"A woman especially, if she have the misfortune to know anything, should conceal it as well as she can."
This well-known line is taken from Northanger Abbey, the narrator's response to Catherine Morland's admission that she knows little about what is thought to constitute a picturesque view. The author points out that Catherine needn't be ashamed of her ignorance, that it's actually an advantage when desiring to curry favor with others since everyone enjoys having their superior taste and understanding admired. "Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well-informed mind is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid." Of course, as with so much of Jane Austen, this advice is given tongue-in-cheek.
Irony, however, always grows out of a grain of truth. The quote above is no exception, particularly as it relates to women. Then as now, women usually find it's best not to flaunt their intelligence in front of the men they meet, socially or even in the business world. In my second novel, For Myself Alone, Jo Walker learns this hard lesson and tells us, "To my dismay, I have discovered that most gentlemen do not wish their prowess in the intellectual realm challenged, especially by anyone female." Is it any different today? Maybe we haven't come as far as we thought in the last two hundred years.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
A Man of Good Fortune
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters."
With these immortal lines, we set off on the delightful romp that is Pride and Prejudice. When the wealthy Mr. Bingley enters the neighborhood, Mrs. Bennet immediately declares him the rightful property of some one or other of her unmarried daughters. Other families in the vicinity would have held similar beliefs of entitlement, however, so the case was by no means settled. And never mind that we haven't heard from Mr. Bingley himself; he has no say in the matter whatsoever. Therein lies the joke at the heart of this Jane Austen witticism.
It's interesting that although Mr. Darcy is soon discovered to be far wealthier, we don't see him relentlessly pursued by a horde of local maids and their ambitious mamas. In a society where marrying well was the only goal to which a young lady could aspire, it seems unlikely that even advanced age or well-established criminal tendencies would have saved a man with ten thousand pounds a year from such an onslaught. Mr. Darcy's flaws were not as grave as these, but, besides his wealth, his virtues were not immediately apparent either. In a bit of reparte from my sequel The Darcys of Pemberley, Lizzy says to him, "As I recall, it took much longer for me to discover your merits; they were so well-concealed." Taking up the game, Darcy responds in kind. "If you were so long in discovering them, perhaps the fault was not with the subject but with the observer." And so they go ...
With these immortal lines, we set off on the delightful romp that is Pride and Prejudice. When the wealthy Mr. Bingley enters the neighborhood, Mrs. Bennet immediately declares him the rightful property of some one or other of her unmarried daughters. Other families in the vicinity would have held similar beliefs of entitlement, however, so the case was by no means settled. And never mind that we haven't heard from Mr. Bingley himself; he has no say in the matter whatsoever. Therein lies the joke at the heart of this Jane Austen witticism.
It's interesting that although Mr. Darcy is soon discovered to be far wealthier, we don't see him relentlessly pursued by a horde of local maids and their ambitious mamas. In a society where marrying well was the only goal to which a young lady could aspire, it seems unlikely that even advanced age or well-established criminal tendencies would have saved a man with ten thousand pounds a year from such an onslaught. Mr. Darcy's flaws were not as grave as these, but, besides his wealth, his virtues were not immediately apparent either. In a bit of reparte from my sequel The Darcys of Pemberley, Lizzy says to him, "As I recall, it took much longer for me to discover your merits; they were so well-concealed." Taking up the game, Darcy responds in kind. "If you were so long in discovering them, perhaps the fault was not with the subject but with the observer." And so they go ...
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Fresh Start
My apologies. As you may have noticed, I took a significant hiatus from this blog (during which I have been furiously working on my current novel). Now I want to make a fresh start with a more focused purpose and theme, as opposed to the random topics I've selected before. Okay, so what do I know, love, and never tire of discussing? It should have been obvious from the beginning: the writings of Jane Austen. Therefore, I will henceforth choose a Jane Austen quote and confine myself to editorializing on whatever subject it addresses. I look forward to the new challenge.
"Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody not greatly in fault themselves to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest."
This Jane Austen quote (taken from Mansfield Park, chapter 48) is probably my favorite in that it pretty much defines my literary philosophy. I'm interested in books that entertain me, that make me feel good, that sweep me away to another world. Although I know that without conflict there is no story, I'm glad when it's time to do away with the culprits and unite the lovers for a happily-ever-after ending. Reader satisfaction, in my opinion, stems from the hero or heroine overcoming their difficulties, not being destroyed by them. If someone prefers a dose of harsh reality, they can turn to "other pens" or turn on the news instead. But, like Jane Austen, I can be trusted to not dwell on guilt or misery any longer than absolutely necessary, and to restore the characters I've come to care about to tolerable comfort by the end of the book.
"Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody not greatly in fault themselves to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest."
This Jane Austen quote (taken from Mansfield Park, chapter 48) is probably my favorite in that it pretty much defines my literary philosophy. I'm interested in books that entertain me, that make me feel good, that sweep me away to another world. Although I know that without conflict there is no story, I'm glad when it's time to do away with the culprits and unite the lovers for a happily-ever-after ending. Reader satisfaction, in my opinion, stems from the hero or heroine overcoming their difficulties, not being destroyed by them. If someone prefers a dose of harsh reality, they can turn to "other pens" or turn on the news instead. But, like Jane Austen, I can be trusted to not dwell on guilt or misery any longer than absolutely necessary, and to restore the characters I've come to care about to tolerable comfort by the end of the book.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)