JA Non Fiction

[Zuzana]

This thread is for your recommendations and thoughts about nonfiction books on Jane Austen, her works and life.

[Zuzana]

First my recommendations:

If you have never read anything about Jane Austen's life and are not into non fiction in general I'd recommend to watch:
Jane Austen's Life (1997 TV Documentary) - available on YouTube here
or more modern Lucy Worsley's documentary Jane Austen Behind Closed Doors - Who Was The Real Jane Austen? (2017 BBC Documentary) - available on YouTube here.
or read:
Jane Austen: A Life Revealed by Catherine Reef - short and to the point.

If you don't mind longer non fiction then I'd whole-heartedly recommend
Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley. Great book (and audiobook) - expands on the documentary above.

[Zuzana]

If you've read all six JA novels I'd recommend:

What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved by John Mullan - this is an immensely enjoyable literary criticism book. I loved it so much. Easy 5 stars. I'm looking forward to re-reading it this year. On the down side, to totally appreciate it you need to have read all of the JA novels - because John Mullan explores the themes across JA works - so every chapter contains notes on all of her books.

There is a delightful "Literary Debate" available on YouTube:
Jane Austen vs Emily Brontë: The Queens of English Literature Debate with Dominic West - the part of Jane Austen is argued by John Mullan (the author of the book above). It's fantastic - they even invited actors to act out selected scenes from JA books and Wuthering Heights. 2 hours well spent. YouTube link here

[Zuzana]

There are some non-fiction books on Jane Austen available for free from Project Gutenberg.

I haven't read any of them but I plan to:

Jane Austen and Her Times, 1775 - 1817 by G.E. Mitton - published 1905
Gutenberg link: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52622

Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters: A Family Record by William Austen-Leigh - published in 1913
Gutenberg link: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22536

A Memoir of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh - published 1869
Gutenberg link: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17797

The Letters of Jane Austen
Gutenberg link: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42078

[Laurie B]

It would definitely be interesting to read the books written by her relatives (nephews?). Glad to see they're easily accessible!

[Zuzana]

I want to read them in this order:

1. A Memoir of Jane Austen

2. Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters: A Family Record

3. Jane Austen: A Life or The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things


I need that third book for comparison. Because I've read in several articles that her family's accounts especially James Edward Austen-Leigh's book "sanitized" a lot of Jane Austen's personality and censored some of her letters. They tried to make her fit into the Victorian stereotype of "proper" lady. That doesn't mean that the books don't reveal interesting details of JA's life - I'll just have to be more diligent in my reading and don't implicitly believe everything I read in them. ;)

Tomalin and Byrne have research that backs up their claims - family has their recollections and in some cases (unfortunately) their own agenda.

[Laurie B]

Yes, I've read that as well. Definitely good to read them alongside others. I just think it would be interesting to read that original source material that so many JA scholars have studied and written about.

[Zuzana]

I finished A Fine Brush on Ivory: An Appreciation of Jane Austen by Richard Jenkyns.



It's a typical literary criticism book. Deals mostly with interpretation of characters and themes of Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Mansfield Park, briefly mentions Sense and Sensibility. Similarly to other works of literary criticism I find it quite interesting even when I (sometimes) disagree with the author.

Some interesting points:

- brands Mr Woodhouse a villain of Emma. It sounds preposterous but he backs it up with extensive quotes. Makes a surprisingly solid case against him and details the ways he tyrannizes people around him, especially Emma who's in fact his prisoner. He softens his verdict a little bit at the end when he admits that Mr Woodhouse is doing most of his "black deeds" unintentionaly, there's no premeditation or ill intent - doesn't change the outcome though.

- delves into the relationship and state of marriage of Mr and Mrs Bennet. Stresses how deeply unhappy Mr Bennet is in the marriage (doesn't excuse his poor parenting though), how much he despises his wife and that Elizabeth knows about it.
Mr Bennet is most of the time all sharp wit and sarcasm but when he first learns about Elizabeth's and Mr Darcy's engagement he's shocked into sincerity: "My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life." The italicized "you" was put there by Jane Austen. It reveals so much. Mr Bennet doesn't respect his wife and talks about it openly with their daughter.

- interesting study of Mrs Norris. What would have happened if her circumstancces were different, e.g. if she was the sister who married Mr Price? She's probably much better equipped to deal with difficulties than Mrs Price (Fanny's mother), who is characterwise much closer to lazy, emptyheaded Lady Bertram but circumstances forced her to be active. Makes an interesting case for possible mental illness of Mrs Norris. And points out how JA at the end of the book downplayed Aunt Norris's one unselfish act when she decided to "shelter" disgraced Maria and live with her by making the sniding remark about their temperaments becoming their "mutual punishment".

There was more but these stood out to me.

