Review: SENSE AND SENSIBILITY -- Where I address the similarities between Jane Austen and The Beatles

As part of the Austen25 Project I am reading some/all of Jane Austen's novels this year in celebration of what will be her 250th birthday. The project suggests reading her books in publication order, so began with Sense and Sensibility. 

In mid-January I set up a plan to read the novel in an orderly way so I would complete it by month's end. (See plan here.) I blew right past my plan and finished the novel well ahead of schedule and have since sat on this review.

What can I say about Jane Austen and about her first published novel that hasn't already been said? Why am I compelled to read Jane Austen novels over and over again? Are there other authors, groups, or events which I feel similarly compelled to read/attend/listen to/watch like I do with Jane Austen? 

These thoughts rattled around in my brain for the few weeks it took me to read Sense and Sensibility. During that same time, I checked out yet another book about The Beatles from the public library and consumed it in less than a day. The two aren't connected, are they? Jane Austen and The Beatles? An unlikely but definite connection between the two started to coalesce in my brain.

What do Jane Austen and The Beatles have to do with each other? I turn to both of them for comfort.

Back in 2016, when Trump won his first election I found myself in a true funk. I could barely function yet I found true comfort in watching, and rewatching the old Jane Austen movies I own on DVD. It was as if I was too fragile emotionally to watch modern TV shows or movies, but movies set in the 1800s were fine. There is also something so comforting in Jane Austen books/movies about how things always seem to work out in the end. In Sense and Sensibility not only does Marianne get over her deadly fever but she finds solace and comfort in her friendship and eventual love for Col. Brandon. Elinor is resigned that her life will go on without Edward Ferrars -- at least she has her sisters-- when all the sudden he pops up, clears up all the confusion. and declares his love. Something very similar happens in all six of J.A.'s novels. In Mansfield Park, for example Austen says, "I only entreat everybody to believe that exactly at the time when it was natural that is should be so, and not a week earlier, Edmund did cease to care for Miss Crawford, and became as anxious to marry Fannie..." It reminds me of the phrase, "Everything will be okay in the end. If it is not okay, it's not the end." I needed to remind myself that everything would be okay in the end and found that message in J.A. novels.

Right after I recovered enough from my post-election funk to be able to stop watching the steady stream of Jane Austen films, I started a two-year oddly timed fascination with the Beatles. I'd always loved the Fab Four but this was something new. I was fully involved in a personal Beatlemania in 2017 and most of 2018. I read many, many books about the group, listened to their songs incessantly, and made several posting about my obsession. (See Beatlemania, Beatlemania Part 2, Sgt. Pepper at 50, Dreaming the Beatles, Tell Me Why, Beatlemania Part Three, and a ton of references made by me about the Beatles in my Sunday Salon Posts. Reflecting back on this time period, smack in the middle of the first Trump term, I wanted to be transported back to a happier more innocent time for me. Listening to Beatles music caused me to recall happy memories from my childhood. While listening to the Beatles I could disappear from the cares of the current time for a short while. 

Rerun 2024/25. Trump wins again. I'm off TV, especially any kind of political news. Once again I find comfort in Austen books (starting with Sense and Sensibility this past month) and films (I rewatched the Emma Thompson version of S&S last week.) Also the urge to learn more about the Beatles returns. I watched a documentary about the Beatles in America and read a book about the same topic, both in January. 

Like drinking a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows on a cold day, I draw comfort from both Jane Austen books/movies and Beatles songs. It may not be the most proactive thing I can do for self care but it works.

Not exactly a review of a favorite novel, but it's what I got for you today.

-Anne

Austen25: Sense and Sensibility -- I Begin

Joining Austen25 to honor a favorite writer as we near her 250th birthday, this month we are reading Sense and Sensibility, Austen's first published work. I joined the project just this week, so I am behind and will have to play catch up in order to finish the book by the end of the month.

My plan is to read a set number of pages a day. The edition I am reading was published by Barnes and Noble Classics in 2004 with an introduction by Laura Engel. It has 312 pages. Dividing up the days left means I need to read a minimum of 21 pages each day through the end of the month. Doable.

In the introduction, Laura Engel describes Sense and Sensibility as "a coming-of-age novel and also a work that chronicles Austen's own 'coming of age' -- her development as a writer" (xi). When Austen began working on "Elinor and Marianne" she was only twenty and surely thought she had the possibility of marriage and motherhood ahead of her. By the time the book was finally completed fifteen years later, her circumstances were quite different. She'd been disappointed in love, lost her father, moved two times and now lived in Chawton with her mother and sister, Cassandra. 

In the early parts of the novel, Marianne and Elinor, though close-knit sisters, struggle to communicate openly with one another. In Austen's world women were not encouraged to reveal too much about themselves. Rather they had to "perfect the art of innuendo, leading questions, and disguised sentiments. The slippery properties of language became a heroine's greatest weapon" (xiii). I'm only on page 42 and already I've seen example after example of the ways women attempted to find out information without asking directly or being very frank with one another. Throughout the story, Engels tells us, women characters had trouble understanding Elinor and Marianne and this was likely due to the misuse or misunderstanding of language. One has to wonder if this is the way people misunderstood Austen herself. 

Austen played a lot with the theme of both sense and of sensibility throughout the book. It is generally thought that Elinor is full of sense, leading with her head. While Marianne, who is much more emotive than her older sister, always seemed to lead with her heart. But other characters show off their sense and sensibility, too. "It is the characters with the least sense who got the most airtime and those with the most important news who are ignored" (xx). For example, Willoughby makes fun of the more staid Col. Brandon by saying "whom every body speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to" (42). And Marianne recognizes her faux-pas in speaking too frankly and openly. "I have erred against every common-place notion of decorum; I have been open and sincere where I ought to have been reserved" (40).

