Margaret C. Sullivan - The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World

Copyright 2007 by Margaret C. Sullivan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Number: 2006938583

eISBN: 978-1-59474-508-9

Cover designed by Jenny Kraemer
Illustrations by Kathryn Rathke
Cover illustration by Jacob Weinstein
Production management by John J. McGurk

Quirk Books
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Philadelphia, PA 19106
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v3.1

For my mother,
who let me read
everything.

If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.
J ANE A USTEN , N ORTHANGER A BBEY

What is it about Jane Austen, anyway? All Janeites have heard the question at one time or another, whether from a friend, significant other, co-worker, parole officer, or a math teacher who caught said Janeite reading Emma under the desk during class. Shes been dead for two hundred years! She wrote stories about upper-class twits desperate to marry other upper-class twits! How can these books possibly be relevant to life in the twenty-first century?

There really is no way to respond to such a question. How to explain the sheer tingling joy one experiences when two interesting, complex, and occasionally aggravating characters have at last settled their misunderstandings and will live happily ever after, no matter what travails life might throw in their path, because Jane Austen said they will, and thats that? How to describe the exhilaration of being caught up in an unknown but glamorous world of balls and gowns and rides in open carriages with handsome young men? How to explain that the best part of Jane Austens world is that sudden recognition that the characters are just like you?

If you are nodding, Gentle Reader, this book is for you. We will not scold you for wanting to understand entailments and wedding clothes and the delicate politics of a ballroom. (Because it does rather bring the fantasy to a screeching halt to realize one is not familiar with the intricacies of, say, paying a morning call.) We will instead undertake to explain the mysteries of life among early nineteenth-century British landed gentrymysteries that Jane Austen, writing for an audience of her contemporaries, did not find mysterious at all. Here are step-by-step instructions that will allow one to conduct ones fantasy life with perfect aplombor at least to better understand the background when Lizzy or Emma or Elinor or Catherine or Fanny or Anne is faced with a similar situation in the novels or films.

Have you ever wondered where Mr. Darcy got his richesor how much that ten thousand a year would be worth today? Or why Emma Woodhouse looks down upon the Coxes but not on the Westons? Why Lady Russell spends every winter in Bath, or why Fanny Price was stuck in Portsmouth until someone male could come and take her away? These subjects, and others, are covered in the first section of this book, which deals with some of the logistical considerations of life among the gentry of Regency England.

The second section explores the ins and outs of how one spent ones day in a period when having an actual job was frowned upon, while in the third section, Making Love (stop giggling, you guttersnipes; the phrase meant something different then and you know it!), one will learn the all-important rules for choosing a prospective husband.

And as Mrs. Bennet pointed out in Pride and Prejudice, a family in a country estate can expect to dine with as many as four and twenty families, so one will wish to know how to conduct oneself in social interactions. The fourth section addresses the nagging questions on the intricacies of dancing, country house parties, and all manner of card games, including the ever-present, if not dreadfully boring, whist.

We also have included a short biography of Jane Austen; descriptions of her novels and the concoctions of modern Austen fans, such as films, sequels, and merchandise; and a handy glossary of the terms that have puzzled many modern readers.

Some might protest that the trappings of Jane Austens world are unimportantthat only the story matters. Others might point out that life in Jane Austens time was not all small beer and skittlesthat intelligent and genteel young ladies were left impoverished, soldiers and sailors went off to war and did not return, and beloved authors fell ill and died too young.

But like Jane herself, I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, and leave the pens of the many excellent Jane Austen scholars to dwell on guilt and misery. This book is for the Janeite who, while relatively content living in the modern world, indulges in the occasional unashamed wallow in Austenland. Who among us has not imagined being mistress (or master) of Pemberley, or a trim frigate, or even an unpretending parsonage? Come, confess!

As no less a philosopher than Miss Elizabeth Bennet pointed out, the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine. While the careful Janeite will remember the lesson of Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey, who forgot that real life is not like books, even her very commonsense hero, Henry Tilney, admitted that it is only natural to be drawn to the charms of a well-written novel. Janes novels are so true to life that even two centuries later they are fresh and funny and, yes, relevant as ever.

The carriage awaits, Gentle Reader. Will you step in, and let us take you on a great adventure?

The Authoress

It is amazing to me, said Bingley, how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are. They all paint tables, cover skreens, and net purses. I scarcely know any one who cannot do all this, and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished.P RIDE AND P REJUDICE

Well-bred young ladies must acquire a store of accomplishments that are of no practical use and are, therefore, quite attractive to gentlemen. However, one certainly is not born with the ability to play concertos upon the pianoforte, translate Italian love songs, paint tables, cover screens, net purses, and perform all the other talents of the accomplished lady. These skills are acquired through an intensive training process that begins in childhood and continues until the triumphant day of marriage, whereupon one can rest comfortably on ones laurels.

Study several languages. Become well-versed in French, certainly, and Italian, so you can read music and translate love songs. There is no need to learn Latin or Greek, howeveryoull be thought a bluestocking.