Tag Archives: literature

February 2, 2013 · 3:21 pm

Friendship in Austen

Friendship

Friendship (Photo credit: Iguanasan)

What made me who I am? I know my family, my culture and my temperament all played a part. But I need to acknowledge that my friends have influenced me. From my childhood and teenage friends to my adult friends they have helped to sculpt who I am today. They are the ones figuratively sitting around the kitchen table right now, encouraging me in this very venture; editing and advising and encouraging and reading. How rich is my life to have such individuals? Jane Austen had just such a coterie around her, consisting of friends and family who helped her and encouraged her to live out her dream. And I would suggest that that is why friendship figures as it does in her novels. Friendship can sometimes be missing in modern media but in the Austen Six, friendship is there and it does bring happiness. Alongside important lessons in love, are important lessons in friendship.

The need to have good friends is a philosophical principle that has come Continue reading →

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January 7, 2013 · 2:36 pm

Shouldn’t real love just run smooth?

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I often think that love should just happen; that it is a magical quality that just appears from thin air. But it seems more like a good wine, it needs time to mature. And in that time, it needs adversity for it to slowly age and ripen. Indeed the flipside of this maxim is: Beware the Easy Love Affair. It is only in love’s adversities that love’s colours show themselves. Love needs its difficulties, its trials and tribulations to reveal its strength.

In Sense and Sensibility, a young man, Honourable-Edward Ferrars has fallen for an opportunist. Social-Vampire-Lucy Steele captured Edward’s heart quickly and in youth. What a disaster for Edward. While young and far from home he was vulnerable and open to be preyed upon by the artful Continue reading →

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December 17, 2012 · 3:14 pm

Jane’s mother’s little helper at Jane’s birth – Philadelphia Austen Hancock

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Jane’s birthday was yesterday and in her honour I ask: who was with Jane’s mother, when Jane was born? Interestingly it was her sister-in-law Philadelphia Austen Hancock, George Austen’s sister. From this we can assume that Phila, as she was called, was a well liked and trusted sister-in-law. George, Phila and Leonora were left orphaned and penniless but with family connections – their mother had been a baronet’s daughter. George used education as an avenue for advancement but this was not an option for Phila.  Denied an education as a path to advancement she initially stayed living in London with an aunt. She had no dowry and so had to work for a living, hence she was apprenticed to a milliner in Covent Garden. It must have been a big step down for this baronet’s granddaughter. At that time, many milliner shops around Covent Garden were actually Continue reading →

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November 26, 2012 · 1:22 pm

What did Jane’s childhood look like?

Jane’s early childhood

What of Jane Austen herself? What sort of a childhood did she have? Can there be some interesting insight into this woman’s childhood that led her to be such a genius? My search seemed to be finding more truths as I began reading the very many biographies on Jane Austen. Obviously Jane’s life had held interest for many and since her death there have been an abundance of chronicles. Despite many suggesting not much is known about Austen, I was amazed just how much material there actually is about this one woman who lived over two hundred years ago and at the time of her death was anything but a celebrity.

 Her first biographer, her nephew drew upon his and his family’s first-hand knowledge. I still remember the excitement I felt as I scanned Continue reading →

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October 16, 2012 · 9:43 pm

Can we praise too much?

What an enduring truism, a way to a woman’s heart is through praise of her children. Why is it that when someone is quick to notice a particular gift in one of our offspring we feel a sense of warmth for that very person? Is it true that sometimes too much praise can set up an addiction in a child that is difficult to break?

Being able to distinguish between genuine praise and praise linked to an agenda is Continue reading →

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