Which Jane Austen?

Nicola here.  Last week I was in Oxford at the Bodleain Library to see the Jane Austen exhibition. I love “The Bod” as it’s known; when you join you have to swear an oath that dates back to when the library was first open to scholars in 1602. Amongst other things you have to promise not to set fire to the place which suggests that those 17^th century students were a bit unruly, not unlike some of their modern Oxford counterparts!

The exhibition was quite small, just one room, and I did wonder when I went in whether there was anything new that could be said about Jane Austen or any new slant that could be taken on her life and work. It was titled “Which Jane Austen” and had the theme of “the writer in the world.” So it focussed on objects and writing associated with specific times and places in her life. There was a section on the juvenilia she wrote with other members of her family (in the photo), with her original diaries and notebooks on show.  There were features on her time in Bath and her connections to London, with many letters on show. There was a book of recipes Jane’s family used at Chawton House. A particularly interesting section focussed on Jane as a woman writing in a time of war which pointed out that she was one of the first writers from the “home front” giving a domestic view of life for those living through the Napoleonic Wars. It’s always mind-blowing to see original possessions and belongings on display and one of the things that moved me most was a pair of Jane’s spectacles resting on her writing desk! I imagine a lot of us could relate to that!

In a studio next door they were playing extracts from all the different films and TV adaptations of Jane Austen’s books. The idea was that you could sit and draw your own comparisons between the different versions of the story and see how they could be depicted in so many ways. Or, if you were like me, you could admire the houses, the fashions and the different Mr Darcys!

It’s fascinating to fill out the background life and influences of a writer like Jane Austen. She attended the balls and parties we read and write about. She met the people and danced the steps of the country dances. I love the fact that like many writers, she used aspects of the people she knew to inspire the characters in her books. One of the most exciting things that I discovered when researching the history of Ashdown House was a completely unexpected connection between the Craven family and the Austen family. Sir Charles Craven, who was Governor of Carolina between 1711 and 1716 was married to a very beautiful younger woman called Elizabeth Staples. This woman was the grandmother of three of Jane Austen’s closest friends, Martha, Mary and Eliza Lloyd. They regaled Jane with tales of Elizabeth’s private cruelty and vice, and the outrageously scandalous life she led after she was widowed. It’s said that she was the model for Lady Susan Vernon in the book Lady Susan and recent film Love and Friendship. Similarly, John Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility was supposedly based on the Earl of Craven of whose morals in keeping his mistress at Ashdown House Jane Austen so clearly disapproved!  Willoughby is charming, extravagant and amoral. William Craven was, arguably… well, you guessed it!

The relationship between William Craven and the famous Regency courtesan Harriette Wilson, which was said that been reflected in Sense and Sensibility, was also the inspiration for the story thread involving the courtesan Lavinia Flyte in my own book, House of Shadows. Jane Austen, in writing about the fate of  Eliza Williams in Sense and Sensibility was completely aware of the restrictions on the lives of women in Regency England, the balance of power and the way that the wider world worked. She was indeed a “writer in the world.”

Do you think Jane Austen was a writer who reflects the wider world? Do you have a favourite adaptation or a favourite re-imagining of her work? To celebrate the US publication of House of Shadows next week I'm giving away a copy of the book to one commenter between now and midnight Saturday!

Comments

[Mary Jo Putney]

Nicola--you are SO RIGHT about relating the Jane Austen's spectacles! It's also interesting about the various connections with your Cravens.

But the REAL question--which Darcy actor did you like best> *G*

[Patricia Franzino]

I think Jane Austen had an uncanny ability to read people and events from her area of the world in a way that was astounding to see her perceptive mentality at work in her books.

I always liked an early adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" with Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul. It was very precisely taken from the original in detailed language, and held back any overt expressions of love between the couples. It was extremely well adapted and acted.

The Jennifer Eyles and Colin Firth version is great, too, if more for the extra sensuality added between them.

[Nicola Cornick]

Mary Jo, isn't it funny how something like spectacles, which a lot of us wear, or a desk or a pen, are so resonant when you see what another author wore or used!

As for the rival Darcys, I must admit it's SO hard to choose. Actually I think Rupert Penry-Jones as Wentworth is my absolute favourite rather than a Darcy!

[Nicola Cornick]

Patricia, I think that is so true! She had such a way of observing life and pinning down those observations in her work.

The P&P with Elizabeth Garvie was the first one I saw as a teenager. I liked it very much too! I also did like the way that the Colin Firth version had more sensual tension without being too overt.

[Mary T]

Colin Firth (sigh)!

[Mary T]

Great post Nicola! My favorite book by Ms. Austen was EMMA, and my favorite TV/movie adaption of that book was one produced by the BBC. I don't remember the name of the actress who played Emma, but Johnny Lee Miller played Mr. Knightley.

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Mary! Ah, you're an Emma fan! Yes, I enjoyed that production too. I think it was Romola Garai who played Emma and was rather good.

