Jane Austen’s felicitious phrase, “a comfortable coze,” which we use as our banner theme for November (a month in need of a coze or two), comes from Mansfield Park. Fanny, preparing for her first ball, is perplexed about how to wear the cross given her by her sailor brother William, for she has no chain. …
It had been an exceptionally wet October with winds and gales blowing around Mansfield Park almost daily, and Fanny was thankful to have recourse to her own dear East Room. This had been the Bertram sisters’ former school-room, now Fanny’s own refuge; but it was a chilly refuge in the inclement weather, for Fanny was …
The only mention of the word harvest in Jane Austen’s major novels, as far as I can discover, takes place in Mansfield Park. Not surprisingly, her “harvest scene” provides us with another opportunity to observe the cleverness and deliberation with which Jane Austen reveals her characters through subtle details. Each of the two paragraphs …
Mrs. Isabella Knightley looked with concern at her guest. Pretty little Harriet Smith was usually the most cheerful, happy natured young lady, but just now she was leaning on the sofa in a despondent, listless posture, and not seeming to even notice Isabella’s five children, who were romping at their feet, in various states of …
While ruminating on our theme for June, Blossoming Love, and having written a piece on the subject already (“I have always been indifferent to flowers,” June 3), I was reminded of roses, and the fact that in my first Austenesque novel, I wrote a character who was actually a Rosarian. He was a minor character, …
Jane Austen was never confined – at least, not in the sense of experiencing pregnancy, childbirth, and “lying-in.” She had plenty of opportunity to see other women undergoing confinements, at close quarters, as several of her sisters-in-law had large families. Both Edward Austen Knight’s wife Elizabeth and Frank Austen’s wife Mary died after having eleven …
Jane Austen was a most judicious punisher of her least deserving characters. She had a high moral sense, as well as a wicked wit, and loved to mete out comeuppances as well as happy endings. Her comeuppances are generally very plausible and very fair, and the ones that might not seem entirely satisfactory, generally have …
Love and hate. Jane Austen wrote about them both, sometimes in the same novel, and about the same characters. The love/hate relationship that first comes to mind is of course that of Darcy and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice. The word hate is used several times in describing Lizzy’s early prejudiced feelings about Mr. Darcy. …
Mr. Darcy put down his book and his face lighted as his wife entered the library. “So, you have found me,” he greeted her with a smile. “That is not a matter of wonder. Where else would you be likely to be found, such a dark wet day as this, save the library?” “Very true, …
This is Part III of my three-part story, which has appeared on successive Sundays in our Austen Variations Advent Calendar. The first episode, “St. Nicholas Day,” was published on December 6, and told of a Rich Jane Austen Christmas, set at Pemberley. The second part, “Miss Bingley’s Christmas,” was about a Poor Christmas (referring to …
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