This is a reread of Sense and Sensibility for me. I first read it in 2013 where I decided to read and write a reflection on my blog once a week after reading a minimum of 50 pages. I invited other readers to join me, but no one did and I think few people even read my weekly posts about the book. I am posting links to them below, in the event you want to take a peek at any of them. For each entry I summarized the action from that week's reading, reacted to something surprising in the text, and then posed a question which sometimes I attempted to answer. This process of summary and questioning helped me read the book to its completion. A year earlier I had attempted to read Emma and found myself floundering until I changed tactics and challenged myself to stay on a reading/examining schedule. If you find yourself having a similar problem you may want to adopt a similar tactic to read the Austen or other classic books.

• Sense and Sensibility Week #1, May 2013. 
• S & S, Week #2, May 2013.
• S & S, Week #3, June 3, 2013.
• Week #4 update, June 11, 2013
• S & S #5 Update, June 18, 2013
• Final Sense and Sensibility Update, June 25, 2023.

Oddly, in all my updates from 2013, I never mentioned the introduction by Laura Engel. I bet I didn't even read it then. Since that time I find myself always reading the introductions included with classic book editions, finding insights I know I would have missed without them. One more piece of advice from me to you -- read the introductions. Tee-hee.

Now I am off to read my daily page installment.

-Anne 

Austen25 -- A 2025 Project

In conjunction with Brona @This Reading Life and her yearlong #ReadingAusten25 project, The Classics Club is hosting a Sync Read (or readalong) of all six of Jane Austen’s novels, in chronological order) throughout 2025.

• January 2025 – read Sense and Sensibility (1811) with your guest host Brona
• March 2025 – read Pride and Prejudice (1813) with your guest host Meredith
• May 2025 – read Mansfield Park (1814) with your guest host Mary
• July 2025 – read Emma (1816) with your guest host Christina
• September 2025 – read Northanger Abbey (1818) with your guest host Adam B.
• November 2025 – read Persuasion (1818) with your guest host Adam S.

January is all about Sense and Sensibility.

Getting a late start on this one, but have been feeling the need to immerse myself in Austen again, so here I am joining another reading project.

Here are a few notes by the host of this project and the first book:

Sense and Sensibility was first published in 1811 anonymously, By A Lady.

Jane Austen wrote the first draft of the novel in epistolary form perhaps as early as 1795 when she was about 19 years old. Novels-in-letters was a style she was playing with at this time, as Lady Susan also dates from this time (1794) and Pride and Prejudice more than likely began life as epistolary fiction in 1796/7.

Her working title was Elinor and Marianne.

In November 1797, Austen began working on her manuscript again and converted it into a narrative (just thinking about the work involved in making this dramatic change makes my head spin).

In 1809/10 she gave it a final edit before submitting it to the publisher Thomas Egerton of the Military Library publishing house in London, with her brother, Henry’s assistance. Egerton accepted the manuscript for publication in three volumes. Austen not only paid to have the book published but also paid the publisher a commission on sales. Jane Austen made £140 in sales from the first edition of Sense and Sensibility. About £24,000 in today’s money. --Brona

And we're off.

-Anne

Austen in August---It's a Wrap!

End of the month. End of Austen in August for another year. It was a good month providing me with another opportunity to discover me about a favorite author. Though I didn't read as much as I wanted, when do I? I really enjoyed (am enjoying) what I did get read.

Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Qin Leng
A darling picture book of Jane Austen focusing a lot on what life was like for Jane as a girl growing up in the late 1700s/early 1800s. The illustrations are simply charming. This would be a nice book to provide an introduction to authors for children by a librarian or parent because I doubt that young children will have heard of any of Austen's novels.


Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey: a graphic novel by Jane Austen and Nancy Butler, illustrated by Janet Lee.
I've read four of Austen's novel in graphic form, part of the Marvel Adaptations series, and enjoyed them all. I, however, prefer the stories in their original form. The fun aspect of this graphic novel is how the artist was able to capture the Gothic feel that Austen was going for while penning Northanger Abbey. Several darkly drawn panels let the reader know that Catherine thought foul-play was aloft. One beef I have with the artwork is how similar several of the characters look. Catherine, Isabella, and Eleanor all look interchangeable. Now I, being familiar with the story, took my time to figure out who was who, but I not sure that the casual reader would take the time. Reading this graphic novel did make me want to go back and re-read the original and to re-watch the DVD which I own. I've read all of Austen's novels at least once, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion at least three times each, but it has been a long time since I read this one.

The Friendly Jane Austen: A Well-Mannered Introduction to a Lady of Sense and Sensibility by Natalie Tyler
Oh boy, I am having fun with this book. Ms. Tyler has done her homework and gives Jane Austen fans what they want...more information about Austen. To begin with she asks the question, How Do We Love Jane Austen? Let Us Count the Ways. The reader then takes a quiz to determine what type of fan school he/she belongs in: Janite; Gentle Jane; Ironic Jane; or Subversive Jane. Not surprisingly, I am a Janite through and through.

Next up, Part 1 covers Jane's early life and her juvenilia. What was it like living in those days? What about her siblings and parents? Where did she live and why did they move? How did her writing grow and change? All these questions and more were answered in this section. Text would often be broken up with text boxes with information which seemed like little asides. For example, one text box contained the names of famous people who lived during the same time as Austen---Beethoven, William Wordsworth, and Sir Walter Scott being three on the list. Illustrations related to Austen done by relatives are infrequent but add a nice touch. For example, Jane's niece, Anna Lefroy, made a nice drawing of the Steventon Rectory where Jane was born and lived until she was 24. My favorite bits in this section were samples of and explanations of Jane's early writings. Short quotes from her various stories were shared. And a timeline explanation of each of her pieces of "juvenilia" is very helpful to my understanding.

