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Summary and Analysis of

The Real Jane Austen

A Life in Small Things

Based on the Book by Paula Byrne

The summary and analysis in this ebook are meant to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction. This ebook is not intended as a substitute for the work that it summarizes and analyzes, and it is not authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the works author or publisher. Worth Books makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this ebook.

Contents

Context

In 2013, Jane Austen fans celebrated the two hundred-year publication anniversary of Pride and Prejudice . The Jane Austen Society of North America invited literary scholars to share fresh insights into the novel and hosted a ball in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Paula Byrne, the author of Jane Austen and the Theatre , marked the anniversary with a new biography.

Since Austen has always been a popular subject for scholars, she didnt attempt another womb to tomb retelling of her life. She decided to begin each chapter using drawings of Georgian artifacts that were significant to Austen. The objectsincluding an ivory miniature, an East Indian shawl, and a royalty checkserved as starting points for each of Byrnes essays.

After Austens death in 1817, her brother Henry wrote a Biographical Notice of the Author in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion that set the tone for future biographies. Henry, a clergyman by this time, focused on Austens piety and usefulness. He claimed that her life had been uneventful. For Byrne, the artifacts embodied another Jane Austen. Although she never left England, Austen was worldly and linked to important events like the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars through her family. According to this biography, the real Jane Austen was a keen observer of human behavior who had a passionate desire to write for a living.

Overview

Jane Austen knew she wanted to be a writer when she was just twelve. She kept vellum notebooks with stories satirizing the popular Gothic and sentimental novels of the Georgian period. Samuel Richardsons Clarissa and Pamela were among her favorites. She was also deeply influenced by contemporary woman writer Fanny Burney. The author of Cecilia challenged readerswho expected female protagonists to be beautiful and flawlesswith imperfect heroines.

Although Austens brother Henry characterized her life as uneventful, she traveled extensively throughout England. It wasnt possible for Austen to go to Europe because of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, but she had brothers in the Royal Navy and the Oxfordshire Militia who kept her informed.

Austen never married, but she did not lack suitors. Since she never kept a diary or wrote a memoir, its impossible to tell who, if anyone, was the great love of her life. Some critics think an Irishman named Tom Lefroy broke her heart, but she wasnt passionate about him in her letters to Cassandra. According to a niece, Austen was supposedly in love with a clergyman who died unexpectedly. After her sister Cassandras fianc died in the West Indies, Austen seemed less motivated to find a husband. She was deeply attached to her sister and may not have been willing to live apart from her.

It was difficult for Austen to be an unmarried woman in Georgian England because she was forced to rely on male relatives for financial support. She returns repeatedly to the plight of the single impoverished woman in her novels. Austens goal was to make money writing, but she struggled for years to get published. Once she moved to a cottage owned by her brother Edward, she was able to focus on writing and revising her novels. Sense and Sensibility was published in 1811, followed by Pride and Prejudice in 1813, Mansfield Park in 1814, and Emma in 1815. Austen was writing her last novel, Sanditon , when she died of Addisons disease in 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published posthumously.

Summary

Prologue: Captain Harvilles Carpentry

Paula Byrne says her approach to Jane Austens life will be more experimental and less dependent on reciting known facts. She uses objects from the Georgian era as jumping-off points to illuminate episodes in Austens life.

According to Byrne, Henry Austen stunted his sisters public identity after her death by describing her as pious and useful. Only Austens last two novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion , were published with her name attached. James Edward Austen-Leighs 1869 biography of his aunt reinforced the idea that Austen lived a quiet, sheltered life.

Through eighteen objects, Byrne reveals that Austen was more sophisticated than her early biographies suggest. She traveled extensively in England and had brothers who sailed the world for the Royal Navy.

Byrnes experiment starts with a watercolor of Lyme Regis, a coastal town Austen visited in 1803 and 1804. The watercolor is meaningful because Austen loved Lyme Regis and seaside towns like it. It is also the setting for a pivotal moment in Persuasion . A secondary character, Louisa Musgrove, falls from the steps of the Cobb, changing the course of heroine Anne Elliots life.

Prior to the dramatic scene at the Cobb, the characters visit Captain Harvilles cottage. He enjoys woodworking and fills his home with toys, shelves, and netting needles. Janes brother Francis also made things for his newborn baby and home. Byrne suggests that the objects Austen describes in Persuasion make her novels more realistic and have an emotional resonance. Austens world and her stories come alive through the texture of things, the life of objects.

Austen took her brother Franciss interest in carpentry and used it to create a compelling and convincing portrait. Despite her limited personal experience, she used her knowledge of the world and created novels filled with people and moments that are realistic and recognizable to any reader.

1. The Family Profile

The Family Profile begins and ends with the story of Edward Austens adoption by wealthy relatives. Edward was one of Janes older brothers and his adoption had a significant impact on her writing.

The image at the beginning of the chapter is a silhouette by William Welling that shows Edward being transferred from his father, George Austen, to Thomas and Catherine Knight. The Knights were immediately charmed by their nephew Edward and took him on their honeymoon in 1779. Catherine had not produced an heir by 1781, so the Knights formally adopted the boy. It was not uncommon for relatives to adopt children to keep property in the family. Jane Austen knew of young girls who had also been adopted by prominent English families.

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