[Sue McCormick]

Yes, I'm among the Austen fans of the world.

My favorite book is Persuasion. I don't believe I have seen a performance of that book. The Colin Firth Darcey stays in my mind as well done. But although I love Pride and Prejudice I much prefer Persuasion. My second favorite is Mansfield Park. I don't know if there has been a dramatization of that.

[Larisa]

I too am torn between Wentworths...Ciaran Hinds vs Penry-Jones.
The score for the 2005 P&P often echoes thru my home, love the piano pieces.
Jane Austen's families, her nuances and people still ring true for me.
Thank you for a lovely post about a new Jane book!

[Sophie Weston]

Ciaran HInds Wentworth is in his class of his own, I think. He does drawing room politesse with that slight edge that makes you see he could have a cutlass in his hand and an enemy in his sights aboard.

I, too, had no idea about Jane Austin's familiarity with the Craven family. How fascinating. All very subdued when it peeps through her well-mannered narrative, but good to know that she didn't shut her eyes to it. Thank you, Nicola.

[Teresa Broderick]

I so envy you Nicola getting to see that exhibition. I love stories set on the home front during wars but never connected Jane's writing as such until you mentioned it now. My fav P&P adaptation is the Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul version but my fav book is Persuasion. Ciaran Hinds for me all the way. I thought he was brilliant in the part.
Lovely post. Don't enter me in the draw, I already own the book. Good luck with it in the States.

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Sue! You have good taste!! Persuasion has always been my favourite too. I do think it's a very thoughtful, nuanced book. I've seen a couple of film/TV versions of it that have been very well done. I've also seen a couple of Mansfield Park and did enjoy one of those although I was desperate for Fanny to run off with a reformed Henry Crawford!

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you, Larisa! The exhibition book really is completely fascinating. And I agree on the Persuasion versus Persuasion contest! Very difficult to choose.

[Nicola Cornick]

Very beautifully put, Sophie! Yes, he does indeed have an edge to him that is very attractive, especially in the hothouse atmosphere of polite society!

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you so much, Teresa. I hadn't really thought of Jane Austen as an author from the home front either until I saw the exhibition but when you look for the references in her writing I think you do see a wider world. Fascinating stuff.

[Annette Naish]

Thanks for this post. Really terrific.

I think Ms Austen saw the wider world from her own front door. Agatha Christie had Ms Marple able to recognize people because they reminded her of residents of St Mary Mead, her home village.

Human nature is human nature. If someone lives in the middle of a jungle or the middle of New York City, their abilities may differ but personalities will out. Jane Austen saw that. I think her ability to observe people and see who they truly were is what makes her perfect for today just as she was when she first wrote her stories.

As far as the best representation...for me the worst was the Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier film. The cast was lovely and had many talented actors. But, the writers acted as though they had no idea who Jane Austen actually was.

I think the Colin Firth film was the best. When he rushes into his home to change clothes so he can return to her and invite her to spend time with him is one of the most romantic scenes ever. He is just a shy guy hoping to spend time with a woman who knocks him off his feet. Now that is romance.

I think it is nicest when the film writers actually know who Jane Austen was and what she represents.

[Nancy M]

Austen also had connections to the Earl of Portsmouth who was later declared too crazy to know what he was doing when he married his solicitor's daughter. The earl had been one of her father's students and the family had been invited to the annual open house held every year during the man's first marriage. Lord Byron was also involved in the earl's second marriage.
Most of the movies should say that they are loosely connected to Jane Austen's novels. No one has done a good Mansfield Park. Persuasion is my favorite of the books. Ciaran Hinds is a pretty good Wentworth and that movie was the least offensive of many. The latest Mansfield Park with Bonnie someone was as bad as the one with Fanny price dressed in clothes from the GAP and a budding Jane Austen. Dpon't get me started on the various movies about Becoming Jane Austen and such. There are two online groups that discuss Jane Austen. One is Austen-L and the other is Janeites. There are over 1000 members of one list and 800 on the other and there are that many different views of Jane Austen. There are a hundred of books published about Jane Austen and 100 different views of her. Some think her books are conservative, tidy with a mild sense of humor and others think she was a wild radical. One book describes all the double entendres in her works starting with rears and vices and descending to gutter talk . Others say she was penning radical thoughts and was a Lesbian and that there was a plethora of illegitimate babies being passed off as legitimate children of others. Mr. Knightley was really a cold blooded rapist and all the so called good guys were actually villains.
Why does every one want Fanny Price to marry a man without morals who seduced a married woman just because his pride was pricked? he had courted and teased Maria just to see if he could because he knew she was betrothed. Then he didn't offer to marry her and didn't marry her after he assisted in her ruin? He was a good actors as his reading of Shakespeare told us. The trouble is most of those who dramatize Austen's works don't like her characters or her endings. So many people hate Emma and Fanny Price they either have to change them in the drama, or exaggerate the part they hate. People are virulent in their hatred of Fanny and Emma. However, most people who say they love Austen mean they love the movies or the Firth Pride and Prejudice. I have been on on-line discussion groups of Austen for more than twenty years and was the chair or regional representative of the Atlanta chapter of JASNA for fourteen years and a member of that group for twenty-six years or so. I mention that just to give the background for my comments. Not much on the subject I haven't heard.

