JANE AUSTEN

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Jane Austen sought to use her fiction to expose the falsehood of Romanticism. Her work focussed upon character and was sparing in its use of incident. She was the first novelist to use naturalistic dialogue. Some of her female creations displayed how unpleasant some women can be. Her contemporaries took her work to be experimental in its nature. The poet William Wordsworth disliked her output. Her brother James, a dour poet, was regarded by their relatives as being the writer in the family. Following her death, most of her letters were either thrown away or lost. The surviving copies of her books were soon either remaindered or pulped.

In the mid-19^thwC Austen's novels had only a small following and were not held to be part of the English language's literary canon. The factor that caused her reputation to surge was the publication of the Memoir of Jane Austen (1870), a biography of her that had been written by her nephew the Rev James Edward Austen-Leigh. This sought to portray the author not as the determined, professional writer that she had been¹ but rather as someone who had written for her own amusement. Readers who wanted to regard themselves as being nice and ordinary took to this sentimental view of her. The cult of Austen was ignited. Her books were slim enough that they could be carried comfortably. Therefore, they were read on railway journeys. As Sir Walter Scott's reputation declined so hers rose. Her heavy use of irony meant that what she had really intended was elusive. This created endless scope for academic interpretation. As a result, the examination of her work was taken up by English literary criticism.

Location: 23 Hans Place, SW1X 0JY. The site of the home of Austen's brother Henry. She stayed with him when visiting London. (blue, yellow)

10 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8PS (purple, black)

Website: www.chawtonhouse.org

¹. One who valued sense over sensibility.

The Jane Austen Society

The Jane Austen Society was founded in 1940. Seven year later the magistrate Thomas Edward Carpenter furnished the financial wherewithal to enable the Society to pay 3000 to but the Austen house at Chawton, Hampshire.

In 1972 the Society set up a study and research group to act as a central clearing house for Austen research.

Website: https://janeaustensociety.org.uk

Disliking the Divine

Mark Twain's friend the American critic W.D. Howells coined the title the Divine Jane . However, neither Twain nor Henry James enjoyed Austen's work.

Unintended Marital Consequences

Byron s future wife was a wealthy heiress who was courted by numerous suitors. However, she had read Pride and Prejudice and was intent upon reforming a rake. When she met Byron she concluded that she had found her Mr Darcy.

David Backhouse 2024