To peruse this lovely volume is to step back in time and experience the world of Georgian and Regency Britain -- the world of Jane Austen's enduringly popular fiction. From grand country houses to humble villagers' cottages, from formal dinners to intimate family suppers, from the streets of Bath to the Cobb at Lyme Regis, the author revisits the places familiar to Austen and her characters as she explores in depth the social and physical environment that formed the backdrop for such classics as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, ...
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To peruse this lovely volume is to step back in time and experience the world of Georgian and Regency Britain -- the world of Jane Austen's enduringly popular fiction. From grand country houses to humble villagers' cottages, from formal dinners to intimate family suppers, from the streets of Bath to the Cobb at Lyme Regis, the author revisits the places familiar to Austen and her characters as she explores in depth the social and physical environment that formed the backdrop for such classics as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility.Using archival materials, Deirdre Le Faye, an acclaimed Austen authority, clarifies for the modern reader the myriad references in Austen's novels and letters to the places and social customs of her time. With its wealth of illustrations, many never before published, this meticulously detailed account is an essential source of background information for all students and enthusiasts of Jane Austen's books.
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There's no getting around it?Deirdre Le Faye knows her Jane Austen. Her edition of ?Jane Austen's Letters? [Oxford, 1995] builds on?and supersedes?the 1932 edition of R. W. Chapman, whose work she acknowledges in the preface to the third edition of her own compilation. In 1998, Le Faye published a richly illustrated life of Jane Austen in The British Library Writers' Lives series. She followed this in 2002 with ?Jane Austen: The World of her Novels? [Francis Lincoln, Ltd]. So we can expect good things from this work, and readers of this latest book will not be disappointed. The book divides into halves. The first half consists of a view of the world of Regency England?its fashions, modes of travel, home furnishings, forms of entertainment, and much else that is of interest to readers of Jane Austen's novels. The second half of the book details plot outlines of the six novels everyone is familiar with, plus ?The Watsons? and ?Sanditon?. Part One moves from the particular to the universal, with chapters about Jane Austen and her family; England and the world; and concludes with a generalized reflection on ?a sense of place?. Understandably, since this is not a biography of Austen, the family information is perfunctory. Although, for example, Eliza de Feuillide (nee Hancock, later Austen) makes a fairly substantial appearance, you would have to go to a major biographical study like Clare Tomalin's ?Jane Austen? for a discussion of Eliza's parentage. The two following chapters are packed with important facts (a good discussion of American affairs; the Austen family's interest in naval activities; and the Napoleonic wars, among many others). Although it is a sustained criticism that Jane Austen ignored the political and military events occurring during her lifetime, Le Faye highlights those international affairs and links them to Austen's understanding of her world. There is also, and engagingly, much interesting minutiae: the health benefits and risks of sea air and bathing, for instance; the brief popularity of balloon hats; and shopping frustrations that will be familiar to anyone who goes to today's outlet malls: ?when Jane Austen was shopping in Basinstoke for a change, she found that Mrs. Ryder's shop had 'scarcely any netting silk; but Miss Wood as usual is going to Town very soon and will lay in a fresh stock' ? [p. 125]. Such examples of the rhythms of daily life could be multiplied many times over?this is the major strength of the book. Part Two examines the plots of the major novels, providing thumbnail sketches of the principal characters and some critique of their presentation. But again, this book is not literary criticism?it is more in the way of cultural history, and so the commentary focuses on the roles of women and men in the society in which they find themselves, and details how those roles both circumscribe and liberate them. This is a well illustrated book. Particularly valuable are the miniatures carefully selected to reflect the descriptions of characters in Jane Austen's books. To choose one example of many: an illustration of a young gentleman is captioned thus: ?Miniature of an unknown gentleman, by J. C. D. Engleheart. With his long jaw and cynical expression, he could well be Mr. William Elliot? [a character in ?Persuasion?] (p.293). The county maps seem less well chosen: they are so crowded with place names in tiny font that they are, for all practical purposes, unusable. But in a book whose other illustrations are so well chosen, this is a minor quibble. This is a book that will repay re-reading, for there are so many little details that help to flesh out a picture of what life was really like during the Regency. Readers of Jane Austen, people interested in Regency England, and cultural historians in general will profit from a close reading of Deirdre Le Faye's important contribution to Jane Austen studies.
