Family, Freindship, and Jane Austen

 

She professed a love of Books without Reading, was Lively without Wit, and generally good humoured without Merit.

- from "Kitty, or the Bower" by teenage Jane Austen

The air in our region is sun-filled and chilly. The bite in the wind is delightful, perfectly Autumnal and welcome to usher in the season of gatherings and holidays. I don a sweater and smile. Wearing layers and sweaters and jackets makes me so happy. I look for time to take walks when the weather is like this. Eager to enjoy the best time of year in these parts. I make lattes and endless cups of tea with weather so charming. As we prepare ourselves for the holidays, and the coming Thanksgiving festivities with family this week, I have been deeply amused by some of my reading. Who doesn't need some amusement? 

You know the name of Jane Austen. How much have you read of hers? I daresay you haven't dipped into her teenage writings. Here we get a taste of what she was playing around with. Language, family dynamics,  social drama, escapades. Jane is a great source for us of the domestic life around 1800. She often wrote a tale for a family member, a brother, niece, etc. They all allude to jokes and are meant for that person. In these stories often set-up as letters, she assembles little worlds of the everyday social atmosphere. We all know about needs and expectations of family and friends, well, she mixes those into a tale dealing with fortune, family, marriage, and status. These tales are a bit messy and repetitive. They don't follow much of a storyline sometimes. They hold a bit of a dramatic flair in quite funny ways (note: I am keeping all the capitalization and spelling as Jane Austen wrote, she consistently wrote her "e" before "i" rather than "i" before "e" becoming a bit of a hallmark of her teenage style, for example "freindship", "beleive", "veiw", etc) - -

When the Ladies returned, their amazement was great at finding instead of Eliza the following Note.

"Madam"
     "We are married & gone."
                        "Henry & Eliza Cecil"

Her Grace as soon as she had read the letter, which sufficiently explained the whole affair, flew into the most violent passion & after having spent an agreable half hour, in calling them by all the shocking Names her rage could suggest to her, sent out after them 300 armed Men, with orders not to return without their Bodies, dead or alive; intending that if they should be brought to her in the latter condition to have them put to Death in some torturelike manner, after a few years of Confinement.

 Ahh, yes, who wouldn't want to be part of this family? I chuckle often. Reading her "The History of England" in kings and queens is so sarcastic; it's very funny and so worth reading. These are glimpses of the more mature Jane Austen to come in her well-known novels, mixing wit within the social constructs of her time. Reading these I can even see hints that expand into her future writings. 

Do you ever feel like you need to decline that nosy new acquaintance who wants to intrude on your life, and aren't sure how to put them in their place with respect? Don't worry, Jane Austen's got your back. 

"My dear Miss Grenville said I, you appear extremely young - & may probably stand in need of some one's advice whose regard for you, joined to superior Age, perhaps superior Judgement might authorise her to give it - . I am that person, & I now challenge you to accept the offer I make you of my Confidence and Freindship, in return to which I shall only ask for yours - "

"You are extremely obliging Ma'am - said She - & I am highly flattered by your attention to me - . But I am in no difficulty, no doubt, no uncertainty of situation in which any Advice can be wanted. Whenever I am however continued she brightening into a complaisant smile, I shall know where to apply."

I bowed, but felt a good deal mortified by such a repulse...

This is from a short section simply "Collection of Letters". Remember next time you need some advice on how to deal with some nosy folks, turn to Jane Austen. She may offer some Georgian rejection and humor to get you through it.