1 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:04,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Vie Wilson and I'm Holly Fry and we're 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: just gonna get two things out in the open at 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: the beginning of this episode. Thing number one. Jane Austen 6 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 1: was not just a shy spinster who wrote some little 7 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: books mostly to amuse herself in her own family. That's 8 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: a common rumor. It's a common rumor that is false. 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: Another common maybe not rumor, but another perception that is false. 10 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: She was not like the real life version of Elizabeth 11 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. Yeah, And I think that 12 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 1: dovetails on the rumor like people think that her books 13 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: were some sort of personal wish fulfillment scenario, yeah, or 14 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: sort of a fictionalization of her own life, and they really, 15 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: we're not there. There's a little things that you will 16 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: read and Jane Austen books that do have a little 17 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: tie into her own life, but for the most part, 18 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: these were very, very definitely fictional books from her imagination, 19 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: not from real things that had happened to her. Um. 20 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: She is one of our most requested writers for sure. 21 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: Lots of people asking us to talk about Jane Austen, 22 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: so we're going to do that today, talk about her. 23 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:30,480 Speaker 1: Not at all Jane Austen novel like life, um, starting 24 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 1: of course at the beginning. Yeah, it was completely unlike 25 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,959 Speaker 1: any of the heroines in her books, just not the same, 26 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: not as her fictional world. She was born on December sixteenth, 27 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy five and Steventon, Hampshire, and she was the 28 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: seventh child and second daughter of George Austen, who was 29 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: an Anglican rector, and his wife Cassandra. And she was 30 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: christened the following April five and she spent a little 31 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: more than a year after that in the care of 32 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: another family in the village. She was close enough her 33 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: parents could visit and for her to be brought to 34 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: the parsonage to visit as well, and Jane went to 35 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: live at home again once she was a toddler. All 36 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 1: of the Austin children, except for her brother George, who 37 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,920 Speaker 1: had uh some kind of developmental disability, followed the same 38 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: pattern like this was their family practice to yet send 39 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: the children away and then bring them back. It was 40 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 1: an extremely successful practice. All of the Austin children lived 41 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: into adulthood, which not common at the time, and not 42 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: common at the time at all um uh. And by 43 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: all accounts uh, they were an exceptionally modest family. I mean, 44 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: it's eight children in the end being raised on a 45 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: rector's stalary, which was not a lot of money. But 46 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: they were exceptionally intelligent and literate. Jane and her siblings 47 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: and the many many cousins and friends who would come 48 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: to visit them and stay for a while. We're also 49 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: really creative and they like to do things like put 50 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: on plays together. And they made extensive use of their 51 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: father's five hundred volume library, which is really where Jane 52 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: cut her teeth on the world of language. And if 53 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 1: you've read any novel by Jane Austen, or even seen 54 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,679 Speaker 1: any adaptation for film or television or the screen, you've 55 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: probably picked up on the theme that being smart and 56 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: articulate can make up for not inheriting a fortune. And 57 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 1: this really was one of the Jane Austen's family's family's values, 58 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: having been written down in almost those precise words by 59 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: her father's grandmother long before Jane was even born, that 60 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: you can make something of yourself even if you didn't 61 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,839 Speaker 1: inherit tons of money when Jane was a child. This 62 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: is to me where things really diverge. If you are 63 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: a fan of Jane Austen, like they're they're definitely interesting 64 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: male characters, but the focus is really on the women 65 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: and the women's lives and the sort of the other 66 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: women and the other sisters and the cousins and the moms, 67 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: and yeah, I think most people think of her, uh 68 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: in some ways as like a women's writer, really writing 69 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: a lot about women, a lot for women. But she 70 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: grew up in a house full of boys. She didn't 71 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: really have that much exposure to huge groups of women. 72 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: I would even call this upbringing overrun with boys. I 73 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: mean she had she had all of those brothers, you know, 74 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: she was just her and one of her sister, all 75 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,280 Speaker 1: of these brothers. Her mother and father ran a boys 76 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: school out of their home to try to you know, 77 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: make ends meet, and so um, you know, Jane and 78 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: her sister would share a room and all the other 79 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: bedrooms were full of all these boys. And her father 80 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: taught her brothers and all of these other male children. 