Part II, where I am currently in my reading of the book, explains each of her major works in detail. In addition to her own research, Tyler interviews college professors with knowledge related to Austen. Each interview is recorded in a short dialogue with the professor answering only one or two questions like, Why aren't Austen's novel considered part of Romanticism movement? or Why study Austen? There is a quiz in each of the seven sections in this part. I just took the quiz: Letter Writing in the Novels. The directions were to match the characters that wrote the following letter with its intended character recipient. I did pretty good but didn't know the quote from Sanditon nor did I guess this one. Can you? (Name the book, the character writing,  and the character recipient. No cheating.)

"A poor honorable is no catch, and I cannot imagine any liking in the case, for, take away his rants, and the poor Baron has nothing. What a difference a vowel makes!---if his rents were but equal to his rants." (I will put the answer in the comments section...how'd you do?)

Part III, which I haven't read yet, is about Jane Austen's legacy---the film adaptations, the continuations, sequels, and spin-offs, JASNA, JA retreats, etc. Can't wait to get to this section.

The book is nicely referenced, with an index, bibliography, and illustration credits section at the end. As I type this post, I realize that I want my own copy of this book for further study and delight. It contains too much information to take in at once and I know I want to go back and look up something is it long after I have to return this copy to the library.

I had a lovey August with Austen

Austen in August...Back from the Library

It is August. You know what that means. It is time for some Jane Austen books and activities. This year I visited the public library and requested a plethora of books about, by, and pretending to be by Jane Austen. I've just arrived home with the first batch.

First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen by Charlie Lovett

It starts with the question: Could Jane Austen have stolen the plot of Pride and Prejudice?

I don't know, I hope to find out.

Adult. Fiction. c. 2014

The Friendly Jane Austen: A Well-Mannered Introduction to a lady of Sense and Sensibility

 by Natalie Tyler

A book full of endless revelations and witty insights for diehard Austen fans and new converts to Jane admiring. Reading this book is supposed to be like stepping into the happy world of her fiction.

Nonfiction. c. 1999

The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen by Shannon Winslow

A novel wherein she tell her own story of lost love, second chances, and finding her happy ending.

Adult. Fiction. c. 2014

Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Qin Leng

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is one of our greatest writers. But before that, she was just an ordinary girl."

Children's Picture Book. Nonfiction. c. 2018.

Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey by Nancy Butler, illustrated by Janet Lee and Nick Filardi

A graphic novel published by Marvel, part of a series of Austen books adapted by Nancy Butler.

YA. Fiction. 2012.

Austen in August!

Yippee!

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Diane Johnson, writing for the NY Times Review of Books, aptly titled her review of Longbourn by Jo Baker, "Pride, Prejudice and Drudgery." Unlike the many, many books written as continuations of Pride and Prejudice, Longbourn is the story of the servants of the Bennet family residing at thier ancestral home called Longbourn. Therefore, it in not a continuation of a favorite story but a filling in of the details. The outline of the original frames this tale but the details are about the drudgery of lives of the servants who serve the upper and middle class of the day.

Sarah, mentioned only briefly in Pride and Prejudice, is a housemaid and the majority of Longbourn is told from her point of view. In addition there are Mr. and Mrs. Hill, the housekeeper and cook and her husband who, though elderly, handles the horses and the wine cellar. Polly, a young servant of only twelve or so, is an orphan whose life as a servant is considerably better than the alternative, is a housemaid in training. James Smith, is hired as a footman but has a back story which unfolds like a mystery. He appears after several chapters and disappears around midpoint of the story, adding more mystery to his story.

While the Bennet girls are preparing for balls, or walks, or meals it is the servants who do all the work. If a hem is muddied, or a cloth torn, it is the servants who clean and mend. When the girls menstruate, it is the servants who washed out the rags, and with five girls menstruating at the same time, that would be no small task. If they attend a ball, the servants have to wait outside in the cold, or stay up to attend them when they return home. And think of the chamber pots that needed to be emptied every morning. Drudgery indeed.

Yet, like the servants in the popular TV series, "Downton Abbey", the servants of Longbourn have a life of their own. They have dreams and plans. They fall in love, and have crushes. They get sick. They feel lonely. They become victims of gossip, so must always live their lives with scrupulous attention to decorum, so as not to shame their employers.

Lest you think the book sound tedious, all about dusting, and washing out rags, fetching water, and rubbing down horses, it really is a wonderful story. Jo Baker obviously did her homework so the book reads as a nice companion to Austen's work. Baker includes details in her work lending to its credibility and takes characters we already know and love and twists their story around a bit for interest. For example, Margaret Hill (Mrs. Hill) and Mr. Bennet had a fling before he married Mrs. Bennet and started a family; Mr. Bennet wasn't nearly as kind and thoughtful as in the original and Mrs. Bennet was a bit more sympathetic; Mr. Wickham is even more dastardly than in the original book; and Lydia has a sweet side and a sweet tooth. Mr. Darcy barely shows up and Mr. Collins isn't nearly such a bumbling fool. Jane and Elizabeth are still kind but also oblivious to the needs and desires of the servants. In one exchange, Sarah asked Elizabeth if she knew anything about the disappearance of Mr. Smith. Elizabeth looks at Sarah blankly before exclaiming, "Oh you mean Smith, the footman. When you called him Mr. Smith I thought you meant someone of my acquaintance, a gentleman."

Austen, who was raised in an upper, middle class family like the Bennets probably was just as oblivious to the servants as was Elizabeth. She didn't mean to be snobby, it just was a condition of the time.

The real interest in the book for me were the stories and characters that were not in Pride and Prejudice, or were only briefly mentioned---slavery, the Napoleon War, and life outside of servitude. New characters were added to tell these stories and they added a fullness and richness I wasn't expecting.

