Happy Valentine’s Day, Janeites!
- 14th February
2013 - 14
- 29th January
2013 - 29
the fact that jane austen was a woman AND a writer is social activism in itself.
i noticed that the tendency of most articles posted yesterday in honor of the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice was to simplify jane.
william deresiewicz (who wrote how jane austen taught me to be a man) said that there’s “not much to know” about jane. well, william, let me tell you that you didn’t learn all you could from her novels if you still think a quiet country life is really all that drama free. apparently deresiewicz even knows for a fact that austen was a virgin. wtf, did he dig her up for a hymen-check? and is it really so marvelous that a woman who never had the D (and perhaps never even wanted the D *gasp*) turned out to be a literary genius? it’s that becoming jane bull shit again. it may shock a lot of people, but you don’t have to have a penis or want a penis in you/around you to be a writer. you have to write. that’s it.
and yes, if you do a surface reading of her life events (shared a room with her sister her whole life, never went abroad, had a big family) her life could look simple. but:
- she was raised away from her parents and her siblings in an emotionally detached school setting
- she had a disturbing and often hilarious view of death (she asked for details about her sister-in-law’s “corpse”, she joked about dead children)
- she had a disabled younger brother
- she had a brother who forced himself on his wife and impregnated her so many times, she eventually died in childbirth
- she had an aunt who was accused of shoplifting and had to face a threatening trial (family scandal!)
- her training as a writer was self-taught, at home, with her favorite books
- she had writer’s block for a decade when she was forced to live in a city she hated (Bath)
- the prince regent ‘requested’ that she dedicate Emma to him and she did so in the snarkiest way possible without getting hanged
- some people who knew her identity as a writer were scared to be around her lest she mock them in her novels
- she died a painful death at a young age
- she had a lifelong correspondence with a woman she only knew for a short time and who she left something for in her will (beat that, lefroy shippers)
- her choices were limited, but she CHOSE not to accept marriage proposals, she CHOSE to be a ‘spinster’ and dress like a matron well before her time, she CHOSE to be a writer and a partner in life to her sister
LOOK AT HER LETTERS. look at how wicked and wonderful and multi-dimensional she really was. and here’s something telling: HER SISTER CASSANDRA BURNED THE MAJORITY OF THE LETTERS. if what’s left shows a flirtatious, intelligent, sincere and deliciously bitchy jane, JUST IMAGINE WHAT WAS IN THE BURNED LETTERS. who knows, perhaps more tales of tom lefroy, harsher words for her neighbors and family, even more brutal honesty. if we must go on comparing austen and shakespeare, i would say that both of their lives are equally shrouded in mystery.
and say you’re right after all (you’re not but let’s go with it), say she sat at home quietly living out her boring, virgin-y days. jane austen was still a woman AND a novelist in 18th/19th century England. and for women, writing is/was a revolutionary act. jane had a voice. not her father’s voice or one of her brother’s, but her own voice. Pride and Prejudice had to be published anonymously “by a Lady,” otherwise the public would have perceived jane and her family as improper. loose morals, loose vaginas, you get the idea. her family even set out on a propaganda spree well after she was dead and buried, trying to prove to her growing number of readers that aunt jane really was quiet, good, and Christian (maybe she was, but that’s not ALL she was). they did such a good job of whitewashing, that a lot of people today still turn to that image of jane instead of to her works and letters.
even Jezebel (for shame!), delegitimizes Jane and women writers in their piece. are her books ‘just high brow Twilight’? the question ultimately leads to a weak answer of ‘Jane never did it for me.’ in the process though, you insult women as readers, writers, consumers and participants in our culture when use ‘chick lit’ as a category and then denigrate it as vapid, silly romance. austen knew better than that, over 200 years ago, in her “it’s only a novel” rant in Northanger Abbey. the novel as a form was largely the province of women then, and the majority of novel readers were women. to this day women read more (fiction) than men. if you’re going to knock fiction for irreponsible portrayals of gender politics, go for it, but don’t knock it because women create and consume it. what ARE you saying, Jezebel? because i don’t even think you know.
and if you don’t think social and political commentary are present in austen’s works, get educated about 18th/19th century historical context. or you know what might help? if you actually read her works, like, at all.
- 28th January
2013 - 28
This blog is complete and utter perfection. *Bows to your greatness* You rock my bonnet!
Asked by: blodg1ss
omg, you know what, you ALL rock my bonnet! thank you all for following and welcome to my new followers!! i hope you guys are ready for a P&P spam today! :)
- 18th January
2013 - 18
Austenland (2013) - Starring Keri Russell and JJ Field (omg Mr. Tilney swoooon)
Directed by Jerusha Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and produced by Stephanie Meyer (eek!). I’m kinda nervous about this one, but of course I’m seeing it!
- 14th January
2013 - 14
- 13th January
2013 - 13
Lock Up Your Daughters… Darcy’s in Town!