81 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: And so she lived in this like very rowdy, noisy, 82 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: boyish environment and kind of what we would think of 83 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: as a tomboy kind of sense um until she was 84 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,600 Speaker 1: seven and went away to boarding school with her sister Cassandra, 85 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: and their cousin named Jane Cooper went to the same 86 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: school as well. So from the toddler ages that she 87 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: came back from being with a wet nurse in the 88 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: village until the age of seven. Uh, noisy boy time 89 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: all over the place in Jane Austen's world. It stresses 90 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:06,840 Speaker 1: me out just thinking about it. I kind of love it, 91 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: many people do. I'm not great with the loud children 92 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: noises well, and the thing that it reminds me of 93 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,599 Speaker 1: on on my mom's side of the family, um, I 94 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: have there were eleven children total in my generation, um, 95 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: and only three of us were girls, so kind of 96 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 1: a similar proportion, um. And I like, I remember like 97 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: the boy footsteps thundering up and down the stairs, and 98 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: I kind of imagined that it was a little bit 99 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,920 Speaker 1: similar growing up happy, growing up in this many many 100 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: boys and and uh boys that she was really good too, 101 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: and ones who were brought into study at the school. 102 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: While I'm like this is stressful, like hey, noisy fun time, 103 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: but girls schools at this point in history tended to 104 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: be fairly meager and indifferent, and it seems that the 105 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,359 Speaker 1: school that Jane went to was really better than most. 106 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: But while there, all three of the girls got sick 107 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: with what was probably typhus. They did recover, but Jane 108 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: Cooper's mother caught the illness while nursing her back to health, 109 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: and unfortunately she ultimately died from it. Now, once they 110 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: were all well, they all spent another year at home, 111 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 1: with Jane Cooper often being there as well since her 112 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: mother had died, and they eventually all went off to 113 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: another boarding school, what they only stayed for about a 114 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: year before coming home again for good and being taught 115 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: at home. Jane's first and perhaps only love was Thomas 116 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 1: Langlois la Foy, and she met him in sev when 117 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,479 Speaker 1: he was visiting for the holidays. Well, they fell in 118 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: love and were obvious enough about it that it drew 119 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: some attention, and soon enough his kids sent him home again, 120 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: either to protect Jane from him or to protect him 121 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,839 Speaker 1: from Jane. Basically, people did not want them together. It 122 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: worked out fine for Thomas, who married an heiress, but 123 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,479 Speaker 1: afterwards Jane really he had little in the way of suitors. 124 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: For a very long time. Yeah. She he definitely got 125 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,160 Speaker 1: the longer end of the stick on that whole breakup. Yeah. 126 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: So let's talk about Jane the grown up. She was 127 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: not the only writer in her family. Her mother panned 128 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: little poems for the children and for the students at 129 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: the school. Jane's oldest brother, James, was also a writer 130 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: and a poet, and in January of seventeen eighty nine, 131 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: he actually started his own magazine, which was called The 132 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: Loiterer and it ran for fourteen months. And Jane's first 133 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: written works were satires. One was called Love and Friendship, 134 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: which satirized romances, and a historical satire called History of England. 135 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: When she was around nineteen years old, she wrote an 136 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: epistolary novel which, uh, on the off chance you don't 137 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: know what that means, it means the novel that's written 138 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: as a series of letters, and it was called Eleanor 139 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: and mary Anne, which would later become Sense and Sensibility. 140 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: Jane's parents stopped teaching in seventeen ninety six, when Jane 141 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: was twins, so at this point the house became a 142 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: lot quieter. Uh. That year she started working on first Impressions, 143 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: which would later become Pride and Prejudice, and about a 144 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: year later she started rewriting Eleanor and mary Anne, changing 145 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: it from this series of letters into a more linear narrative. 146 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: She also wrote her first draft of Northinger Abbey, which 147 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: was originally called Susan, between sev seventeen nine, so she 148 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: basically banged out the bulk of three novels in as 149 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: many years. Super productive. I'm kind of imagining now that 150 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: it was not quite so reality in the house and 151 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: she had a little headspace to herself. She was like, 152 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: let's write some books for real now. Jane's Familey played 153 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,079 Speaker 1: a huge part in the process of her writing and 154 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: her rewriting of these books. In the evenings, she would 155 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: read her work aloud to Cassandra and her parents, testing 156 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: out her writing on the family, and she would make 157 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 1: notes to herself of what what worked and what they 158 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,719 Speaker 1: responded to and what really needed to be revised. Her 159 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: other liked first impressions so much that he wrote to 160 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: a publisher to ask how much it would cost him 161 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,959 Speaker 1: to publish it at the family's expense. Uh. He got 162 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,199 Speaker 1: this inquiry back almost immediately marked declined by return of post, 163 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,839 Speaker 1: and Jane got to work rewriting the book again. I 164 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: actually I really like this about James Potter, Like he 165 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:22,199 Speaker 1: could have been like, no, this is not a seemly 166 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: thing for you to be doing. Novels were not really 167 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 1: respected as a form of literature at this point in history, 168 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: and for a woman to be writing novels. There were 169 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: other women novelists, but it was still kind of a 170 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: groundbreaking thing, and not a lot of published women novelists 171 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: in particulars. It is not a career women