Janet Todd

The Cambridge Companion to 'Pride and Prejudice'

Preface Chronology 1. Narrative Thomas Keymer 2. Character Robert Miles 3. Philosophy Peter Knox-Shaw 4. Composition and publication Anthony Mandal 5. The literary context Linda Bree 6. The historical background Bharat Tandon 7. The economic context Robert Markley 8. Estates Judith Page 9. Space Andrew Elfenbein 10. Translations Gillian Dow 11. Criticism Janet Todd 12. The romantic hero Janet Todd 13. Film and television Laura Carroll and John Wiltshire 14. The cult Devoney Looser 15. Pride and proliferation Emily Auerbach Guide to further reading Index.

‘Lady Susan’, ‘The Watsons’ And ‘Sanditon’

With the exception of the cancelled chapters of Persuasion , nothing remains of the manuscripts of Austen’s published novels. Yet she seems to have kept copies of the versions she sent to publishers: when she wrote to Crosby and Co. in April 1809 about ‘Susan’, an early version of Northanger Abbey which Crosby had accepted in 1803 but had not published, she offered to supply another copy of the manuscript. So we can assume that she kept copies and that these were jettisoned once the novels appeared in print. In contrast, Jane Austen and her family were tenacious in preserving those works which existed in manuscript but which were never published: among them, her Juvenilia, neatly copied into three notebooks, the ‘Plan of a Novel’ and a large number of miscellaneous poems. Most interesting of these manuscripts are three novels (one complete fair copy and two unfinished drafts): ‘Lady Susan’, ‘The Watsons’ and ‘Sanditon’. These works span Austen’s creative years, from the 1790s when she was still a teenager, to a few months before she died at 41, so they cast a unique light on her creative processes from the beginning to the end of her writing career.

Behn, women, and society

Advocates for dramatically different ideologies about womens nature and womens appropriate function in society clashed with one another in Aphra Behns lifetime. Although some of these ideologies claimed to be traditional, none of them was simply so. Behns plays, fiction, and poems raise acute questions about these ideologies and make it clear that she found none of them entirely satisfactory. Here I will consider three of these clashing ideologies: first, the Church of England religious ideology, at once the dominant ideology of Behns society and the one with which she had the least sympathy; second, an economic and legal ideology; and third, the libertine ideology, the one that Behn in many ways found attractive, but one that seemed to work better for men than for women. Each of these ideologies had very different understandings of what the value of women was and I will conclude with a discussion of Behns inventive exploration of the problem of womens value. Although the majority of women in Behns society belonged to the labouring and yeoman classes - toiling in agriculture, in work like the spinning of wool, in domestic service, or as the daughters or wives of small farmers - these sorts of women are not important characters in Behns works, so I will focus here mainly on women from the higher social classes who are her principal concern. The Church It would be difficult to discern from Behn’s writings that the dominant ideology during the period when she wrote was that of the Church of England. Churches in Behn’s plays and fiction, usually Roman Catholic churches on the continent, typically appear as places where men and women discover their lovers and make assignations, not places of devotion. Her wits display their cleverness in blasphemy. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of Behn’s English contemporaries belonged to the Church of England and respected its religion.

Fatal Fluency: Behn's Fiction and the Restoration Letter

Pardon me Sir that I aply myself to your Lordship: as the ffountaine from whence all the marcy I can expect (it seemes) must spring ... tis true I am sent for home: but tis as true that they knew well I had not money enough to com withall: I could not Beg nor starve heare ... if your Lordship will be pleasd to lett me have a Bill upon mr shaw for on[e] 100 pound more, of which my friend shall have part: I will heare promise your Lordship: if when I com home I can not give you absolute sattisfection I will Justly returne it againe. ... for god of heavens sake Sir take Pity on me; let me be usd like a Christian & one who would venture her life to gaine your ffavorable opinion & to be permitted amongst the number of my Lord your Lordships most ffaithfull & humble servant: A. Behne.

Ivory Miniatures and the Art of Jane Austen

In 1816 on the last birthday before her death, Jane Austen wrote to her nephew, James Edward Austen, who had lost two and half chapters of his never published novel, that she could not have been suspected of purloining it since she was not at Steventon when the loss occurred. She continued, I do not think however that any theft of that sort would be really very useful to me. What should I do with your strong, manly, spirited Sketches, full of Variety … Glow? — How could I possibly join them on to the little bit (two Inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so fine a Brush, as produces little effect after much labour?1