As I finished up Longbourn and added it to my 'completed books' list at Goodreads, I happened to notice all the poor reviews for it at that site. It seemed like all the reviews were variations on the same thing---"OMG. Longbourn isn't Pride and Prejudice and Baker isn't Austen, so I couldn't stand it." I was shocked at the shallowness of the reviews. Of course it isn't Austen, but Longbourn does a great service to the original, it fills out the story and gives us insights into life for everyone during the Regency period. I, for one, liked and appreciated the book a lot.

As a devoted Janite, I am glad I read it. But I didn't just do it for myself, I also read the book to fulfill my commitment to read a Jane Austen-related book this month in the Austen in August Challenge and it is an upcoming book club selection. I wonder what the gals in my club will think of the book?

Have you read it? What do you think of it? Do you like to read Jane Austen retellings and/or continuations? I am a sucker for them but they always lead me back to the originals.

Austen in August---Challenge complete

 I finished my Austen in August Challenge selection yesterday.
Austen in August is hosted by Roof Beam Reader. Check out his site.

What Matters Most in Jane Austen? Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved.

by John Mullan

Let me summarize the last five essays then I will review the whole book. Feel free to go back and read the weekly updates made prior to this post to get a fuller picture of the book and the questions that Professor Mullan is attempting to answer about the writing of Jane Austen. 

Austen in August begins.

What Matters Most in Jane Austen? First update, Introduction to essay 6

What Matters Most in Jane Austen? Second update, essays 7-9

What Matters Most in Jane Austen? Third update, essays 10-15

16. Are Ill People Really to Blame for Their Illnesses? The early 1800s was a frightening time to become ill. Apothecaries and surgeons were battling it out as to whose methods were best. There were no antibiotics. Mercury and lead were not known poisons. The medical practice of bloodletting was common. Little was known about germs. Colds were thought to be caught from being out in the rain and getting wet. Frightening. Is it any wonder that so many of Austen's characters were hypochondriacs? The biggest of these hypochondriacs is Mr, Woodhouse who calls himself a 'sad invalid', and Mary Musgrove who foresees 'that she should not have a day's health all autumn.' Women were expected or at least accepted for histrionics. Mrs. Bennet completely falls apart when she learns about Lydia and Wickham; Marianne won't eat or even speak after Willoughby leaves AND this was before she knew for sure the relationship was over. Only in Persuasion do we see real illnesses and infirmities: crippling diseases or wounds. No doubt illness played a big role in the lives of people living in Austen's day, so it is not surprising she included it in her stories. 

17. What Makes Characters Blush? Here is a topic on which I have never thought about before. Blushing. "Austen requires her reader to be an interpreter of blushes." She also often using blushing to confuse characters. For example, Fanny blushes at something Mary Crawford says. Mary thinks she is blushing because she is happy or shy, really Fanny is angry or upset. Here are some of the wonderful blushing moments from her books: 'She blushed, and Jane blushed; but the cheeks of the two who caused the confusion, suffered no variation in color.' (Jane and Elizabeth blush, those who should be blushing, Wickham and Lydia, don't in P and P.) 'Elizabeth blushed and blushed again with shame and vexation.' (Mrs. Bennet is "so embarrassing because she is immune to embarrassment" in P and P.) Fanny has 'soft skin...so frequently tinged with blush.' (Henry Crawford notices Fanny Price because of her blushes in MP.) 'Their eyes instantly met, and the cheeks of both overspread with the deepest blush.' (Darcy and Elizabeth happen upon each other at Pemberley in P and P.) When Lady Russell hints to Anne (Persuasion) at a 'possible attachment' and a 'desirableness of the alliance' with her cousin, Mr. Elliot, Anne 'only smiled, blushed, and gently shook her head.' So many blushes, so few books full of them. I am going to start paying attention to modern literature.  Do our characters still blush?

18. What Are the Right and Wrong Ways to Propose Love?  I guess we can all agree that proposing by letter is not a good idea. Poor Robert Martin in Emma learned that the hard way. Had he asked Henrietta in person I'm sure she would have said yes and the whole book would have fallen apart at that point. Unbelievably marriage proposals by letter were not uncommon in Austen's day, Apparently there were even letter-writing manuals which provided templates for doing so. Wouldn't that be a shock to discover that your beloved ask you for your hand in marriage by using a template? Lengthy courtships were not the fad, either.  Charlotte Lucas tells Elizabeth her sister Jane 'should...make the most of every half-hour in which she can command his [Bingley's] attention. When she is secure of him, there will be more leisure for falling in love as much as she chooses.' Secure him first, love second. "In Austen, a man's declaration of love is (or should be) the same as a marriage proposal." Elinor thought Marianne and Willoughby were engaged because she was sure they had declared their love. It took us a book to learn that such words had never been spoken aloud.

19. When does Jane Austen Speak Directly to the Reader? I have always been shocked when Austen does this. I am reading along and suddenly Austen inserts herself into the story. What I didn't realize is that other writers of the day did this with some frequency. Usually she inserts herself near the end of the tale as in the ending of Pride and Prejudice where we learn of the happiness of Mrs. Bennet at marrying off three of her daughters when Austen breaks in, 'I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire of the establishment of so many of her children, produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life.' Regrettably she remains a silly woman, "even Austen cannot change her." I love that idea that Austen created her but cannot control her. Ha! The author enters Mansfield Park "nudging us into accepting what the novel was not going to show." In Persuasion Austen again speaks in first person to the reader "in order to signal a withdrawal from the lives she invented." In Northanger Abbey the author is present throughout. This may account for why this book feels so different than her other novels "we are constantly reminded of the author's presence, arranging and commenting and speaking as herself." And in the last chapter sign-off she tells the readers she is aware she has compressed some of the details. Do we like Austen so much because we feel her presence with us while we are reading her books? Just a thought.