aspired to now, 172 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: and people generally thought that poetry and plays were a 173 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: much higher genre of literature than novels, where novels were 174 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: kind of trashy and scandalous. So um, the fact that 175 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: he supported her in all of this, I really like. Yeah, 176 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: it's always uh, sort of refreshing and heartwarming when you 177 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: hear about things like that kind of step outside the 178 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: boundaries of society's rules in an effort to sort of, 179 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,959 Speaker 1: you know, nurse along and nurture somebody's creative spirit. Yeah. 180 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 1: The Austin's pretty much encouraged all their kids too to 181 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: do what they wanted to do and to pursue their 182 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: own path in life. So a little bit of an exception. Yeah, 183 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:26,840 Speaker 1: and in the midst of all of this writing and rewriting, 184 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: an event happened that didn't happen directly to Jane, but 185 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 1: it did really dramatically influence how she lived the rest 186 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 1: of her life. Cassandra was engaged to a man named 187 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: Thomas Fowl, and Tom had gone abroad to try to 188 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 1: make enough money to afford to marry, and he and 189 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:46,560 Speaker 1: Cassandra were supposed to get married around Easter of seventeen seven, 190 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,199 Speaker 1: but he had not come home and the wedding was 191 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: postponed until spring, only for Cassandra to find out many 192 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:55,839 Speaker 1: months after the fact that he had actually died of 193 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: yellow fever while he was away in February. Yeah, he 194 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: had already passed away when their wedding was supposed to 195 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,839 Speaker 1: have transpired, but it took so long for news to 196 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:07,079 Speaker 1: get anywhere at this point that that she didn't know 197 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,319 Speaker 1: until much later. He did leave her some money in 198 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: his will, not enough to make her totally independent, but 199 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: she wasn't completely destitute, and she effectively considered herself to 200 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:20,840 Speaker 1: be a widow at this point. She and Jane had 201 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: always been extremely close, but from here on out they 202 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: basically were one another's primary companions, and a couple of 203 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: years later, there was another dramatic change in Jane's life. 204 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 1: She returned from visiting friends to learn that her parents 205 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: were moving to Bath and turning over the parsonage to 206 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: her brother James and his family. So Jane and Cassandra 207 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 1: were still mostly dependent on their parents at this point, 208 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: so that meant that they were going to be moving 209 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: to So Cassandra destroyed all of the letters that Jane 210 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:52,719 Speaker 1: wrote to her about this, and that's something that she 211 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 1: she did with basically, any letter that Jane wrote her 212 00:11:55,920 --> 00:12:00,240 Speaker 1: that was extremely personal was destroyed. So we came kind 213 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: of glean from that that Jane was pretty upset by 214 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: this development. Stevenson was her home and she had, you know, 215 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:10,719 Speaker 1: lived there for whole her whole life, and she and 216 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,719 Speaker 1: her sister had to kind of watch as its furnishings 217 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,559 Speaker 1: were divided up among their brothers. The books and the 218 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:20,559 Speaker 1: and their father's beloved library were all sold off. The 219 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:23,319 Speaker 1: place that had been their home was now their brother's 220 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: home and not theirs anymore. So it kind of shook 221 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 1: the foundations of of Jane's world a little bit well, 222 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,559 Speaker 1: and her new location added to that because Bath was 223 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 1: much more urban than Steventon had been, and there were 224 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: also many more social demands, and Jane's parents had actually 225 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,079 Speaker 1: met in Bath when they were about her age, so 226 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,079 Speaker 1: she sort of had this feeling that it was on 227 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 1: her to do list when they moved there to find 228 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:54,079 Speaker 1: a husband. Scholars don't completely agree about how this move 229 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,199 Speaker 1: affected her writing. There are some who use the lack 230 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,559 Speaker 1: of letters and new manuscripts and new novel was written 231 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:02,439 Speaker 1: in Bath as evidence that the whole thing was so 232 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: distressing that Jane just couldn't write. But there are others 233 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:07,959 Speaker 1: who insist that she had always been writing and she 234 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,679 Speaker 1: wouldn't let she wouldn't have let moving stop her, so 235 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:15,199 Speaker 1: that they theorized more that she was like rewriting. It 236 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: was a revision period rather than a new work period. Um, 237 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: but we don't know for sure, don't know for sure, 238 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: And regardless, there's a pretty big gap in her writing 239 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: output at this point. Yeah, at least in terms of 240 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,839 Speaker 1: new content. We weren't see anything. We don't have tons, 241 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 1: unlike that three years where she was just she's like 242 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: three men, here are my three new books that didn't 243 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: really happen while she was in Bath. Her biggest life 244 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,360 Speaker 1: of him during the Bath years actually happened back in Hampshire, 245 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: when Jane and Cassandra went to visit their friends, the 246 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: Big Sisters in December of eighteen o two. Their brother 247 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: Harris Big, asked Jane to marry him while she was there. 