Jane Austen's defence of the novel in Northanger Abbey is famous. Not only does the hero, Henry Tilney, tell the heroine Catherine, that: The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid ... but Austen, in an authorial comment early in the book, says ... … Continue reading Jane Austen on reading novels
Jane Austen
Delicious descriptions from Down under: Jane Austen on politics
I was going to label this post "Jane Austen and plus ça change" but then decided to be provocative, because Austen is regularly criticised for not discussing politics, what was happening in her time, in her novels. Of course, I disagree that novelists have to specifically write about the political background to their stories. Those … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down under: Jane Austen on politics
Jane Austen’s letters, 1796-1800
For the past five years my Jane Austen group has been reading Jane Austen's letters in a rather higgledy piggdledy manner*. We have nearly finished now. We have just done her first letters, and next year we will conclude, logically at last, on her final letters. What a fascinating time we've been having. Jane Austen's … Continue reading Jane Austen’s letters, 1796-1800
Happy 200th birthday to Pride and prejudice
It is a truth ... no, I can't go there but, just in case you haven't caught up with the news, I'm here to tell you that today, January 28, is the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's most popular novel, Pride and prejudice. And so I've decided to give Monday Musings a break this week … Continue reading Happy 200th birthday to Pride and prejudice
What did Jane Austen look for in a novel?
There are those who don't get Jane Austen. Some think her novels are silly romances while others think that she writes stories about the well-to-do who, they feel, aren't relevant or worthy subjects. Nothing, really, could be further from the truth. Her novels may be romantic but they are more than simple romances. Jane Austen … Continue reading What did Jane Austen look for in a novel?
William Gilpin, Jane Austen and the picturesque
I was introduced to William Gilpin by Jane Austen. Well, not by her so much as by her brother, Henry, who told us* that she was "enamoured of Gilpin on the Picturesque at a very early age". This month my local Jane Austen group decided to look a little more deeply at Gilpin, his Picturesque, … Continue reading William Gilpin, Jane Austen and the picturesque
Virginia Woolf on Jane Austen’s Love and freindship
A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Jane Austen's juvenilia work, Love and freindship. I wanted, then, to share with you Virginia Woolf's take on Jane and the work, but decided it would be better as its own post, so here I am again. Woolf was quite an essayist, as you probably know, as well … Continue reading Virginia Woolf on Jane Austen’s Love and freindship
Jane Austen, Love and freindship (Review)
If you are a Jane Austen fan, you don't just read her six novels. You read her letters, her unfinished works and her juvenilia. And you read them more than once. So it is that I have just - for my local Jane Austen group - reread Love and freindship (sic), the short epistolary novel … Continue reading Jane Austen, Love and freindship (Review)
Jane Austen’s letters, 1801-1806
The years from 1801 to 1806 were somewhat unsettled if not downright traumatic years for Jane Austen. In December 1800 her father retired and her parents decided to move themselves and their two daughters to Bath. And then in 1805 her father died, suddenly. She writes to her brother, Francis, on 21 January (Letter 40) … Continue reading Jane Austen’s letters, 1801-1806
PD James, Death comes to Pemberley (Review, sorta)
How do you review or evaluate a Jane Austen "sequel"*? Do we expect, want even, the author to channel Austen? I suspect the answer is as varied as are the readers of sequels, and it probably depends on why we read Austen. Those who are mostly interested in the stories and what happens to the characters … Continue reading PD James, Death comes to Pemberley (Review, sorta)
Whispering Gums 