The Voices of Men in Praise of Jane Austen
Messages on the Bulletin Board - c. Dec. 18, 2000

Dear Voices,

I will list my favorite postings for the past year and invite you to do the same thing. Should you choose to do so, you will need to refer to the winter of 2000, the spring of 2000, the summer of 2000, and the fall of 2000.

Here are my choices.

Dear Voices,

I can remember waiting for this year to arrive for over 40 years.  Now it is almost gone. The wait was worth it for I found you.  You have led me to places I had not traveled.  It was a wonderful journey.  You have been a blessing to me, and now I will ask for a very special Blessing for you and yours in this coming year, Ought One, in honor and remembrance of Our Dear Jane.

Yours affectionately, & etc.
Linda

Dear Folks,

I very much want to describe Samuel Richardson's influence, as I see it, on Jane Austen. In order to prepare for that, I tried to give some contrary evidence - to get that out of the way first. For example, I posted on 12/15/00 with an explicit criticism of Richardson made by our Lady. I just found another thing, of that exact same nature, and will inform you of that in this posting. Eventually, then, I can turn to the influence thing.

This is from Chapter 3 of Northanger Abbey. Catherine Morland had met Tilney for the first time in an assembly room at Bath.

"They danced again; and, when the assembly closed, parted, on the lady's side at least, with a strong inclination for continuing the acquaintance. Whether she thought of him so much, while she drank her warm wine and water, and prepared herself for bed, as to dream of him when there, cannot be ascertained; but I hope it was no more than in a slight slumber, or a morning doze at most; for if it be true, as a celebrated writer has maintained, that no young lady can be justified in falling in love before the gentleman's love is declared,* it must be very improper that a young lady should dream of a gentleman before the gentleman is first known to have dreamt of her. How proper Mr. Tilney might be as a dreamer or a lover had not yet perhaps entered Mr. Allen's head, but that he was not objectionable as a common acquaintance for his young charge he was on inquiry satisfied; for he had early in the evening taken pains to know who her partner was, and had been assured of Mr. Tilney's being a clergyman, and of a very respectable family in Gloucestershire."

* Vide a letter from Mr Richardson, No 97, vol ii, Rambler

That footnote is Jane Austen's! How many times have you seen a citation in a footnote to a novel! (There are a number of other interesting and peculiar aspects to Northanger that I will post on subsequently.) It indicates to me that our Lady was miffed at something Richardson had published in The Rambler. - A something to the effect that a woman should not allow herself to love until she is loved first. Well, in his novels, Richardson shows no more reluctance to have this so, than does Jane Austen in hers. Jane Austen often allowed one of her female characters aggressively to seek out a marriage to a person of her choice; those characters are Caroline Bingley, Isabella Thorpe, Lucy Steele, and Charlotte Lucas. These instances are hardly recommendations for female forwardness. This passage deserves more study. Actually, I think that the footnote is another awkwardness - another bit of evidence that Jane Austen might have wanted to rewrite her novel - might have wanted to rethink some things. One thing cannot be in dispute, Jane Austen could certainly take issue with Samuel Richardson on occasion.

Dear Voices,

Does it ever end?  I keep turning up more and more.  One thing leads to another.  The Meister led us to Richardson's Rambler 97 which also had this to say:

"The reader is indebted for this day's entertainment, to an author from whom the age has received greater favours, who has enlarged the knowledge of human nature, and taught the passions to move at the command of virtue."

The underlined part sounds soooo JA.  If memory serves Jane recommended that passion (affections) should be guided by some common sense.  For instance, where Elizabeth admonishes Charlotte,

" 'Your plan is a good one,' replied Elizabeth, 'where nothing is in question but the desire of being well married; and if I were determined to get a rich husband, or any husband, I dare say I should adopt it. But these are not Jane's feelings; she is not acting by design. As yet, she cannot even be certain of the degree of her own regard, nor of its reasonableness. She has known him only a fortnight. She danced four dances with him at Meryton; she saw him one morning at his own house, and has since dined in company with him four times. This is not quite enough to make her understand his character.' "

I do not believe this subject has been properly addressed - then or now.  I think Richardson addressed it but not satisfactorily (said with reservations until I have read more of his works).  These days there may be a tidbit here and there but, to my knowledge, there is not one book which correctly states "this is the way love should be handled."

I was blown away by this in Udolpho - Chapter 1: the first paragraph is a description of the countryside - then in Paragraphs 2 and 3:

"M. St. Aubert loved to wander, with his wife and daughter, on the margin of the Garonne, and to listen to the music that floated on its waves. He had known life in other forms than those of pastoral simplicity, having mingled in the gay and in the busy scenes of the world, but the flattering portrait of mankind, which his heart had delineated in early youth, his experience had too sorrowfully corrected. Yet, amidst the changing visions of life, his principles remained unshaken, his benevolence unchilled; and he retired from the multitude 'more in pity than in anger,' to scenes of simple nature, to the pure delights of literature, and to the exercise of domestic virtues."