248 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: They had known each other since they were very young, 249 00:13:55,760 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: and Jane accepted his proposal, but their engagement we lasted 250 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: one night. It's possible that being in the BIG's house, 251 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: where she and Tom mcfoy had spent time in one 252 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: another's company, sort of stirred up old memories of a 253 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:13,319 Speaker 1: more passionate relationship, and whatever the reasons, in the morning, 254 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:17,320 Speaker 1: Jane called the engagement off as gently as she could, 255 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: and she and Cassandra, who had planned to stay for 256 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: several weeks, asked to be taken home immediately. I can 257 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,360 Speaker 1: imagine the awkwardness of yes, I will marry you, and 258 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 1: in the morning going not so much, Yes, I'm gonna 259 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: go now. Well, and as with Tom, this all worked 260 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: out fine for Harris. He got married to someone else 261 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: two years later and they had ten children. Uh. Fortunately, 262 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: it also does not seem to have soured Jane's relationship 263 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 1: with with the rest of the big family. They were 264 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 1: still friends after that, even though they had she had 265 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 1: had this extremely awkward, less than twenty four hour engagement 266 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: to their brother was kind of funny, uh, And her 267 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: one night engagement to Harris By seems to have kicked 268 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 1: started Jamee's desire to write again and actually get her 269 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: work published. After all, if she did not get married, 270 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: she was gonna have to find a way to manage 271 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: once her parents passed away. Yeah, this was the reality 272 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,400 Speaker 1: of being a woman at this point. If you did 273 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: not have money, either from your family or from your husband, 274 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: then you did not have money. That is how it worked. 275 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: James brother, Henry, became her literary agent, and he also 276 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,000 Speaker 1: got the help of a lawyer named William Seymour. The 277 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: first book that they turned their eye to was Northinger Abbey, 278 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: which at the time, as we said earlier, was called Susan. 279 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: They sold it to a London publisher named Richard Crosby 280 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: for ten pounds, and although he advertised the book, he 281 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: never actually did anything with it. And Jane also started 282 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: on a new book, one that she never finished and 283 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,480 Speaker 1: had more direct parallels to her own life than any 284 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 1: of her other books. It was called the Watsons, and 285 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: it was about four impoverished daughters trying to find husbands 286 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: before their father died. She planned to kill off the 287 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: father in the book, but then her own father died 288 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: hid in January of eighteen o five after a brief 289 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: and sudden illness. One of the saddest parts of that 290 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: part of the story is that it fell to Jane 291 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: to write to her brother Frank about their father's death, 292 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: and after she had written and sent that letter, her 293 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,040 Speaker 1: sister got another letter from him that revealed that his 294 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: ship was in Portsmouth, and that was not where the 295 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:22,920 Speaker 1: first letter had been sent, so Jane had to do 296 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 1: that all over again. Kind of makes your heart hurt. 297 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: Her father had never had much money, but his death 298 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,920 Speaker 1: meant that Jane and Cassandra and their mother were basically 299 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 1: completely penniless. They had to move into smaller lodgings immediately. 300 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: James Henry and Frank Austin each offered to give them 301 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: fifty pounds a year to help make ends meet, and Frank, 302 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 1: who was the most well off, had originally offered a 303 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: hundred pounds, but Jane's mother would only accept half of 304 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 1: that amount, so at this point Jane's mother had a 305 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: little bit of money of her own, Cassandra had inherited 306 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: a little bit from her deceased Yance. Jane, more than 307 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 1: anyone else, was just completely dependent on other people's generosity 308 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: for every penny she had. And on top of that, 309 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: her brothers, while you know, they seem to have had 310 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,680 Speaker 1: good intentions about wanting to look after their mother and 311 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: their sisters, but they kind of just took for granted 312 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:20,679 Speaker 1: that whatever arrangements they made were going to be okay 313 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,680 Speaker 1: with her. Um. They would make, you know, arrangements for 314 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,200 Speaker 1: getting the women from one place to another without consulting 315 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:31,640 Speaker 1: them first, and then Jane would sort of be like, actually, 316 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: I am I have plans to be in this place 317 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 1: with these people at that time. UM, it was just 318 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:42,120 Speaker 1: sort of awkward. They all of their moving around had 319 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:45,159 Speaker 1: to happen at the convenience of other people. UM. And 320 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,400 Speaker 1: so for about a year they did. They moved around 321 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,639 Speaker 1: a whole lot, and it mainly had to live off 322 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 1: the generosity of others. I can imagine that being incredibly stressful. 