20. How Experimental a Novelist Is Jane Austen? "Jane Austen knew her novels were different...it can be seen in her book/booklet 'Plan of a Novel [1816].' Austen did not create perfect heroines, for one thing. "Austen's interest in her heroine;s faults and errors was in itself something extraordinary in fiction."Some critics believe that Austen was the first extensive practitioners of what is called the free indirect style." In this style both thoughts and actions are integrated into the narrative. Through Austen's mastery of this style we not only know how a character behaves but how these actions are affecting him internally. "Any novelist can tell us what a character feels; Austen developed a means of declining to tell us." I'm not sure I completely understand this writing technique (obviously) but suffice it to say that it is one of things that sets Austen apart from other authors.

For an Austen-geek like myself this book was a treasure trove of information and insights. I doubt someone who has not read all or most of Austen's novels would find it very engaging. Characters and plots are not introduced assuming that anyone who would pick up this book wouldn't need such introductions. In a few places I got lost, especially the last were her experimental style of writing was extolled. Oh well, I guess I just need to read and study more. I was fascinated by the insights Mullan provided about topics like marriage proposals, blushing, the games they played, and what they call each other. I shall think of these things every time I reread one of Austen's books. And speaking of rereading, I now have an insatiable urge to do just that. I have decided to reread Sanditon, this time with some help of the Internet to determine which bit Austen wrote verses the bits written by 'a lady.'

I'm assuming if you have read all the way to the bottom of this post you too are an Austen fan. For you, I do recommend this well-written and well-documented book.

Austen in August...update, the third

Austen in August is a reading challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader. I am reading What Matters in Jane Austen? The book is divided into twenty essays that answer questions about different elements in her writing. My goal is to not only finish the book this month but to blog about it at least once a week. Below is my third weekly update. I will highlight a few things from each chapter, by no means are my summaries comprehensive.

10. What Games Do Characters Play? I've always liked it that Jane Austen's characters play game games because we are a game-playing family. I imagine that life during the Regency Period in England would be downright dull for the elite families if they never played at anything. Apparently Jane Austen and her family and friends were all great game-players, too. Though the chapter talks a bit about the actual games that were referenced in her books I had little interest in that. What I was interested in was how Austen used games to advance her plots and introduce plot twists. I've always wondered why Elizabeth didn't join in the game at Netherfield when she was invited by Caroline Bingley. The author, John Mullan, speculated that the game they were playing was likely a form of gambling and real money was being used. Elizabeth knew this and opted not to join in so she wouldn't have to admit to not having enough/any money. In Mansfield Park, Mary Crawford and her brother Henry were great manipulators. They played at life the way they played at games. "Everything really is a game for them, and all the better if they can flaunt their schemes in front of those whom they deceive." At one point Mary announces, 'If I lose the game, it shall not be from not striving for it.' After reading this essay I see the double meaning in her words. We know that she did lose ultimately because she could fool everyone with her games except Fanny Price.

11. Is There Any Sex in Jane Austen? This chapter, unsurprisingly, wasn't as titillating as I had hoped. Yes, some of the characters have sex and Austen even mentions a few. We know that Lydia and Wickham live together for a month before they are forced to get married. We also know that Lydia liked sex in the way she bragged about the experience. Isabel Thorpe has sex with Captain Tilney in Northanger Abbey and hopes the act will secure a marriage proposal. It didn't work out that way in Austen's time just like it doesn't work today. We also learn that several of the male characters in Austen's book rush to marry (Robert Ferrarrs marrying Lucy Steele; Henry Crawford attempting to marry Fanny Price) because they have sexual longings. "In Austen, as in the eighteenth-century novels from which she learned, premarital sex happens because a young woman gets into the hands of a rakish man, not because two people simply cannot resist each other."

12. What Do Characters Say When the Heroine Is Not There? "Austen's heroines are vivid to us because her novels are narrated from their points of view and suffused by their consciousnesses. Yet, one of Austen's devices is to leave her heroine behind, to give us a glimpse of what the world is like in her absence." Occasionally the heroine will leave the room and the narration will continue without her. This way the reader gains insights that the heroine doesn't have yet. For example, when Elizabeth joins Darcy and his sister at Pemberley when she leaves the room Caroline and Mrs. Hurst attempt to make fun of her forcing Darcy to break his silence about what he thinks of her. Sense and Sensibility begins with both Marianne and Elinor getting equal time as the heroine but soon the point of view shifts slowly to reveal mainly Elinor's consciousness. Only in Mansfield Park is one of Austen's heroines often outside the narration. "Her (Fanny Prince's) fate is always to be decided by others...and out of her hearing." We understand Austen's heroines better by "glimpsing things in their absence." This essay, more that any of the others, has really given me new insights into the brilliance of Austen's writing.

13. How Much Money is Enough? Unlike today, the topic of how much money everyone was worth was not a secret in Austen's day. Austen also had an uncanny ability to show the reader how money affected people and their motivations.

14. Why Do Her Plots Rely on Blunders? I am not sure this question was directly answered so I am not sure why her plots rely on blunders but suffice it to say that quite a few of her plots do rely on blunders. Emma is not only full of blunders but uses the actual word "blunders" a dozen times. The most powerful example is when Mr. Knightly finally decides to declare his love and Emma quiets him, thinking he is going to declare his love for Harriet. She quickly decides to allow him to speak his mind and we know the happy results. "Austen loves blunders because they show the difference between what we can understand of her characters, and they can understand of each other." I personally think that Austen gives a nod to her countryman William Shakespeare whenever she includes a blunder into her plot. Shakespeare was the master of misdirection and miscommunication.

