1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Hey, we know we have some dedicated listeners who've been 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: with the show from day one or have taken the plunge, 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: gone all the way through the back catalog, listen to 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: all nine hundred plus episodes in the archive. Huge shout 5 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: out to those folks. That is a commitment. But we 6 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: also know that we have lots of new listeners who 7 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 1: haven't heard some of our older material. So to welcome 8 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: them and introduce them to some of our our older stuff, 9 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: We're gonna try something new on Saturday's. We're going to 10 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: re air some of our favorites from the past. To 11 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 1: kick it off, we have our Jane Austin episode, which 12 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: originally aired March and aside for being a personal favorite 13 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: of mine because I love her, she's the one that 14 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: was requested again and again, and she had even been 15 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: on the wish list for these shows prior hosts before 16 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: we even came on board. Welcome to Stuff You Missed 17 00:00:53,200 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: in History Class from how Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, 18 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and 19 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and we're just gonna get two things 20 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: out in the open. At the beginning of this episode, 21 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: Thing number one. Jane Austen was not just a shy 22 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: spinster who wrote some little books mostly to amuse herself 23 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: and her own family. That's a common rumor. It's a 24 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: common rumor that is false. Another common maybe not rumor, 25 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: but another perception that is false. She was not like 26 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 1: the real life version of Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. Yeah, 27 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: and I think that dovetails on the rumor, like people 28 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: think that her books were some sort of personal wish 29 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: fulfillment scenario, yeah, or sort of a fictionalization of her 30 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: own life, and they really were not. There. There's some 31 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: little things that you will read and Jane Austen books 32 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: that do have a little tie into her own life, 33 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: but for the most part, these were very, very definitely 34 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: fictional books from her imagination, not from real things that 35 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: had happened to her. Um. She is one of our 36 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: most requested writers, for sure, lots of people asking us 37 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 1: to talk about Jane Austen. So we're going to do 38 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: that today, talk about her not at all Jane Austen 39 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: novel like life, um, starting of course at the beginning. Yeah, 40 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: it was completely unlike any of the heroines in her books, 41 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: just not the same as her fictional world now. She 42 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: was born on December sixteenth, seventeen seventy five and Steventon, Hampshire, 43 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: and she was the seventh child and second daughter of 44 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: George Austen, who was an Anglican rector, and his wife Cassandra. 45 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: And she was christened the following April five and she 46 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: spent a little more than a year after that in 47 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: the care of another family in the village. She was 48 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: close enough that her parents could visit and for her 49 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: to be brought to the parsonage to visit as well, 50 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: and Jane went to live at home again once she 51 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: was a toddler. All of the Austin children at scept 52 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: for her brother George, who had uh some kind of 53 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: developmental disability, followed the same pattern like this was their 54 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:08,639 Speaker 1: family practice, to send the children away and then bring 55 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: them back. It was an extremely successful practice. All of 56 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:17,359 Speaker 1: the Austin children lived into adulthood, which is not common 57 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: at the time and not common at the time at 58 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:24,359 Speaker 1: all um uh And by all accounts they were an 59 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: exceptionally modest family. I mean, it's eight children in the 60 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: end being raised on a rector's salary, which was not 61 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: a lot of money, but they were exceptionally intelligent and literate. 62 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: Jane and her siblings and the many many cousins and 63 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: friends who would come to visit them and stay for 64 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: a while. We're also really creative and they like to 65 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: do things like put on plays together, and they made 66 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: extensive use of their father's five hundred volume library, which 67 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: is really where Jane cut her teeth on the world 68 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: of language. And if you've read any novel by Jane Austen, 69 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: or even seen any adaptation for film or television or 70 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: the screen, mean, you've probably picked up on the theme 71 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: that being smart and articulate can make up for not 72 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: inheriting a fortune. And this really was one of the 73 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: Jane Austen's family family's values, having been written down in 74 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: almost those precise words by her father's grandmother long before 75 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: Jane was even born, that you can make something of 76 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,799 Speaker 1: yourself even if you didn't inherit tons of money when 77 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: Jane was a child. This is to me where things 78 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,840 Speaker 1: really diverge. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, 79 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: like they're they're definitely interesting male characters, but the focus 80 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,479 Speaker 1: is really on the women and the women's lives and 81 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: the sort of the other women and the other sisters 82 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: and the cousins and the moms, and yeah, I think 83 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,280 Speaker 1: most people think of her, uh and in some ways 84 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: as like a women's writer, really writing a lot about women, 85 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: a lot for women. But she grew up in a 86 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: house full of boys. She didn't really have that much 87 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,279 Speaker 1: exposure to huge groups of women. I would even call 88 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: this upbringing overrun with boys. I mean she had she 89 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 1: had all of those brothers, you know, she was just 90 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,160 Speaker 1: her and one of her sister, all of these brothers. 