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Annette! I'm so glad you liked the post. That's a very interesting point about Miss Marple. People who live in small communities needn't necessarily be either unaware of the wider world or inexperienced in human nature!

The Greer Garson/Laurence Olivier version always strikes me as very wooden and I wondered if that was the stylised action of the time or,a s you say, a lack of deeper understanding of the book, or perhaps both! I love Colin Firth's Darcy too! There are so many little bits where he shows elements of the character.

[Janice Millford]

As a member of JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) and full disclosure, the Regional Coordinator of the Minnesota Region, we spend our meeting times discussing the ins and outs of Jane's works, supporting Chawton House and its Library. Every year at our Annual General Meeting, we spend 3-4 days immersed in Jane and there is always something new to delight and intrigue us. 2017 was the 200th anniversary of her death which is also why many exhibits and honorings came along....including the new 10 pound note and 2 pound coin. I would have loved to see the spectacles on her writing desk, which always seems so small to me, but I suppose it is the same size of as laptop table! My favorite book of hers is PERSUASION, which will be featured next year on its 200th anniversary of publication and the Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds film is definitely sigh worthy. "Jane went to Paradise....." and deservedly so. Thank you a wonderful visit to Bodleain Library and memories of our Dear Jane.

[Nicola Cornick]

That's fascinating about the connection to the Portsmouth family, Nancy. I will read up on that.

I wouldn't want Fanny to marry an unreformed Henry Crawford. What interested me in that story was his capacity for reform under her influence. Ans I love the books and as a (very) separate entity, only some of the films.

There certainly are as many opinions and interpretations of Jane Austen and her work as there are grains of sand on a beach. That phenomena in itself is so interesting, why and how it has happened. Jane has become public property.

[Nicola Cornick]

I don't know why my reply didn't come up but maybe it will pop up twice! Thank you for the information on the Portsmouth connection, Nancy. I will research that. It sounds very interesting.

I wouldn't want Fanny Price to marry an unreformed Henry Crawford at all but what interests me most about that relationship is his capacity for reform, particularly under her influence. Could he have become a good man?

Yes, there are many differing views and interpretations of Jane Austen and her work and I think that is one of the most fascinating things about her - how that has happened and why.

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you very much for your comment, Janice. If you haven't already seen the exhibition book I imagine you would find it fascinating. Yes, the desk is small but I hadn't thought of the comparison with a laptop table! That's exactly right. And of course Jane herself was also small, as the exhibit of her re-created gown pointed out!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Ciaran Hinds, yess.......!

[Sonya Heaney]

It’s such an unpopular opinion, but I do love the 1980 Pride and Prejudice. I think Elizabeth Garvie is just perfect as Elizabeth Bennet (and she doesn’t go around smirking like Jennifer Ehle, or slouching like Keira Knightley!), and - while I thought he was too stiff when I first watched - I now love David Rintoul as Mr Darcy. He actually smiles sometimes, as he does in the book, and his voice is just PERFECT - so aristocratic.
Yes, the whole thing looks a little bit “stagey” to modern eyes, but it grows on you.
I also think it’s hilarious that the actress playing Caroline Bingley is the daughter of a duke in real life, and recently stood in for the Queen at a rehearsal, making her even posher than her character!

[Nicola Cornick]

Sonya, I was 16 when that version of P&P came out and I enjoyed it immensely then and I still like it now. It is more formal than the later ones, as was no doubt the style at the time, but I agree that works! And I didn't like either Jennifer Ehle's coy smirks or Keira Knightley's sloppy slouching!

I had no idea about the actress who plays Caroline Bingley. How funny!

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you very much for all the comments and the fun discussing Jane Austen and rival interpretations! The winner of the book giveaway is Mary T. Congratulations, Mary!

[Michelle H]

When you mentioned the spectacles and the writing desk, I was off in a daydream seeing them myself and being so tempted to just touch! It seems quite real for a moment. Wonderful post.

[Michelle H]

Nancy, thank you so much for your comments and the links to the Austen related online groups.

[Michelle H]

After seeing the 1995 version (my favorite still) I kept having this faint memory pop in and out of my mind about seeing another version years before. And indeed, when internet search became more accessible for me I found the Garvie-Rintoul version again from the 70's(?) I love that one, but The Collin Firth Darcy is hands down the best for me.

Lovely informative post Nicola. Here I am late to the game as usual and I'm sorry to have missed the book giveaway chance. Your book is in my wish list, and the very best of luck!

[Nicola Cornick]

Thank you very much, Michelle! I'm glad you enjoyed the post. I hadn't thought to look for the older version of P&P online and am off to find it now. I'd love to watch that again.