JANE AUSTEN NOTES

"Nobody minds having what is too good for them."
- Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

This page is a miscellany about Jane Austen and her works. It pulls together some information which I have gathered for the convenience of friends and like-minded Jane Austen enthusiasts.

For comprehensive information about Jane Austen, see the Jane Austen Info Page

Books - Jane Austen's Writings

Jane Austen completed six novels:

Northanger Abbey
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Mansfield Park
Emma
Persuasion

People new to her work sometimes ask which one to read first. I usually suggest "Northanger Abbey", sometimes "Pride and Prejudice" or "Emma", depending on the reader's tastes. If you enjoy fine humour and want something light, start with "Northanger Abbey". If you like romances, start with "Pride and Prejudice". If you want to begin with the best, read "Emma" and then "Mansfield Park".

There are innumerable paperback editions of these six novels. For pleasurable reading or gift-giving, I recommend the hardcover editions reprinted in the new Modern Library series. The publishers have made excellent books. The texts are mostly accurate (though there are a few startling typos). The typeface is crisp, the production quality is high, and the price is reasonable. What a relief after years of squinting at the print in my yellowing paperbacks. My thanks to Random House for reissuing the Modern Library books, and making Jane Austen's novels among the earliest available.

Jane Austen's other works include two unfinished novels, "The Watsons" and "Sanditon", three volumes of stories written in her youth, her verses, and the three prayers mentioned below. The best edition for pleasurable reading, in my opinion, is "Catharine and Other Writings" in the Oxford World's Classics series (paperback) which includes everything but the two unfinished novels.

For some online editions of Jane Austen's novels, see the Jane Austen page which is part of my Great Books Index.

Writings About Jane Austen

The Mystery of Jane Austen was best expressed by Elizabeth Bowen:
"The technique of the novels is beyond praise, and has been praised. Her mastery of the art she chose, or that chose her, is complete. How she achieved it no one will ever know."

The following are noteworthy and may give you some insight into Jane Austen's magic:

"Talking of Jane Austen" [also published as "Speaking of Jane Austen"] by Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern.
"More Talk of Jane Austen" by the same authors.
"Jane Austen and Her Art" by Mary Lascelles.
The introduction, by Margaret Anne Doody, in "Catharine and Other Writings".
The excellent biography "Jane Austen" by Elizabeth Jenkins.

Jane Austen's Prayers

Jane Austen wrote three evening prayers for use in her family.

Prayer in Steventon Rectory
Full text of the above prayer,
which begins "Give us grace, Almighty Father..."
Prayer beginning "Almighty God! Look down with mercy..."
Prayer beginning "Father of Heaven! whose goodness..."

Jane Austen in Bath

In the spring of 1995 my wife and I toured around England visiting sites where Jane Austen had lived or which appear in her books. It was a very enjoyable experience. Winchester was probably my favourite but Bath was also very interesting. I'll leave it to you to plan your own activities (I dread the day this becomes a "package") but want to mention one particular spot in Bath you might like to visit: the Herschel House museum at 19 New King Street. It's not far from the Westgate Buildings which readers of Persuasion will recall.

The Austens' residence is Bath is a private home and not open for visits. But Herschel House, the residence of William Herschel and his sister Caroline, is comparable though not quite as elegant as the Austens' residence. You will be able to see what Jane Austen meant when she described housing selection in her letters.

Another Bath home now open as a museum is No. 1 Royal Crescent. This is an elegant residence, quite a bit more than the Austens could afford.

If you are interested in astronomy or music, you will find Herschel House interesting in its own right. William Herschel, of course, is the discoverer (in 1781) of the planet Uranus. He was by profession a musician and in 1766 was elected organist to the Octagon chapel at Bath. Over the following 15 years Herschel was a frequent performer at the rooms, theatre, oratorios and public and private concerts. Although the dates are not exact, you can imagine William Herschel playing for the many events in Bath which Catherine Morland attended in 1798 or 1799.

You will also enjoy a visit to the Upper Rooms in Bath. The Lower and Upper Rooms appear in Northanger Abbey and in Persuasion, and were the scene of many a dance or concert. The Lower Rooms no longer exist but the Upper Rooms, so called because they are situated in the upper part of town, are still much as they were in Jane Austen's time. In the basement of the Upper Rooms there is an excellent museum of costume.