91 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: Her mother and father ran a boys school out of 92 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,160 Speaker 1: their home to try to you know, make ends meet, 93 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 1: and so um, you know, Jane and her sister would 94 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: share a room and all the other bedrooms were full 95 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: of all these boys, and her father taught her brothers 96 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: and all of these other male children. And so she 97 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,720 Speaker 1: lived in this like very rowdy, noisy, boyish environment and 98 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,799 Speaker 1: kind of what we would think of as a tomboy 99 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: kind of sense um until she was seven and went 100 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: away to boarding school with her sister Cassandra, and their 101 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: cousin named Jane Cooper went to the same school as well. 102 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: So from the toddler ages that she came back from 103 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: being with a wet nurse in the village until the 104 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: age of seven. Uh, noisy boy time all over the 105 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: place in Jane Austen's world. It stresses me out just 106 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: thinking about it. I kind of love it, many people do. 107 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: I'm not great with the loud children noises well, and 108 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 1: the thing that it reminds me of on on my 109 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: mom's side of the family, UM, I have there were 110 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:13,559 Speaker 1: eleven children total in my generation, um, and only three 111 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: of us were girls, so kind of a similar proportion, um. 112 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: And I like, I remember like the boy footsteps thundering 113 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: up and down the stairs, and I kind of imagined 114 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: that it was a little bit similar growing up growing 115 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 1: up in this many many boys and and uh boys 116 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: that she was related to, and ones who were brought 117 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: into study at the school. While I'm like this is stressful, 118 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: like hey, noisy fun time, but girls schools at this 119 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: point in history tended to be fairly meager and indifferent. 120 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: And it seems that the school that Jane went to 121 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: was really better than most. But while they are all 122 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,840 Speaker 1: three of the girls got sick with what was probably typhus. 123 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: They did recover, but Jane Cooper's mother caught the illness 124 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: while nursing her back to health, and unfortunately she ultimately 125 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: died from it. Now, once they were all well, they 126 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: all spent another year at home, with Jane Cooper often 127 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: being there as well since her mother had died, and 128 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: they eventually all went off to another boarding school what 129 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: they only stayed for about a year before coming home 130 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: again for good and being taught at home. Jane's first 131 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: and perhaps only love was Thomas Langlois la Foy, and 132 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: she met him in when he was visiting for the holidays. Well, 133 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: they fell in love and were obvious enough about it 134 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,559 Speaker 1: that it drew some attention, and soon enough his kids 135 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: sent him home again, either to protect Jane from him 136 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: or to protect him from Jane. Basically, people did not 137 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: want them together. It worked out fine for Thomas, who 138 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: married an heiress, but afterwards Jane really had little in 139 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: the way of suitors for a very long time. Yeah. 140 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: She he definitely got the longer end of the stick 141 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: on that whole breakup. Yeah, So let's talk about Jane 142 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: the grown up. She was not the only writer in 143 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: her family. Her mother panned little poems for the children 144 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: and for the students at the school. Jane's oldest brother, James, 145 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: was also a writer and a poet, and in January 146 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: of seventeen eighty nine he actually started his own magazine, 147 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: which was called The Loiterer and it ran for fourteen months. 148 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: And Jane's first written works were satires. One was called 149 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: Love and Friendship, which satirized romances, and a historical satire 150 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,679 Speaker 1: called History of England. When she was around nineteen years old, 151 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: she wrote an epistolary novel which, uh, on the off 152 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: chance you don't know what that means, it means the 153 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: novel that's written as a series of letters, and it 154 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: was called Eleanor and mary Anne, which would later become 155 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:49,200 Speaker 1: Sense and Sensibility. Jane's parents stopped teaching in seventeen ninety six, 156 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:51,720 Speaker 1: when Jane was twenty, so at this point the house 157 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: became a lot quieter. Uh. That year she started working 158 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,599 Speaker 1: on First Impressions, which would later become Pride and Prejudice, 159 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: and about a year later she started rewriting Eleanor and 160 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: mary Anne, changing it from this series of letters into 161 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: a more linear narrative. She also wrote her first draft 162 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:15,199 Speaker 1: of Northanger Abbey, which was originally called Susan between sev seventine, 163 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: so she basically banged out the bulk of three novels 164 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:23,119 Speaker 1: in as many years, super productive. I'm kind of imagining 165 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,000 Speaker 1: now that it was not quite so reality in the 166 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: house and she had a little headspace to herself. She 167 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: was like, let's write some books for real now. Jane's 168 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: family played a huge part in the process of her 169 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:38,319 Speaker 1: writing and her rewriting of these books. In the evenings, 170 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: she would read her work aloud to Cassandra and her parents, 171 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: testing out her writing on the family, and she would 172 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: make notes to herself of what what worked and what 173 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: they responded to and what really needed to be revised. 