February’s Interview with a Janeite: Special Guest Debbie Fortin

Greetings, fellow Janeites! For those of you just joining us again after our break, each month we feature one of Austen Variations’ readers here on the blog. This is your chance, as readers, to have your “share in the conversation,” and we love hearing what you have to say.

This month we are featuring a special interview with ardent Jane Austen reader Deborah Fortin. Debbie’s host is the always eloquent George Wickham!

AV:   Tell us a little about how you discovered Jane Austen, and how you keep busy in your spare time.     

DF: I discovered Jane Austen when I was in my mid-forties after my husband read Pride and Prejudice for the first time.  He said I would enjoy the story but I was skeptical. I had never heard of Jane Austen and if her writing was anything like Wuthering Heights (too dark and depressing for me) I would not like it…so, one evening he turned on the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice and I have never looked back. I read Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion and then found a few variations…there were not many back then…by Maria Grace and Abigail Reynolds. I have little free time as I can usually be found BETA reading, proofreading, or editing for 8 different JAFF authors, (4 of whom are members of this blog) before and after my 10-hour work day in daycare. Unless I am getting close to a deadline and need thee time to play catch-up, I try to keep weekends free for my family and the horrible stuff I have to do around the house, like cleaning.

AV:  If you were to play matchmaker to some of Jane Austen’s Characters (but possibly mixing up her happy couples) which lady and gentleman would you put together? How do you think they would do?  

DF: I would like to see Colonel Fitzwilliam married to Jane Bennet since I think Bingley was too easily enticed away and is not loyal enough.  I think they would do well as Jane would be very caring and supportive, especially if the Colonel suffered with PTSD due to all the fighting and death he would have been involved in and witnessed.  I would love to see Caroline Bingley married to Walter Elliot’s nephew. That would be too funny as they would both be miserable since Caroline would marry a wastrel whom she thought he had money and will have a title (since he will inherit from Sir William Elliot) and the younger Mr. Elliot would be tied to a harpy.  I think Anne Elliot would do very well with Colonel Brandon. I did not like that Captain Wentworth did not come back when he had the money to marry her and waited all those years. Brandon’s devotion would have done well for her.

AV:  Are there any of Jane Austen’s characters who you feel get the short end of the stick?     

DF: I think Mary, as the middle child and Anne deBourgh get the short end of the stick.  Mary could change if she had incentive and a bit more praise from her mother.  She keeps her nose in Fordyce’s Sermons and quotes him just for attention with negative attention being better than no attention. She also might have been a better match for Mr. Collins than Charlotte Lucas as she is always quoting scriptures. It is too bad that she did not push Mary forward instead of trying to push Elizabeth towards him after her first refusal.  And poor Anne deBourgh. To be saddled with an overbearing mother who does not give her any opportunity to voice her own opinions and cares more about herself than her daughter, after all, only her opinions are right and she is puts Anne down in public, talking about her as if she is not there. It seems like Anne is a prisoner in her mother’s house and afraid to speak up. I sometimes wonder if it is her mother who makes her so ill or if she just doesn’t want to make waves. 

AV:      What do you enjoy most here at Austen Variations?     

 DF: I love reading the Works in Progress and stories written by a team.  The works in progress give you a taste of what is going to be released and whether or not the story is to your taste before you purchase it. The stories written by teams are so much fun. I will say my favorites were The Darcy Brothers, Persuasion 200, and Pride and Prejudice: Behind the Scenes. I know team writing is very time consuming and I appreciate what they have done together.

AV:    Exactly how dashing do you find an officer in regimentals and polished Wellingtons?   

DF: Well they are very dashing and handsome, but I worry about what is underneath those regimental and Wellingtons. Handsome is as handsome does and they look very well in a parade, all marching in step but what substance is underneath the polished veneer. Are they honorable or not? Many use the uniform as an excuse or free license to get their way and attract the ladies. I would hope they were honest but people’s tales about one has made me skeptical and wary…

And now, of course, you have the pleasure of interviewing the dashingest reddest-coat-wearingest handsome rogue of them all, Mr George Wickham! Mr Wickham will be happy to answer your questions, and his biographer, Ms Catherine Curzon, has generously offered one of her works of historical non fiction as a hostess gift (because the gentlemen don’t think of these things).

