1
Q
1775
A
born on December 16th in Steventon, Hampshire where father Reverend George Austen preached
2
Q
1787
A
begins writing juvenilia inspired by 18th century novelists and epistolary (letter format) fiction
3
Q
1795
A
begins writing manuscript “Elinor and Marianne” eventually published as Sense and Sensibility
4
Q
1796
A
begins writing “First Impressions” which is eventually published as Pride and Prejudice
5
Q
1798
A
begins writing “susan” which published as Northanger Abbey
6
Q
1811
A
S&S published anonymously
7
Q
1813
A
P&P published anonymously
8
Q
1814
A
Mansfield Park published anonymously
9
Q
1815
A
Emma published “by the Author of P&P”
10
Q
1817
A
Austen dies, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published w/ “Biographical Notice of the Author”
11
Q
About S&S
A
- concerns shift from 18th c. cult of sensibility to 19th c. Romanticism
-the shift is generational in Austen’s fiction (the parents and grandparents belong to an older generation whereas Marianne and Elinor belong to a newer one) - sensibility inextricable from aristocracy and landed gentry (Dashwood family)
-sisters separate from role of financial stability
12
Q
Beginning with Norland Park rather than Elinor and Marianne
A
(pg 5) Gives a history of residence, laying the setting
-shows line of inheritance
-familial relation and how they feel about each other
-lack of characters -> no dialogue
-lack of dynamic interactions b/twn characters
13
Q
Primogeniture: still no mention of Marianne or Elinor
A
(pg 6) estate and everything is passed on to the oldest son
-impossible for women to inherit
-Mr. Dashwood is concerned about passing on money
- women are cut off from the world
14
Q
John Dashwood an ideal aristocrat
A
(pg 7) related to the kingdom collapsing and children are losing stability
- Elinor and Marianne has to rely on strangers
15
Q
Marianne’s apostrophe to Norland Park
A
“Many were the tears..”
-focuses on nature around the house; she is sad to leave because she has the connection to it since she grew up there
- personifies house => happy house (gives it life)
- nature is “unconscious” and “insensible”
- emotional relationship to nature (exclamation marks, dashes break up sentences)
16
Q
Conflicts between private desire and public decorum
A
- The Dashwood women move to Barton Cottage
- Edward and Willoughby have previous contracts or beloveds in marriage
- aristocracy is necessary to social order and hierarchy or 18th c.
- individual will and how they achieve it
17
Q
Sensibility
A
- the faculty of feeling, the capacity for refined emotion, and an ability to respond compassionately to suffering
- an innate sensitiveness or susceptibility that is often rooted in physiology (nerves, tears, swooning)
- influenced by the Enlightenment philosophy regarding the interactions among mind, body, and environment
- emotion should cultivate virtue and fellow feeing: should cultivate relationship w/ other people like supporting the less fortunate
- tied to the rise of the novel in the 18th c: literature should instruct us how to feel on behalf of others (in terms of charity and sympathy)
- sentimental lit often conventional, hyperbolic, and didactic (goal is to move audiences)
- sensibility becomes increasingly important fr. 1790s onward -> sympathy necessary for revolution, liberty, equality, abolition, and feminism
18
Q
sense
A
- faculty or power by which external objects are perceived; the sight, touch, hearing, smell, taste
- perception of intellect
- reason, reasonable meaning
- moral perception
19
Q
One critique of sensibility
A
- if left unchecked, it can border upon narcissism and self-indulgence
- Marianne indulges passion and desire while Elinor suppresses them
- important Austen offers a synthesis of both -> one needs to be able to feel but also to be able to keep feelings in check
20
Q
Sensibility and aristocracy go hand in hand
A
- aristocracy part of social order premised upon rank and hierarchy, but sensibility helps regulate the relations therein
- landed gentry should feel charity on behalf of the less fortunate, since sympathy will ideally lead to support, employment, and aid
- Dashwoods’ precarious status leads to their reliance upon others’ charity and sympathy
21
Q
Colonel Brandon’s sensibility
A
(pg 53)
- Elinor: “respectable man” is what she looks for
Marianne: doesn’t care how society thinks of him, only care if the feelings he expresses
22
Q
S&S Ch 17-29
A
Ch 17-29
23
Q
Key question for british romanticism
A
- what is the relationship b/twn human and nature
- what is nature - is it wild and untamed? Can we ever comprehend it?
- S&S marks a historical transition b/twn 18th c. (cult of sensibility, picturesque, aristocracy) and the early 19th (romanticism, sublime)
24
Q
tragedy of the commons
A
- theory proposed by english economist William Forster Lloyd in 1833
-refers to the commons, a grazing land equally shared among villagers until late 1700s w/ rise of private property - all residents would have access to land -> for crops, harvest, livestock, wood
- what once was communal has now become the destructive extraction of a shared resource
25
Picturesque
- aesthetic category introduced during the 1780s by William Gilpin (other aesthetic categories - the beautiful, the sublime)
- "in the manner of a picture" from Oxford English Dictionary (1703 entry)
- trains spectators to behold the natural landscape as if were a scene or tableau -> one can perfect and improve what they see (modify/transform nature)
- fueled rise of tourism in England and during the Grand Tour to Europe
- humans live in harmony w/ natural surroundings
26
Pictures of picturesque
- show nature as aesthetic but doesn't show the farming etc.