323 00:17:57,359 --> 00:17:59,440 Speaker 1: I do not like that idea much at all, and 324 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,920 Speaker 1: know like my independent spirit just like feels all trapped 325 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: thinking about it uh. In eighteen o six, Frank, who 326 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: was in the navy, suggested that the Austin Ladies actually 327 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: share a home with his wife to be because he 328 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: would be at sea a lot, and so they lived 329 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: together in Southampton for about three years. Then in eighteen 330 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,880 Speaker 1: o nine they made the move to Jane's most famous home, 331 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: Chotton Cottage. And before we talk about what happened there, 332 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: let's take a moment for a word from our sponsor, 333 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:31,160 Speaker 1: back to the the home where Jane Austen got most 334 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,200 Speaker 1: of her work that was published during her lifetime completed 335 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: and published. Chotton Cottage was part of Edward Austin's estate, 336 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: and he offered it to the Austin Ladies when its 337 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: tenant died, so Jane, Cassandra, and their mother all moved there, 338 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: along with a sister in law in eighteen o nine, 339 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 1: and that same year Jane wrote to Richard Crosby, the 340 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: publisher who had bought Susan, asking when he might publish 341 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 1: it uh. He said he didn't plan to do anything 342 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,479 Speaker 1: with it, and offered to sell it back to her 343 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: for ten pounds, which of course she did not have. 344 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,119 Speaker 1: I have I have an audio book that is a 345 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: collection of some of the letters to and from Jane 346 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 1: austen Um, and after reading the response to this letter, 347 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:15,959 Speaker 1: there's a sound effect of her just like crumpling up 348 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:20,359 Speaker 1: the paper. Um like ten pounds does not sound like 349 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: a lot. But she did not have the money to 350 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,159 Speaker 1: buy it back, and the publisher was just not going 351 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:27,920 Speaker 1: to do anything with it. Um. Once they were in 352 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,160 Speaker 1: this cottage, the four women lived a pretty quiet life. 353 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:34,400 Speaker 1: Jane and Cassandra shared a bedroom, and Jane would get 354 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 1: up first and play the piano for a while and 355 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: then make breakfast for everyone. And she was otherwise exempt 356 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: from most of the other household duties as long as Martha, 357 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,400 Speaker 1: the sister in law, and Cassandra were there to do them. 358 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: And so she spent most of her time writing the 359 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: first book that Henry was able to find a publisher for, 360 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 1: with Sense and Sensibility, and it was published in eighteen 361 00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: tens through Military Library Whitehall at Henry's expense. Its author 362 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: was simply listed as a lady. A lady wrote Sense 363 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:08,199 Speaker 1: and Sensibility. A Lady wrote it. It came out at 364 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:10,880 Speaker 1: the end of eighteen eleven, and its first run had 365 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: sold out by eighteen thirteen. Jane made a hundred and 366 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 1: forty pounds on it, which gave her a little independence. 367 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: I mean, it was not enough money to totally live 368 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: off of, but she was no longer one percent dependent 369 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,679 Speaker 1: on other people. She could at least go by postage 370 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: or planned, you know, a trip to visit a friend 371 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: without having to ask other people. For many on Thomas Edgerton, 372 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,720 Speaker 1: the publisher at Military Library, was ready for another book 373 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: before the printing sold out, so she sold in Pride 374 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: and Prejudice for a hundred and ten pounds. Her name 375 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: still did not appear on the book. It was simply 376 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: printed as being by the author of Sense and Sensibility, 377 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:48,600 Speaker 1: and her identity of the a as the author was 378 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: mostly kept secret outside the immediate family for years, so 379 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,680 Speaker 1: nobody knew that she was writing these bestselling novels. The 380 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: next book, and another sold out print run, was Mansfield Park, 381 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: and after that came Emma, which she worked on between 382 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: January eighteen fourteen in March eighteen fifteen, and very gradually 383 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 1: a few people outside the immediate family started to learn 384 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,920 Speaker 1: that Jane was the person writing all these books, and 385 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: for reasons that aren't entirely clear, uh Edgerton was not 386 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,879 Speaker 1: interested in publishing a second run of Mansfield Park, and 387 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,920 Speaker 1: he didn't publish Emma. Another publisher, John Murray, published it 388 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 1: on commission. So even though she was wildly successful for 389 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 1: him and he was probably making a lot of money, 390 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: it's like he wasn't really into keeping that. Yeah. I 391 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: don't know if I'd go so far as to say 392 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: wildly successful. Like they were definitely successful, but she was not. 393 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,399 Speaker 1: She wasn't like she wasn't writing this centuries version of 394 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: Harry Potter. Like things were doing pretty well, they were 395 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: getting good reviews, but it wasn't like people were lining 396 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: up at the docks to get the first printing off 397 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: the ship. I'm trying to somehow my brain make that 398 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:06,919 Speaker 1: similar to Oprah's Book Club, and it's not working. Yeah. Um. 399 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: It was actually a little later before it became like, 400 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: oh this is these are the greatest books and everyone 401 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 1: should read them. Um. As she was working on Emma, 402 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,640 Speaker 1: Jane received word that the Prince Regent, George the Fourth 403 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: was a fan of hers. His librarian asked her to 404 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,800 Speaker 1: come visit Carlton House, which was the Prince Regent's London residents, 405 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: which she did. He also told her that she might 406 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,359 Speaker 1: dedicate the next book to the Prince Regent, which she 407 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,920 Speaker 1: also did her What she actually wrote at the dedication 408 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: was very simple. What actually wound up on the you know, 409 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:43,200 Speaker 1: the title page a lot more elaborate. Yeah, so, yeah. 410 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: She she definitely had fans and high high places. And 411 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 1: at this point it seems as though things were going 412 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: quite well for Jane and the rest of the Austens. 413 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: But in eighteen sixteen the family fell on hard times. 414 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,639 Speaker 1: The ship that her brother Charles was commanding wrecked in 415 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: the Mediterranean. He survived, but he did not get another 416 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,800 Speaker 1: command for a decade, and her brother, Frank, and admiral 417 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,959 Speaker 1: by this time, was on half pay. Both of these 418 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,119 Speaker 1: reversals of fortune were ultimately because England was finally no 419 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 1: longer at war with France, and on top of that, 420 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: the bank that Jane's brother Henry was running also failed 421 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: and Henry went bankrupt. Henry and Frank at this point 422 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,480 Speaker 1: had both still been contributing their fifty pounds a year 423 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: to kind of the upkeep of their mother and sisters, 424 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: but now neither of them could afford to do it anymore, 425 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,359 Speaker 1: and even though Jane was earning money from her books, 426 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: this did put a big dent in her finances. Henry 427 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 1: eventually set out to be ordained and he was given 428 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,280 Speaker 1: the curacy at Shotton, which helped a little bit. Jane 429 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,399 Speaker 1: finally saved up enough money to buy back Northanger Abbey. 430 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,920 Speaker 1: She also started working on Persuasion, which at the time 431 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 1: was called The Elliotts. It is my favorite of her books. UM. 432 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: I did not totally realize until working on this podcast. 433 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,199 Speaker 1: If you have not read Persuasion, I have not. UM. 434 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,920 Speaker 1: I love it that the heroine of Persuasion basically has 435 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 1: a second chance, uh to to sort of revive the 436 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:09,920 Speaker 1: first love of her youth when she is a much 437 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: older woman. I mean not she's not exceptionally old, but 438 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: she's a little older than than the heroines of these 439 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: books often are. UM. And I didn't quite realize that 440 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 1: where Jane was at this point in her life was 441 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: she she was just about to turn forty. She was. 442 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:27,919 Speaker 1: It was pretty clear to her that it was unlikely 443 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,440 Speaker 1: that she was going to have another romance in her life, 444 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:34,919 Speaker 1: and um, that made that book a little more poigant 445 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,600 Speaker 1: for me. Also, around the time that Jane turned forty, 446 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:43,199 Speaker 1: she started to feel kind of vaguely unwell since they 447 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,879 Speaker 1: didn't like bath. Jane and Cassandra went to Cheltenham to 448 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,159 Speaker 1: take the waters there, and Jane thought it made her 449 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: feel a little bit better, but by the time they 450 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: returned home she was starting to have pain and fevers, 451 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,880 Speaker 1: and her letters continue to insist that she was getting better, 452 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,680 Speaker 1: but in fact her health decline. Before she became too 453 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: ill to write, she started on a book she called 454 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: The Brothers, which she never finished. You can't find partial 455 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 1: versions of it, uh and versions of it that people 456 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:16,360 Speaker 1: have completed on her behalf today under the name of Sandton. Eventually, 457 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: at the insistence of her family, Jane was moved to 458 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: Winchester to be closer to medical care and from there. 459 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,879 Speaker 1: On April eighteen seventeen, she wrote out a will, leaving 460 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,360 Speaker 1: everything to Cassandra except for two fifty pound legacies. One 461 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: was to her brother Henry, who had been her literary 462 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: agent effectively for so long, and the other was to 463 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: a friend, uh Madame Bijean, who had worked for her 464 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 1: cousin Eliza. Eliza was quite a dramatic character. We've talked 465 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:49,120 Speaker 1: almost not about in this podcast, but she she could 466 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 1: be a subject of her own She was perhaps she was. 467 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:56,120 Speaker 1: It was quite larger than life. On July seventeenth, after 468 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:01,160 Speaker 1: briefly rallying, Jane had some sort of seizure. Uh afterward, 469 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 1: Cassandra sat with her for six hours with her sister's 470 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: head on a pillow in her lamp, and sister in 471 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,280 Speaker 1: law Mary took over for two hours in the middle 472 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:12,399 Speaker 1: of the night, with Cassandra returning to her post at 473 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 1: about three in the morning, and Jane died approximately an 474 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,719 Speaker 1: hour later on the morning of the eighteenth of eighteen seventeen. 475 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: Let her written to their niece Fanny. Cassandra wrote of Jane, 476 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:25,960 Speaker 1: she was the son of my life, the guilder of 477 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow. I had not 478 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:31,959 Speaker 1: a thought concealed from her, and it is as if 479 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:35,439 Speaker 1: I had lost a part of myself. Their brother Henry, 480 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 1: secured permission for Jane to be buried in the Winchester Cathedral. 481 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: They had a very early morning funeral so as not 482 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,639 Speaker 1: to interrupt the church services that would happen later in 483 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: the day, and while the casket was open, Cassandra caught 484 00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:50,840 Speaker 1: cut some locks of Jane's hair, some to keep and 485 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: some to give to others. At least one of these 486 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: survives until today. Her obituary reads Miss Jane Austen, youngest 487 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,879 Speaker 1: her of the late Reverend George Austin, rector of Steventon 488 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: in the Country, an authoress of Emma Mansfield Park, cried 489 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,240 Speaker 1: and prejudice and sense and sensibility. Her manners were gentle, 490 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: her affections aren't. Her candor was not to be surpassed, 491 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: and she lived and died as became a humble Christian. 