LIVING WITH JANE AUSTEN: A CONVERSATION WITH JANET TODD

 

On the occasion of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, internationally renowned novelist and scholar Janet Todd offers readers a unique gift: a book that blends personal memoir with a deep and thoughtful engagement with Austen’s timeless works. In this intimate and insightful volume, Todd reflects on how Austen’s novels have guided her through different phases of her life, offering lessons on patience, humour, beauty, and the meaning of home.

With a distinguished career that spans feminist literary scholarship and acclaimed fiction, Janet Todd is one of the foremost voices in Austen studies. Her latest work not only highlights Austen’s relevance in today’s world but also reveals how living with Austen’s characters and stories can shape our understanding of ourselves and our surroundings.

In this interview, Janet Todd shares her inspiration, her personal connection to Jane Austen, and why Austen’s wisdom remains as powerful today as it was over two centuries ago.

JANE AUSTEN'S LEADING LADIES: VIRTUES AND FLAWS

 

Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet and Colin Firth as Mr Darcy (1995)

After discussing heroes, let’s have a look at Jane Austen's female leading characters. Her novels are filled with a cast of strong and memorable heroines, each with her unique set of virtues and flaws. From the witty Elizabeth Bennet to the reserved Fanny Price, these female protagonists have charmed readers for generations. In this article, I’d like to explore the world of Austen's heroines, highlighting both their admirable qualities and their human imperfections.

JANE AUSTEN'S LEADING MEN: BEST QUALITIES AND FLAWS

 

Jane Austen, often celebrated for her sharp wit and keen observations of human nature, was a master of creating compelling male characters who have left an indelible mark on literature and raised our expectations so dangerously high! In this post, I will delve into the world of Austen's male heroes from her various novels, highlighting their best qualities and, just as importantly, their flaws. These characters, including Mr. Darcy, Captain Wentworth, Colonel Brandon, Edward Ferrars, Mr. Knightley, Henry Tilney, and Edmund Bertram, continue to captivate readers with their complexity and enduring charm. Scroll down, enjoy reading and let me know if you agree with or not in the comment section below if you wish. 

JANE AUSTEN'S FIGHTING MEN: PERSUADED TO SAIL

Greetings, everyone. Jack Caldwell here. I’d like to thank Maria  Grazia for the opportunity to visit with you today to talk about my latest book, PERSUADED TO SAIL: asequel to Persuasion and Book Three of Jane Austen’s Fighting Men.

PERSUADED TO SAIL picks up at the end of Persuasion—the wedding of Anne Elliot to Captain Frederick Wentworth. Planning an uneventful honeymoon cruise aboard HMS Laconia to Frederick’s posting in Bermuda, the Wentworths’ plans are thrown into disarray by the Hundred Days Crisis.

Hold on a second. What is the Hundred Days Crisis?

To explain this, I have to go back to the genesis of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). This era of conflict arose out of the Wars of the French Revolution (1792-1802). Europe had been locked in a bloody conflict between the homicidal French Republic and the autocratic European monarchies. The chaos allowed a little-known general from the French island of Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte, to prove his military prowess, to seize power in a coup d'état, and then smash the Coalition armies and force a peace. Peace only lasted a year, and a third coalition of European powers was formed in 1803 to fight the self-styled Emperor Napoleon.

NEW RELEASE: MISS AUSTEN BY GILL HORNBY

Gill Hornby and the two editions of Miss Austen, the US one on the left and the UK one on the right

Miss Austen, the untold story of Cassandra Austen and her famous sister Jane,  is out today in the US  (Flatiron Books, New York) 

You can’t miss it, it’s an absolute must for any Janeite.  It’s also a delightful, clever, entertaining read, perfect for finding some solace and escape in these troubling times. You’ll find comfort and joy entering the daily life of the two young Austen sisters and their family. You’ll feel the bittersweet melancholy of Cassandra doing her best to preserve her beloved sister’s reputation, while making a balance of her own choices and her own life.

THE MARRIAGE OF MISS JANE AUSTEN VOLUME III IS OUT! INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR COLLINS HEMINGWAY + GIVEAWAY

Welcome back to My Jane Austen Book Club, Collins! Congratulations on your latest release and thanks for accepting to answer a few questions. Here's the first one: most of the authors writing in the Jane Austen world are doing sequels to her books or variations on her plots and characters. You chose to write about Austen herself. Why?