(Source: dhandiani)
- 11th January
2013 - 11
Volume I of Pride Week & Prejudice is now complete, in case you missed it we put up a playlist page so you can watch the series in its entirety here: http://prideweekandprejudice.tumblr.com/SeasonI
Let us know what you think!
So many new followers! Didn’t want you guys missing this!
at home sick today and finally finishing this web series! can’t wait til season 2! i’m really curious about darcy’s conception of queerness. and i think charlotte/lottie’s and liam/mr. collins’s situation was interpreted perfectly: two queer people who are not out to each other but for different reasons feel they must marry and live conservatively.
hope you all get a chance to watch it!!
- 9th January
2013 - 09
i really really love when people search for my austen stuff on google
- 7th January
2013 - 07
Hello :) I'm looking to write a critical analysis of Pride and Prejudice but I'm having a bit of a hard time coming up with something a little more complex regarding society and propriety for my topic. I was thinking about discussing role reversal between upper class and middle/lower class but I'm not sure if that's really good enough. Do you have any suggestions on deeper innovative topics or suggested essays to refer to? Thank you!
Asked by: bellenomdeplume
The big list of must reads:
-Jane Austen: Women, Politics and the Novel – Claudia L. Johnson (mentioning again to emphasize its importance) :)
-Equivocal Beings: Politics, Gender, and Sentimentality in the 1790s – Claudia L. Johnson (anything by her basically, cuz she’s my academic crush)
-Austen’s Unbecoming Conjunctions: Subversive Laughter, Embodied History – Jill Heydt Stevenson
-Madwoman in the Attic – Gilbert and Gubar (some ideas are dated, but still a must read)
-Cambridge Companions to Jane Austen (there are two now, one just came out 1-2 years ago)
-Jane Austen and Feminism – by lots
-Jane Austen and the Body – John Wiltshire
-Jane Austen and Theatre – Penny Gay
-Jane Austen and Edward Said: Gender, Culture and Imperialism – by Susan Fraiman (brilliant response to Said’s original essay, which you should also read)
-Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl - Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
I would say read the chapters on Pride and Prejudice in all of the above (if they have them). Start with Claudia L. Johnson always because she will give you a great base.
JASNA.org has essays you can read for free! They’re from their literary journal, Persuasions.
http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/printed/index.html
This is an old article on the ‘picturesque’ in Pride and Prejudice, but if you look for them, there are more recent articles on it: http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/printed/number1/litz.htm
There’s a section on ‘Class’ in (I believe?) the first edition of the Cambridge Companion.
For the latest in Jane Austen criticism, I think the Persuasions lit mag is a good way to start. Look at the most recent publications and see if anything interests you! Look at the people who edit it and google their work.
I hope this has been of some help! If you want me to be more specific or help looking for topics, let me know!
ETA: A new-ish thing is scholars classifying works as Romantic fiction. Austen falls into this category. Some people don’t know what to do with her (is she an englightment author? is she victorian? blah blah blah no no no). So a cool thing for you to do would be to read about Romantic fiction criticism and see if Pride and Prejudice falls into this category.
Recognizing the Romantic Novel: New Histories of British Fiction, 1780-1830 by Jillian Heydt-Stevenson and Charlotte Sussman
- 5th January
2013 - 05
We dressed up Chamberlayne in woman’s clothes on purpose to pass for a lady, only think what fun! Not a soul knew of it, but Colonel and Mrs. Forster, and Kitty and me, except my aunt, for we were forced to borrow one of her gowns; and you cannot imagine how well he looked!Lydia also likes a good drag show. (via factsarenothing)
- 25th December
2012 - 25
Wait a minute… nice boys don’t kiss like that.
Oh yes they fucking do.
*cue ovaries explosion*
(Source: occupypawnee)
- 20th December
2012 - 20
Volume I of Pride Week & Prejudice is now complete, in case you missed it we put up a playlist page so you can watch the series in its entirety here: http://prideweekandprejudice.tumblr.com/SeasonI
Let us know what you think!
- 20th December
2012 - 20
Go Fish - Pride Week and Prejudice: Week II
Spurred on by his best friend’s warning, Elijah oversees an invitation to the Bingley’s lake house at Netherfield Park to insure his sister will make her attachment to the young Charles Bingley known. He wasn’t expecting to be shadowed, however, by his new nemesis: Fitzwilliam Darcy. His patience wears thin as the upper crust residents of Netherfield antagonize Elijah’s inner-feminist. Can he check himself before he ruins June’s budding relationship?We’ve broke 200 views and our first video has over 1000! Congratulations everyone!
Somehow I’ve missed all of their new videos! Check ‘em out! :)
- 17th December
2012 - 17
(Source: thoughtsofmrdarcy, via ravengoodwoman)
- 9th December
2012 - 09
Henry Crawford
Mansfield Park (1999)