174 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: Her father liked first Impressions so much that he wrote 175 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: to a publisher to ask how much it would cost 176 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: him to publish it at the family's expense. Uh. He 177 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:03,439 Speaker 1: got this inquiry almost immediately marked declined by return of post, 178 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: and Jane got to work rewriting the book again. I actually, 179 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: I really like this about Jane's fother like he could 180 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:12,679 Speaker 1: have been like, no, this is not a seemly thing 181 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,240 Speaker 1: for you to be doing. Novels were not really respected 182 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,199 Speaker 1: as a form of literature at this point in history, 183 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: and for a woman to be writing novels there were 184 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: other women novelists, but it was still kind of a 185 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:30,559 Speaker 1: groundbreaking thing, and not a lot of published women novelists 186 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:33,599 Speaker 1: in particulars. This is not a career women aspired to know, 187 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: and people generally thought that poetry and plays were a 188 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: much higher genre of literature than novels, where novels were 189 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: kind of trashy and scandalous. So um, the fact that 190 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,079 Speaker 1: he supported her in all of this, I really like, Yeah, 191 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: it's always, uh, sort of refreshing and heartwarming when you 192 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,800 Speaker 1: hear about things like that kind of step outside the 193 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: boundaries of society's rules in an effort to sort of, 194 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: you know, nurse along and nurture somebody's creative spirit. Yeah. 195 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: The Austin's pretty much encouraged all their kids too, to 196 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,559 Speaker 1: do what they wanted to do and to pursue their 197 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:14,079 Speaker 1: own path in life. So a little bit of an exception. 198 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:17,560 Speaker 1: And in the midst of all of this writing and rewriting, Uh, 199 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: an event happened that didn't happen directly to Jane, but 200 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 1: it did really dramatically influence how she lived the rest 201 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: of her life. Cassandra was engaged to a man named 202 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,280 Speaker 1: Thomas Fowl, and Tom had gone abroad to try to 203 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: make enough money to afford to marry, and he and 204 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: Cassandra were supposed to get married around Easter of seventeen 205 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: nine seven, but he had not come home and the 206 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: wedding was postponed until spring, only for Cassandra to find 207 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: out many months after the fact that he had actually 208 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: died of yellow fever while he was away in February. Yeah, 209 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:51,680 Speaker 1: he he had already passed away when their wedding was 210 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: supposed to have transpired, but it took so long for 211 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 1: news to get anywhere at this point that that she 212 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: didn't know until much later. He did leave her money 213 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: in his will, not enough to make her totally independent, 214 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: but she wasn't completely destitute, and she effectively considered herself 215 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: to be a widow at this point. She and Jane 216 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,679 Speaker 1: had always been extremely close, but from here on out 217 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: they basically were one another's primary companions, and a couple 218 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: of years later there was another dramatic change in Jane's life. 219 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: She returned from visiting friends to learn that her parents 220 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: were moving to Bath and turning over the parsonage to 221 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: her brother James and his family. So Jane and Cassandra 222 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: were still mostly dependent on their parents at this point, 223 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:36,079 Speaker 1: so that meant that they were going to be moving 224 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:40,600 Speaker 1: to So Cassandra destroyed all of the letters that Jane 225 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: wrote to her about this, and that's something that she 226 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:46,120 Speaker 1: she did with basically, any letter that Jane wrote her 227 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: that was extremely personal was destroyed. So we can kind 228 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: of glean from that that Jane was pretty upset by 229 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: this development. Stevenson was her home and she had, you know, 230 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:01,000 Speaker 1: lived there for whole her whole life, and she and 231 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:04,000 Speaker 1: her sister had to kind of watch as its furnishings 232 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: were divided up among their brothers. The books and the 233 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: and their father's beloved library were all sold off. The 234 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:13,559 Speaker 1: place that had been their home was now their brother's 235 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: home and not theirs anymore. So it kind of shook 236 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 1: the foundations of of Jane's world a little bit well, 237 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: and her new location added to that because Bath was 238 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,079 Speaker 1: much more urban than Steventon had been, and there were 239 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: also many more social demands, and Jane's parents had actually 240 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: met in Bath when they were about her age, so 241 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:37,439 Speaker 1: she sort of had this feeling that it was on 242 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: her to do list when they moved there to find 243 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: a husband. Scholars don't completely agree about how this move 244 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:47,480 Speaker 1: affected her writing. There are some who use the lack 245 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: of letters and new manuscripts and new novels written in 246 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:53,359 Speaker 1: Bath as evidence that the whole thing was so distressing 247 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:55,960 Speaker 1: that Jane just couldn't write. But there are others who 248 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: insist that she had always been writing and she wouldn't 249 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:01,439 Speaker 1: let she wouldn't have let moving stop her, so that 250 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,559 Speaker 1: they theorized more that she was like rewriting. It was 251 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: a revision period rather than a new work period. Um, 252 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: but we don't know for sure. I don't know for sure, 253 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,600 Speaker 1: And regardless, there's a pretty big gap in her writing 254 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,280 Speaker 1: output at this point. Yeah, at least in terms of 255 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: new content, we weren't seeing anything. We don't have tons, 256 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: unlike that three years where she was just like streaming. 