Monday, January 20, 2014

The Jane Austen Book Club


Why do we still read Jane Austen? I asked myself that question when I started reading Northanger Abbey recently. Within the first chapter I came across these memorable passages: 

"No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother; her own person and disposition, were all equally against her."

"'Catherine grows quite a good-looking girl, -- she is almost pretty today,' were words which caught her ears now and then; and how welcome were the sounds! To look 'almost' pretty, is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain for the first fifteen years of her life, than a beauty from her cradle can ever receive."

"She had reached the age of seventeen, without seeing one amiable youth who could call forth her sensibility...This was strange indeed! But strange things may be generally accounted for if their cause be fairly searched out. There was not one lord in the neighborhood; no -- not even a baronet. There was not one family among their acquaintance who had reared and supported a boy accidentally found at their door -- not one young man whose origin was unknown. Her father had no ward, and the squire of the parish no children.
But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of the forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero her way."

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Despite the fact that she was writing two hundred years ago and never ventured more than a county or two away from her home, Jane Austen's writing is timeless. She understood human nature and her ironic take on society can be applied to the world we live in today. True, we first need to immerse ourselves in her 19th-century world and get used to period details such as barouches, the Entailment property law, Regency War officers, and the healing waters of Bath. But once we get comfortable, we realize we are in the company of a wise and funny writer who never seems dated. A master storyteller, Austen writes about heroines who hold out for love, despite the economic realities of their lives and, after a series of obstacles thrown their way, always find it. We forget how smart, funny and ironic she is until we pick up one of her books after not having read her for a while. This is what happened to me last week when I spent some time getting reacquainted with Jane Austen at the Hotel Bel-Air.

Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen in the 2007 film Becoming Jane

When I heard that Professor Charles (Lynn) Batten of UCLA would be speaking about Jane Austen, I immediately signed up. Professor Batten is one of the wittiest and most knowledgeable experts on Jane Austen in Los Angeles and is a well-known and well-loved lecturer on the topic. I have heard him speak many times. And so last week I found myself at the beautiful Hotel Bel-Air listening to him talk about Northanger Abbey. This was part of the lecture series The Jane Austen Book Club put on by Literary Affairs.

We learned that Jane Austen was a fan of the 18th-century writer Samuel Johnson and, in the same tradition as Johnson, wanted to give the reader truthful representations of nature. The characters in Northanger Abbey are obsessed with Gothic romances which, unlike Jane Austen's novels, are unrealistic. The Mysteries of Uldopho by Anne Radcliffe is one of those romances that Catherine Morland is reading. Northanger Abbey is about the education and the maturing of Catherine Morland who will learn that the life she is living is not the life from a Gothic romance. It turns out that once she accepts that, she becomes the heroine of her own life. Not surprisingly, Catherine Morland is one of those Austen characters we fall in love with. I am now reading Northanger Abbey with the fascinating insights provided by Lynn Batten.


Next month -- Sense & Sensibility!

I am having such a good time immersing myself in the world of barouches, the Entailment and Regency War officers!

Photos two and three via Pinterst

14 comments:

  1. Sunday,

    Good evening. This is the perfect post for a cold winter evening. A cup of cocoa and any of Jane Austen's books are perfect. I recently reread Northanger Abbey and although it is not my favorite of Janes books I enjoyed it none the less.

    I hope that you have a great week!

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    1. Elizabeth, I agree. I associate reading Jane Austen with a cup of tea or cocoa and a fire in the fireplace. Her books are cozy. Hope you are keeping warm on these cold winter nights.
      xx Sunday

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    1. Thank you, Leslie! I wish you could take it with me!
      xx Sunday

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  3. I, too, would love to secure a spot for that lecture. I enjoy Austen, and often reread her books. My favorite character is Elizabeth Bennet. Faced with the horrid behavior of the Bingley sisters, she never stoops to their level.

    Austen's books continue to be enjoyable and relevant because she was such a keen observer of human nature, and human nature remains fairly constant. The number of successful adaptations from Bollywood to Hollywood are a measure of her skill as a storyteller.

    I live in Virginia, in the eighteenth-century part of my city, so it's easy to visualize Austen's life when I pass mounting blocks, carriage houses, assembly rooms, etc. Many of the concerns Austen's characters express are still fretted over here today.

    Enjoy the lecture and please share your insights.

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    1. Janet, I really enjoyed reading your thoughtful comment. I also love Elizabeth Bennet; she is one of those Austen heroines that is impossible not to love! I visited Virginia once and could imagine very easily what you described. And it was so beautiful! So happy to hear from you!

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  4. You should fly in and go with me to my Jane Austen Book Club. Every quarter. Only one state away.
    Tea, scones, and Jane. All Jane.

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    1. Oh, Pamela, I am so there! One of these days...how divine this sounds. Please write a blogpost about your book club.
      xx Sunday

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  5. Wow, that does sound like fun. Wish I could go.

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  6. Northanger Abbey that takes me back to age 16 as it was the required reading for our GCE English Literature exams.My friend and I then vied with each other to see who would be first to collected all her books!!

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  7. What pretty editions of Northanger Abbey and Sense & Sensibility those are! I'll read Jane Austen in any form, but it's nice when its in an edition that's as lovely as her writing.

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  8. I would love to attend the lectures on Jane Austen. I'm not a 'Janeite', but I do love to learn more about literature. I miss my English major days.

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  9. I've been a Jane Austen fan since my high school required reading of Pride and Prejudice, a book I've re-read so many times, and still my favorite of hers. The Bel-Air Hotel would be a perfect place to hear a lecture - would love to attend if I could.

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  10. Sunday, Oh how I would love to attend such lectures. Northanger Abbey was my introduction to Jane Austen so very many years ago, as it was the only Austen book available at the library. I think because of it being my first, I do hold it dear. Why we read Jane? She gives us wonderful characters with whom we can identify. Enjoy!

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