15. What Do Characters Read? Jane Austen makes reading a vital part of her character's lives. "Her completed fiction begins in Northanger Abbey, with a heroine (Catherine Moreland) whose errors are entirely the product of books; the Gothic novels that she devours and then confuses with reality." In her last and incomplete novel, Sanditon, Sir Edward Denham has 'read more sentimental novels than agreed with him.' From start to finish her characters interacted with books. Emma was the least likely to read, but she did make reading lists. Marianne would judge people on how well they could read aloud. Fanny, though generally not taken by anything Henry Crawford did, was captivated by his wonderful ability to read aloud.  Even non-readers interact with books. Caroline Bingley, for example, picks up a book when she sees Darcy reading, but she stupidly selects the second volume to the book he is reading. Louisa and Captain Benwick fall in love over the reading of poetry. We are told that Fanny Price first fell in love with Edmund because of the books he recommended she read charmed her so much. "Nothing, we sense, can be more intimate."

Five more days, five more chapters. Will I finish the challenge on time?

Austen in August and other updates

Central Oregon was lovely, as per usual, but I did not do as much reading as intended on my short vacation. In fact, I read nothing from What Matters in Jane Austen? so am dreadfully off the intended pace. Before I talk about this book, here is an update of what I did read this past week...

Our trip to Central Oregon took much longer than anticipated because of bad traffic in the Tacoma area and a forest fire causing a need for a detour over the Mt. Hood pass. Don and I were able to finish the audiobook The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. A nonfiction book about the famous brothers who were first in flight made for fascinating listening.

While stuck in traffic in Tacoma, waiting to pick up Don for our trip south, I listened to a portion of Andrew Smith's latest book, The Alex Crow. It is another weirdly compelling novel by the Boston Globe/Horn Book winner of last year. I finished the book over the week-end, reading the print edition. I will post a review soon.

I made a bit of progress on Ishmael. I am reading this book slower than I usually read books because there is so much philosophy to digest along the way. I took this book with me to the swimming pool and found it to be too heavy for that type of reading.

Lastly, on the way home from Bend, Don and I listened to the audiobook version of Their Eyes Were Watching God which is a wonderful way to consume this classic book since it is written in the Southern Black vernacular of the 1930s. Ruby Dee, the voice actor, does an amazing job reading the text. We weren't able to finish the book on the way home but I continued listening to it as I drove around to all my meetings and appointments yesterday. It is really something.

Austen in August Reading Challenge, update the second.
Austen in August is a reading challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader. I am reading What Matters in Jane Austen? The book is divided into twenty essays that answer questions about what different elements in her writing mean. My goal is to not only finish the book this month but to blog about it at least once a week. Below is my second weekly update. I will highlight a few things from each chapter, by no means are my summaries comprehensive.

7. Why is weather important? Austen was the first novelist to "mark small changes in the weather that anyone might notice on any ordinary day. This is partially for circumstantial precision...but more than this, Austen likes to make her plots turn on the weather." This might not be noticeable unless one looks at her body of work as a whole. For example, it is a rainstorm in Persuasion that brings Captain Wentworth and Anne face to face in a shop only to be interrupted by Mr. Elliot. Suddenly Wentworth realizes he is second to Elliot. "Nothing like a little bad weather to bring matters to a crisis." In another example, Emma finally realizes that she loves Mr. Knightly and has likely thrown away the chance to tell him. The weather matches her mood, rainy and cold. But when a chance sunbreak occurs she goes out to the garden and who should she meet but Knightly. He, after an extra turn around the garden, tells her he loves her. The sudden fine weather is a portent of good things to come.

8. Do we ever see the lower classes? The author of this book, John Mullan, believes that Austen wants her readers to be unsettled by her characters' negligence of the lower orders. Reading Austen's books one will become aware of the servants around the edges. Occasionally characters will mention them or engage with the servants, or even wait to talk about a subject until the servant leaves the room, knowing that servants have ears and nothing will remain confidential otherwise. "In a nice piece of sociological realism on Austen's part, the character who complains the most about servants ... is the impecunious 'slatten' Mrs. Price in Mansfield Park." Fanny hasn't been home for more than a few minutes when her mother starts complaining about Rebecca, the housemaid and her slovenly ways. Yet, Mrs. Price is quite slovenly herself. When she does think to ask about her sisters, Mrs. Price wants to know about the troubles Mrs. Bertram has with her servants. The third sister in the story, Mrs. Norris, is often found bossing around the servants even though they are not employed by her. "Austen's monsters are invariably attentive to the lower orders, for thus they exercise their self-importance."

9. Which important characters never speak? All of the main characters of Austen's novels speak but quite a few of her secondary characters don't. Or these characters may talk all the time but have so little to say that they are never quoted. For example, Captain Benwick plays an important role in Persuasion and he talks a great deal but has no recorded dialogue. "The effect is extraordinary, and surely affects readers who are not necessarily conscious of Benwick's speechlessness...we are left with the suspicion that he is performing by rote...that all his outpouring amounts to no real expression of individual feeling or opinion."  Mrs. Bennet's sister in Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Philips, is a gossip and drops by the house often after the Lydia affair yet none of her words are recorded. "She is very loud, but has nothing to say." She is finally given words very late in the book when she reports, in a gossipy way, that a servant from Netherfield reportedly ordered a great number of ducks from the butcher, signalling Bingley's return. I found this chapter fascinating since I had never even realized how giving characters a chance at quoted dialogue also signals they have something worth listening to. Can you think of any of her other characters who make quite a few appearances without any or just a very few quotes attributed to them?

I am currently in the middle of the tenth essay, What Games Do Characters Play? With twenty essays in all I need to read an essay a day to finish this challenge by the end of the month.

Since finishing The Wright Brothers, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and The Alex Crow I have completed my summer reading challenge. Yay! Let's see how many more books I can cram in before Labor Day, the end date of my challenge.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

30 / 30 books. 100% done!

Austen in August: Update the first.

Austen in August is a reading challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader. I am reading What Matters in Jane Austen? The book is divided into twenty essays that answer questions about what different elements in her writing mean. My goal is to not only finish the book this month but to blog about it at least once a week. Below is my first weekly update. I am just highlighting a few things I've learned from each chapter, by no means are my summaries comprehensive.