257 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: Here are my three new books that didn't really happen 258 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: while she was in Bath. Her biggest life of him 259 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: during the Bath years actually happened back in Hampshire, when 260 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: Jane and Cassandra went to visit their friends, the Big 261 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: Sisters in December of eighteen o two. Their brother Harris Big, 262 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: asked Jane to marry him while she was there. They 263 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: had known each other since they were very young and 264 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: Jane accepted his proposal, but their engagement only lasted one night. 265 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: It's possible that being in the BIG's house, where she 266 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: and Tom mcfroy had spent time in one another's company, 267 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: sort of stirred up old memories of a more passionate relationship, 268 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: and whatever the reasons, in the morning, Jane called the 269 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: engagement off as gently as she could, and she and Cassandra, 270 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: who had planned to stay for several weeks, asked to 271 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: be taken home immediately. Yeah, I can imagine the awkwardness 272 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: of yes, I will marry you, and in the morning 273 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: going not so much, Yes, I'm gonna go now. Well, 274 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: and as with Tom, this all worked out fine for Harris. 275 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 1: He got married to someone else two years later and 276 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: they had ten children. Uh. Fortunately, it also does not 277 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: seem to have soured Jane's relationship with with the rest 278 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 1: of the Big family. They were still friends after that, 279 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 1: even though they had She had had this extremely awkward, 280 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: less than twenty four hour engagement to their brother was 281 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,680 Speaker 1: kind of funny, uh, And her one night engagement to 282 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: Harris Big seems to have kicked started Jane's desire to 283 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: write again and actually get her work published. After all, 284 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: if she did not get married, she was gonna have 285 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: to find a way to manage once her parents passed away. Yeah, 286 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: this was the reality of being a woman at this point. 287 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: If you did not have money, either from your family 288 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: or from your husband, then you did not have money. 289 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: That was how it worked. Jane's brother, Henry, became her 290 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 1: literary agent, and he also got the help of a 291 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: lawyer named William Seymour. The first book that they turned 292 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: their eye to was Northinger Abbey, which at the time, 293 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 1: as we said earlier, was called Susan. They sold it 294 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: to a London publisher named Richard Crosby for ten pounds, 295 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: and although he advertised the book, he never actually did 296 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: anything with it. And Jane also started on a new book, 297 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: one that she never finished and had more direct parallels 298 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: to her own life than any of her other books. 299 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:42,400 Speaker 1: It was called The Watsons and it was about four 300 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,720 Speaker 1: impoverished daughters trying to find husbands before their father died. 301 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: She planned to kill off the father in the book, 302 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: but then her own father died in January of eighteen 303 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: o five after a brief and sudden illness. One of 304 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: the saddest parts of that part of the story is 305 00:16:57,440 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: that it fell to Jane to write to her brother 306 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: Frank about their father's death, and after she had written 307 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: and sent that letter, her sister got another letter from 308 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: him that revealed that his ship was in Portsmouth, and 309 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: that was not where the first letter had been sent, 310 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 1: so Jane had to do that all over again. Kind 311 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: of makes your heart hurt. Her father had never had 312 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: much money, but his death meant that Jane and Cassandra 313 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: and their mother were basically completely penniless. They had to 314 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: move into smaller lodgings immediately. James Henry and Frank Austin 315 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: each offered to give them fifty pounds a year to 316 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: help make ends meet, and Frank, who was the most 317 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,280 Speaker 1: well off, had originally offered a hundred pounds, but Jane's 318 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: mother would only accept half of that amount. So at 319 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,920 Speaker 1: this point, Jane's mother had a little bit of money 320 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: of her own, Cassandra had inherited a little bit from 321 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: her deceased fiance. Jane, more than anyone else, was just 322 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: completely dependent on other people's generosity for every penny she had. 323 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:01,639 Speaker 1: And on top of that, brothers, while you know they 324 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:04,160 Speaker 1: seem to have had good intentions about wanting to look 325 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 1: after their mother and their sisters, but they kind of 326 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 1: just took for granted that whatever arrangements they made were 327 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: going to be okay with her. Um. They would make, 328 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 1: you know, arrangements for getting the women from one place 329 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: to another without consulting them first, and then Jane would 330 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,920 Speaker 1: sort of be like, actually, I am I have plans 331 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:27,120 Speaker 1: to be in this place with these people at that time, UM, 332 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: it was just sort of awkward. They all of their 333 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: moving around had to happen at the convenience of other people. Um. 334 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: And so for about a year they did. They moved 335 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: around a whole lot, and it mainly had to live 336 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: off the generosity of others. I can imagine that being 337 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: incredibly stressful. I do not like that idea much at all, 338 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: and no like my independent spirit just like feels all 339 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: trapped thinking about it. Uh. In eighteen oh six, Frank, 340 00:18:57,040 --> 00:18:59,600 Speaker 1: who was in the Navy, suggested that the Austin Ladies 341 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: actually share a home with his wife to be because 342 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:04,280 Speaker 1: he would be at sea a lot, and so they 343 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,679 Speaker 1: lived together in Southampton for about three years. Then in 344 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,440 Speaker 1: eighteen o nine they made the move to Jane's most 345 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: famous home, Chotton cottage. And before we talk about what 346 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,239 Speaker 1: happened there, let's take a moment for a word from 347 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:25,159 Speaker 1: our sponsor, back to the the home where Jane Austen 348 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,719 Speaker 1: got most of her work that was published during her 349 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: lifetime completed and published. Chotten Cottage was part of Edward 350 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: Austin's estate and he offered it to the Austin Ladies 351 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,640 Speaker 1: when it's tenant died, so Jane, Cassandra, and their mother 352 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,399 Speaker 1: all moved there, along with a sister in law in 353 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: eighteen o nine. And that same year Jane wrote to 354 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,120 Speaker 1: Richard Crosby, the publisher who had bought Susan, asking when 355 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: he might publish it. Uh. He said he didn't plan 356 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: to do anything with it, and offered to sell it 357 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: back to her for ten pounds, which of course she 358 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: did not have. I have I have an audio book 359 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: that is a collection of some of the letters to 360 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:06,719 Speaker 1: and from Jane Austen Um And after reading the response 361 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: to this letter, there's a sound effect of her just 362 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: like crumpling up the paper. Um Like ten pounds does 363 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 1: not sound like a lot. But she did not have 364 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: the money to buy it back, and the publisher was 365 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,400 Speaker 1: just not going to do anything with it um. Once 366 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: they were in this cottage, the four women lived a 367 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,520 Speaker 1: pretty quiet life. Jane and Cassandra shared a bedroom, and 368 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:30,639 Speaker 1: Jane would get up first and play the piano for 369 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: a while and then make breakfast for everyone. And she 370 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 1: was otherwise exempt from most of the other household duties 371 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,160 Speaker 1: as long as Martha, the sister in law, and Cassandra 372 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: were there to do them, and so she spent most 373 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 1: of her time writing. The first book that Henry was 374 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: able to find a publisher for was Sense and Sensibility, 375 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: and it was published in eighteen tens through Military Library 376 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:56,480 Speaker 1: Whitehall at Henry's expense. Its author was simply listed as 377 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: a lady. A lady wrote Sense and Sensibility. The lady 378 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: wrote it. Uh. It came out at the end of 379 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 1: eighteen eleven, and its first run had sold out by 380 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,959 Speaker 1: eighteen thirteen. Jane made a hundred and forty pounds on it, 381 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:12,439 Speaker 1: which gave her a little independence. I mean, it was 382 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 1: not enough money to to totally live off of, but 383 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: she was no longer one percent dependent on other people. 384 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: She could at least go by postage or plan, you know, 385 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: a trip to visit a friend without having to ask 386 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,239 Speaker 1: other people for many on. Thomas Edgerton, the publisher at 387 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 1: Military Library, was ready for another book before the printing 388 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: sold out, so she sold him Pride and Prejudice for 389 00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:35,960 Speaker 1: a hundred and ten pounds. Her name still did not 390 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: appear on the book. It was simply printed as being 391 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: by the author of Sense and Sensibility, and her identity 392 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 1: of the author as the author was mostly kept secret 393 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:49,119 Speaker 1: outside the immediate family for years, so nobody knew that 394 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:53,359 Speaker 1: she was writing these bestselling novels. The next book, and 395 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: another sold out print run, was Mansfield Park, and after 396 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: that came Emma, which she worked on between January eighteen 397 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:04,240 Speaker 1: fourteen in March eighteen fifteen, and very gradually a few 398 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: people outside the immediate family started to learn that Jane 399 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,360 Speaker 1: was the person writing all these books. And for reasons 400 00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: that aren't entirely clear, uh Edgerton was not interested in 401 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,160 Speaker 1: publishing a second run of Mansfield Park, and he didn't 402 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: publish Emma. Another publisher, John Murray, published it on commission. 403 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: So even though she was wildly successful for him and 404 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 1: he was probably making a lot of money, it was 405 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: like he wasn't really into keeping that writing. Yeah, I 406 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: don't know if i'd go so far as to say 407 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: wildly successful. They were definitely successful, but she was not. 408 00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 1: She wasn't like, she wasn't writing this centuries version of 409 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: Harry Potter. Like. Things were doing pretty well, they were 410 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: getting good reviews, but it wasn't like people were lining 411 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:52,120 Speaker 1: up at the docks to get the first printing off 412 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: the ship. I'm trying to somehow my brain make that 413 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: similar to Oprah's Book Club, and it's not working yet. Um. 414 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 1: It was actually a little later before it became like, 415 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:05,880 Speaker 1: oh this is these are the greatest books and everyone 416 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: should read them. Um. As she was working on Emma, 417 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 1: Jane received word that the Prince Regent, George the Fourth 418 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: was a fan of hers. His librarian asked her to 419 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: come visit Carlton House, which was the Prince Regent's London residents, 420 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,360 Speaker 1: which she did. He also told her that she might 421 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,199 Speaker 1: dedicate the next book to the Prince Regent, which she 422 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: also did. Her what she actually wrote at the dedication 423 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,919 Speaker 1: was very simple. What actually wound up on the you know, 424 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: the the title page a lot more elaborate. Um. So yeah, 425 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: she she definitely had fans and high high places. And 426 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,120 Speaker 1: at this point it seems as though things were going 427 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,359 Speaker 1: quite well for Jane and the rest of the Austin's, 428 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,919 Speaker 1: but in eighteen sixteen the family fell on hard times. 