Austenprose - A Jane Austen Blog | Join the discussion of Jane Austen novels, movies, sequels and the pop culture she has inspired. The Annotated Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen, annotated & edited by David M. Shapard – A Review | Austenprose - A Jane Austen Blog. From the desk of Heather Laurence: “And now, Henry,” said Miss Tilney, “that you have made us understand each other, you may as well make Miss Morland understand yourself … Miss Morland is not used to your odd ways.” “I shall be most happy to make her better acquainted with them.” Modern readers encountering Northanger Abbey for the first time may find themselves like Catherine Morland: eager to become better acquainted with the wealth of background information that brings the world of the Morlands, Thorpes, and Tilneys vividly to life. The Annotated Northanger Abbey, annotated and edited by David M. Shapard, is a new resource designed to guide aspiring heroines (and heroes) safely through the perils of obscure Gothic references and identify the treasures – hidden away in Japan cabinets and curricles, of course – that make Northanger Abbey even more enjoyable.
Shapard has previously annotated and edited editions of Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma. Austenonly | Jane Austen's life, times and works explained and discussed. A Final Word on Crests | Austenonly. I thought that, in order to tie up all the loose ends in our recent discussion on Livery,Coats of Arms and Crests, we ought to look at another crest associated with the Austen family- the Knight family crest, as this was specifically mentioned by Jane Austen when her brother, Edward Knight was purchasing some bespoke china from Wedgwood at his London showrooms in St James Square in 1813. In her letter to her sister Cassandra Austen, dated 16th September 1813, Jane Austen wrote: We then went to Wedgwoods where my Brother and Fanny chose a Dinner Set.
I believe(sic) the pattern is a small Lozenge in purple, between Lines of narrow Gold, and it is to have the Crest. Here is a photograph of some of these pieces which still exist and are on display in the Jane Austen’s House Museum: You can see that these pieces of china are, indeed, decorated as Jane Austen described them: And the Knight family crest is added to each piece, which can be seen at the top centre of each border of purple lozenges. Livery and Coaches | Austenonly. “There! You see!” Cried Mary, in an ecstacy; “just as I said! Heir to Sir Walter Elliot! I was sure that would come out, if it was so. Depend upon it, that is a circumstance which his servants take care to publish, wherever he goes.
But, Anne, only conceive how extraordinary! Persuasion, Chapter 12. Last week I bored you all silly by my explanations of livery, the significance of livery colours and how they were worn in Jane Austen’s era by certain servants of the rich. The passage from Persuasion quoted above is so gloriously funny-I love the way this glimpse of William Walter sets Mary Musgrove on to long descriptions of the Elliot Countenance -( shade of Mrs Austen and the Austen nose, perhaps?) If you were wealthy enough to afford a carriage and all its attendant expenses, and, of course, you were possessed of Arms, then you could have these painted on your coach to announce to the world just who was the owner of the vehicle. (Page 50) And here are some very elaborate examples: Austenacious. A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy | Austenacious.
What can we learn about Jane Austen from her things, from the physical objects surrounding her and created by her? How much of her is contained in her handwriting, in the straight and even lines of her letters, and how much is contained in her work? If any writer’s soul is in her novels, what is there to be gained in discovering her personal artifacts? If anything calls for a field trip, these questions call for a field trip—and I love a good field trip. Last weekend, I visited New York’s Morgan Library and Museum (the sacrifices I do make!)
To check out their new exhibit A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy. The exhibit is much as Jane might have liked: a clean, well-lighted place for books filled with her letters (mostly to her sister, Cassandra), hand-written manuscripts, and artifacts of other pertinent writers and artists, as well as a darkened corner featuring the short film The Divine Jane. So where is the person of Jane Austen in all of this? Creative Punctuation—A Question (or an Interrobang) | Austenacious. I took up my pen tonight intending to tell you all that “Jane Austen Loves Emoticons.” It would be a steep leap, I knew. She was not the girl for happy faces lying down beside her words. But—she was the woman for dashes—! Dashes of all kinds, & all sorts of other slapdash grammar by our standards;—Miss Osborne is going to go crazy when she sees this post. — She usually cleans up our punctuation.
When I first read Lady Susan, The Watsons, & Sanditon as a teenager I was struck, by the plots, by the rawer picture they present as compared to the polish of the finished, longer works;—but also, by the punctuation. . It was Jane who taught me to play with punctuation, to make sentences read the way they sound in your head. What’s up with this? Though I have noticed scholars seem to fight passionately about editing Austen’s punctuation, so they may not have time for a simple question from the likes of me. Photo credit: Jane Austen's World | This Jane Austen blog brings Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive through food, dress, social customs, and other 19th C. historical details related to this topic.