- creates fantasy life for tourism
- timeless historical fantasy
27
Picturesque (continued)
- nostalgic portrayal of bucolic pastoral landscapes fueled by the closing of the commons
- tied to aristocracy: one can design landscape gardens that artificially recreate and perfect the wilderness of nature
- "taming" nature by seeing it as harmonious and beautiful
- tied to the rise of print culture during the 18th c. => pamphlets, sketchbooks, treatises offer readers a terminology to use
28
Discourse of the picturesque (pg 94-95)
"Edward returned to them...if we come to particulars"
- Marianne asserts her identity
"I shall call hills steep...i know nothing of the picturesque"
- when Edward looks upon land, he sees function instead of beauty
- unite beauty w/ utility => values functionality
- lovers of the picturesque => Marianne cares more about the natural aspect of nature (like she's engulfed in a dream)
"It is very true..hackneyed out of all sense and meaning"
- beginnings of romanticism => try to create something that's original and distinct
29
improving Barton's landscape
"The situation of the house was good...plan out improvements accordingly" (Page 31)
- improving the house, lawn etc. => nothing is set in stone
- humans can perfect/improve nature and make it more beautiful
30
Willoughby opposed to improving Barton Cottage
"One evening in particular...if she can employ her riches no better" (pg 73)
- prototype romantic
- he thinks as they are, beginning of romanticism => accept nature as it is, refuses to tinker with it
31
Marianne's relationship to nature gestures toward beginning of Romanticism
- her sensitivity and creativity sparked by her surroundings
- perception of the world tied to her senses of it
- subjectivity as (if not more) powerful than the world around her
32
Marianne's embodied feeling states:
"They saw nothing of Marianne...which her feelings connected with him" (pg 82)
- doesn't want to reign in her emotions
- seem to relish in emotional states even though it's not pleasurable
33
Marianne vs. Elinor on walking
"He looked rather distressed...But sometimes they are" (pg 87)
- Elinor sees it as leaves that need to be swept up
- Marianne emotionally, imaginatively transported => moved/swept away by nature, nature affects mind
- "feelings not often shared, not often understood" => power of being alone that appeals to characters
- Marianne strives to find outer signs (language, art) to express her inner reality => want to project her feelings and make people understand how she feels
- Elinor recognizes her inner reality (emotions and thoughts) using outer signs
34
S&S
Chapters 30-39
35
Willoughby cutting a lock of Marianne's hair
(pg 61)
- what romanticism is about => moving from interiority of self to another
- make body into a textual artifact that circulates into the world
- body in a constant state of transformation/flux
36
Edward on individual happiness
"You have no ambition..Greatness will not make me so" (pg 90)
- no one to one resemblance on how people feel or think
- finding in his own way, his happiness and having ability to articulate it
37
Seduction Plot
- genre of fiction popular in 18th and 19th c. that depicts young, innocent, and/or naive young women seduced by more sexually experiences man (often a libertine, rake, or villain)
- typically ends in tragedy for young woman: often becomes pregnant, is abandoned by seducer and/or her family, and even dies
- reinforces traditional values associated w/ purity and chastity while offering lurid thrills
- heroine is typically "ruined" (pregnant, single, abandoned, and/or dead)
- huge cultural discussion on whether it's escapism, art etc.
- learn to sympathize and empathize w/ characters
- early ways how people defend the novel => read seduction plots to teach children not to be seduced themselves, resist temptation and be more like Elinor
38
Colonel Brandon and Eliza's fall
"He could say no more...I was with her in her last moments" (Pg 195-96)
- "fall and ruin" because they're seduced
- seduction plot cultivates sensibility by training reader to feel sympathy => place ourselves in figurative shows and relate to either characters
- Brandon knows how humans should act => idea of kinship/community
39
Willoughby's seduction of Eliza
"Little did Mr. Willoughby imagine...but what could I do?" (197-98)
- Why did Brandon bring it up? => to explain himself why he acted the way he did, tried to warn them that they're aware of the danger Willoughby poses but doesn't feel like it's his place to intrude
40
Willoughby's dashing entrance
"A gentleman carrying a gun...which came home to her feelings" (43-44)
- influence of his youth, beauty, elegance => can get away being some kind of seducer
- on paper, the perfect ideal hero => have to read the lines to see the true character
41
Elinor breaking the news of Willoughby's wedding to Marianne
"Early in february..first learnt to expect the event" (204)
- responsible for someone's ruin (past catching up to him), also Marianne's
- when someone's seduced, what is at stake for literary writers for this period?