429 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: The ship that her brother Charles was commanding wrecked in 430 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,399 Speaker 1: the Mediterranean. He survived, but he did not get another 431 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: command for a decade, and her brother Frank, an admiral 432 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: by this time, was on half pay. Both of these 433 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: reversals of fortune were ultimately because England was finally no 434 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: longer at war with France, and on top of that, 435 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: the bank that Jane's brother Henry was running also failed 436 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: and Henry went bankrupt. Henry and Frank at this point 437 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: had both still been contributing their fifty pounds a year 438 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,360 Speaker 1: to kind of the upkeep of their mother and sisters, 439 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 1: but now neither of them could afford to do it anymore, 440 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,199 Speaker 1: and even though Jane was earning money from her books, 441 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,400 Speaker 1: this did put a big dent in her finances. Henry 442 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,000 Speaker 1: eventually set out to be ordained and he was given 443 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 1: the curacy at Shotton, which helped a little bit. Jane 444 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: finally saved up enough money to buy back Northanger Abbey. 445 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: She also started working on persuasion, which at the time 446 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: was called the Elliotts it is my favorite of her books. UM. 447 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: I did not totally realize until working on this podcast. 448 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,160 Speaker 1: If you have not read Persuasion, I have not. UM. 449 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: I love it that the heroine of Persuasion basically has 450 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: a second chance, uh to sort of revive the first 451 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 1: love of her youth when she is a much older woman. 452 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: I mean not she's not exceptionally old, but she's a 453 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 1: little older than than the heroines of these books often are. UM. 454 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,120 Speaker 1: And I didn't quite realize that where Jane was at 455 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: this point in her life was she she was just 456 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:21,200 Speaker 1: about to turn forty. She was, it was pretty clear 457 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,880 Speaker 1: to her that it was unlikely that she was going 458 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,199 Speaker 1: to have another romance in her life, and um, that 459 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: made that book a little more poiant for me. Also, 460 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: around the time that Jane turned forty, she started to 461 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:39,200 Speaker 1: feel kind of vaguely unwell. Since they didn't like bath, 462 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,640 Speaker 1: Jane and Cassandra went to Cheltenham to take the waters there, 463 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:45,000 Speaker 1: and Jane thought it made her feel a little bit better, 464 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: but by the time they returned home, she was starting 465 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: to have pain and fevers, and her letters continue to 466 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,919 Speaker 1: insist that she was getting better, but in fact her 467 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,399 Speaker 1: health declined. Before she became too ill to write, she 468 00:25:57,480 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: started on a book she called The Brothers, which she 469 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: never or finished. You can't find partial versions of it, 470 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: uh and versions of it that people have completed on 471 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 1: her behalf today under the name of Sandaton. Eventually, at 472 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,400 Speaker 1: the insistence of her family, Jane was moved to Winchester 473 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 1: to be closer to medical care and from there. On 474 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: April seventeen, she wrote out a will, leaving everything to 475 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: Cassandra except for two fifty pound legacies. One was to 476 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 1: her brother Henry, who had been her literary agent effectively 477 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:32,720 Speaker 1: for so long, and the other was to a friend 478 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:37,000 Speaker 1: uh Madame Bijean, who had worked for her cousin Eliza. 479 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,639 Speaker 1: Eliza was quite a dramatic character. We've talked almost not 480 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: about in this podcast, but she she could be a 481 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 1: subject of her own She was perhaps she was. She 482 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:52,280 Speaker 1: was quite larger than life. On July seventeenth, after briefly rallying, 483 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:57,000 Speaker 1: Jane had some sort of seizure. Afterward, Cassandra sat with 484 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: her for six hours with her sister's head on a 485 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: hello in her lamp, and sister in law Mary took 486 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: over for two hours in the middle of the night 487 00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: with Cassandra returning to her post at about three in 488 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:12,159 Speaker 1: the morning, and Jane died approximately an hour later on 489 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 1: the morning of the eighteenth of eighteen seventeen. Let her 490 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: written to their niece Fannie. Cassandra wrote, of Jane, she 491 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,480 Speaker 1: was the son of my life, the guilder of every pleasure, 492 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: the soother of every sorrow. I had not a thought 493 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,200 Speaker 1: concealed from her, and it is as if I had 494 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: lost a part of myself. Their brother Henry, secured permission 495 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,440 Speaker 1: for Jane to be buried in the Winchester Cathedral. They 496 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: had a very early morning funeral so as not to 497 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: interrupt the church services that would happen later in the day, 498 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: and while the casket was open, Cassandra caught cut some 499 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,119 Speaker 1: locks of Jane's hair, some to keep and some to 500 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 1: give to others. At least one of these survives until today. 