Celebrating Jane Austen’s Fools
Since this week began with April Fool’s Day, I thought it’d be fun to talk about the fools in Jane Austen’s novels. I’ll also include a scene from my novel The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen, with my own example of an Austen fool, which I hope will make you laugh!
Jane Austen was a master at creating foolish characters, not only to provide the comic relief in her novels, but also to facilitate the plot. In life, a person might be foolish some of the time, but in comedy and in literature, the fool is always a fool. The literary fool usually has one essential flaw, and their life appears to be an endless repetition of that particular attitude or trait. Jane Austen’s literary fools follow this rule; foolishness is the very essence of their being.
Why do we laugh at literary fools? We delight in them because we recognize their flaws and we feel a sense of superiority over them. Yet an inventive author like Jane Austen gives the reader this pleasure with many different variations. There are fools of a sort in every one of her novels, but every one of them is different in some way.
Here are four of my favorite Austen fools:
Mrs. Bennet (Pride and Prejudice): Although we may understand the social necessity of getting one’s daughters married off in the Regency era, Mrs. Bennet’s total lack of concern for who her daughters marry, and her inability to judge a good man from a bad one, is hilarious–as are her continual lapses of social grace. Her character perfectly satirizes the effects of unbecoming behavior and lower breeding. Continue reading
Happy Easter!
From all of us at Austen Authors ~
May your Easter be joyous and filled with happiness!
Walk in Jane Austen’s Footsteps! A Jane Austen Tour of England: Seascapes and Landscapes – Sept. 7 -16, 2013 (and Giveaway!)
Me at Chawton Cottage (Jane Austen’s House Museum)
Have you ever wished you could walk in Jane Austen’s footsteps? Have you ever dreamt of visiting Chawton Cottage in Hampshire, where Jane Austen lived and wrote her mature masterpieces… and Godmersham Park, the grand estate in Kent owned by Jane’s wealthy brother Edward? Have you ever longed to tour the many other places Jane Austen lived and visited? Here is your chance to realize those dreams, and all in the company of “clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation”!
September 7 – 16, 2013
I am thrilled to announce that I will be one of two featured authors on a very special Jane Austen Tour of England this September 7-16, 2013 sponsored by Ingenious Travel, and you’re invited to join us!
Austen Authors on Tour: Syrie & Laurel Ann
This trip came about because the genius behind Ingenious Travel, Maria Stefanopoulos, asked if I’d be interested in going on an “author cruise” centered around me and my new novel The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen. I wasn’t interested in a cruise, but when Maria came up with the idea of a land tour to England that would focus on the haunts of Jane Austen, how could I possibly resist? I’m even more delighted that my dear friend Laurel Ann Nattress, editor of Austenprose.com and the anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It, is also now on board, making it a two-author-tour!
Maria graciously allowed Laurel Ann and I to dream up the itinerary, and we couldn’t be more excited. We will step back in time as we visit the homes and estates of Jane Austen and her family, explore towns and villages that she visited or made famous in her novels, and participate in the world famous Jane Austen Festival at Bath!
The trip begins in London with a visit to the British Library and a walk through the Covent Garden area to see places where Jane Austen stayed. A private tour bus will then whisk us away across the English countryside on a fabulous journey that includes visits to: Continue reading
Happy Valentine’s Day
Although often referred to as a Hallmark Holiday, Valentine’s Day has been celebrated in some form since the third century AD. There is speculation as to who the person for whom the day is named actually was but all the legends seem to have certain things in common. He was an Italian priest who preached the gospel of Jesus and was executed because of it. One of the legends says it was because he performed Christian marriages, hence the love connection. However, speculation arises there as well, since before the 14th century it was simply celebrated as the execution date of a martyr having nothing whatever to do with lovers.
Then in the 1382 Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules seems to have made reference to the day
For this was on St. Valentine’s Day ~ When every bird came there to choose his mate
Again, much speculation surrounds this theory because there was also in Paris a Court of Love, ostensibly set up by Princess Isabel of Bavaria which dealt with love contracts, betrayals and violence against women. No historic proof has ever been found so most believe it was a fabrication of the Princess’ imagination. As the ‘court’ met on February 14, the legend persists.
