Lecture 13- Pride and Prejudice II: Author Background and Context - I

[Music] [Music] hello Learners welcome to this lecture this is uh the second lecture of the module on Pride and Prejudice in the nptel course on the English novel interdisiplinary approaches uh in the previous lecture I gave you some theoretical background to understanding the relationship between economic forces and uh the production and consumption of literary art I also briefly described some contradictions in the attitudes towards women's fiction and as well as the novel as a genre in 18th century England I briefly mentioned that this was the context and the contradiction to which Jane Austin was responding and I ended by hinting that we would uh spend some time on Jane Austin's novel Northanger Abbey which was published very late in her career around the year 1818 but which we know from historical record was uh among the first to be composed so Northanger Abbey was composed u in all likelihood before Pride and Prejudice and therefore before we actually begin talking about Pride and Prejudice I want to read out a very long uh but very important and uh very U very influential passage from Northanger Abbey this is a passage in which the narrator is describing the relation ship that her protagonist that is cathine Katherine Morland has with another female character named Isabella uh Austin writes the progress of the friendship between Katherine and Isabella was quick as its beginning had been warm and they passed so rapidly through every gradation of increasing tenderness that there was shortly no fresh proof of it to be given to their friends or themselves they called each other by their Christian name were all always arm in arm when they walked pinned up each other's train for the dance and were not to be divided in the set and if rainy morning deprived them of other enjoyments they were still Resolute in meeting in defiance of wet and dirt and shut themselves up to read novels together now I want to pause here before continuing and I want to uh emphasize the importance of the word novels and the use that that the novels have for these characters for these individuals given their circumstance right so Katherine and Isabella are two young women and it seems that uh their their life revolves around certain activities uh not physical labor uh it is not a challenge for survival uh but they do have to engage in certain uh activities that are required based on the expectations from their gender right that is they they have to perform certain dances they have to spend uh some time alone and and when they are restricted by the weather and when they are uh confined to the inner spaces of the home they they read novels right uh this is uh an activity that was much frowned upon in Jane Austin's time and it was particularly dangerous uh or novels were seen as a corrupting and corruptible genre because they were read by many impressionable Minds that is young women in their free time and uh this kind of activity reading fiction uh was uh was understood to provide a lot of uh unwanted or dangerous ideas to these uh novels to to these women I'm sorry and so Jane Austin's narrator is taking a risk is um almost certain of incurring some suspicion some uh anger even from her reader uh when she describes her protagonist that is Katherine as someone who spends her free time reading novels okay uh let's continue and and read what Austin writes further Austin's narrator writes yes novels for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel writers of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances to the number of which they are themselves adding joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest epithets on such works and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by by their own heroine who if she accidentally take up a novel is sure to turn over its insipid pages with disgust alas if the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the and and so on before moving forward I want to briefly explicate uh the intervention that Austin's narrator makes now keep in mind that this was not Austin's first published novel but as I have been mentioning it was in all likelihood the first book length work of proos fiction composed by Austin right and uh what is the earliest metafictional intervention Austin's narrator makes she makes a pical a very political comment on the attitudes towards novels in contemporary literary culture what is that attitude uh it's in the very first sentence the the narrator writes that she will not adopt an ungenerous and impolitic custom common with novel writers right so this is a novel this is the narrator of a novel but she's different from others like her how is she different she's different because she refuses to do something she refuses to degrade by her contemptuous censure the very performance to the number of which she's adding right so in the view of Austin's narrator other novelists other narrators are practicing a hypocritical um double standard what is that double standard they are publishing novels they are benefiting by the popularity that the novel as a genre enjoys right on the other hand uh they are disavowing their own activity they are being dishonest about it how they're being dishonest because they are criticizing uh trash talking and otherwise downgrading the activity of reading novels how are they doing that they join their greatest enemies who who joins whose enemies novelists join the enemies of novelists that is novelists Echo the criticism the suspicion and the negativity that others voice about novels how they do that by they bestow the harshest epithets on such works and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroin right so novelists