[Melindam]

I would also recommend "A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 great writers on why we read Jane Austen" edited by Susannah Carlson.

It's a very interesting collection of essays and worth checking out.

[Zuzana]

Melindam wrote: "I would also recommend "A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 great writers on why we read Jane Austen" edited by Susannah Carlson.

It's a very interesting collection of essays and worth checking out."

Thanks for the recommendation. It's been on my radar for a while. I'm waiting for it to turn up on my favorite AbeBooks bookseller's list.

[Melindam]

I loved reading it. Hope you'll like it. :)

Another recommendation, though in general it's more about becoming/being a writer than Jane Austen: "Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen" by Fay Weldon.
However, it's beautifully written and very personal and the truths she says about Austen are spot on. :)

[Zuzana]

Fay Weldon adapted Pride and Prejudice for BBC in 1980. Does she write about the series in the book, too?

[Melindam]

Not that I remember. It's more like an epistolary book. She's pretending to write to a fictional niece.

BTW, The 1980s adaption is my favourite.

[Zuzana]

I like 1980 P&P a lot - it has the best depiction & exploration of Lizzie's and Charlotte's friendship and also doesn't sugercoat Mr Bennet's shortcomings like many other adaptations do. I quite enjoy 1980 Elizabeth, her Mr Darcy is merely okay for me though.

[Melindam]

Yes, David Rintoul was a very stiff Darcy for sure, but I still enjoyed thec production as a whole.

I think both Mr & Mrs Bennet were played quite realistically. As you say, no sugarcoating for Mr Bennet, but also Mrs B was only irritable and irritating, rather the farcically hysterical.

[Melindam]

Also Mr Collins' behaviour was more palatable - for me at least.

[Zuzana]

So after the last three bookhauls I have these new JA inspired books on my bookshelf:

A Portrait Of Jane Austen by David Cecil


A History of Jane Austen's Family by George Holbert Tucker


Jane and Her Gentlemen: Jane Austen and the Men in Her Life and Novels by Audrey Hawkridge


Our Tempestuous Day: History Of Regency England by Carolly Erickson


Jane Austen, Structure and Social Vision by David Monaghan


Jane Austen's Novels: A Study in Structure by Andrew Wright


Jane Austen: Sense And Sensibility, Pride And Prejudice, And Mansfield Park: A Casebook by B.C. Southam


"Emma" by David Monaghan


I'm reading a book of essays on Emma, but I left it at work and don't know the name of the editor. The essays are quite lightweight but all the more fun for it. So far I have read the essay on significance of marriage (vs courtship) in Emma. I really enjoy these types of books.

These are all second-hand either Abebooks or eBay buys, all under 3 eur. So I don't feel bad for "wasting" money on books. Once I read them I'll probably donate them to my local library (because apart from the novels they don't have any books on Jane Austen *GASP*).

[Zuzana]

I finally finished Critical Essays on "Emma" by Linda Cookson and Bryan Loughrey (editors).
The book was meant for high school students so the esays are all pretty accessible.



The list of essays:
"There is a whole larger world outside, of which she says nothing" by Pat Pinsent
Courtship and marriage in Emma by Kathleen Parkinson
The significance of games in Emma by Susie Campbell
Definition and self-definition by Mark Spencer-Ellis
Emma: the role of heroine and the role of woman by Catherine Neale
Imaginism and objectivity in Emma by Andrew Gibson
Disliking the heroine in Emma by Graham Holderness
Aspects of comedy in Emma by Christopher Turner
Age and patronage in Emma by Peter Hollindale
The limitations of Emma by Cedric Watts

As usual with collections of essays by different authors the book is a mixed bag.

These two stood out to me:
Emma: the role of heroine and the role of woman. Utterly ridiculous. Ultra feminism at its worst. Yeah, I have a hard time believing that everytime Mr Knightley argues with Emma or points out her defects (especially her callousness when playing with other people's lives) he has a hidden agenda - because his chief motive is to mend Emma's lack of femininity and to force her to change her mind when it comes to her decision not to marry. Yeah, he's this ultra sexist predator who preys on Emma who would otherwise be happy as a clam remaining single all her life. As if.
The author ignores or choses to ignore textual evidence to the contrary. And misinterprets parts of the text. E.g. Emma states she has no usual inducements (i.e. status, money) to marry, that's true, but the author forgets to comment on the significance of her other statement that her position on marriage would probably have been different had she been in love with somebody.

Age and patronage in Emma is on the other end of the spectrum. Informative and interesting. In the book we learn ages of some characters but we are never told the ages of others. Why is that? The other part is about the different aspects of patronage as shown in Emma. But apart from the obvious contrast of Emma's patronage of Harriet and Mrs Elton's patronage of Jane Fairfax the author added Mr Knightley's patronage of the Bates' family into the mix.