The Bath Tourism Bureau has recently published some photographs which depict Bath in Jane Austen's time. This is excellent material. Perhaps two slight cautions are in order:
On page 2 a photo shows actors from the movie "Persuasion" in the middle of the large intersection known as the Circus. In Jane Austen's time, I believe, the Circus was entirely paved over and there was no tree in the centre. Servants carrying someone in an enclosed chair could cross directly, instead of going round about. The costumes shown are, I understand, quite authentic.
On page 6, the photo of Bath Abbey has the Roman Baths in the foreground. These baths were excavated in the 1800's and were entirely unknown to Jane Austen.

"Northanger Abbey is not one of the great novels, but its style is the most consistently stimulating of any; it bubbles and sings with a cool and brilliant exhilaration, and one is never more conscious of the spirit of an age as inspiring different forms of art, than when walking among the streets of Bath, with a copy of Northanger Abbey in one's hand."
-- Elizabeth Jenkins, "Jane Austen", pg. 120.

Alternative Titles

You may enjoy playing a little game I like: thinking of alternative titles for Jane Austen's books. Each of the titles "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice" contrasts two behaviours, and one sees various examples of those behaviours in the story. For instance, "Pride and Prejudice" shows the pride of Elizabeth and of Darcy, but also of Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine de Brough, and Jane Bennett, and the lack of pride of Charlotte Lucas.

"Mansfield Park" might be given the alternative title "Constancy and Expediency". An alternative title for "Emma" might mention Delusion or perhaps Blindness.

I am not suggesting that Jane Austen considered these titles. If nothing else, "Constancy and Expediency" is too awkward; she was a better artist than that. And the title of "Emma" is the first sentence of the story, and could not be changed without losing part of the beauty of her start.

I have read that Jane Austen intended that the book we know as "Northanger Abbey" be called "Catherine", after its heroine. She initially used the title "Susan" in the manuscript which never saw print, but changed Susan to Catherine when she regained control of the copyright and wrote it out for publication. My opinion is that she changed the name because in the interim she had advised her niece Anna on Anna's novel which had a heroine named Susan.

The title of "Persuasion" was chosen by Jane Austen's brother Henry. Some say that Jane Austen would have called this "The Eliots". An odd title which I think unlikely, and I do not know the authority for this supposition.

Your thoughts on this subject of titles are welcome. E-mail ken2@mirror.org

Three Minor Questions

Jane Austen and Laurence Sterne
Had Jane Austen read Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy"?
MRS AUGUSTA ELTON Acrostic
In Jame Austen's "Emma", what is the acrostic on Mrs Elton's name?
Yew Tree at Steventon
When did it become customary to plant yew trees in English churchyards?

Pride and Prejudice - The Musical

I am sorry to report that the links to the P&P musical no longer operate. I have not been able to find a new URL for this material. If you know where the P&P musical is now located, please tell me! It is too good to be lost.

Clueless was a surprise hit. The film adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, and most recently Emma all did well. By Hollywood logic a "contemporized" Jane Austen musical is next. "La Belle Helene Hammerstein" has written a script which would have amused the author of Lesley Castle.
From the opening scene:
"Darcy and Bingley pull up in their respective Porsche and XJS to a vacant mansion. Bingley decides to rent it and resolves to call the real estate agent from his car phone that afternoon. The two race down the house's tree lined driveway at 120 mph. Lizzy sees them in the distance as she rollerblades on her way home."
Part 1 . Part 2 . Part 3 . Part 4 . Part 5 . Part 6

[Note: The links from part 1 to part 2, etc do not work. Return to this page after reading part 1 and then you will be able to go to part 2 and so on. Update: none of the P&P musical links work anymore.]

Pride and Prejudice - The Musical (Reprise)

Wonderful! Someone has told me about the Taylor P&P Musical. I have not seen/heard it, and imagine it cannot the same as the humourous uncontrollable sendup written by "La Belle Helene Hammerstein", but take a look at this synopsis of Bernard J. Taylor's Pride and Prejudice.