Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:
In honor of lovers everywhere we are highlighting some of Jane Austen’s insights on courtship, love, and marriage in her novels, and in her life, on the most romantic day of the year, Valentine’s Day.
Here are 24 of the best quotes to include in a card, express directly to your friends, family, or inamorata, or just revel in today. Continue reading “24 of the Best Jane Austen Quotes on Courtship, Love, and Marriage to Share with Your Valentine”
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:
Hot off the presses is a new Jane Austen quote book.
I know what you are thinking. Why do I need yet another pithy volume of my favorite author’s best lines jockeying for position on my bedside table along with my Jane Austen bobblehead and my “Waiting for Mr. Darcy” candle?
Well, …it really helps that this new compilation of daily quotes has been edited by, and the foreword written by, Stone Cold Jane Austen, a.k.a. Devoney Looser, Foundation Professor of English at Arizona State University, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar. Continue reading “A Preview of The Daily Jane Austen: A Year of Quotes, by Jane Austen & Devoney Looser”
This charming journal completely missed my radar when it was released last November. Not surprising, really. Who would know from the title listed online that it was inspired by Jane Austen?
The actual cover is more helpful; it has a subtitle, 365 Witticisms by Jane Austen, that was unfortunately omitted in the online listings. Bingo! Janeites will also recognize her silhouette in the cover design, but the uninitiated will be clueless. Honestly, Jane-a-Day could be for any famous Jane, like Jane Eyre, Jane Marple or Calamity Jane! Regardless of this miss by publisher Potter Style, who have brought us a slew of beautiful Austen ephemera like Jane Austen Puzzle: 500-Piece Puzzle, Jane Austen Mini Journal, and Jane Austen Notecards, this is a gem that Janeites should be made aware of.
This classy new 5-year diary has a lot of pluses in its favor to make up for the title flub. Here is the publisher’s blurb from the back:
Let the wit and wisdom of Jane Austen guide you throughout the next five years. Each journal page features a memorable quote from the iconic author’s oeuvre that can be revisited each year. Created to help you make a time capsule of your thoughts, simply turn to today’s date and take a few moments to comment on the quote. When you finish the year, move on to the next section. As the years go by, you’ll notice how your commentary evolves.
Of course the best thing, besides the opulent binding, gold leaf on the edges and the prayer book size (how apt), is the selection of quotes. The unnamed editor who selected them from Jane Austen’s novels and letters did a superb job. Even this die-hard Janeite was pleased to discover a few that have not been featured in every Jane Austen quote book since time began. Here are a few of my favorites:
For those book lovers (like me) who would never think of defacing a book by writing in it, this journal may sit on your Jane Austen bookshelf looking pretty forever. If you are a doodler and want to keep track of your annual reaction to Jane Austen’s pithy quotes and quips throughout the years, I can think of no finer way than including Austen in your life every day for the next five years!
5 out of 5 Regency Stars
Jane-a-Day: 5 Year Journal: With 365 Witticisms by Jane Austen, by Potter Style
Crown Publishing Group (2011)
Hardcover (368) pages
ISBN: 978-0307951717
© 2012 Laurel Ann Nattress, Austenprose
What makes Jane Austen’s writing so extraordinary? Why is she considered by many to be one of the greatest authors in the English language? What does our esteem, or our abhorrence of her reveal about ourselves, and our culture?
In Remarkably Jane: Notable Quotations on Jane Austen, one hundred personalities from actors to intellectuals have their say on literature’s queen of wit and style offering their own pithy, impassioned and often candid insights on what makes Jane Austen so special and how she influenced their own writing and lives. If you thought that you had already read most of the famous quotes on Austen over the years, then you just might be surprised by what author and editor Jennifer Adams has selected. Here are a few of my favorites to give you a teaser.
