My introduction to Jane Austen didn't occur until I was
an adult. Even my husband had read Pride and Prejudice before I had. It
was a different story for my two older girls. When JJ was about 12 years old,
she was bemoaning the fact that there was nothing to read, even though we have
wall to wall books, and Dad, upon hearing this, suggested she read Pride and
Prejudice. She wasn't keen at first because the title suggested to her some
sort of morality tale about avoiding pride but my husband set her right and told her it
was one of his favourite books.
Zana was fortunate in that the BBC production of Pride &
Prejudice came out when she was at an age to enjoy it and that was her first
introduction to Jane Austen.
I probably have good reason to dislike this movie. A
number of years ago six of our seven children became sick with chicken pox. I
was house bound for about six weeks by the time it went through everyone. The
13 and 15 year olds were absolutely miserable and one night Zana, the younger
one, came out of her room crying because she felt so terrible. We were just
about to go to bed and I didn't know what to do with her, until Dad suggested
that I watch P & P with her to help take her mind off her misery. Six hours
later, I felt disgusting but Zana was a bit better so we both went to bed.
When she was about 14 years old I discovered Presenting
Miss Jane Austen by May Lamberton Becker, which was originally written in 1952
and re-published by Bethlehem Books in 2006. By this time she'd read and
re-read just about everything Jane Austen had written but this biography, written for ages 12 and up, was another link to Jane Austen's world and she
found it very interesting and enjoyable.
Miss Becker's biography gives us a lively and intimate
account of Jane's childhood, her closely knit family and the literary
atmosphere that enveloped them and which was such an influential part of her life.
Through poetry new and old Jane's father guided her
reading; better still, he read aloud to the family - history, travel books,
lively essays...
The whole family read The Vicar of Wakefield...whose
people were spoken of in the family as if they lived just around the corner -
as Miss Jane Austen's people are spoken of now.
Quotations from Jane Austen's correspondence with her
beloved sister Cassandra and other family members give us an insight into her personal
life and the background that formed the fabric for her novels. Her immediate
family were as familiar with the various
characters in her writing as though they had been real people.
For the people in this blessed book did not come to life
on the first page and dissolve on the last. They were alive before Chapter One,
and they went on living after the book left them, and Jane knew very well what
they were doing, before and after. She knew what Mr. Collins was like in his
clumsy school days, long before he made his pompous, peerless proposal to
Elizabeth, and where he had picked up, on the way towards the patronage of Lady
Catherine de Bourgh, that, "mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance
and humility" that makes him so great a comic character. I am convinced
that she knew what Lady Catherine de Bourgh looked like in her perambulation,
though she spares us that grim sight.
No one outside of her family knew of her writing ability,
let alone that she had already published a book, until her brother let the
cat out of the bag and her secret was uncovered. Her nephew, James Edward who
had read and enjoyed the earlier novels, unaware that his Aunt was the author,
wrote to her when the secret was revealed:
No words can express, my dear Aunt, my surprise
Or make
you conceive how I opened my eyes,
Like a pig Butcher Pile has just struck with
his knife,
When I heard for the very first time in my life
That I had the
honour to have a relation
Whose works were dispersed through the whole of the
nation.
This book is a perfect introduction for anyone who is
interested in Jane Austen's background whether they've read her novels or not.
The age 12 recommendation is certainly suitable content wise but some children
might enjoy it more when they are around 14 years of age and have a bit more
maturity to appreciate the minutiae the author includes.
2 comments:
This sounds like a lovely book. Thankyou for the introduction - I'll be keeping my eyes open for a copy.
A wonderful review! Thanks for sharing at Finishing Strong!
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