492 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: The marker for her burial place, on the other hand, 493 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: makes no mention of the books. I don't I don't 494 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:30,159 Speaker 1: really say. Ah, he's so kind of a secret. I 495 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: mean this was that was really the first public announcement 496 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,200 Speaker 1: of all of these books being attributed to her, and 497 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,119 Speaker 1: her cause of death, we still don't exactly know. For 498 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: many years, people pointed to Addison's disease because it fits 499 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,560 Speaker 1: some of the symptoms that she described when she wrote 500 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: about how she felt in her letters. But Addison's also 501 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: caused vomiting and dehydration, which she said nothing about, and 502 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: she had additional symptoms that are not normally associated with Addison's. 503 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: A lot of speculation of exactly what happened. She was 504 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,639 Speaker 1: only forty one and uh, the the that was the 505 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,080 Speaker 1: youngest age at which any of her siblings passed away. 506 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: They all the rest of them all lived to much 507 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,400 Speaker 1: older ages than she did. Um As executricks of the estate, 508 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,960 Speaker 1: Cassandra had Catherine and the Elliotts, which were renamed north 509 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: Inger Abbey and Persuasion published together as a one book 510 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,920 Speaker 1: after Jane's death. This volume contained a biographical note that 511 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: named Jane Austen as their author, and this was the 512 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:33,640 Speaker 1: first time that her actual name had appeared on any 513 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,119 Speaker 1: of her books. In eighteen sixty nine, James Edward, who 514 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: was one of Jane's nephews, wrote a memoir of Jane Austen. 515 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 1: This presents her a sort of a spinster who wrote 516 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: to amuse herself and her family. So it's really the 517 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:50,840 Speaker 1: genesis of that ongoing characterization, which is not so much 518 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:55,440 Speaker 1: accurate to know. She definitely like she started having a 519 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 1: goal of becoming a published writer and making enough money 520 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: to have some measure of independence based on her writing. 521 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 1: It was not sort of a I'm going to sit 522 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: here in the corner and pleasantly right and maybe it 523 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: will amuse all of you. And I'm sure he wrote 524 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,480 Speaker 1: that through a lens of tenderness, like he didn't mean 525 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: to make her seem smaller or less in charge of 526 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:18,720 Speaker 1: her life than she was, but it kind of did 527 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,280 Speaker 1: mess with her public image historically. Yeah. Well, and as 528 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: we alluded to earlier, she did make some money off 529 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: of her books while she was alive, and their print 530 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: runs generally did sell out, but it was really about 531 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: a hundred years before they came popular to the way 532 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: that they are today. Her books started to get scholarly 533 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 1: attention in the nineteen twenties as as uh you know, 534 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: literary theorists and critics started to recognize them as masterpieces, 535 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: and that is really when they became the sort of 536 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: worldwide phenomenon that they are now. Jane, who I know 537 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,480 Speaker 1: is near and dear to your heart, She's very near 538 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: and dear to my heart. I love her quite a lot, 539 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: and I used this episode as an excuse to buy 540 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: every Jane Austen thing that I wanted. So I now 541 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: have this immense volume of her collected letters that's like, 542 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 1: it's it's huge, it's it's it's as long as a 543 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:23,000 Speaker 1: Harry Potter novel, one of the long Harry Potter ones. Um. 544 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: I also there are annotated versions of her books which 545 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:29,760 Speaker 1: I love, that have the story on one page and 546 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 1: then on the facing page they are all these notes 547 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 1: about what's going on, which like it makes them twice 548 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: as long as the books normally are, but there's so much, 549 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: but like four times as rich. Yeah, they're like there 550 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,480 Speaker 1: are things where as a modern reader you might not 551 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: pick up on the fact that this thing this person 552 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:52,480 Speaker 1: said just now was a marriage proposal, um, but it 553 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: was so Yeah. I bought the the three of those 554 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 1: for the three of her books that I did not 555 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 1: already have, I've to biographies. Was very much a Jane 556 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,360 Speaker 1: Austen shopping spree at my house. But that's all good 557 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 1: stuff I love that you will treasure for years. Yeah, 558 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,520 Speaker 1: I will. I will, definitely will. I have this like giant. 559 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,120 Speaker 1: I already had sort of a giant collection of Jane 560 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: Austen stuff, and now you have a Jane Austen situation. Yeah, 561 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: my own, my own book that does not exist in 562 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:29,560 Speaker 1: reality as a published thing, is very heavily Jane Austen influence. 563 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 1: So this was my wish fulfillment episode. Do you also 564 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 1: have listener mails? Yes, I do. This is from Alec 565 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: Alex says I've recently discovered your lovely podcast, and I've 566 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: really been enjoying listening to all the varied topics you 567 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: guys have talked about. Great work I did. However, I 568 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: want to make a quick point concerning your recent podcast 569 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:54,640 Speaker 1: on the Pueblo Revolts. When discussing the ancient origins of 570 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,960 Speaker 1: the Pueblo peoples, you use the term anasazi in your description. 571 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: I don't blame you for this choice at all, as 572 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,560 Speaker 1: it is overwhelmingly common to use anasazi in modern history 573 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: and archaeology, but more recently it has become more of 574 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 1: a touchy subject. The reason is that anasazi is actually 575 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 1: a Navajo word taken by Europeans to refer to the 576 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: ancient people that had built the pueblos they saw as 577 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:19,680 Speaker 1: they came into what is now the American Southwest. They 578 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 1: often had Navajo guides when and when asking them who 579 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,240 Speaker 1: built those pueblos, it is commonly believed that they replied 580 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:31,400 Speaker 1: with the term anasazi, which translates loosely to enemy of ancestor. 