Introduction: The author, John Mullan, quotes a Jane Austen contemporary author, Walter Scott, where he writes in his journal after reading Pride and Prejudice for the third time, Jane Austen has a "talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life." He writes more saying that Austen has an "exquisite touch." Mullan decided to write this book and to answer specific questions "in order to reveal their cleverness."

1. How much does age matter? Most characters are younger than the casting directors of the movies think they are. For example Elinor Dashwood, who is such a paragon of strength and composure in her family is nineteen. When the actress Emma Thompson played this role she was thirty-six. A nineteen-year-old with strength and composure is very different than a woman in her thirties. Austen almost always tells the reader somewhere in the text the age of all her characters, not just the main ones. Unmarried girls in their twenties are considered spinsters even though the average age for marriage in Austen's day was similar to ours today, somewhere around twenty-four.

2. Do sisters sleep together? I actually think the title is a bit deceptive since the chapter dwelt more on the topic of sisters and the confidences they share, often in their bedrooms. All of Austen's characters have sisters but only the ones who share bedrooms are close: Marianne and Elinor (S and S); Jane and Elizabeth (P and P); Fanny and Susan, when she is home in Portsmouth (MP). Mullan makes several points about Emma, in particular, not being close to her sister. If she had been then she wouldn't have been as likely to commit so many thoughtless acts. Her sister would have steered her in another direction. Sisterly closeness is not always desired, however. Think about Lydia and Kitty Bennet. Some of their schemes were no doubt thought up in the bedroom.

3. What do the characters call each other? I thought this was the most interesting chapter I read this week. What characters call each other in Austen's books gives the reader a good idea of the societal pecking order in the Regency period in Britain. Husbands may call wives by their first names but not vice versa with one exception, Mary and Charles Musgrove in Persuasion, and they seem to use the other's christian name as a way to pick at them. Emma called her friend Harriet by her christian name, but Harriet called Emma 'Miss Woodhouse.' Mary Crawford called Fanny Price by her christian name, when Fanny wouldn't even call her cousin Edmund by his. People knew their place and the names they called each other was evidence of this. By the way, what is Mr. Bennet's first name?

4. How do Jane Austen's characters look? Austen didn't follow the examples of other authors of her day who always created the most beautiful and handsome characters imaginable. Often Austen's characters were only good looking once they were inspected closely or known better. Darcy doesn't think Elizabeth is pretty enough to tempt in the beginning but soon he is confessing that her eyes are the finest he's ever seen. Anne Elliott has lost her initial bloom which made Wentworth hardly recognize her but after he notices another man (Anne's cousin) eyeing her his jealousy causes him to view her differently and to notice her internal beauty.

5. Who dies in the course of her novels? Aside from Mr. Dashwood who dies almost at the beginning of Sense and Sensibility there are only two others who actually die in the books, and they are minor characters: Mrs. Churchill and Dr. Grant. But even though few people die, death is an ever present specter in her books. Often an early death has impacted a character's life such as how dramatically Anne Elliot felt her mother's loss. The same could be said for Eleanor and Henry Tilney. The threat of possible death also loomed large such as the close calls with Marianne Dashwood and Tom Bertrand. Death was certainly a part of Austen's life so it isn't surprising that it was a recurring theme.

6. Why is it risky to go to the seaside? Because in Austen's novels the seaside is often equated with sexual flirting and love OR bad behavior. The funniest example is Emma who has never been to the seashore, and she really is very naive about love but once she and Mr. Knightly get engaged they plan to go to the seashore for their honeymoon (wink, wink.)

I'm having fun with this book taking a closer look at Austen's "exquisite touch."

More next week...

Austen in August

Today I am embarking on a summer reading challenge: Austen in August hosted by Roof Beam Reader.  This is a one-month event focused on all things Jane Austen, including her primary texts, any re-imaginings of her works, biographies, critical texts, etc. Follow the link for details. You are welcome to join in, too.

This August I will read What Matters in Jane Austen? Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved by John Mullan, is a professor of English at University College in London. He says in his introduction that "accuracy is Austen's genius" and she had an "exquisite touch." In these twenty essays he will answer twenty questions which should help me to better understand her accuracy and exquisite touch. I'm looking forward to it.

My reading goal is to read an essay a day. Each one appears to be approximately fifteen pages, which seems quite doable. After I finish the Introduction I shall delve into the first puzzle, "How Much Does Age Matter?" I also hope to blog about my progress weekly.

I'm off to feed my Jane addiction.

Jane Austen Week in the Library

This past week was the fourth annual Jane Austen Week in my library. This year in honor of the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice we watched the Keira Knightley version of the film every lunch period for the week.  Because of the length of the film (over 2 hours) we didn't have as much time for trivia as in past years.

Highlights:

• An average of ten students per lunch, mostly girls, rushed to the library, carrying their lunches. We have three different lunches at the school.  One lunch had more students than the other two, around 15 students.
• The four out of five of the trivia questions focused on Pride and Prejudice. 
• Prizes issued for lunch winners and the grand prize winner (highest total all lunches) were: 1st Lunch: Hailey chose the book Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman (a Pride and Prejudice retelling); 2nd lunch: Hannah chose a hardback edition of Pride and Prejudice; 3rd lunch Brianna chose a Sayings of Jane Austen book. The grand prize winner of Alicia and she won an antique handkerchief from Great Britain, part of my husband's grandmother's collection.  
• Students sipped on Twinings English Breakfast tea with milk and sugar and nibbled on shortbread while they watched the finale. One gal told me that she had never had before in her life. I hoped she liked it.
• Though most students have seen the movie several times, they all seemed to enjoy the experience. I know I did.

BTW- I just ordered my own set of Jane Austen stamps (see photo above) from the Royal Mail.

3rd and final update on Emma progress

Illustration by C.E. Brock

In an effort to move myself along toward completing Emma by Jane Austen I decided to blog about my progress.  This will be be last installment as I did it,  I finished the book.  Beware there are spoilers ahead.

