| This blog explores social attitudes in Jane Austen's time, discusses her novels, reviews forgotten 18th century novels, and throws some occasional shade at the modern academy. The introductory post is here. My "six simple questions for academics" post is here. |
CMP# 198 Three books that look under Austen's bonnet
Bing AI image Now, this is something I'm happy to see in Austen scholarship and I hope it becomes a trend--forget about books that explain how Austen held exactly the same views as a blue-haired tattooed humanities undergraduate in an Ivy League university. These three newly-published books return to the formal scholarship of studying the nuts and bolts of Jane Austen's writing and the artistic choices that impelled her. Is the "under the hood" metaphor unsuitable for Austen? How about "under the bonnet" if in the UK? Still no? How about embroidery? Turning over the embroidery and looking at the back side, then.
How does Austen do it? And how did she differ from her predecessors and contemporaries? Let's return to studying the text. And--this is what I am all about--study the text in the context of the literature of Austen's day. This will bring you rewarding realizations and will make it clear that Austen was very much engaged with what she read.
I think this kind of scholarship is just the sort of thing Janeites would enjoy...
How does Austen do it? And how did she differ from her predecessors and contemporaries? Let's return to studying the text. And--this is what I am all about--study the text in the context of the literature of Austen's day. This will bring you rewarding realizations and will make it clear that Austen was very much engaged with what she read.
I think this kind of scholarship is just the sort of thing Janeites would enjoy...
Jane Austen and the Creation of Modern Fiction by Collins Hemingway
In Jane Austen and the Creation of Modern Fiction: Six Novels in 'a Style Entirely New' (2024), Collins Hemingway draws on his background as a writer and his research into the literature of Austen's time to examine Austen's creative process. He explores "her development as a writer: what she adapted from tradition for her needs; what she learned novel to novel; how she used that learning in future works; and how her ultimate mastery of fiction changed the course of English literature."
Novels of the time relied on evil villains and perfect heroines and a great deal of coincidence. Austen used real, imperfect people whose actions drove the plot. “A good plot shows how people respond in real situations. Darcy’s rudeness to Elizabeth leads her to believe Wickham’s lies about Darcy’s past behavior. That belief triggers the major events of the first half of Pride and Prejudice. Lydia’s outsized personality and immaturity lead to her disgrace, which leads to Darcy’s largely hidden efforts to salvage the Bennet family honor. Austen’s other books operate on the same model. John Thorpe’s misunderstandings and lies; Marianne’s heedless pursuit of Willoughby; Emma’s inability to read romantic signals; Anne’s years-ago rejection of Wentworth: every behavior has a consequence to someone, and that consequence propels the story along.”
A key point is that "Jane Austen overcame the limitations of early fiction by pivoting from superficial adventures to the psychological studies that have defined the novel since. Her creativity and technique grew as she wrestled with pragmatic writing issues." Collins uses the metaphor of architecture; Austen as builder.
A fuller review is available here at Brenda Cox's website.
In Jane Austen and the Creation of Modern Fiction: Six Novels in 'a Style Entirely New' (2024), Collins Hemingway draws on his background as a writer and his research into the literature of Austen's time to examine Austen's creative process. He explores "her development as a writer: what she adapted from tradition for her needs; what she learned novel to novel; how she used that learning in future works; and how her ultimate mastery of fiction changed the course of English literature."
Novels of the time relied on evil villains and perfect heroines and a great deal of coincidence. Austen used real, imperfect people whose actions drove the plot. “A good plot shows how people respond in real situations. Darcy’s rudeness to Elizabeth leads her to believe Wickham’s lies about Darcy’s past behavior. That belief triggers the major events of the first half of Pride and Prejudice. Lydia’s outsized personality and immaturity lead to her disgrace, which leads to Darcy’s largely hidden efforts to salvage the Bennet family honor. Austen’s other books operate on the same model. John Thorpe’s misunderstandings and lies; Marianne’s heedless pursuit of Willoughby; Emma’s inability to read romantic signals; Anne’s years-ago rejection of Wentworth: every behavior has a consequence to someone, and that consequence propels the story along.”
A key point is that "Jane Austen overcame the limitations of early fiction by pivoting from superficial adventures to the psychological studies that have defined the novel since. Her creativity and technique grew as she wrestled with pragmatic writing issues." Collins uses the metaphor of architecture; Austen as builder.
A fuller review is available here at Brenda Cox's website.
Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness by Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey
“Jane Austen both spoofs and honours the traditional marriage plot.” Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness explores a question which I think preoccupies a lot of us Janeites--how does Austen write novels that manage to be romantic and ironic at the same time? Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey recounts her teenage outrage when she first read Mansfield Park and got to the foreshortened, almost flippant ending. "Why? Why did she do this? Why develop everything so carefully only to rush the conclusion like that?" Even people who adore Jane Austen are sometimes bewildered by her succinct endings, this "let's get this wrapped up" vibe just when it's time for the big romantic clinch.
Brodey explains the special narrative techniques Austen uses in the conclusions to her novels. I found the textual analysis--let's call it the "how" of Austen's technique--especially informative and interesting, but Brodey also looks at the "why." In Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness. Both Brody and Collins Hemingway believe that Austen was impelled by her desire to reform the novel as an art form. This made her into an innovator. I quite agree.
