Chapbook Initial Research

In reference to my creative writing research I would like to look at one of the famous romantic novelist Jane Austen (1775 - 1817). She was an English novelist whose presentation of ordinary people in everyday life gave the novel its essentially modern flavour.  Jane Austen's works are Romantic in every sense of the word. As she said: “A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.” (Austen, Pride and Prejudice).  She wrote during the Regency period, when Romantic literature was only beginning to appear. In contrast to 18th century writing, Romantic literature emphasised a more intimate, personalised focus, emphasising emotion over knowledge. 

Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815) were her four works published during her lifetime (1815). She clearly represented English middle-class life in the early nineteenth century in these works, as well as Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Her writings not only defined the novel of manners of the time, but they also became timeless classics that have remained critical and popular hits for more than two centuries after her death.

Her earliest known writings originate from around 1787, and she wrote a huge body of material between then and 1793, which has survived in three handwritten notebooks: Volume One, Volume Two, and Volume Three. These include plays, poetry, short novels, and other texts that show Austen mocking current literary forms, particularly the romantic novel and sentimental comedy genres. Lady Susan, a brief epistolary book written in 1793–94, shows her transition from the exuberant high spirits and extravagances of her early writings to a more serious view of life (and not published until 1871). This is a portrayal of a woman who is obsessed with exercising her mind and individuality to the point of social exclusion.

                                Watercolour of Jane Austen by her sister, Cassandra, 1804

Sense and Sensibility, the first of her works to be published during her lifetime, began in 1795 as a novel-in-letters titled "Elinor and Marianne," after the heroines. Austen finished the initial version of Pride and Prejudice, then known as "First Impressions," between October 1796 and August 1797. Her father attempted to sell it to a London publisher in 1797, but the offer was turned down. Northanger Abbey, the final of the early books, was presumably written under the title "Susan" in 1798 or 1799. The manuscript of "Susan" was sold to Richard Crosby, a publisher, for £10 in 1803. He accepted it for immediate publication, but despite the fact that it was marketed, it never appeared.

I would like to focus on Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, which was published in 1813 as a good example of romantic novel. The novel explores the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the book's lively protagonist, as she learns about the consequences of hasty judgments and the distinction between superficial virtue and true goodness. 

                Title page from the first edition of the first volume of Pride and Prejudice

Austen probably took her title from a passage in Fanny Burney's Cecilia (1782), a popular novel she is known to have admired: ''The whole of this unfortunate business, said Dr Lyster, has been the result of PRIDE and PREJUDICE. […] if to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you owe your miseries, so wonderfully is good and evil balanced, that to PRIDE and PREJUDICE you will also owe their termination.'' 

Mr. Bennet, the owner of the Longbourn estate in Hertfordshire, has five daughters, but his estate is encumbered, and only a male heir can inherit it. His wife is also without an inheritance, so when he dies, his family will be in dire straits. As a result, at least one of the daughters must marry successfully in order to support the others, which is the plot's driving motivation. Pride and Prejudice has routinely ranked towards the top of best-seller lists.

chapter 59, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Mr Bennet and Elizabeth, 1833

In this novel we can highlight narrative story, characters, scenes and moral. Main role plays Elizabeth Bennet, she is the second-eldest of the Bennet daughters. She is attractive, witty and intelligent – but with a tendency to form tenacious and prejudiced first impressions. As the story progresses, so does her relationship with Mr Darcy - and it's ultimately decided when Darcy overcomes his pride, and Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice. Mr Darcy is rumoured to be worth at least £10,000 a year (equivalent to £670,000 in 2020). A new visitor to the village, he is ultimately Elizabeth Bennet's love interest. Though he appears to be proud and is largely disliked by people for this reason, his servants vouch for his kindness and decency.

                                Scenes from Pride and Prejudice, by C. E. Brock (c. 1885)

Now I would like to analyse the language and style in Austen novel. Like most of Austen's works, Pride and Prejudice uses the narrative technique of free indirect speech, which is defined as "the free representation of a character's speech, by which one means not words actually spoken by a character, but words that typify the character's thoughts, or the way the character would think or speak, if she thought or spoke." Austen develops her characters' personalities and gives them distinct voices. Darcy and Elizabeth are very similar, but they are also very different. Austen urges the reader to follow events through Elizabeth's perspective, sharing her prejudices and misgivings, by adopting storytelling that adopts the tone and vocabulary of a certain character (in this case, Elizabeth). Both protagonists have to go through a learning curve.

                                       Elizabeth and Mr Darcy by Hugh Thomson, 1894

How I can I put into practice Jane's Austen work to create my own story? 

Now I'm getting better to know what the romantic novel is and how in which way I should think about it. Romantic novels has their own rules. It is focused on strong emotions, senses and feelings and also consider celebration of the individual. When I will be creating my own piece of writing I will think about main characters, the scene, place and the narrative story. I will also describe them clothes, circumstances of nature. Then I will think about the language, grammar and how I will write the conversation between main characters. As I am in love with romanticism and all aspect of it I can't wait to start writing my own romantic story! 

In the next blog post I will share with you an abstract of my Chapbook. 

Here I found the link where you can listen an audiobook 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen from BBC platform. Enjoy!

                                                                 'Pride and Prejudice'

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/news/jane-austen-biography-facts

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-AustenBurney, Fanny (1782). Cecilia: Or, Memoirs of an Heiress. T. Payne and son and T. Cadell. pp. 379–380.

Dexter, Gary (10 August 2008). "How Pride And Prejudice got its name". The Daily Telegraph.

Miles, Robert (2003). Jane Austen. Writers and Their Work. Tavistock: Northcote House in association with the British Council

Baker, Amy. "Caught In The Act Of Greatness: Jane Austen's Characterization Of Elizabeth And Darcy By Sentence Structure In Pride and Prejudice." Explicator 72.3

English poetry of the Romantic period, 1789-1830 Watson, J. R. (John Richard), 1934