DF:   Thank you, Ms. Curzon for thinking of the hostess gift. I appreciate it very much. I will use the previous question as a lead in to my first question about my , ahem, host…Mr. Wickham, did you choose the uniform because it made you look so dashing and were you hoping to use it to turn lady’s heads?

GW: Before we begin, I should take the briefest of moments to thank you for taking the time to honour me with your company. I can hardly claim to be anything other than utterly unremarkable, sadly. I shall, however, endeavour to entertain. As is always my way, I shall be nothing less than as honest as the day is long and my coat is red.

 Now, to the question on uniform. In truth, no soldier chooses his uniform, madam, but the uniform chooses him. Like the cassock or the mortar board, protecting one’s country is not a job, but a vocation and, dare I say it, an honour. It is not for me to judge what may or may not turn the head of a lady and I, of course, would hardly notice being that I am in a state of permanent domestic bliss with the fragrant Mrs Wickham. I will chance to admit that my good lady did and still does appreciate the dash of one’s uniform but that is a matter for Mrs Wickham to discuss. After all, it has been said that I would turn a lady’s head even in sack cloth but modesty forbids me from even considering such a preposterous suggestion!

DF: This will be a very direct question sir, and one that you may not like, but how could you run away with Georgiana? She was only a young teenager whom I feel you tried to take advantage of.  I must say it makes me distrust a lot of what you say. And so that brings me to my second question, which is how can I trust that you have truly changed, or turned over a new leaf, to be the better man you proclaim yourself to be?

GW: How could I run away with Georgiana? Why, madam, one need only pull on one’s boots, find an open road and head into the sunset!

 I jest, of course, I trust you will allow a soldier a moment’s indulgence.

 So here I find myself faced with two roads, two paths which I might choose to travel. The first road is one of duplicity. Perhaps I will claim myself to be a man who was misunderstood, whose motives were borne of nothing but lust for money, whose good judgement was clouded by debt and the promise of money. There is the first road.

 Let us return to that crossroads and take the second fork. Where might it lead?

 To the same place and the same circumstance, but not to a man whose good judgement was clouded at all, but whose good judgement was never present to begin with. Let us be clear, dear lady, the facts of the matter cannot be changed nor made any sweeter for they are what they are and what they are is a matter of public record. It is not a question of the elopement, I think, but the motivation behind it and the wisdom I employed in making what proved to be a most unfortunate decision.

 In truth I employed no wisdom at all, but a great deal of cunning, and I have more than paid the price for it, for my name has become a byword for a certain sort of fellow. A rake, a deceiver and a scoundrel.

 But a dashed attractive one, nevertheless.

 Now we arrive at the matter of trust, which is difficult to win but all too easy to lose. Anyone who knows the name of Wickham will advise you that I cannot be trusted, so should I attempt to convince you that I am worthy of your trust, I suspect that I shall achieve precisely the opposite. Judge a man not by his past, say I, but by his future, whatever that might hold.

DF: If you have changed, do you think you might revert to your old ways or will you stay true to the new person you have become? 

GW: Here is one thing in which you might trust I am absolutely truthful: the fragrant Mrs Wickham would not allow me to step from the path of good-husbandry, nor would I wish to. For in that remarkable woman, truly the finest and most unique of her gender, I have met not only my match, but my equal. She alone commands my heart and head, and I would not wish it to be any other way.

 DF:   I honestly hope you keep to this course of action for if Darcy continues to approve of you, I will as well.

GW: I thank you, madam, for your considered time and questions. I shall leave you with one piece of advice of my own though, if I may. Do not look to Darcy for guidance but look instead to yourself. No gentleman, be he Darcy, Wickham or any other, can claim to possess even a modicum of the sense of a woman. And believe me, I have known enough ladies to consider myself an expert on the matter!

Our deepest gratitude to both Debbie Fortin and George Wickham for this entertaining interview! Stop by next month for a chance to be next month’s loquacious reader.

About Debbie Fortin: I live 25 miles west of New York City and I love camping, watching nature, and reading. I watch quite a few bird cameras which showcase eagles, osprey, hawks, falcons, the endangered California Condor, as well as the Lazarus bird called the Bermuda Cahow. I detest cleaning house, but love to cook. You can find me on Facebook and Twitter.

About George Wickham:

Some may appreciate my person, countenance, air, and walk… I couldn’t possibly comment!

Contact Mr Wickham on Facebook at @MrGeorgeWickham

Historical Nonfictions by Catherine Curzon: