and frankly and without any of the uneasy embarrassment that afflicts most subsequent English novelists when they tackle this distressing subject. This came from the unconscious confidence engendered in her by her own secure social position. ..."
[Chapter 5, Section II]
"... Among the books Jane mentions as read during these years ... [was] Espriella by Southey, a book purporting to describe England as seen through critical and foreign eyes. Jane's robust patriotism led her to dislike this: 'The man describes well,' she exclaims, 'but is horribly anti-English, He deserves to be the foreigner he assumes!' ..."
"... Jane Austen would not have sympathized with the modern and feminist view that wives are an oppressed race. ..."
[Chapter 5, Section III]4. The Austen family was close, loving, and supportive. And it was in this fertile environment that Jane Austen's art flourished. Lord Cecil has this to say about that:
- "...Indeed their taste revealed [the Austen children] as very much like the other young ladies and gentlemen who lived near Steventon. Except in one important particular—they were much cleverer. Home had fostered their cleverness especially on its literary side. They inherited this from their father and he had encouraged it, partly by reading to them—reading aloud was a great feature of Austen family life—and partly by giving them the run of his library. ..."
"... Their talk, one gathers, was lively and lighthearted in tone, more concerned with personalities than with ideas or public affairs. What is rare in clever families, it was uncontroversial: 'It was not their habit to dispute or argue with one another, even about small matters,' said one observer."
"... The brothers and sisters were always each other's greatest friends, the people they enjoyed talking to the most. Also those who they loved the best; they were a devoted family. ... The Austen corporate personality combined qualities not often found together. It was at once affectionate and unsentimental, satirical and good-tempered, orthodox and highly intelligent."
[Chapter 1, Section III]
"... Sons and daughters alike were cultivated and humorous and sociable. Nor was there any question of one sex looking down on the other. In particular, the sons respected their sisters' judgement and delighted in their wit. The brother and sister relationship played a great part in Austen family life; ..."
"... the sisters especially interested themselves enthusiastically in their brothers' careers; knew the names of their various ships and fellow officers, loved to hear about the places they visited, rejoiced in any successes they achieved in the way of promotion and prize money. ..."
[Chapter 1, Section IV]
"... [Her father,] George Austen must be accounted the person chiefly responsible for Jane Austen's education. ... Jane learned a great deal just from listening to him. She also learned from him in private. After his death she used to speak with emotion of 'his indescribable tenderness as a father' and 'his sweet benevolent smile'. I cannot but believe that he smiled with special sweetness on his second daughter. If he had such a fine literary taste as people said, he must have perceived something of her unique quality and especially enjoyed talking to her on literary subjects. ..."
"... One of the things her nephews and nieces remembered about Aunt Jane and Aunt Cassandra was how admirably articulate they were, how their most spontaneous and casual sentences somehow contrived to be grammatical."
[Chapter 2, Section II]
"...Many authors start writing in order to relieve their inner feelings; Jane Austen began in order to contribute to family entertainment. ..."
[Chapter 2, Section IV]
"... Jane is amused not annoyed by male fatuity. Herself, she had not suffered from it. She knew enough men, in particular her own father and brothers, who fully appreciated her feminine intelligence."
[Chapter 3, Section II]
"... But this time Jane Austen feels so strongly as to forget her shyness about expressing emotion: her tender love for her father, her affectionate anxiety to save [brother] Frank from the shock of sudden bad news, make themselves felt poignantly and unselfconsciously, for all that they are expressed in formal phrasing and measured sentences. ..."
[Chapter 4, Section V]
"... the Austens' sense of family bond was so strong, they felt such a sense of responsibility to each other as to override any passing friction that might arise between individual members."
[Chapter 5, Section III]
"... Moreover it was society that [Jane Austen] liked best. The Austens always enjoyed each other's company more than that of anyone else and they continued to do so. ..."
"... Her establishment at Chawton marks this central turning point in her story. Her circumstances were liberating, not frustrating, with her future secure and leisurely and any idea of marriage dismissed from her mind, she was at last free to concentrate on her art. ..."
"... For all of them Jane remained their favorite aunt and they enjoyed staying at Chawton because she was there."
[Chapter 6, Section III]
"... But she was also born with a good temper and an affectionate heart and had grown up in a happy home as part of a lively, united, appreciative family. ..."
[Chapter 7, Section I]
"... Jane's affection for her brothers remained the central fact of her personal life. If Henry amused her the most, Edward gave her a peculiar sense of cheerful comfort; and for her naval brothers she continued to cherish a sentiment, tinged with a glow of admiration, kindled by the thought of their heroic profession. ..."
[Chapter 8, Section III]5. Persuasion may be a reflection of Jane Austen's lost love. I made my case in my study of Jane Austen's Eleventh Letter. However, Lord Cecil discounts the Tom Lefroy relationship and points, instead, to the supposed love affair at Sidmouth. I would make the following contrary observations about the Sidmouth encounter:
- Persuasion is not the story of the sudden death of a recently acquired lover; rather, it is the story of the rejection of the family of one of the lovers to a marriage where there was no money. This, except for a reversal in gender, is more closely the story of Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy.
- We have the Sidmouth story third hand; it is the recollection of a niece who seemed to remember the story told to her by Jane's sister some several decades before.
- On the other hand we have references to the Tom Lefroy affair from Jane Austen's own letters.
Lord Cecil has it this way:
"... The world of Persuasion is still the world of the country gentry and the book is still a comedy. But its prevailing mood and the atmosphere that pervades it subtly differ from those of her earlier books. Its theme is love; how far should love be restrained by considerations of prudence. ... It is a different kind of subject from any Jane Austen has attempted before; and the spirit in which she treats it suggests a shift in her attitude. ... she has realized more fully than in the past that right feeling is an integral part of good sense. ... She says of Anne Elliot that 'she had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned more romance as she grew older—the natural consequence of an unnatural beginning.' ..."
"... Anne's words ring in our ears with the poignancy of a personal utterance. Here, for once, it is difficult not to suspect Jane Austen is speaking from experience. Could she have written thus, one wonders, had she never met the unnamed gentleman at Sidmouth and loved him and lost him and—for a time at least—gone on loving him 'when existence or when hope was gone'? ..."
[Chapter 9, Section II]This might be the best place to refer you to Kipling's poem, Jane's Marriage where a similar idea is advanced.
6. Jane Austen was good looking and good tempered. Claire Tomalin is convinced that we cannot know what Jane Austen looked like. Lord Cecil takes this other view.
- "Jane, the second Austen daughter, appeared to follow the family pattern; in looks and taste and feelings and outlook. She was also lively and reserved and good-looking and good humored. ..."
"... [Jane Austen was] more naturally good tempered than Cassandra, it seems; for it was said later that Cassandra had the merit of always having her temper always under command but Jane had the happiness of a temper that never needed to be commanded. ..."
[Chapter 2, Section I]
"... all other accounts of Jane comment on her good looks. It was the very same year that Madam Lefroy's brother speaks of her as 'fair and handsome, slight and elegant'. ..."
"... 'I hear,' wrote cousin Eliza de Feuillide, '[Jane Austen's] sister and herself are two of the prettiest girls in England ... perfect beauties and of course gain hearts by dozens.' ...."
"... I like to think there was a time in Jane Austen's life when she could be called a pretty butterfly. I know of no other woman writer of the first rank who has been similarly described."
[Chapter 3, Section I]
"... Jane Austen later came to have a name among her friends—perhaps she always had it—for not speaking ill of other people. She was said never to 'quiz' people, that is say make fun of them by way of being amusing. ..."
[Chapter 3, Section III]Lord Cecil recognized, of course, that some "quizzing" did occur in our Lady's letters to Cassandra, but he successfully explains that away, "Only with Cassandra did she let herself be as frank and as flippant as she felt inclined, ...".
- "... [Jane Austen] had not yet lost her youthful charm of good looks, her light figure and bright eyes and clear olive skin; one of her nieces remembers her as the first person who ever struck her as pretty. ..."
[Chapter 6, Section I]
"... Jane professed to like the music, but she seems to have spent most of her time in conversation surrounded by gentlemen, with whom she managed, in spite of her reputation for silence, to have got on well enough to satisfy such modest hopes of social success as she might still cherish. She heard that a Mr Knatchbull had described her as a pleasing-looking young woman. ..."
[Chapter 8, Section I]
On the other side of the ledger, we have these points.
A. I don't agree with David Cecil that the novels contain nothing of passion.
- "Her early works demonstrate that Jane Austen's was primarily and basically a comic genius: her original literary impulse was an impulse to make her reader laugh. This was always to remain an integral part of her inspiration. ..."