Weekly progress: Part three, chapter 13 to end.

50 page goal: yes, or I ran out of pages to read, at any rate.

Action: Mr. Knightly returns from London to console Emma and ends up confessing his love for her. Frank writes a super long letter to Mrs. Weston explaining his actions in concealing his engagement to Jane Fairfax. Emma frets about her how her father and Harriet Smith will take the engagement. Mrs. Elton has snotty things to say about Emma. Mr. Knightly agrees to move into Hartfield so that Mr. Woodhouse won't be alone without Emma. He finally is happy about the arrangement when neighboring chicken coops are raided and he sees Mr. Knightly as a protector of his property.

Surprises: I was delighted by how many surprises I encountered in these last few chapters of the book.  The first shocker was that Jane Fairfax actually broke off the secret engagement with Frank Churchill right around the same time as the death of his aunt, so there was a delay in getting all that sorted out before they were happily back together. Next, Harriet Smith was sent by Emma to London for a month to stay with Isabella, Emma's sister, after the engagement. It was Mr. Knightly who told Emma that Mr. Martin and Harriet Smith would be getting married, not Harriet to Emma (as in the movies.) Lastly, and this is a trite surprise, Harriet's parentage was discovered.

Comments: I have always loved the C.E. Brock illustrations for the Austen books.  The link I provided above will get you to a page that has all his illustrations for Emma. Once I built up a head of steam, I quite enjoyed reading Emma and found that I was more interested in spending time on it that the other stuff I was currently working on. This weekly update really helped keep me on task.

Thanks for reading, and by doing so encouraging my completion of this classic novel.

2nd weekly update on Emma progress and other musings

My favorite of the three Emma movies I've seen is this one. 

After nearly a year of slowly, oh so slowly, reading the book Emma by Jane Austen I've decided that I'd best find a way to encourage myself to actually complete it. Thus, this weekly update is born. Once a week I shall report on my progress, pose a question or two, reflect on anything and everything Austen.

Weekly progress: Part 3, Chapters 1-12; pages 285-379.

50 page goal reached? Yes, plus some. At one point my momentum was so good the thought occurred that I might actually finish the book this week. Alas, that is not the case.

Current action: Up to this point in the book there hasn't been much action, but with the start of Part 3 things pick up. First, with Frank Churchill back in the near neighborhood, the Westons can now host their ball at long last. Emma determines that she isn't in love with Frank but decides that Miss Smith is just the gal for him. Later Mr. Knightley hosts a strawberry party and the very next day Emma leads a trip to Box Hill and then acts very badly to her guests. Mr. Knightly calls her out causing Emma to feel deeply grieved. Mr. Knightly abruptly leaves town. After he is gone Miss Smith makes a revelation which causes Emma to realize that she is in love with him but she fears that her behavior has chased him away forever. While he is gone there is some big news about Frank and Miss Fairfax that shocks everyone.

Surprises: After the outing to Box Hill broke up badly and everyone went home, Mrs. Elton hosted a party at her house in the evening and invited everyone but Emma (and presumably, Harriet Smith.) Mr. Knightly didn't attend, however, and everyone was pretty tired from the earlier outing so the party wasn't much fun. Ouch! That must have hurt Emma's feelings but in her contrite frame of mind when she learned of this from Miss Bates, she didn't appear to be upset by the obvious slight.

Questions: Why did Jane Austen leaves so much of the action to this last section of the book after so little in the first two sections?

Comment: I am now almost 99% certain that I've never read Emma before, unless you count flipping to the good parts and reading/rereading them. I know I've read Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey but now I am having my doubts if I've ever read all of Sense and Sensibility and any of Mansfield Park. I've just seen the movies so many times I feel like I have. After discovering all the things the movies leave out, I am now determined to read the last two books I mentioned in their entirety once I'm done with Emma. (Which I realize is a pretty ironic thing for me to say on the heel of confessing that it has taken me over a year to read Emma.)

Weekly progress update on Emma and other musings

Cover image by: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

After nearly a year of slowly creeping through the book Emma by Jane Austen I've decided that I'd best find a way to encourage myself to actually complete it. Thus, this weekly update is born. Once a week I shall report on my progress, pose a question or two, reflect on anything and everything Austen, and probably bore you to death, dear readers.

Weekly progress: pages 235-285.

50 page goal reached? Yes, but I only read 40 pages last week and I had hoped to get to page 300. The day is young and I have high hopes that this sub goal will also be met.

Current action: Frank Churchill has left Highbury to return to Enscombe and his Aunt who is (always) ill. Emma wonders if she is in love with him. Mrs. Elton, as the new bride of the vicar, is introduced to Highbury society and has befriended poor Jane Fairfax.

Surprises: Mrs Elton dislikes Emma as much as Emma dislikes her.

"In one respect Mrs. Elton grew even worse than she had appeared at first. Her feelings altered towards Emma. Offended, probably, by the little encouragement which her proposals of intimacy met with, she drew back, in her turn, and gradually became much more cold and distant." p. 252

I 'm also surprised how much attention Jane Austen gave to this minor character, Mrs. Elton. Many pages and chapters are devoted to her vain speeches and bragging about superior knowledge about everything and comparisons to her sister, Mrs. Suckling. (What a wry sense of humor Austen had. Suckling, ha!)

Questions:
1. Do you suppose that Mr. Elton ever told his wife that his first choice was Emma and he'd proposed to her first? I can't find any evidence in the book, but it would seem that Mrs. Elton's dislike of Emma is also fueled by jealousy.

2. Take a look at the Emma image I've chosen. This is the same image on the cover of the edition I am reading.  Does her right arm look wrong to you? All week long it has bothered me. It looks like the arm either bends at the wrong place or is attached at her ribs not her shoulder.  What do you think?