Jane Austen’s Books Don’t Take Place over a Year and Other Myths

Three myths are repeated a lot in online Austen spaces and they don’t take very long to refute, so here they are

1. All of Austen’s novels take place over a year
2. There are no scenes without women present
3. Proposals indoors are never accepted

1. Austen’s novels span a year

The only Austen novel where the main action spans a single year is Pride & Prejudice:

Now one may quibble about the “main action” so I’ve done two calculations for Sense & Sensibility, one starting with the father’s death and the other starting when the Dashwoods arrive at Barton cottage. Pride & Prejudice is the only novel with an explicitly labelled epilogue but most of the novels have an epilogue like chapter. For example, we know that Marianne marries Colonel Brandon about a year after the main action of Sense & Sensibility, but all quoted dialogue ends after Edward proposes.

One could easily argue that action happens when Fanny Price is a young girl in Mansfield Park, since there is quoted dialogue, which would make that novel take years instead of months, but if we start with the Crawford’s arrival at Mansfield Parsonage, the main story takes 10 months.

Northanger Abbey is the shortest novel and all of the action, from Bath to Northanger, takes place in only three months!

Persuasion is unique in that we are given real years and dates as well as some very strong anchor points to the story. It begins when the navy are returning from war, having defeated and banished Napoleon, and it ends almost exactly when Napoleon escapes from Elba (Feb 26, 1815). Wentworth will likely be recalled, but fortunately the last Napoleonic war was short and had very few navy casualties.

Now I hear some of you thinking to yourselves, “10 months is pretty darn close to a year.” True enough, but neither Northanger Abbey or Persusasion are close to a year, and that’s 2/6 of Austen’s novels.

Reference:

Calendar for Mansfield Park

Calendar for Emma

Calendar for Sense & Sensibility

Calendar for Persuasion

Calendar for Northanger Abbey

(I use these all the time when writing fan fiction. For Pride & Prejudice, I use my annotated edition by David Shapard)

2. There are no scenes without a woman present

There are a few small scenes with only men

The longest is in Mansfield Park: Sir Thomas’s reprimand of Tom, for squandering his brother Edmund’s inheritance:

“I blush for you, Tom,” said he, in his most dignified manner; “I blush for the expedient which I am driven on, and I trust I may pity your feelings as a brother on the occasion. You have robbed Edmund for ten, twenty, thirty years, perhaps for life, of more than half the income which ought to be his. It may hereafter be in my power, or in yours (I hope it will), to procure him better preferment; but it must not be forgotten that no benefit of that sort would have been beyond his natural claims on us, and that nothing can, in fact, be an equivalent for the certain advantage which he is now obliged to forego through the urgency of your debts.”

Tom listened with some shame and some sorrow; but escaping as quickly as possible, could soon with cheerful selfishness reflect, firstly, that he had not been half so much in debt as some of his friends; secondly, that his father had made a most tiresome piece of work of it; and, thirdly, that the future incumbent, whoever he might be, would, in all probability, die very soon.

Mansfield Park, Ch 3

We also have a short description of a scene between Mr. Bennet and Mr. Bingley:

Bingley was punctual to his appointment; and he and Mr. Bennet spent the morning together, as had been agreed on. The latter was much more agreeable than his companion expected. There was nothing of presumption or folly in Bingley that could provoke his ridicule, or disgust him into silence; and he was more communicative, and less eccentric, than the other had ever seen him.

Pride & Prejudice, Ch 45

That being said, Austen does primarily stay with her heroine and conversations between only men are very rare.

3. Proposals indoors are never accepted

I’ve always found this one a bit odd because Pride & Prejudice is the most famous of Austen’s novels and right in that novel an indoor proposal is accepted, Bingley’s! Though it is true that the other two rejected proposals are indoors (Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy) and each man’s second proposal is outside.

Here is every proposal:

*is a carriage in or out of doors? It does have doors…

There is certainly a bias towards proposals out of doors being accepted, but Bingley and Wentworth manage to engage themselves indoors. It is true that a proposal outside is never rejected, so take note gentlemen! You’ll have better luck in the shrubbery than the drawing room.

By the way, the two proposals at the bottom are disputed proposals. Catherine Morland didn’t even know that John Thorpe was proposing in Northanger Abbey and Mr. Elliot was in my opinion only flirting in Persuasion, but I have included both for completeness.

For a longer analysis of proposals, check out my more in-depth post.

Are there any other Austen myths that bother you? Let me know in the comments!

Some of my other posts:

How well could Caroline Bingley expect to marry?

Could Mr. Bennet have Saved Enough for Decent Fortunes on his Income?

Who is more Physically Attractive? The Hero or Villain in Each Austen Novel…

Imagining Jane Austen’s Heroines (with period portraits)

Austen Quotes and the Problem with Wit

The Problem with Portrayals of Mr. Collins