"He was a descendant from the younger branch of an illustrious family, and it was designed, that the deficiency of his patrimonial wealth should be supplied either by a splendid alliance in marriage, or by success in the intrigues of public affairs. But St. Aubert had too nice a sense of honour to fulfil the latter hope, and too small a portion of ambition to sacrifice what he called happiness, to the attainment of wealth. After the death of his father he married a very amiable woman, his equal in birth, and not his superior in fortune. The late Monsieur St. Aubert's liberality, or extravagance, had so much involved his affairs, that his son found it necessary to dispose of a part of the family domain, and, some years after his marriage, he sold it to Monsieur Quesnel, the brother of his wife, and retired to a small estate in Gascony, where conjugal felicity, and parental duties, divided his attention with the treasures of knowledge and the illuminations of genius."

This excerpt sounds so JA - not only the content, but also the writing style.  This deserves more study....you say?  A few comments:

I am beginning, just beginning mind you, to think that there is more to Udolpho than I had imagined.  Everyone "dismisses" it as a "gothic horror" (that is the impression I got at least) and they may have missed a vital point.  "Unbelievable!  Impossible!," she said incredulously!  Where, oh where have we been led astray?

For an applicable description for contrasting "academics" versus "us", I will quote an excerpt from the "Editorial Reviews" on  the Amazon page for The Janeites:

"...the "Janeite," the zealous reader and fan whose devotion to the novels has been frequently invoked and often derided by the critical establishment. Jane Austen has long been considered part of a great literary tradition, even legitimizing the academic study of novels. However, the Janeite phenomenon has not until now aroused the curiosity of scholars interested in the politics of culture. Rather than lament the fact that Austen today shares the headlines with her readers, the contributors to this collection inquire into why this is the case, ask what Janeites do, and explore the myriad appropriations of Austen--adaptations, reviews, rewritings, and appreciations--that have been produced since her lifetime."

At RoP my attention was directed to the morality found in Fielding's Tom Jones, It was beginning to sound like something I might like to read - as Jane would say, something with "reflection" in it.  How much, and I lament again, how much have we been led astray?  I would have never  bothered to read Fielding without such a recommendation.  I think, too, that "Hollywood" has had a big hand in leading us astray.

And there is more to NA you say?  I can hardly wait.

Your post about "another JA gripe" brought this rant on.  I simply can't read and study everything fast enough.  However, I may sneak out to see that movie Dave is talking about - just for fun!

Regards,
Linda

Dear Linda,

Thank you for supplying the link to the Rambler #97 mentioned in the footnote to Northanger Abbey. (Here is the link to the table of contents at that site.)

I think I can see what was bothering Jane Austen; here are some quotes from Richardson's article.

"Modesty and diffidence, gentleness and meekness, were looked upon as the appropriate virtues and characteristick graces of the [gentler] sex. And if a forward spirit pushed itself into notice, it was exposed in print as it deserved ... The churches were almost the only places where single women were to be seen by strangers. Men went thither expecting to see them; and perhaps too much for that only purpose."

...

"... Women are always most observed, when they seem themselves least to observe, or to lay out for observation. The eye of a respectful lover loves rather to receive confidence from the withdrawn eye of the fair-one, than to find itself obliged to retreat."

...

"That a young lady should be in love, and the love of the young gentleman undeclared, is an heterodoxy which prudence, and even policy, must not allow. ... Oh, Mr. Rambler! forgive the talkativeness of an old man! When I courted and married my Laetitia, then a blooming beauty, every thing passed just so! But how is the case now?"

...

"In the summer there are in every country town assemblies; Tunbridge, Bath, Cheltenham, Scarborough! What expence of dress and equipage is required to qualify the frequenters for such emulous appearance? ... As to the ladies who frequent those publick places, they are not ashamed to shew their faces wherever men dare go, nor blush to try who shall stare most impudently, or who shall laugh loudest on the publick walks ... The men who would make good husbands, if they visit those places, are frighted at wedlock, and resolve to live single, except they are bought at a very high price. They can be spectators of all that passes, and, if they please, more than spectators, at the expence of others. The companion of an evening, and the companion for life, require very different qualifications."

...

"... should your expostulations and reproofs have no effect upon those who are far gone in fashionable folly, they may be retailed from their mouths to their nieces, (marriage will not often have intitled these to daughters) when they, the meteors of a day, find themselves elbowed off the stage of vanity by other flutterers; for the most admired women cannot have many Tunbridge, many Bath seasons to blaze in; since even fine faces, often seen, are less regarded than new faces, the proper punishment of showy girls, for rendering themselves so impolitickly cheap."

OK, so Richardson deserves Jane Austen's raillery - her thoughts are accurate and at about the right level of admonition. BUT, the form of attack? - a footnote and citation in a novel? To me, that seems like overkill. I think that Richardson showed his age in this event - a bit crotchety - and, Jane Austen showed hers - over-reacted a bit.

I will have more to say about the nature of a few other parts of Northanger Abbey that seem inconsistent with - less well honed than the other novels that our Lady had an opportunity to rewrite to her complete satisfaction. That essay of mine will appear at the first of the year.

Dear Laurie et al.,

Hoping by now that your finals are done, I have my book in hand ready to start the reading of Udolpho if you (all) are.  I have the 1966 edition with an introduction by Bonamy Dobrée which I have read for background.

If you wish we could start with Volume I, the first 4 chapters.  In my book that covers 48 pages which should get us through the introductory phase.  If this is okay, "holler" - as we say in the South.

My book also has a Chronology of Ann Radcliffe in it which notes her book The Female Advocate, or, an Attempt to recover the Rights of Women from Male Usurpation. I thought that sounded very interesting.  I am begining to realize that the feminist movement has been happening for quite some time, especially when you remember Mary Wollenstonecraft was writing about the same time.  That is starting to sound like another "study" to be done!
Linda

Dear Linda,

First of all, thank you very much for the Moby-Dick links.  My brother found them very helpful.

Second, I also had to order Udolpho but I should have it in my hands by the end of this week or early next week.  I'll let you know as soon as I get it.  Thanks again!

Dear Voices,

I finished reading Sanditon by Jane Austen and Another Lady.  I recently discovered another version titled Charlotte by Julia Barrett.  Reading the part written by the Lady made you long for our Dear Jane.  There was a definite difference.  I will give the Lady an "E" for effort since her part did give us some closure without going as far afield as I have heard Miss Barrett's version described.

Jane has given us quite a slate of characters, and it would have been interesting to know exactly what she had in mind for them.  I made a page of notes on Jane's part - there was only one note on the rest of the novel.  Here is one example from Jane:

Ahh, did I say I miss Jane?

Okay Dave, I have read it and the memory is fast fading, if you have any further comments make it quick before I lose my notes, please!

Dear Linda,

You're one up on me. On my way to Sanditon I got sidetracked into reading a couple of biographies of Jehanne La Pucelle and Confederate clergymen. I'll catch up as soon as I can.

Merry Christmas to all!

Dear Voices,

I know this is a little off-topic, but I'm trying to help my brother do his paper on Moby Dick.  He has a copy of the book, but we think it's abridged and the part he needs isn't in it.  Do any of you know of a site that might have the full version of it?  Also, if you know of any reputable sites that have critical information on Moby Dick it would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

Dear Laurie,

I found this site for the entire novel of Moby Dick. I have book marked several on line sites which carry novels, so that if I don't find it one place, I will on another.

I put "Moby Dick" in the britannica.com site and you might want to check out this list of sites which include some criticism.   Over the past year of having my computer I have book marked many reference sites - it is like having a world wide library at your fingertips.  Hope this helps.
Linda

Dear Voices,

I don't know about the Chinese attitude toward Our Dear Jane. Jonesy and her younger sister were born in Yokohama and they are both Janeites. Their mother, who prefers to read novels in Japanese, has not, as far as I know, read any Jane Austen. I do know that Masako, my mother-in-law, is an Annie (Anne of Green Gables fan) and that she liked Anna Karenina.

From my glancing knowledge of Japanese literature, I wouldn't be surprised to find that Jane Austen among the Japanese, although ODJ is a little more emotionally subdued than a lot of Japanese novels. Now that I think of it, considering the fact that Faulkner and Mishima are so popular in Japan, it is a wonder that Miss Austen would be popular considering that Faulkner and Mishima tend toward the Gothic. But then Remains of the Day was written by a Japanese man raised in England, and one wouldn't call that novel an emotional cauldron.

Most of the Chinese I've known have been from Taiwan and they've been anything but parochial. It may have been because there has been no particular area of Southern California where they have settled. They have their churches and commercial areas, but nothing like Chinatown in San Francisco or New York (LA's Chinatown is pretty small).

There was an article in American Enterprise magazine written by a Chinese woman who was raised in Oakland that may explain why many of the Chinese in Northern California remain somewhat insular. After all, you can be called "Chink" only so many times before one decides that one is safer with one's own.

Anyway, I'm kind of looking forward to seeing this Ang Lee movie. If nothing else, it sounds like it'll be interesting. It's not often that one sees people floating in the air.

Links

Back to the Bulletin Board

Table of Contents

Index & Archive

References & Links

The Male-Voices Home Page