The earliest surviving English Valentine was written in 1477 by Norfolk gentlewoman Margery Brewes to her intended, John Paston. The letter is housed at the British Library. She calls him her Valentine and signs the letter his Valentine. She is informing him that her father may not be able to pay the full dowry agreed upon and she hopes that he will not forsake her because of it for she would not forsake him. Continue reading
Historical Happily-Ever-Afters
Valentine’s Day is the time to celebrate love, and what better way than to look into the past for examples of true love?
Lessons of sacrifice and committed love can be learned from lovers’ tales that did not end so well. If tragic stories are your cup-of-tea, here are some doozies to look up–
Mark Antony and Cleopatra
Salim and Anarkali
Abelard and Eloise
Tristan and Isolde
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker
I am the “happily-ever-after” gal, as you all should know by now, so prefer lovers’ tales with at least some degree of enduring happiness!
On my blog I wrote of a favorite: Jacob and Rachel from the Bible. Click the link to read about them and enter my special giveaway as part of Maria Grace’s Historical Hearts Through History Valentine’s Blog Hop. I have also posted a blog on Literary Lovers, placed into a fun match-up game. Check that out while you are there! www.sharonlathan.net
The following four real-life love stories are ones I particularly adore. I hope you are inspired by these tales.
Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal
Shah Jahan, ruler of the Mughal Empire, wed Mumtaz Mahal – “Beloved Ornament of the Palace” – when they were but 20 and 19. She reigned as queen alongside him and bore fourteen children before her death in 1629. The emperor was so grieved that he insisted on creating a stupendous monument to be her resting place. Constructed of white marble, decorated with uncountable precious stones and gold, and requiring 20,000 workers nearly 20 years to complete, the Taj Mahal was built to commemorate the enduring power of love. Shortly after completion, Shah Jahan was deposed by his son, and imprisoned in the Red Fort of Agra where he spent the final years of his life staring across the river at the monument for his beloved queen. Eventually he was buried beside her, the lovers eternally together in the Taj Mahal. Continue reading
What’s Love Got to Do with It?
“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
These words first published 200 years ago this week – and just before St. Valentine’s Day – perfectly express a theme found not only in literature but in our lives as well. The heart wants what the heart wants, despite any reasoning against it.
Two central motifs dominate Pride and Prejudice: love and money. For some characters, the two go hand in hand, as with Mrs. Bennet’s hope that a young man of large fortune “will fall in love with one of” her daughters. Even she is not so callous as to hope for marriage without love; and once Mr. Darcy has insulted the least favourite of her children, his ten thousand a year loses its luster.
The association of the human heart to love and, indeed, all passions goes back to ancient times. Jane Austen could not have known that the embryonic heart begins beating before the brain has formed, or that a person may be declared “brain dead” whilst the heart beats still. Yet, she weaves the idea of heart over head throughout the narrative in such a way that one is left to wonder if she herself has taken a position in favour or against. Although clearly dismissive of love at first site and that “hackneyed” expression “violently in love,” Miss Austen comes across as ambiguous at best, even qualifying the basis of her heroine’s change of heart – “If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection, Elizabeth’s change of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty.” – with IF. Continue reading
P&P200: Lizzy and Darcy on Twelfth Night
Would Lizzy and Darcy have celebrated the New Year?
The answer is yes and no. Little do we know it, but our New Year’s Eve celebration with its fireworks and revelling is descended from another tradition, that of Twelfth Night, the last and twelfth day of Christmas, celebrated traditionally in England on the 5th or 6th of January, though in some areas it coincided with the turning of the new year. The celebration was traditionally deliberately boisterous. This was because the intention was drive away evil spirits from the land so the trees could grow. Bonfires, shooting, loud banging and hitting the trees with sticks were all part and parcel of the event.
In Jane Austen’s day in Kent, Twelfth Night would have been very much alive, particularly since Kent was known for its apple orchards, and the focus of the wassailing was the apple tree and the agricultural community’s hopes for a new year of fertility and plenty. Jane Austen would certainly have been wassailed by the local population and asked for a cup of wassail ale or mulled hard cider, though perhaps given that her father was a clergyman, it was unlikely JA would have participated in what were clearly pagan rituals.
For P&P200 I thought it might be fun to have an excerpt in which Lizzy and Darcy take part in a Wassail/Twelfth Night celebration. Continue reading
Austen Authors wishing a very Merry Christmas!
“I sincerely hope your Christmas in Hertfordshire may abound in the gaieties which that season generally brings…” (Pride and Prejudice, chapter 21) Best wishes! Shannon Winslow
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