become Hypocrites they practice standards when they do not describe their protagonists as reading novels while reading novels right uh why is that so in the view of Austin's narrator there is a pattern there's a pattern that exists when characters are described in novels and especially the female protagonists of novels these protagonists of other novels whenever they are SE seen uh in relation to a novel if they accidentally pick up a novel they turn their pages with disgust right so protagonists uh female protagonists of novels uh published in the same time period as North anger Abbe they do not enjoy reading novels right if they accidentally pick up a novel they uh find its pages inate that is uh lacking any interest uh lacking any taste or or Vitality uh lifeless they are indifferent to the indifferent content to the uh characterless and featuress content and further more they are not only indifferent but they react with disgust okay so this is a problem and the narrator of Jane Austin's first written novel finds this attitude to be hypocritical why it's hypocritical because the the least that novelist can do is honestly embrace the popularity that this genre is enjoying and uh which they are benefiting from novelists are the beneficiaries of the great interest in Reading fiction because people want to read fiction novelists have a career right the the market gives an opportunity to novelists to become independent financially stable and have a career right make a life out of writing so this is the contradiction that Jane Austin's narrator identifies and refuses to engage in okay let's read on U Jane Austin's narrator writes alas if the heroin of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of anada from whom she can expect protection and regard I can not approve of it let us leave it to the reviewers to abuse such effusions of fancy at their Leisure and over every new novel to talk in threadbear strains of the trash with which the Press now groans let us not desert one another we are an injured body Although our Productions have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary Corporation in the world no species of composition has been so much decried right so U the narrator tightens the screws right the narrator of Jane Austin's first novel describes exactly how wrong uh exactly how pernicious are the implications of this double standard and how uh these double standards are actually detrimental to this professional body of writers right uh these are writers um who instead of supporting one another uh run down each other's profession right U the narrator writes that if we don't support each other who will do it right already there are reviewers already there are those who do not wish for us to have a career right so there are enemies there are forces who want to shut down this thriving industry this thriving activity and culture in which uh a lot of readers enjoy reading novels by women already there are forces trained against this culture and already uh writers like Jane Austin for whom her narrator is speaking already this group is an endangered species right uh Jane Austin's narrator writes let us not desert one another we are an injured body right so novelists especially women novelists should stand up for each other should stand up for their own institution like a union right they should support each other and they can support each other by describing the act of reading novels with more dignity they can be honest about the Pleasures that reading fiction provides however instead of doing that they are doing the exact opposite that is they are describing how the act of reading novels is uh dangerous and uh generally not something to be desired okay so and and Jane Austin's narator continues that this is a very Noble art right the act of writing novels is a noble art and yet it is not respected like it should be okay uh her last sentence in this section is Although our Productions that is although novels have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary Corporation no species of composition has been so much decried okay so how unfair okay uh continuing Jan Austin's narrator continues from Pride ignorance or fashion our foes are almost as many as our readers and while the abilities of the 900th ab Bridger of the history of England or of the man who collects and publishes in a volume some dozen lines of Milton Pope and prior with a paper from The Spectator and a chapter from Stern are eulogized by a thousand pens there seems almost a general wish of decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labor of the novelist and of slighting the performance which have only genius wit and taste to recommend them okay so here Jane Austin's narrator gives us a snapshot of the field of literary production as Pier berue described and which I discussed in the previous lecture so there are different kinds of Works being published different kinds of books being published uh with which Jane Austin's novel is competing what are these books uh it seems there are a lot of anthologies uh the narrator refers to volume with some dozen lines of Milton Pope and prior and with the paper from The Spectator and a chapter from Stern right these are anthologies and you can see from the names of these authors John Milton Alexander Pope Lawrence Stern these are all male writers right these are writers who were popular in the 18th century um English literary culture they were seen as important uh reading the works of these male writers uh Stern wrote fiction but Milton and Pope wrote poetry and The Spectator published non-fiction that is uh news right uh non-fictional Pros uh none of these uh constitutes Pros fiction by women right that's the one thing that these lines have in