501 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: Her obituary reads Miss Jane Austen, youngest daughter of the 502 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,440 Speaker 1: late Reverend George Austin, Rector of Steventon in the Country 503 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: and Authoress of Emma Mansfield Park. Pride and prejudice and 504 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: sense and sensibility. Her manners were gentle, her affections aren't 505 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: her candor was not to be surpassed, and she lived 506 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:13,639 Speaker 1: and died as became a humble Christian. The marker for 507 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,760 Speaker 1: her burial place, on the other hand, makes no mention 508 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 1: of the books. I don't I don't really say. Ah, 509 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: he's still kind of a secret, yeah, I mean this 510 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: was that was really the first public announcement of all 511 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: of these books being attributed to her, and her cause 512 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,679 Speaker 1: of death. We still don't exactly know. For many years, 513 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: people pointed to Addison's disease because it fits some of 514 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: the symptoms that she described when she wrote about how 515 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: she felt in her letters. But Addison's also caused vomiting 516 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:50,000 Speaker 1: and dehydration, which she said nothing about, and she had 517 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 1: additional symptoms that are not normally associated with Addison's. There's 518 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 1: a lot of speculation about exactly what happened. She was 519 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 1: only forty one, and uh the the that was the 520 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: youngest age at which any of her siblings passed away. 521 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: They all the rest of them all lived to much 522 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:14,800 Speaker 1: older ages than she did. As executricks of the estate, 523 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 1: Cassandra had Catherine and the Elliotts, which were renamed north 524 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: Inger Abbey, and Persuasion published together as one book. After 525 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: Jane's death. This volume contained a biographical note that named 526 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 1: Jane Austen as their author, and this was the first 527 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: time that her actual name had appeared on any of 528 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: her books. In eighteen sixty nine, James Edward, who was 529 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: one of Jane's nephews, wrote a memoir of Jane Austen. 530 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 1: This presents her a sort of a spinster who wrote 531 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: to amuse herself and her family. So it's really the 532 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: genesis of that ongoing characterization, which is not so much 533 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: accurate to know. She definitely like she started having a 534 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: goal of becoming a published writer and making enough money 535 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: to have some measure of in dependance based on her writing. 536 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: It was not sort of a I'm going to sit 537 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: here in the corner and pleasantly right and maybe able 538 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: amuse all of you. And I'm sure he wrote that 539 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,040 Speaker 1: through a lens of tenderness, like he didn't mean to 540 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: make her seem smaller or less in charge of her 541 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: life than she was, but it kind of did mess 542 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: with her public image historically. Yeah. Well, and as we 543 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 1: alluded to earlier, she did make some money off of 544 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:26,680 Speaker 1: her books while she was alive, and their print runs 545 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,960 Speaker 1: generally did sell out, but it was really about a 546 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 1: hundred years before they came popular to the way that 547 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 1: they are today. Her books started to get scholarly attention 548 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties as as uh, you know, literary 549 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: theorists and critics started to recognize them as masterpieces, and 550 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: that is really when they became the sort of worldwide 551 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: phenomenon that they are now. Jane, who I know is 552 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,000 Speaker 1: near and dear to your heart, She's very near and 553 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: dear to my heart. I love her it a lot, 554 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: and I used this episode as an excuse to buy 555 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:09,840 Speaker 1: every Jane Austen thing that I wanted. So I now 556 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: have this immense volume of her collected letters that's like, 557 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,800 Speaker 1: it's it's huge, it's it's it's as long as a 558 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: Harry Potter novel, one of the long Harry Potter ones. Um. 559 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: I also there are annotated versions of her books, which 560 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,160 Speaker 1: I love, that have the story on one page, and 561 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: then on the facing page they are all these notes 562 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: about what's going on, which like it makes them twice 563 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 1: as long as the books normally are, but there's so 564 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: much but like four times as rich. Yeah, They're like 565 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: there are things where as a modern reader you might 566 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: not pick up on the fact that this thing this 567 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: person said just now was a marriage proposal. Um, but 568 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:55,959 Speaker 1: it was so. Yeah, I bought the three of those 569 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: for the three of her books that I did not 570 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 1: already have, I bought to buy bography was very much 571 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 1: a Jane Austen shopping spree at my house. But that's 572 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,120 Speaker 1: all good stuff. I love that you will treasure for years. Yeah, 573 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:12,920 Speaker 1: I will, I will, definitely will I have this like giant. 574 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,480 Speaker 1: I already had sort of a giant collection of Jane 575 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: Austen stuff, and now you have a Jane Austen situation. Yeah. Yeah, 576 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: my own my own book that does not exist in 577 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 1: reality as a published thing, is very heavily Jane Austen influence. 578 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: So this was my wish fulfillment episode. Do you also 579 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: have listener mails? Yes, I do. This is from Alec 580 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: Alex says. I've recently discovered your lovely podcasts and I've 581 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,800 Speaker 1: really been enjoying listening to all the varied topics you 582 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,640 Speaker 1: guys have talked about. Great work I did. However, I 583 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 1: want to make a quick point concerning your recent podcast 584 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:54,000 Speaker 1: on the Pueblo Revolts. When discussing the ancient origins of 585 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:57,320 Speaker 1: the Pueblo peoples. You use the term anasazi in your description. 