"... Of course, Jane Austen's masterpieces do reveal a profound insight into man's moral nature and, as such, are, in the best sense of the word, extremely serious. ..."
[Chapter 2, Section IV]
"Romantic feelings were always a problem to Jane Austen the novelist and not just because she found it easy to laugh at them. ... In life she liked and approved of people with warm, spontaneous feelings - this clear from both her letters and novels - but, herself, she found it difficult to put such feelings into words. When the plot required her to do so, the result is all too often stiff and even absurd. ..."
[Chapter 7, Section I]A counter-view has been assembled at this web site and here is a link to THAT.
B. I don't agree with David Cecil that the novels were not, in any way, autobiographical. Perhaps that is true in the narrow sense of the word; however, I think it must be impossible to write something that is not telling of one's own nature and nurture. I mean, even a grocery list is autobiographical in a broad sense.
"... [Jane Austen] never copied a character direct from life; partly because she thought to do so was a breach of good manners, but even more because it implied a failure of imagination. ... "
[Chapter 7, Section I]C. I don't agree with David Cecil that Jane Austen was primarily a comedian.
- "... What girls in fiction are more accomplished talkers that Elizabeth Bennet or Mary Crawford? What man as good company as Mr Bennet or Henry Tilney? ..."
[Chapter 1, Section I]Well I don't agree that Mr Bennet or Henry Tilney were good company—on the contrary. This may a clear sign of the very different way that I read the novels. I think Mr Bennet despicable and I would point out that Jane Austen was very explicit in her treatment of Mr Bennet when, among other things, she allows Elizabeth Bennet to fully realize just how inappropriate her father had been all her life. As for Tilney, I have detailed my criticisms of him elsewhere.
- "... Jane Austen ... was stirred to portray men and women only in their relation to family and friends and social acquaintances. Further she looked at these mainly through the eyes of a comedian. ..."
"... To sum up, Jane Austen's work can be described as a realistic picture of social and domestic life, seen from a woman's point of view and treated in a spirit of comedy."
[Chapter 7, Section I]How does that work? I mean that comedians reflect life but their focus is too narrow and their intent lacks the objectivity for a perfectly "realistic picture"; as Darcy would say, their "first object is a joke". Jane Austen was not a comedian.
- "Even when Jane Austen is not out primarily to make us smile, she seldom leaves the realm of comedy. ..."
"... The shyness that made her poem about Mrs Lefroy curiously stilted also hampered her when she came to write a fictional scene demanding a similar expression of heightened feeling. ..."
[Chapter 7, Section I]
"... For though ['Pride and Prejudice'] is more strictly a comedy—nothing even potentially tragic occurs in it—it too pierces through the surface accidents of time and place humorously to consider fundamental problems of human character and conduct. ..."
[Chapter 8, Section III]D. I don't agree with David Cecil that Jane Austen was overly reserved. In fact, the consensus at this web site is that Jane Austen was very passionate, and that a great many passages in her novels express the passions in an affecting way.
First of all, let us remind ourselves of whom we speak. We speak of that Jane Austen who put these thoughts into the mind of her last heroine, Anne Elliot, while she was thinking about her suitor:
"Mr Elliot was rational, discreet and polished,—but he was not open. There never was any burst of indignation or delight, at the good or evil of others. This, to Anne, was a decided imperfection. ... She prized the frank, the open-hearted, the eager character above all others. Warmth and enthusiasm did captivate her still. She felt that she could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said a careless or a hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varied, whose tongue never slipped."
[Persuasion Volume II, Chapter V]Lest you think that a particular invention for a particular character in a particular novel, I will you give another sample of the same thing. This is an excerpt from Emma. Mrs. Weston got it in her head that Mr. Knightley was in love with Jane Fairfax and proudly went to Emma with her discovery. Emma reacted with a vehement denial of what she thought an absolutely horrifying possibility. Apparently she was not as sure as she claimed because she began to subtly, if relentlessly, question Knightley on the matter the next time he was in company with the two women. (Not subtly enough for Mrs. Weston because Emma could feel her former governess's foot pushing into her own—as if that could slow her down!). Here is Knightley's reply
" 'Jane Fairfax has feeling,' said Mr. Knightley—'I do not accuse her of want of feeling. Her sensibilities, I suspect, are strong—and her temper excellent in its power of forebearance, patience, self controul; but it wants openness. She is reserved, more reserved, I think, than she used to be—And I love an open temper. No—till Cole alluded to my supposed attachment, it had never entered my head. I saw Jane Fairfax and conversed with her, with admiration and pleasure always—but with no thought beyond.' "
[Emma Volume II, Chapter IV]Now listen as David Cecil paints Jane Austen in the image of someone that Anne Elliot could not trust and Mr. Knightley could not love. I find the image badly blurred, the thesis slightly preposterous.
