Tag Archives: Jane Austen

The Natural Sequel of an Unnatural Beginning

09 Wednesday Sep 2015

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I’ve been thinking a lot about Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Over the past few weeks, the following line from the novel slipped through my mind as I’ve walked to work, made a cup of tea, and absently stared at my balcony’s potted plants (when I should have been doing work): “[Anne Elliot] had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.” 

The line refers to the life narrative of the novel’s main character, Anne Elliot. As a young woman of nineteen, her family persuaded her to reject the marriage proposal of Captain Wentworth, because he didn’t have a large enough fortune to provide a comfortable life for her. This was the prudence that she learned in her youth. Eight years later, she and Captain Wentworth meet again. He has made his fortune as a Naval officer in the Napoleonic Wars; she has rejected another suitor and learned to regret her earlier decision. They get a second chance, and this time, Anne, tempered by experience and wisdom, finally says yes to the dashing captain. As Jane notes, this is Anne’s “natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.” Most young people learn such lessons of love and coupling the other way around.

“The natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.” What a phrase. I think about it a lot, especially after turning thirty this summer. Looking back, I hardly recognize the person I was at twenty, and like Anne, I have learned a few life lessons in a backwards fashion. I have become less serious, less quiet, less wrapped up in the folds of my inner life this past decade. I often hid from my peers behind a book—or behind the words in a beautifully constructed paragraph—yet as the decade went forward, I relied less on books and more on the company and love and supportive energy of my life’s beloveds. A mode of being that many of my peers had engaged in since their parents dropped them off at kindergarten, but something I only learned as an adult, struggling with the demands and loneliness of a graduate school program. That is my natural sequel of an unnatural beginning. 

And yet, there was a sequel, to my life and to Anne’s, one that was not dictated by social expectations or some stock human narrative. Our narratives were formed through our choices and our willingness to examine and grow from them—and honestly, I prefer it that way.

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The Frivolous Internet Post :)

11 Wednesday Mar 2015

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I couldn’t make up my mind about what to post this week. I was working on two different pieces: one about Daylight Savings Time and human mortality, the other about giving up the f-word for Lent (and failing horribly). But, I decided to take the advice of my homegirl Jane Austen and: “let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.” I’m not posting either. It’s been a long winter here in New England, and I need a proper giggle, heavily seasoned with joy and mirth. Perhaps you need that, too. And so, I humbly present you with a list of internet frivolity that never fails to make me laugh. Enjoy!

1. Jane Austen Fight Club

Things get real when teacups start to fly.

2. Your LL Bean Boyfriend

Okay, so this tumblr doesn’t make me laugh—but, handsome men, especially handsome men who are thoughtful and outdoorsy, always make me smile.

http://yourllbeanboyfriend.tumblr.com/

3. Tom Hiddleston Teaches Cookie Monster Delayed Gratification.

My favorite Sesame Street character and my favorite actor teach our young an important life skill.

P.S. Tom Hiddleston seems to win the internet. Especially if winning the internet involves being cheeky, kind, nerdy, and ridiculously adorable.

4. Last Week Tonight’s YouTube Channel

Oh, I am stupidly fond of John Oliver’s satirical, sensitive, silly masterpiece. I have a big literary crush on the show’s brilliant writing, so I couldn’t choose just one video! Enjoy this channel. Play it on loop. And definitely check out the clips on: FIFA, net neutrality, Warren Harding’s love letters, the Salmon Cannon, Conservatives reading Ayn Rand, Scotland, UK Labour Party’s Barbie bus, U.S. territories, Daylight Saving Time, and Totally Rad GOP Commercials.

https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight/featured

Note: John is British and likes to use the f-word (a lot). I do not mind this because the f-word is a very versatile, fascinating word. But, your boss might. This is NSFW.

5. Neil Gaiman Supports the Onion for a Pulitzer Prize

Gaiman is fabulous. He is also British and enjoys using the f-word. This too, is NSFW.

Writing About Jane…Austen

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Pushpins (Daily Life), The Creative Life

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Yesterday was Jane Austen’s 239th birthday and it was a day I observed by joyfully rereading my favorite parts of Persuasion (um…Sophia Croft being a badass lady adventurer, the awesome debate Anne Elliot has with Captain Harville on whether men or women love the longest when all hope is gone, and Captain Wentworth’s letter of reconciliation to Anne…yeah, that book contains some intellectually and emotionally hot stuff. Also, the Regency Era British Royal Navy:  you know there are men of feeling with sideburns present.) and sought out Henry Tilney’s sassiest observations in Northanger Abbey (he really is the best).

Yet on a day when I reread Jane with gleeful abandon, I caught myself being introspective. As I met this fine author again in her sparkling stories, I realized why it is so hard for me to write directly about her in my own work. Jane is too close to me. She has influenced me more deeply than any other author, living or dead (though C.S. Lewis and Neil Gaiman are a close second and third to her magnificence). After all of my blathering about her brilliant narratives, outlandish characters, and smart social commentary, what truly draws me back to Jane again and again is the deep feeling of warmth, understanding, and safety her narrative voice gives me. Yet, though I know these feelings and I feel these feelings, I cannot articulate to you their particular natures.

As a writer, you need to have some distance to get anything done. I find it is much easier to write about things when you are on the outskirts, quietly observing the bustle and struggles of others. I could never have that distance with Jane. I’m too close. Jane is too dear. It was her Anne Elliot that helped a twelve-year-old me feel a little less lonely. It was her keen social observations that helped an awkward teenage and young adult me begin to understand the wonder and giddiness and awfulness of human nature. And it was her own confidence and commitment to her craft that still inspires me today.

No, I cannot have distance from Jane. I never will. Her stories have woven themselves far too deeply into my soul. But, I can have patience and allow time to help me figure out her influence upon me. For walking constantly with someone over time can be just as good as observing that someone from a distance.

Plus, it gives me an excuse to read her more often. Not that I ever needed one.

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Freestyle Disco and Drinking Games: Jane Austen on YouTube

02 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Oh my gosh you guys, after four months riddled with various high pressure deadlines, I have a break. An actual break. And nothing says taking a break from high pressure deadlines quite like silly YouTube Videos about Jane Austen and her books (well, at least for me). So, for your viewing pleasure, and my easy access, here are some of my favorites:

1.) The Peloton—The Jane Austen One

Ah, polite  Nineteenth-Century conversation:  where everyone beautifully says nothing.

 

2.) Jane Austen’s Fight Club

Because sometimes, you just have to knock a teacup out of some heiress’s hand.

 

3.) The Mitchell and Webb Look—Posh Dancing

Thank you, Mr. Darcy, for yelling at Miss Bingley what I’ve been longing to yell at her every time I read Pride and Prejudice. You are also very good at freestyle disco.

 

4.) The Jane Austen Drinking Game (Live)—Mostly Water Theatre

“LOSS OF COUNTENANCE. THAT’S TWO DRINKS!!!!”

 

5.) Pride and Prejudice: The Art of Argument According to Jane Austen | Ignite Phoenix #15

Oooo!!!! Rhetoric skillz. Mr. Darcy has those. (n.b. This video is more informative than silly—but, is informative in a very charming way.)

 

6.) Jane Austen Old Spice Parody

A video that proves once and for all Henry Tilney’s superiority to all other Austen heroes. Sadly, Mr. Darcy and Captain Wentworth are not him.