LONA MANNING
  • Home
  • Books
    • Shelley Novella
  • Research
    • About Shelley
    • Peterloo
    • Kitty Riddle
    • 18th C. love poetry
  • Jane Austen
  • Blog
  • About Me
    • Teaching Philosophy

Guest Post at The Book Rat

8/17/2021

0 Comments

 
"If a poor devil is once in a vortex, he must whirl on."
​-- Edward Grenville, spendthrift man about town, in
​    Private Life: or Varieties of Character and Opinion (1829)

Picture
    ​Misty at The Book Rat hosts an annual online event called "Austen in August" and invites participation from Janeites around the world to celebrate Jane Austen.
     My guest blog is based on a bit of advice that Jane Austen sent to her niece Anna Austen LeFroy concerning novel-writing. 
     Austen didn't care for the phrase "vortex of dissipation." She thought it was what we would call today a cliché. And a lot of authors used the term, as well as a lot of essayists! I supply just a sample in my blog post. Many 18th century novels showed dissipated characters, but for the purposes of morality, it was important that they either be reformed or be punished by the end of the story. Thus they provided both titillation and a moral lesson. It seems to me that many novels portrayed the London social scene is venal and populated with frivolous, malicious, stupid people. Routs and masked balls were crowded, insufferably hot (think of all those bodies in motion and all those candles) and a minefield of social danger, yet some of the characters would go to any lengths to be called a member of the ton and stay a member of the ton. Regency FOMO, if you will.
     I think my favourite dissipated character in 18th century literature is Lady Delacour from Belinda by Maria Edgeworth, though she doesn't use the word "vortex." She's witty and clever. In this quote, she's teasing Belinda for acting like a good 18th century girl and being oblivious to the fact that a man likes her: “If you would only open your eyes, which heroines make it a principle never to do—or else there would be the end of the novel—if you would only open your eyes, you would see that this man is in love with you; and whilst you are afraid of his contempt, he is a hundred times more afraid of yours; and as long as you are each of you in such fear of you know not what, you must excuse me if I indulge myself in a little wholesome raillery.” 
    Delacour's also a spendthrift and, until she's reformed later in the novel, morally bankrupt as well. However, she's a much more energetic and interesting character than the heroine Belinda, as these18th century scholars discuss near the end of this podcast about female authors.
​      I've got more about the Vortex of Dissipation at this earlier post. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    About the author:

    More about me here. My earlier posts (prior to June 2017) are about my time as a teacher of ESL in China,(just click on "China" in the menu below.) more recent posts focus on my writing, as well as Jane Austen and the long 18th century. Welcome!


    Categories

    All
    18th Century Novel Tropes
    Authoresses
    Book Reviews
    China
    China: Sightseeing
    Clutching My Pearls
    East & West Indies & Slavery
    Emma
    Humour
    Jane Austen
    Laowai At Large
    Mansfield Park
    Northanger Abbey
    Parody
    Persuasion
    Postmodern Pushback
    Pride Prejudice
    Religion In Austen
    Sanditon
    Sense And Sensibility
    Shelley
    Teaching

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    December 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    January 2017
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014


    RSS Feed

    © Lona Manning 2022
Proudly powered by Weebly