common they are not fictional they are not by women and they are not Pros okay so it was easy for writers or reviewers or traditional literary authorities to ulize that is to describe to praise and to generally um speak in an edifying manner about this kind of writing this kind of writing had many virtues in the views of the from the perspective of the traditional literary establishment as against this kind of writing and there's something else as well uh the 900th ab Bridger of the history of England right so many uh writers many intellectuals philosophers historians uh including David Hume whose work I discussed in the first module uh many many writers Abridged the history of England and published shorter and simpler and easier form easier to read versions of these again this is not Pros fiction this is non-fictional Pros a lot of this kind of writing uh seemed to enjoy great deal of respect right it was easy for Publishers reviewers Etc to praise the values of this kind of writing however uh these same reviewers uh did not find this kind of value in the work of novelists and and this is a uh a great uh crime this is a a source of indignation to Jane Austin's narrator why because uh the work of the novelist is complex uh difficult uh brilliant uh intellectually demanding and also rewarding it gives great pleasure it educates and entertains readers right and Jane Austin's describes the work of novelists as something that has only genius wit and taste to recommend them right the word only in this phrase is very important Jon's narrator writes that novelists have only genius wit and taste to recommend them by this she doesn't mean that genius wit and taste are ordinary things or small things or unimportant things uh due to which their work can be ignored uh she she uses the word only in an ironic manner she uses the word only to say that these things are important and yet they are not considered important given the kind of literary culture that exists in England in the late 18th century there's something about the literary culture which fails to recognize genius with and taste when it appears in the work of female novelists okay all right let's continue which have only genius wit and taste to recommend them and then she quotes J aon's narrator quotes some popular things that people frequently say when they are caught with novel or when they're asked about novels people say I am no novel reader I seldom look into novels do not imagine that I often read novels it is really very well for a novel such is the common C that is such are the things that people like to say and and what are you reading Miss oh it is only a novel replies the young lady While She lays down her book with affected indifference or momentary shame it is only Cecilia or Camila or Belinda or in short only some work in which the greatest powers of the Mind are displayed in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature the happiest Del delineation of its varieties the liveliest effusions of wit and humor are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language uh just a quick footnote uh when the narrator refers to only Cecilia or Camila or Belinda she's referring to some very popular novels of her time Cecilia refers to the novel Cecilia or the Memoirs of an ays published 1782 and Camila refers to Camila or a picture of Youth published 1796 both these novels are by Francis Burnie and Belinda refers to to the novel Belinda a moral tale published 1801 by the novelist Maria edwat now these uh these lines that the narrator quotes they refer to the contradictions that people embody uh the contradiction consists of this people read novels they enjoy reading novels but they struggle to disavow them in public they struggle to find some kind of a some kind of an intellectual justification for reading them and therefore in the absence of such an intellectual justification they they try to make it look like they're not reading novels that they're not doing this thing with their time okay let's continue and U here is what Austin's narrator says now had the same young lady been engaged with the volume of The Spectator instead of such a work how proudly would she have produced The Book and told its name though the chances must be against her for being occupied by any part of that voluminous publication of which either the matter or manner would not disgust a young person of taste the substance of its papers so often consisting in the statement of improb circumstances unnatural characters and topics of conversation which no longer concern anyone living and their language language 2 frequently So Co as to give no very favorable idea of the age that could endure it so these are some of the features that Austin identifies uh not in novels as they exist but in the in the attitudes of the traditional literary establishment towards novels right novels are seen as improbable full of uh ill suited or un nonrepresentative language and generally unable to represent topics of conversation right so these are some of the problems that uh traditional literary authorities have found with novels and yet um Jane Austin's narrator herself is writing a novel and uh seems to enjoy writing a novel and in this novel there is a character who herself also greatly enjoys writing a novel uh I'm sorry reading a novel so what is this kind of a novel uh Jane Austin's novel The the one from which these quotes are taken is Northanger Abbey and it is frequently read as a critique and and as a satire of Gothic novels uh Gothic novels frequently feature uh castles in which a single young women are trapped often uh they are fleeing from U creditors and and who are often in debt and in these castles a lot of improbable and strange things happen a lot of