I had two different ideas come together. The first is that I wanted to tell a serious story of what life was like for women in the early 1800s. This was a time when everything was against them, from society to biology. I wanted to test the heart and soul of an intelligent, sensitive woman. As I began the early scenes, the voice that kept coming to me was that remarkable voice. Also, I had a literature professor at university, long ago, who encouraged me to see the depth of Austen’s writing as well as its brilliance. The literary constraints on a woman of that day limited Jane to courtship novels and forced her to deal with important issues in the background or in passing, with secondary characters.

Through the years, I kept asking myself: What would have happened if Jane Austen had been able to put her talents toward the serious issues of life after marriage? What if she had been able to write directly about some of the big social issues of the day? What if she herself had faced the good and bad of married life, as most women of that era did? How would all that come together in a story involving a man very much her equal—though unsuitable, perhaps, to her family.

GIVING GIFTS IN JANE AUSTEN

(by Victoria Grossack)

Are you at a loss, this holiday season, at what to give your loved ones?  Why not take a look at the gifts in Jane Austen’s novels and see if they inspire you?  And beware of the pitfalls, as not all gifts are welcome from all givers.

One of the most frequently bestowed gifts in Jane Austen is money.  The amount may be small, such as the single pound note given by Mrs. Norris to William Price in Mansfield Park (this amount is not given explicitly in the text, but Jane Austen herself told her family that was the amount she meant).  Or the sum may be enormous, as when Darcy bribes Wickham to marry Lydia Bennet in Pride & Prejudice.  Today some people turn their noses up at money, but in Jane Austen’s novels, recipients are almost always appreciative.

Assuming you want to be more personal, let’s consider other significant gifts in Austen’s novels.

The pianoforte.  In Emma (spoiler alert), Frank Churchill ‘anonymously’ gives Jane Fairfax a pianoforte to use during her stay in Highbury.  Of course, Miss Fairfax knows who the donor is, but as she cannot say, the gift makes her vulnerable to unkind rumors.  On the other hand, it is a pretty instrument, a generous gift, and she enjoys playing it tremendously.  What can one learn from this?  It’s always good to remember the tastes of your recipients, and to give them what they lack in certain situations.  Still, do your best not to cause mischief and inconvenience.

MARIA GRACE, COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE IN JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD + GIVEAWAY

Thanks so much for having me, Maria Grazia! I love getting to visit with you.  

I’m so excited to share with you and your readers about courtship and marriage in Jane Austen’s day. Customs have changed so dramatically in the two centuries since Jane Austen wrote her novels that things which were obvious to her original readers leave readers today scratching their heads and missing important implications. It’s amazing how much of Austen’s stories we miss not understanding the context she wrote it.

One of the most bewildering aspects of marriage in the regency era was the legal position of women in the era. Single and widowed women enjoyed very different legal status than married women whose legal personhood was subsumed into her husbands in a doctrine called coverture..  

This excerpt from Courtship and Marriage in Jane Austen’s World explains more about coverture and what it meant to women.

Married Women's Legal Position in the Regency

In 1765, William Blackstone presented a common man’s language interpretation of English law. He explains the law’s approach to women’s legal existence and rights in marriage which remained largely unchanged until the Married Women’s Property Act of 1884.
Blackstone said: By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband… and her condition during her marriage is called her coverture.… For this reason, a man cannot grant anything to his wife, or enter into covenant with her: for the grant would be to suppose her separate existence; and to covenant with her, would be only to covenant with himself: … a husband may also bequeath anything to his wife by will; for that cannot take effect till the coverture is determined by his death.… the chief legal effects of marriage during the coverture; upon which we may observe, that even the disabilities which the wife lies under are for the most part intended for her protection and benefit: so great a favourite

6 MUST-SEE PLACES JANE AUSTEN FANS CAN'T MISS

(by guest blogger Cassie Phillips) 

Wanderlust goes hand in hand with reading an Austen novel. Every time I turn a page I can’t help but want to follow Mr. Darcy all the way to Pemberley. For me, every read through or movie adaptation leaves me longing for the cobblestoned streets of London or the expansive grounds of the Peak District, with its epic landscapes and rolling hills. 