581 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 1: As someone who is studying archaeology, I thought I should 582 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: bring this to your attention. Is it is really ashamed 583 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: that the term we've adopted for these ancient peoples isn't 584 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:43,480 Speaker 1: even from their own dialect in the archaeological community. Many 585 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,480 Speaker 1: of us have taken to referring them as ancestral pueblo, 586 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:49,560 Speaker 1: which isn't exactly perfect, but is certainly better than referring 587 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,920 Speaker 1: to them as the enemies of our ancestors. Hopefully this 588 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: doesn't just seem like political correctness for the sake of 589 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,720 Speaker 1: political correctness to you, and you'll keep it in mind 590 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 1: for future discussions. Keep up the great work. Like I 591 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: had no idea me either. Um, I had no idea. 592 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: And then when I went to because you know, I 593 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: I want to innately trust everything or our listeners sent 594 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: to us, but occasionally we get corrections that are themselves 595 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,720 Speaker 1: not correct um. And so I went to try to 596 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: confirm this, and it took some doing to to find that. 597 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure we will get notes from people 598 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 1: are like you could have read that at Wikipedia, but 599 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: we try to do our resources from primary sources as 600 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: much as possible. Um. And so it yeah, it took 601 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: a little doing to find out that that really is 602 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: the case. I had no idea. And now, as a 603 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 1: personal side note, I have this moment of laughter because 604 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: many moods ago. I used to manage a hair salon, 605 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:44,000 Speaker 1: and I remember at one point, I don't know if 606 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:45,719 Speaker 1: this company is still around, but there was a hair 607 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:50,240 Speaker 1: care line called Anes Sauce. Yeah. Well now I'm like, 608 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: that is weird. Yeah. And I can't remember who I 609 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:55,479 Speaker 1: was talking to. I was talking to somebody and they 610 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: were like, oh, yeah, I found that. I found that 611 00:33:57,440 --> 00:33:59,680 Speaker 1: out when I was reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and 612 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: I was like, I've read that book and that did 613 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: not stick in my head me either. And I also 614 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 1: want to have a little note about quote, political correctness. Yeah, 615 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:11,640 Speaker 1: I kind of want anybody who's gonna say something about 616 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 1: political correctness substitute the words being respectful, because that's really 617 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,200 Speaker 1: all the political correctness is. We get a lot of 618 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 1: flaks sometimes for quote trying to be political politically correct. 619 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,799 Speaker 1: What we are trying to be is respectful of other people. Yeah, 620 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: that's like part of the goal of this whole podcast. 621 00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: So what yah other people. Yeah, do not feel the 622 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,799 Speaker 1: need to apologize if there is something that you feel 623 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:43,439 Speaker 1: like it's motivated from political correctness, because what that really 624 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: really boils down to you is not being disrespectful of 625 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:53,400 Speaker 1: other people. Yeah, And like disregarding important historical elements that 626 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 1: would inform our knowledge. Yeah, it would be awesome if 627 00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: we had a word that was neither ancestral pleblo since 628 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: that's like a Spanish word that was made to describe 629 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,359 Speaker 1: the houses that people lived in, and also not anasazi, 630 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 1: since that is a Navajo word like that does not 631 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,239 Speaker 1: mean what it should mean in the way it has 632 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 1: been adopted. Nope, so thank you very much for bringing 633 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,400 Speaker 1: that to our attention. I had no idea. Uh. If 634 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:21,080 Speaker 1: you would like to write to us, you can. We're 635 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,800 Speaker 1: at History Podcast at Discovery dot com. We're also on 636 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 1: Facebook at facebook dot com slash miss in history and 637 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: on Twitter at miss in History. Our tumbler is missed 638 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:31,800 Speaker 1: in History dot tumbler dot com, and our pinterest is 639 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 1: at pinterest dot com slash missed in history. If you 640 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:37,200 Speaker 1: would like to learn a little bit more about what 641 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,239 Speaker 1: we have talked about today, or more specifically, what Jane 642 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,879 Speaker 1: Austen wrote about extensively as a core concept and all 643 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,759 Speaker 1: of her writing, you can come to our website, put 644 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:49,239 Speaker 1: the word marriage in the search bar and you will 645 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: find but truths through the centuries, a timeline of marriage. 646 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:55,160 Speaker 1: You can do all of that and a whole lot 647 00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 1: more at our website, which is how Stuff Works dot 648 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:04,360 Speaker 1: Com for more on this and thousands of other topics 649 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:17,080 Speaker 1: because it has stuff works dot com. This episode of 650 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,120 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Classes brought to you by 651 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,560 Speaker 1: Linda dot Com. You can learn it at Linda dot com, 652 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:24,280 Speaker 1: an online learning company with more than seventy seven thousand 653 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 1: video tutorials that teach software, creative and business skills. Membership 654 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:31,520 Speaker 1: starts at twenty five a month and provides unlimited seven 655 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,840 Speaker 1: access to top quality video courses taught by expert instructors 656 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,400 Speaker 1: with real world experience. Listeners of Stuff you Missed in 657 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,040 Speaker 1: History Class can trial Inda dot com free for seven 658 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 1: days by visiting Linda dot com slash history stuff