I enjoyed Brodey's knowledgeable explanations of Austen's techniques. The meat of the book is her theory of why Austen chose to go the non-sentimental route. Austen never did anything by accident, or carelessly, and I know this is a question many people have wondered about. The author discusses her book on JASNA's AustenChat podcast.
“Jane Austen both spoofs and honours the traditional marriage plot.” Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness explores a question which I think preoccupies a lot of us Janeites--how does Austen write novels that manage to be romantic and ironic at the same time? Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey recounts her teenage outrage when she first read Mansfield Park and got to the foreshortened, almost flippant ending. "Why? Why did she do this? Why develop everything so carefully only to rush the conclusion like that?" Even people who adore Jane Austen are sometimes bewildered by her succinct endings, this "let's get this wrapped up" vibe just when it's time for the big romantic clinch.
Brodey explains the special narrative techniques Austen uses in the conclusions to her novels. I found the textual analysis--let's call it the "how" of Austen's technique--especially informative and interesting, but Brodey also looks at the "why." In Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness. Both Brody and Collins Hemingway believe that Austen was impelled by her desire to reform the novel as an art form. This made her into an innovator. I quite agree.
I enjoyed Brodey's knowledgeable explanations of Austen's techniques. The meat of the book is her theory of why Austen chose to go the non-sentimental route. Austen never did anything by accident, or carelessly, and I know this is a question many people have wondered about. The author discusses her book on JASNA's AustenChat podcast.
What Jane Austen's Characters Read and Why by Susan Allen Ford
Mr. Collins never reads novels. He picks up Fordyce's Sermons to read to the Bennett sisters instead. Anne Elliot wistfully quotes poetry to herself. Fanny Price loves the poet Cowper. And of course novels are a major topic of conversation in Northanger Abbey. Austen's first readers would have been familiar with all these books and poems in a way that we aren't today. Few of us have read Lover's Vows, the play put on at Mansfield Park, or Fordyce's Sermons, but Susan Allen Ford has read everything that Austen's characters read and shows how Austen uses these allusions in her novels. Why, for example, did Austen choose Shakespeare's Henry VIII for Henry Crawford to read aloud instead of one of his better-known plays? Fanny is reading a history of the 1793 British embassy to China. Is she reading the version by Staunton, which devotes the first volume to the voyage getting there, and "includes foldout maps of the voyage that begins in Portsmouth, proceeds to Madeira and the Canary Islands, heads across the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro for water, and then moves back across and south to round Africa and head toward China." No doubt Fanny would be thinking of the travels of her midshipman brother as she read this volume.
This book explores the different genres extant in Austen's time: the conduct, book, sentimental and gothic novels and not only places Austen's novels in context with these works, but explores how Austen related to and critiqued these works by her allusions to them. If you are ready for a deeper knowledge of Austen and her times, if you want to go into her novels with the some of the background knowledge her first readers had, if you want to learn more about the literary allusions lurking between the lines, you'll appreciate this book. More about the book at The Conversation
Mr. Collins never reads novels. He picks up Fordyce's Sermons to read to the Bennett sisters instead. Anne Elliot wistfully quotes poetry to herself. Fanny Price loves the poet Cowper. And of course novels are a major topic of conversation in Northanger Abbey. Austen's first readers would have been familiar with all these books and poems in a way that we aren't today. Few of us have read Lover's Vows, the play put on at Mansfield Park, or Fordyce's Sermons, but Susan Allen Ford has read everything that Austen's characters read and shows how Austen uses these allusions in her novels. Why, for example, did Austen choose Shakespeare's Henry VIII for Henry Crawford to read aloud instead of one of his better-known plays? Fanny is reading a history of the 1793 British embassy to China. Is she reading the version by Staunton, which devotes the first volume to the voyage getting there, and "includes foldout maps of the voyage that begins in Portsmouth, proceeds to Madeira and the Canary Islands, heads across the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro for water, and then moves back across and south to round Africa and head toward China." No doubt Fanny would be thinking of the travels of her midshipman brother as she read this volume.
This book explores the different genres extant in Austen's time: the conduct, book, sentimental and gothic novels and not only places Austen's novels in context with these works, but explores how Austen related to and critiqued these works by her allusions to them. If you are ready for a deeper knowledge of Austen and her times, if you want to go into her novels with the some of the background knowledge her first readers had, if you want to learn more about the literary allusions lurking between the lines, you'll appreciate this book. More about the book at The Conversation
 | These books are for the serious Janeite. They draw on the scholarly knowledge of their authors, but are written in an accessible style. Collins Hemingway's book is priced for the academic market, but you might be able to persuade your local library or university library to order a copy. It may sound insanely presumptuous to say that Collins Hemingway and I have an insight into Austen that comes from being fiction authors ourselves. Dear me, yes it does sound presumptuous. But if you've gone through the process of writing a novel, it's easier to approach a book from the point of view of an author, to ask yourself, "why is this scene written the way it is, with narration instead of dialogue? what is she doing with this character?". And even, "what is Austen doing with this passage? What would happen if you took the passage out?" That's all I am humbly claiming. No comparisons intended. An example from me is this blog post about Fanny Price and the East Room. Or this post about what happens when Jane Austen makes it rain. More about my books here. More book reviews: Memoirs and meditations about Austen And more: Three scholarly books about Austen |
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