586 00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: I don't blame you for this choice at all, as 587 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,600 Speaker 1: it is over willingly common to use anasazi in modern 588 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: history and archaeology, but more recently it has become more 589 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 1: of a touchy subject. The reason is that anasazi is 590 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 1: actually a Navajo word taken by Europeans to refer to 591 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,080 Speaker 1: the ancient people that had built the pueblos they saw 592 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: as they came into what is now the American Southwest. 593 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: They often had Navajo guides when and when asking them 594 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,200 Speaker 1: who built those pueblos, it is commonly believed that they 595 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: replied with the term anasazi, which translates loosely to enemy 596 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,000 Speaker 1: of ancestor. As someone who is studying archaeology, I thought 597 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,360 Speaker 1: I should bring this to your attention. Is it is 598 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 1: really a shame that the term we've adopted for these 599 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:41,280 Speaker 1: ancient peoples isn't even from their own dialect. In the 600 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 1: archaeological community, many of us have taken to referring them 601 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: as ancestral Pueblo, which isn't exactly perfect, but is certainly 602 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: better than referring to them as the enemies of our ancestors. Hopefully, 603 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: this doesn't just seemed like political correctness for the sake 604 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: of political correctness to you, and you'll keep it in 605 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: mind for future discussions. Keep up the great work, Alec. 606 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 1: I had no idea me either. Um, I had no idea. 607 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: And then when I went to because you know, I 608 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:10,359 Speaker 1: I want to innately trust everything or our listeners sent 609 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: to us, but occasionally we get corrections that are themselves 610 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: not correct um. And so I went to try to 611 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:19,839 Speaker 1: confirm this, and it took some doing to to find that. 612 00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure we will get notes from people 613 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: are like you could have read that at Wikipedia, but 614 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:25,600 Speaker 1: we try to do our resources from primary sources as 615 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,520 Speaker 1: much as possible. Um. And so it Yeah, it took 616 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 1: a little doing to find out that that really is 617 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 1: the case. I had no idea. And now, as a 618 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,720 Speaker 1: personal side note, I have this moment of laughter because 619 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,480 Speaker 1: many moods ago. I used to manage a hair salon 620 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:43,360 Speaker 1: and I remember at one point, I don't know if 621 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 1: this company is still around, but there was a hair 622 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 1: Caroline called an a Saucy. Yeah. Well, now I'm like, 623 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,759 Speaker 1: that is weird. Yeah, And I can't remember who I 624 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 1: was talking to. I was talking to somebody and they 625 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: were like, oh, yeah, I found that. I found that 626 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,080 Speaker 1: out when I was reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and 627 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: I was like, I've read that book and that did 628 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:03,040 Speaker 1: not stick in my head me either, and I also 629 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:04,879 Speaker 1: read it. I also want to have a little note 630 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:09,600 Speaker 1: about quote, political correctness. I kind of want anybody who's 631 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: gonna say something about political correctness substitute the words being respectful, 632 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,239 Speaker 1: because that's really all the political correctness is. We get 633 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: a lot of flaks sometimes for quote trying to be 634 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:25,680 Speaker 1: political politically correct. What we are trying to be is 635 00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:30,600 Speaker 1: respectful of other people. Yeah, that's like part of the 636 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:35,759 Speaker 1: goal of this whole podcast. So what other people do, Yeah, 637 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,360 Speaker 1: do not feel the need to apologize if there is 638 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,800 Speaker 1: something that you feel like it's motivated from political correctness, 639 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,239 Speaker 1: because what that really really boils down to you is 640 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:50,560 Speaker 1: not being disrespectful of other people. Yeah, and like disregarding 641 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:55,080 Speaker 1: important historical elements that would inform our knowledge. Yeah, it 642 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,640 Speaker 1: would be awesome if we had a word that was 643 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:01,160 Speaker 1: neither ancestral pleblos, since it's like a Spanish word that 644 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:03,840 Speaker 1: was made to describe the houses that people lived in, 645 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:08,359 Speaker 1: and also not anasazi, since that is a Navajo word 646 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 1: like that does not mean what it should mean in 647 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:14,839 Speaker 1: the way it has been adopted. Nope, So thank you 648 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,080 Speaker 1: very much for bringing that to our attention. I had 649 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,839 Speaker 1: no idea. Uh. If you would like to write to us, 650 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,560 Speaker 1: you can. We're at History Podcast at Discovery dot com. 651 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:25,320 Speaker 1: We're also on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash missed 652 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 1: in History and on Twitter at missed in History. Our 653 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:30,400 Speaker 1: tumbler is missed in History dot tumbler dot com, and 654 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: our pinterest is at pinterest dot com slash missed in History. 655 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:35,879 Speaker 1: If you would like to learn a little bit more 656 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: about what we have talked about today, or more specifically, 657 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,360 Speaker 1: what Jane Austen wrote about extensively as a core concept 658 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 1: and all of her writing, you can come to our website. 659 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 1: Put the word marriage in the search bar and you 660 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:52,600 Speaker 1: will find betruths through the centuries, a timeline of marriage. 661 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:54,560 Speaker 1: You can do all of that and a whole lot 662 00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:56,520 Speaker 1: more at our website, which is how stuff Works dot 663 00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:03,760 Speaker 1: com for more on this and thousands of other topics 664 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,160 Speaker 1: because it has stuff works dot com. 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