Admirers
“There are some writers who wrote too much. There are others who wrote enough. There are yet others who wrote nothing like enough to satisfy their admirers, and Jane Austen is certainly one of these.” Margaret Drabble, 1974, Novelist
“How did this early-nineteenth-century novelist become the chick-lit, chick-flick queen for today? It is not only because she is an enduring writer. So is Melville, but bumper stickers and T-shirts read “What would Jane do?” not “What would Herman do?” Caryn James, 2007, Film Critic of the New York Times
“I think, the fact that we have fallen in love with Elizabeth Bennet … means, in effect, that we have fallen in love with Jane Austen; and once we do that we are lovers for life.” Frank Swinnerton, 1940, Literary Critic and Novelist
Nay-sayers
“Edmund and Fanny are both morally detestable and the endorsement of their feelings and behaviour by the author … makes Mansfield Park an immoral book.” Kingsley Amis, 1957, Novelist and Poet
“Jane Austen? I feel I am approaching dangerous ground. The reputation of Jane Austen is surrounded by cohorts of defenders who are ready to do murder for their sacred cause.” Arnold Bennett, 1927, Literary Critic
“The function of the British army in the novels of Jane Austen is to look cute at parties.” Salmon Rushdie, 2005, Novelist, Political Figure
Since the first reviews of Austen’s novels appeared in the early nineteenth-century, people have been talking about her – good and bad – leaving a rich field of research for author and editor Jennifer Adams to select from. Here she gives us a glimpse of the most famous and well quoted remarks over the centuries and some totally modern and fresh views from contemporary sources that I was not aware of. Included are an interesting mix of prominent scholars, actors, directors and fellow writers such as Helen Fielding, Ang Lee, Colin Firth, Andrew Davies, Emma Thompson, Karen Joy Fowler, Oscar Wilde, Stephanie Meyer, Mark Twain, Andy Rooney, and Charlotte Bronte. The list is quite impressive, giving due deference to this talented writer. Interestingly, I also found a new nugget of wisdom included in the forward by the author herself.
“To those of us who love Jane Austen, she is like the brightness of burnished silver. Something lovely, with sparkle, that makes our world more beautiful. I adore her. I love the pleasure she gives with a well-turned line, the way she can make you actually laugh out loud, the bite of her sarcasm, how she lets you fall in love again and again.” Jennifer Adams
Not only is Remarkably Jane packed full of illuminating insights, it is presented in a stunningly beautiful gift quality volume with exquisite black and white illustrations reminiscent of Regency drawings, skillfully honoring and acknowledging one of the most beloved and influential English novelists of all time. For sheer joy of laughter and awe, Jennifer Adams has given us a treasure.
5 out of 5 Regency Stars
Remarkably Jane: Notable Quotations on Jane Austen, by Jennifer Adams
Gibbs Smith, Layton, UT (2009)
Hardcover, (128) pages
ISBN: 978-1423604785
Mrs. Jennings was a widow, with an ample jointure. She had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now therefore nothing to do but marry all the rest of the world. In the promotion of this object, she was zealously active, as far as her ability reached, and missed no opportunity of projecting weddings among all the young people of her acquaintance. She was remarkably quick in the discovery of attachments, and had enjoyed the advantage of raising the blushes and the vanity of many a young lady by insinuations of her power over such a young man; and this kind of discernment enabled her soon after her arrival at Barton decisively to pronounce that Colonel Brandon was very much in love with Marianne Dashwood. She rather suspected it to be so, on the very first evening of their being together, from his listening so attentively while she sang to them; and when the visit was returned by the Middletons dining at the cottage, the fact was ascertained by his listening to her again. It must be so. She was perfectly convinced of it. It would be an excellent match, for he was rich and she was handsome. Mrs. Jennings had been anxious to see Colonel Brandon well married, ever since her connection with Sir John first brought him to her knowledge; and she was always anxious to get a good husband for every pretty girl. The Narrator, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 8
This 1908 watercolor illustration by Charles E. Brock of Mrs. Jennings making Marianne Dashwood blush has always seemed contrary to my vision of her true personality. If she is indeed blushing, it is not from embarrassment of Mrs. Jennings matchmaking, but from aggravation. She is just too much of a lady to look her in the eye and tell her where to go.
I may be transferring my 21st century sensibilities into the stew, but I have always thought of Marianne as a bit of feminist. She could easily have been a suffragette in the 1890’s or burned her bra in the 1960’s and been proud of it. Her mother and sister Elinor may not approve of her objections to Mrs. Jennings well intended conclusion that she and Colonel Brandon are an excellent match because “he is rich and she is handsome”, but hello, she is 16 and he is 35! I agree with her concerns. He is over the hill in her young romantic idealistic eyes. Jane Austen is of course driving the point through her family that she has no money and should be grateful for such an alliance. Marianne wants love, not a marriage of convenience, a theme that runs through each of Austen’s novels, and her own life.