-all rationality out the window, doing things for another person instead of yourself => moral is screwed
- put innocence at risk
- on woman's side is more about having connection
- especially vulnerable => open up to someone like Willoughby who isn't a great person, you're going to get hurt
- philosophers in this era pride being able to think
- if seduced, not because you wanted to be but someone else acted on it => Marianne exceptionally vulnerable to it
42
Volume 2 moves from Barton (country) to London (city)
country: natural way of life associated w/ innocence, virtue, youth, and fecundity
- the site of community, hospitality, and neighbors
- agriculture and nature in harmony w/ each other and human inhabitants
city: artificial, designed metropolis associated w/ masses, noise, commerce, power, corruption, and vice
- site of Enlightenment, civilization, industry, opportunity, education
- alongside poverty, corruption, crowds, and exploitation
- romantic writers define two regions in conversation w/ each other
- massive population changes
- cosmopolitan identity
- these categories are co-constitutive => can't have one without the other
- country is romanticized compared to city (greater opportunity to be corrupted)
43
London's population
1650: 400K
1750: 650K
1820: 1.250K
44
Closing of John Dashwood's commons
"Your expenses both in town and country..it has cost me a vast deal of money" (212)
- purchasing property is w/n his right to cultivate
45
Austen's famous for the "comedy of manners"
- aristocracy's sensibility and conduct a sign of their inner character
- some characters conceal or deceive (Willoughby), whereas others must discern truth from illusion
- countryside the site of propriety and decorum (the picturesque, the estate, genteel manners)
- both the picturesque and seduction plot tied to how well we can perceive and interpret the world
46
Painting nature
"Before her removing from Norland...But she does every thing well" (221)
- pretty pair of screens and audience judging it => importance of cultivating ability to see things as they are
-importance of criticism and judgement
47
S&S
Chapter 40-end
48
Free indirect discourse
- narrative technique that transitions b/twn third person omniscient and first person limited perspectives
-Austen innovates this tradition => suddenly inside mind of a character
49
free indirect discourse
"Elinor made no answer...I must be off" (308-09)
- psychological aspect on how people think about others which turns out to be wrong
- as Elinor is thinking, Willoughby is thinking as well => we don't get that in the novel
50
Elinor thinking about Willoughby at night
"But the rest...rather than Mrs. Willoughby's death" (312-13)
- hard to feel passion for him
- early in the novel she didn't allow herself to show external feelings
- thinks if wishing death on Willoughby happens to Colonel Brandon, she wouldn't want to wish it on him and reigns herself back in
- characters have momentary thought experience that they reign in immediately after
- how Austen understands psychology
51
More on indirect discourse
- often in S&S, Austen employs free indirect discourse when portraying characters thinking about other people
- the gulf separating people from one another a matter of emotional and psychological turmoil
- shows how much of our life is spent thinking of other people
- trying to understand why people act the way they do
52
Marianne and Elinor's embodied feelings
"Mrs. Jennings laughed again...had somewhat spent itself" (173)
- Marianne feels alot => love for Willoughby, Elinor, struck by grief "holding the letter"
- What does Austen emphasize? => compassion and tenderness (sensibility), showing Elinor's empathy that she doesn't really show in the beginning (absorbing emotions)
53
the expanse of Marianne's inner world
"No, no,...enjoy the consciousness of it that can" (179)
- feels emotions bodily first before it's verbalized
- romantic poets returning to emotions and sentiments
- for Marianne, can't have one or the other
54
relationship in S&S
- crucial relationship is b/twn Elinor and Marianne (as opposed to b/twn sisters and their suitors)
- romanticism interested in interpersonal intimacy => the sibling dynamic, friendship, foundational to social cohesion
55
The enormity of Elinor's feelings
"If such is your way of thinking...no reparation could be too much for her to make" (246-47)
- a lot is dialogue => Elinor's outburst to her sister
- "You do not suppose that I have ever felt much" => other people feel emotions differently, how Elinor convey sentiment to her sister, takes "trauma and pain" to convey to her sister, repair afterwards
- Austen is an optimist: people are capable of change => Elinor can become more compassionate, Marianne is capable of tampering things down
56
Marianne's miraculous recovery
"About noon, however, she began...she silenced every doubt" (293-94)
- near death experience changes her
- clarity and certainty of emotions, lots of ambiguity
- takes threat of losing her sister for Elinor to change => Austen is psychologically aware of the threat of loss or trauma to teach us something
56
Marianne's miraculous recovery
"About noon, however, she began...she silenced every doubt" (293-94)
- near death experience changes her
- clarity and certainty of emotions, lots of ambiguity
- takes threat of losing her sister for Elinor to change => Austen is psychologically aware of the threat of loss or trauma to teach us something
57
Marianne's epiphany while sick
"Our situations have borne...by constant employment (322-23)
- Marianne learns to temper/reign in her emotions
58
The formal symmetry b/twn Elinor and Marianne at the end of the novel
"B/twn Barton and Delaford...or producing coolness b/twn their husbands" (353)
- independent and dependent clauses
- establishes harmony b/twn two sisters and husbands => perfectly symmetrical through balance of sense and sensibility (can't have one without the other -> equilibrium)
British Romantic Lit
flashcards
Decks in class (8)
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