Therefore, I’ve compiled a list must-see destinations that no Austen fan should miss. Some are beautiful backdrops from movies sets, and others are grounded in the writer’s history. These locations are all points on the Jane map and will make any fan of Emma Woodhouse, Fanny Price and Lizzie Bennet stare in wonder.

VICTORIA GROSSACK, FOR THE LOVE OF LYDIA

Miss Lydia Bennet!  What can we say about the youngest of the Bennet beauties?  The first thing we notice is that she is determined to have fun.  She dances every dance and she is so absorbed by her games that she can sometimes forget everything else – even the officers.  She describes how she and some of her friends dress up Chamberlayne – perhaps a servant of her uncle’s? – in women’s clothing (yes, there is cross-dressing in Austen).  She chases the redcoats, which some find in bad taste but does show energy.

The second thing is that she refuses to listen to others.  She never listens to her sister Mary, and when her cousin Mr. Collins starts reading aloud from Fordyce’s Sermons, she interrupts him before he has finished three pages.  Her parents and her sisters upbraid her for her rudeness, but in reality Lydia has spared them a very dull evening.  We can understand Lydia’s policy of not listening, with parents and aunts and four older sisters, always ready to tell her what to do.

Although last in a family of five girls, she refuses to remain in the background and elbows her way to the front.  Encouraged by her mother, at fifteen she is already “out” in society, a decision that Elizabeth agrees with Lady Catherine is ill-advised (although not even her ladyship could have stopped Lydia).  But still Lydia is the youngest, and being the youngest meant that in many respects she was the least in her family.

GUEST POST - JANE LARK, THE AUTHORESS AND STONELEIGH ABBEY + GIVEAWAY

When I visited Stoneleigh Abbey about five years ago I discovered a story just waiting to be written. So many people think Jane Austen was middle-class but in fact she was only a generation away from a Baronetcy and her ancestors had been very wealthy.

So the story I discovered was that in June 1816 Jane moved from a property in Trim St, Bath, the poorest residence she lived in, which she never mentioned again, to then stay in the dramatically ornate, vast, residence of her ancestors, where she came face to face with their portraits and no longer needed to imagine the way they had lived.

Jane actually describes aspects of the area around Stoneleigh Abbey and rooms within Stoneleigh Abbey in Pride and Prejudice and in Mansfield Park.

When I stood in the entrance hall in Stoneleigh Abbey five years ago it did not take much to picture Jane Austen standing in that room, looking everywhere, and from that to imagine her character Fanny’s voice coming from such a visit. And then I learnt about the portrait of one of Jane’s relations whose real story was ridiculously close to that of Persuasion, and her surname is Wentworth.

I visit lots of historical properties, it’s how I generate ideas for my historical books - to learn true stories and scenes and then apply them to my fiction to make my fiction feel more realistic. So it became very obvious to me that Jane Austen had used fact to help create her fiction…

SPOTLIGHT ON ... PRIDE & PREJU-KNITS, TWELVE GENTEEL KNITTING PROJECTS INSPIRED BY JANE AUSTEN

An original, cute Christmas gift,  perfect for a Janeite who loves knitting. Well, if she doesn't, she'll wish to learn as soon as possible, once she has had a look at the Austen-inspired knitting projects included in Pride and Preju-knits, Twelve Genteel Knitting Projects Inspired by Jane Austen by Trixie Von Purl. This lovely book is  published by Harper - Collins  and is available on many online bookshops. But,  what about winning a free copy? Read through this presentation and, at the bottom of the post,  you'll find a rafflecopter form with many chances to win! Unfortunately, this contest is limited to US readers only. Good luck!

What can you find in the book?

Knit your way through the incredible world of Jane Austen’s beloved novels, from Pemberley to Mansfield Park, and create your favorite Austen characters, including Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, Emma Woodhouse, and more with this delightful collection of twelve knitting projects from the famed craftsman, Austen enthusiast, and author of Knit Your Own Kama Sutra, Trixie von Purl.

Knitting maven Trixie von Purl helps knitters and Austen fans create the world of Jane Austen like never before with this inventive and unique craft book. Featuring a high-class art, Pride & Preju-knits gathers together the best sassy heroines and brooding heroes from all six of Austen’s beloved and widely acclaimed novels, including Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley, and Marianne Dashwood and Mr. Willoughby.