In the end, her pursuit of love over social stricture breaks her of her spirit – her romantic ideals. After Willoughby’s rejection, she succumbs to the socially appropriate match – Colonel Brandon. Her sister Elinor who always acted within propriety lucks out and is rewarded by marrying the man that she loves. We are happy for her, but not for Marianne who wanted more and settled for less. If Sense and Sensibility was intended as a moral fable for young ladies lacking sensibility, social sense is also a cruel task master.
*Illustration by Charles E. Brock, Sense and Sensibility, J.M. Dent & Sons, London (1908)
A violent gust of wind, rising with sudden fury, added fresh horror to the moment. Catherine trembled from head to foot. In the pause which suceeded, a sound like receding footsteps and the closing of a distant door struck on her affrighted ear. The Narrator on Catherine Morland
In honor of Halloween, it is appropriate that we should visit with the young, impressionable, and imaginative Catherine Morland during her stay with the Tilney’s at Northanger Abbey. I can think of no other passage in any of Jane Austen’s writings that builds to such tension and peril!
We are in turn affrighted for Catherine as she sits alone in her apartments late at night, with the wind howling outside, her single candle flickering in the draft, and footsteps resounding in the hallway.
Oh my! An active imagination, fueled by circumstance, can give one a Gothic scare!
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. The Narrator on Emma Woodhouse
The opening line of Emma is so honest! Poor Miss Woodhouse. Her world is so lacking. To be handsome, clever, and rich and not a vex in sight? Whatever is a girl to do?
So, when your life is so polished and predictable, the question on every rich, privileged, and beautiful young ladies mind; — to vex or not to vex? When does entertainment and social works evolve into interference and detriment? A modern day question to ask Paris Hilton perhaps?
Jane Austen has created a fallible heroine for us to cheer on and reproach like a daughter. Is she presenting a larger issue? Do we design of our lives, or does life design us? Which road will we take?
Will we vex, or not?
I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible vanity, the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress. The Letters of Jane Austen, 11 December 1815
Unlearned? Uninformed? Vanity? I think NOT!
This one line from a letter written to the Rev. James Stanier Clarke, librarian to the Prince Regent of England, expounds Austen’s sly charm and passive wit! How humble, how unpretentious, how insignificantly she promotes herself to the Rev. in an attempt to put him off his absurd request for her to write a historical romance formed around the House of Saxe Coburg (Germany). Little he knew what made our Jane tick!
I will concede that Austen was correct on one level. As an author in comparison to some of her learned contemporaries, her education and experiences were indeed unlearned and uninformed. She had little formal education beyond the influences and guidance of a traditionally educated father who augmented his income as a tutor. In her defense, she had the sense to understand her limitations, and the intelligence to write within her scope of knowledge and experience.
In response to Rev. Clarke’s request of topics for her writing, I feel that her reply was more a vexation to his suggestions, than vanity on her part about her ability.
“Oh Elinor,” she cried, “you have made me hate myself for ever. How barbarous have I been to you! — you, who have been my only comfort, who have borne with me in all my misery, who have seemed to be only suffering for me! — Is this my gratitude? Is this the only return I can make you? Because your merit cries out upon myself, I have been trying to do it away.”
Sisters, what we do for each other. Jane Austen has given us an excellent example of sisterly devotion and sacrifice. Elinor has borne the secret of her suitor Edward’s clandestine engagement to Lucy Steele to spare a younger sister the pain and disappointment of the loss to her and her family. Why? What of her pain? What of her feelings?
Elinor Dashwood is a very complicated young lady. Her choices are sometimes puzzling. In this situation, I question her loyalties. Does her promise to Lucy Steele outweigh her fidelity to her family? Is withholding the news of Edward’s secret engagement something that should be borne for the sake of others, or is it an unnecessary burden?
” Which do you mean?” and turning round, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said, “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me,” Mr. Darcy, Pride & Prejudice, Chapter 3
What Janeite does not feel jolting alarm whenever we hear the word tolerable? It has a unique meaning to us. It is the ultimate put-down from the high and mighty Mr. Darcy to poor Miss Elizabeth Bennet, who has done nothing more to deserve such censure then attend the Assembly ball!
Our ‘first impression’ of Mr. Darcy is decidedly fixed. Jane Austen has critically set the tone of their first meeting, and in our heroine’s defense, we are immediately inclined to dislike him for the snub.
At this point, who is really the tolerable one?
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