"You read all of Jane Austen's novels?"

An earlier spring at Couchwood-PL

One year in January, grandson Billy and I visited Hastings. I lingered in the foyer and fingered through the marked- down volumes.

 

Patrice Hannon’s book, Dear Jane Austen, captured my attention immediately. This college professor, who had taught the literature of Jane Austen for many years, wrote as in Austen’s voice to answer modern-day girls’ questions: sort of a series of lovelorn columns. Fascinating enough, but beyond the characters in Pride and Prejudice, I knew nothing about the heroines and heroes of Austen’s other books that she mentioned. Thus, I couldn’t make sense of her suggestions.

 

 I determined to read each novel, plus biographical sketches of Miss Austen herself. I had bought a cute, tiny, pink-covered copy of Sense and Sensibility––a flea-market find. Searching for it at home, I thought of a lede of Meredith Oakley, AD-G: “I saw it somewhere. It’s just a matter of opening the right box.” I said to myself, “I saw it (the book) somewhere. It’s just a matter of looking in the right shelf.”

 

And in two months, I’d read Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Emma and Pride and Prejudice––again. Then I re-read Hannon’s book and knew whereof she spoke.

 

What I didn’t know were the meanings of many of the words in Austen's writing:

*moiety,

*sanguine,

*diffident,

*incommode,

*demesne,

*downs [as in “ascended the downs”],

*exigence,

 *curricle.

 

I looked them up, of course.

 

Later, while searching for information on the authors and short stories I’d just read, I came upon the blog entry below. I was studying the short story, Stanley Elkin’s "A Poetics for Bullies."

 

Molly Gaudry’s post about this story was just what I needed:  “One of the more valuable lessons I learned as a student" she wrote, "is to let whatever you’re reading do some work for you. For example, now that I’ve finished Stanley Elkin’s [story], I’ve given myself the following prompt: to write a story about an adolescent boy or girl in an antagonistic role. Make your character interesting—flawed, complex, confused. To get started, think about a moment when s/he would be most flawed, complex, and confused, and begin writing from just before or after that moment.”

 

I won’t compose that story, but I will let my readings work for me: as a challenge to look up the meanings of unknown words and or phrases––a few of which follow.

 

ambit – sphere of influence;

bindlestiff––a hobo, usually one who carries a bedroll;

buncombe – unacceptable behavior, especially ludicrously false statements;

cloque – a blister or bubble; a fabric with raised design;

corporeal – for or about the body; physical; tangible;

cruciverbalist ––a puzzle maker;

doppelganger- a tangible double of a living person that typically represents evil.

drupe––mango;

dystopian––negative utopia, often characterized by authoritarian and totalitarian governments;

Judas tree––a redbud tree; 

hegemony––domination; control by one or a group;

 hortatory––urging to some course of conduct or action; exhorting; encouraging;

iliad—a series of miseries or disastrous events or exploits; a long narrative;

lagniappe––a gratuity or extra, complimentary gift [pronounced lan-YAPP or LAN-yapp];   

marque––a distinctive emblem on an automobile;

mendacity––deliberate untruthfulness.

 

Now if I can just remember the definitions when I see these words again.

~~

BTW, I had saved a picture of a dance scene in Pride and Prejudice--perfect for this post. And though I tried everything I knew to do, nothing worked. Maybe I can post it to Facebook: (I photo-ed it on my tablet.) --PL