CELEBRATE THE 200th ANNIVERSARY OF JANE AUSTEN'S EMMA THIS DECEMBER IN WINCHESTER

December marks 200 years since the publication of one of the world’s most famous novels, Emma, written by Jane Austen. The author spent much of her life in Hampshire, died in Winchester’s historic College Street and is buried in Winchester Cathedral.

December is the ideal month to visit Winchester, fans of the novel, whose heroine was a great lover of Christmas, can expect a backdrop of ‘England as it used to be’ that is bustling with shoppers and revellers enjoying the compact medieval cityscape.

  

Winchester provides a tasteful and authentic Christmas experience - the festive season is celebrated with old and new traditions.  Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market is integral to the celebrations and recognised as being one of the best in Europe. This year is the tenth time the Christmas market has occupied the inner close. To celebrate, the Tourist Information Centre team have created a magical children’s grotto for Saturdays and the iconic Coca Cola lorry is coming to town on 17 December.  With lantern parades, Christmas shows and traditional pantomimes, Christmas 2015 will be a busy one for the ancient capital.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... A JANE AUSTEN CHRISTMAS BY CARLO DEVITO + GIVEAWAY

Who wouldn't want to have a Jane Austen Christmas? Jane Austen wrote about Christmas time in each of her major novels. Who can forget Mr Elton's proposal to Emma on Christmas Eve,  Anne Elliot visiting the Musgroves at Uppercross during the holidays, or newly engaged Elizabeth Bennet inviting Aunt Gardiner to Pemberley for Christmas?

Carlo DeVito, the author of A Jane Austen Christmas, does what Austen didn't, since she didn't need to describe in details what her contemporary certainly knew: how to decorate or what to cook for Christmas, what music to sing or play or what little gifts to make. He collects all those  details for us and depicts what a typical British Christmas must have been like in the Georgian Era.

A MATCH MADE IN AUSTEN - LET THE GAME BEGIN! INTERVIEW WITH MARJOLAINE LAFRENIERE

Hello Marjolaine and welcome to My Jane Austen Book Club.  A Match Made in Austen is the new card game you created for Renaissance Press, which will be released on 10^th September. Can you briefly tell us what kind of game it is?

A Match Made in Austen is a storytelling card game. People draw six cards, three representing male characters and three representing female characters, they improvise some event at which the characters interact and then try to make wedding proposals to the characters they think are best suited to the ones in their hand.

Great! I think our Janeite friends will love it. It may be a perfect game to animate tea parties or friendly gathering of any type. How many players can be involved in the game?

The game can involve as few as two players (with some rule variations included in the rulebook) and as many as six.

Which Austen characters are involved in your card game?

The game includes 54 characters from the six main novels of Jane Austen. They are, by books and in alphabetical order:

SYRIE JAMES: EIGHT REASONS WHY I LOVE NOVELS SET IN THE GEORGIAN AND REGENCY ERAS - JANE AUSTEN'S FIRST LOVE HOLIDAY BLOG TOUR & FABULOUS GIVEAWAY

I have a soft spot in my heart for historical fiction novels set in England during the Georgian and Regency eras. Why? There are so many reasons, but I’ll condense them down to eight:

1. I love stepping back in time.

Reading a novel set in the past is like discovering your own personal time machine. I love being immersed in all the sights, sounds, and smells of a time gone by, and experiencing, through the characters’ eyes, thoughts, and feelings, what it was like to live in another era. The Georgian and Regency eras are particularly appealing to me because it’s the time in which Jane Austen lived and wrote. Jane grew up during the Georgian era, which began in 1714 and spanned the reigns of the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain who were all named George. The Regency (which we more readily associate with Austen) was a brief sub-period of the Georgian era between 1811 and 1820, when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, the Prince of Wales, ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. 

It’s such fun to read about the way people lived then, and to spend time with them in their country houses, where even the poorest of the gentry class had servants to wait on them. Nobody in Austen’s novels is ever seen doing anything we’d recognize today as work. They ride horses, drive in carriages, play cards, play music, sing, read, sew, embroider, draw, paint, hunt, take long walks in the shrubbery, and dance at balls. Of course, it took servants to make all that leisure time possible—but what fun it is to lose ourselves in what seems like a lovely, fairy tale existence.