- "... Natural shyness combined with the Austen tradition of reserve to make it particularly hard for her directly to express serious sentiments: this was later to be a problem for her as an author. ...."
"... Unsentimental Jane Austen, even in her most affectionate moments, remains unillusioned and humorous. ...."
"... Natural shyness combined with the Austen tradition of reserve to make it particularly hard for her directly to express serious sentiments: this was later to be a problem for her as an author. ...."
[Chapter 3, Section IV]
"... Jane Austen's nature, though not passionate, was the opposite of shallow. ...."
[Chapter 4, Section II]
"... To describe Jane Austen in her thirties as a thin upright piece of wood must surely have been as much a misrepresentation as it had been to describe the girl Jane Austen as a husband-hunting butterfly. But, in the same way, it may have the exaggeration of a truth. ..."
[Chapter 6, Section III]
"... To do justice to those involved the expression of direct emotion and, as we know from her letters and poems, natural shyness together with an Austen upbringing hampered her ability to express emotion directly. ..."
"... She shows no enthusiasm for unpractical idealists, feels no sympathy either for soul-stirring emotions that do not in fact serve to make others better or happier. She is relentlessly anti-sentimental. ..."
[Chapter 7, Section I]
"The follies consequent on a too 'Romantic' view of life were a main inspiration of Jane Austen's early work. ..."
[Chapter 8, Section I]E. I don't agree with Cecil's assessment of Fanny Price or Mansfield Park.
"... Only once does she try another type, Fanny Price in Mansfield Park: and for many readers—I am one—she is not a complete success. ... Fanny does seem a little priggish and spiritless. ..."
[Chapter 7, Section I]David Cecil thinks Mansfield Park not a success because Jane Austen attempted to write of things that are not comedic in nature.
"... though Jane Austen mentions [Fanny Price's charms], she fails to make us respond to them. We realize [Jane Austen's] limitations for once because she has trespassed beyond them."
[Chapter 7, Section I]F. Some Miscellaneous differences of opinion.
"... her heroes are shown fragmentarily and with characters and motives in part unexplained, ..."
[Chapter 7, Section I]
"... As is often the case with clever people, Jane Austen's head had matured sooner than her heart. ..."
[Chapter 9, Section II]My last criticism is a technical one. Lord Cecil does not include references or notes and that is maddening. I can only assume that he believed a popular audience would not want to make use of such things.—what can he have been thinking? This was especially frustrating for me because he makes many references to our Lady's letters but does not indicate which letter. That became important where I doubted that he had quoted correctly but could not immediately check the sources.
From the Editor: An excellent report indeed! The only thing wrong with your report is that I can't find anything to disagree with. And Ash, with his "mistakes" he proved once again that nobody's perfect. Well, maybe except you and me.
To conclude this issue, the Editor wishes to leave you with Jane's prayer (abridged) in view of world events:
"Give us grace, Almighty Father, so to pray, as to deserve to be heard, to address thee with our Hearts, as with our lips. Thou art every where present, from Thee no secret can be hid. May the knowledge of this, teach us to fix our Thoughts on Thee, with Reverence and Devotion that we pray not in vain ..."
"Be gracious to our Necessities, and guard us, and all we love, from Evil this night. May the sick and afflicted, be now, and ever thy care; and heartily do we pray for the safety of all that travel by Land or by Sea, for the comfort & protection of the Orphan and Widow and that thy pity may be shewn upon all Captives and Prisoners."
"Above all other blessings Oh! God, for ourselves, and our fellow-creatures, we implore Thee to quicken our sense of thy Mercy in the redemption of the World, of the Value of that Holy Religion in which we have been brought up, that we may not, by our own neglect, throw away the salvation thou hast given us, nor be Christians only in name. Hear us Almighty God, for His sake who has redeemed us, and taught us thus to pray."
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