uh dead bodies are found ghostly occurrences uh recur and and so on um it is actually uh not the case that that Jane Austin was simply uh parodying this this genre in fact uh it is very much possible that that Jane Austin was uh writing a tribute and an homage to this this genre and uh one can see that there is a great deal of sympathy that uh the narrator is not simply mocking the the writers of novels uh and uh least of all the the female writers who produced Gothic novels in fact the narrator is uh engaging in an act of sympathetic imagination and uh it is this act of sympathy which I now wish to focus on between Jane Austin and the literary culture of her time I want to quote from two letters uh which will give me a sense of how Jane Austin has been read and and how I believe Jane Austin should instead be read this is a letter that Jane Austin wrote to her brother Frank uh in July 1813 which is uh very soon after her career as a professional writer had begun right so she had published uh two novels Sense and Sensibility and and Pride and Prejudice and this is uh her reflecting on the financial implications of her publication Austin writes to her brother you will be glad to hear that every copy of Sense and Sensibility is sold and that it has brought me £ 140 besides the copyright if that should ever be of any value I have now therefore written myself into £250 which only makes me long for more right so if you read these lines carefully you'll notice that here is an individual who has absolutely no qualms absolutely no guilt about being able to earn money from her uh literary and intellectual labor right and that is uh a very refreshing and very honest attitude to to read about mainly because uh she lived in a time that is Jane Austin lived in a time when the exact opposite uh was more characteristic of the respectable attitude towards women and uh profit or women and uh earning money from their intellectual labor we'll get an example of that in in this letter which is a letter that her brother um Henry wrote in his biographical notice which was published along with the the novel Northanger Abby from which I just read the long quote about the hypocrisy and the guilt and the representation of women reading novels uh this is Henry uh writing about Jane Austin in the publication of her third novel that is Northanger Abbey uh Henry writes neither the hope of Fame nor more profit mixed with her early motives she could scarcely believe what she termed her great Good Fortune when Sense and Sensibility produced a clear profit of about £50 few so gifted were so truly unpretending she regarded the above sum as a prodigious recompense for that which had cost her nothing so much did she shrink from notoriety that no accumulation of Fame would have induced her had she lived to affix her name to any Productions of her pen in public she turned away from any illusion to the character of an authoress this quote first of all uh smacks of a certain guilt uh there's an underlying assumption that uh Jane Austin once she became well known respected famous and more importantly successful would be seen in a very negative light that once people came to know that she was uh not only a good writer uh but also a successful writer uh she would be seen as a something less respectable that she would lose respect in public View and um her brother uh with the best intentions that a brother can have towards his sister tries to protect uh her from this kind of a public suspicion or or public uh infamy by trying to create the sense that Jane Austin the individual wrote out of a purely unmercenary and uneconomic motive that uh she wrote Because she wanted to write that she was possessed by some intellectual or some creative inspiration and uh these Inspirations and these impulses and this this desire to write and this U uh the undertak making of the intellectual labor that led to her novels had absolutely no economic motives at all uh as we have just seen in the previous letter that this was far from the case that uh Jan Austin was very unlike this kind of uh disinterested selfless uh intellectual or philosophical figure in fact financial and economic motives were very very much a part of her writerly and intellectual ambition and uh today when we read Jane Austin uh we should be mindful of this of this contradiction and uh of this um very strong pull very strong cultural um force and Heritage that uh would like us to read Jane auson in the way uh her brother Henry presents her in this uh excer which was in fact printed in the 1818 edition of Northanger Abbey as a writer who had absolutely no desire to earn money or to be famous we can appreciate that these things a desire to earn money a desire to become famous uh do not take anything away from the intellectual or um formal or literary merits of a writer however um in Jane Austin's time it was SE mean to degrade a writer in some way if it was if there was even a suspicion that she wrote Because she needed money or wanted to earn money or wanted to become famous this contradiction also has the effect of making us see Jane Austin in a very unfair light a lot of writers want to see Jane Austin as a very domestic writer who simply wanted to describe emotional conflicts between individuals inside families and who had absolutely no desire to earn money or to describe anything of Greater public relevance that also is a contradiction and in my next lecture I will describe how Jane Austin's focus on a very narrow slice of English history and culture in fact has a relevance great public relevance and even while Jane Austin focuses on three or four families the intellectual scope and the impact of her work goes far beyond these three or four families thank you [Music] a [Music]