Category: Austen Myths
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Blessed Be this All Hallow’s Eve
Given that this is one of the few posts a year that can step beyond the boundaries of the Regency time, I took full advantage of it. The lore of witches, those with mystical learned skills or powers, are mentioned in tales of old, centuries before any sect of the Christian religion was formed. “In…
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Wickham Didn’t Target Lydia for Revenge
Common Pride & Prejudice Misconceptions, Part 4 I know what you’re thinking, “This is a common misconception???” Let me tell you, about once a month someone comes up with this theory and posts about it online. The response is usually mixed, but I shall present evidence here that should make the answer an unequivocal “no”…
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Jane Bennet isn’t an Old Maid
Common Pride & Prejudice Misconceptions, Part 2 “Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three-and-twenty! Lord! how ashamed I should be of not being married before three-and-twenty!” -Lydia Bennet, Pride & Prejudice There is a common perception that women married very young in the past, but this is not…
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It’s a Steal!!! However – in other news – the BBC has aced MISS AUSTEN (the TV series)!!!!
#MissAusten #JaneAusten #PrideAndPerjury #JAFF #HistoricalFiction Everyone here will know, by now, about Meta’s immoral and illegal “scraping” of well over SEVEN MILLION books, in order to train generative language AI – without compensating a single author, out of the seven million of us concerned (of whom I’m one.) However, it still came as a shock…
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Said, Cried, and Replied? Jane Austen’s Shocking Dialogue Tags
Common writing wisdom of today says to stick with said, and maybe–if you’re daring–asked. That just bugs me. The argument goes like this: said is a dialogue tag that disappears on the page to the reader, it allows them to flow through the dialogue like they’re hearing it. Sure, there’s a lot to be said…
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Are you still limiting your reading to characters you can “root” for? – If you are, you’re missing out!
#GoneWithTheWind #JaneAusten #AlwaysAusten #PrideAndPerjury The other day on Facebook someone – let’s call her X – complained about a (non-Jane Austen) novel that she couldn’t finish, because she couldn’t like the heroine enough to “root for her”. Some people berated X, but I’m actually a massive believer in not finishing a book. There are so…
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Why Your Friends Hate Your Books . . .
I recently received an email from an old friend who’s also a novelist, though in a very different genre. “Hi Alice, I’m feeling low and in need of advice. Maybe everybody secretly dislikes me, but my friends and family, neighbours and acquaintances generally just don’t care about my books. They’ve sold great, and one was…
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The Real Mary Crawford, a Guest Post from Ann Hawthorne
Eliza de Feullide, nee Hancock, was born in Calcutta, India, in the year 1761. Her mother Philadelphia had been George Austen’s older sister, and thus Jane Austen’s aunt. One can say Eliza had been raising eyebrows in polite society since her birth, because that was when the rumours of her illegitimacy started. There were people…
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Mr. Darcy Punched Up: A Reaction to “Jane Bennet Married Down”
Earlier this year the wonderful writer Kirsten Odegaard published this post Jane Bennet Married DOWN: A Peek at Social Class in Pride and Prejudice and if you haven’t read it, you should check it out. She points out that as member of the landed gentry, Jane is decidedly upper class compared to Bingley who has…
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Austen’s characters: Love them – or just love to hate them????
When the natives get bored on the Facebook Jane Austen Fan Club – and they seem to get bored perilously easily – some member almost always pipes with “Poll!!! Who’s the worst mother/villain/sister/adulterer/whatever in Austen’s novels?” Polls are conducted… opinions shared… and sometimes some seriously vicious judgement calls get handed down. According to some, Mrs…