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... TERRY TOWNSEND, AUTHOR OF "JANE AUSTEN'S HAMPSHIRE"

Former graphic designer Terry Townsend from England,continues to pursue his passion for literary landscapes. In his latest book ‘Jane Austen’s Hampshire’ Terry takes readers on a tour ofthe beautiful and historic county where Jane was born and spent most of her days.

The in-depth exploration of the places where Jane lived, loved and found inspirationbegins with the Steventon neighbourhood that became the cradle of her talent. Following in Jane’s steps there are visits to Chawton and the cottage that saw the blossoming of her genius with an eventual pause for thought at her final resting place in the magnificent cathedral at Winchester.

Included along the way are the great maritime cities of Southampton and Portsmouth together with the market towns where Jane shopped, the villages where she visited friends, the country parks where she strolled, the country houses where she danced and the churches where she worshipped.

For the devotee who already has a wealth of knowledge about their favourite author and her novels, ‘Jane Austen’s Hampshire’ reveals many ofthe lesser known places that wereimportant to the Austen family and their brilliant daughter.

BOOK REVIEW - JANE AUSTEN'S FIRST LOVE BY SYRIE JAMES

OUT ON AUGUST 5th!  

INSPIRED BY ACTUAL EVENTS

Book blurb

Fifteen-year-old Jane Austen dreams of three things: doing something useful, writing something worthy, and falling madly in love. When she visits her brother in Kent to celebrate his engagement, she meets wealthy, devilishly handsome Edward Taylor—a fascinating young man who is truly worthy of her affections. Jane knows a match between her and Edward is unlikely, but every moment she spends with him makes her heart race—and he seems to return her interest. Much to her displeasure, however, there is another seeking his attention

Unsure of her budding relationship, Jane seeks distraction by attempting to correct the pairings of three other prospective couples. But when her matchmaking aspirations do not all turn out as anticipated, Jane discovers the danger of relying on first impressions. The human heart cannot be easily deciphered, nor can it be directed or managed. And if others must be left to their own devices in matters of love and matrimony, can Jane even hope to satisfy her own heart?

My review

Syrie James confirms her skills as brilliant story-teller and creator of lively pictures of Regency life.  Well-researched historical novel as well as delightful summer read,  her  new Jane Austen’s First Love is based on an imaginative interpretation of Jane Austen’s  enigmatic  reference to a “Him, on whom I once fondly doated”    (from  one of Jane Austen’s  letters to her sister Cassandra).  Intriguing matter for a talented researcher and passionate Janeite like Syrie James. (1)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! JANE AUSTEN AND HER MOTHERS

Alison Steadman as Mrs Bennet (1995)

Today is Mother's Day in the UK, Jane Austen's country, and author Victoria Grossack wants to celebrate it with us,  sharing this brilliant post about Jane Austen's   mothers. Thank you so much, Victoria!

Jane Austen is celebrated for many things: her wit, her irony, her insight into the human heart, her romances, and her skill in creating characters.  This article looks at Jane Austen’s mothers, the ones she brought to life in her stories.

The mothers in Jane Austen’s novels differ in each book.  In part this is due to her mastery of characters – they are all unique and three-dimensional – but they also reflect Jane Austen and her own development as a person and an author.  Jane Austen had two main writing periods.  When she was young, before 1800, she wroteNorthanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.  These books were not published until later, and certainly they were revised, but the mothers in them reflect the author’s youthful attitude.  Between 1800 and 1809 Jane did not produce much, mostly because her life was unsettled.The novels that she wrote later, after finding a new home in Chawton – MansfieldPark, Emma and Persuasion– show motherhood with greater maturity.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! A GIFT FOR ALL JANEITES FROM ENDEVOUR PRESS

To celebrate Jane Austen's birthday Endeavour Press are putting Maggie Lane's fascinating ebook, Jane Austen and Food, on a free promotion for five days (16 - 20 Dec). 

Learn about dining customs and the type of food popular in the Regency era

What does food represent in Jane Austen's fiction? And how does she use it to comment on her characters? Why is it so appropriate that the scene of Emma's disgrace should be a picnic, and how do the different styles of housekeeping in Mansfield Park relate to the social issues of the time?