In the Pride of h Moment ENCOUNTERS IN JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD ft} V JOHN A. DUSSINGER John A . Dussinger argues that the strength of Jane Austens writing is found in the minute encounters that reveal a character s life rather than in the larger de­ sign of the story. In the Pride of the Mo­ ment contests the familiar view that Aus­ tens novels are stylistically polished but lacking in substance by showing that they give unusual significance to the most ordi­ nary events. Austens narrative strategy brings her characters together in an encounter, a radically focused interaction revealing nuances of behavior. Th e encounter con­ veys symbolically the participants' atti­ tudes and intentions; and if the nominal activity in the scene is significant in form­ ing political alignments, it also defines the alienation of the individuals outside that frame of reference. Such deliberately cho­ reographed performances reinforce the idea that the principal action in Austen's world is talking. The most immediate quality of such oral communication is the sense of its circumstantial uniqueness, its ability to place a character both as a social- class membe r and as an individual. When Austen began writing in the 1790s, she had available ample models in Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Smollett, Fanny Burney, Maria Edge- worth, Charlotte Smith, Ann Radcliffe, and many other authors in the Steventon parsonage; but most striking from the first juvenile spoofs to her last, incomplete novel is her radically critical eye toward literary form in general and novelistic dis­ course in particular. Dussinger asserts that Austen, like these eighteenth-century novelists, found that imitating speech was a form of parody, and she employed it to ridicule affected social behavior as well as such literary fads as Gothic horror. But Austen is thefirst English novelist to grasp the full implications of parody In the Pride of the Moment In the Pride of Moment ENCOUNTERS IN JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD :«V->. I^a JOHN A. DUSSINGER The Ohio State University Press, Columbus Copyright © 1990 by the Ohio State University Press. All rights reserved. Engraving from Thomas Wilson's Panorama, reproduced by permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dussinger, John A . In the pride of the momen t : encounters in Jane Austens world / John A . Dussinger. p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-8142-0491-0 (alk. paper) 1. Austen, Jane, 1775-1817—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Social interaction in literature. 3. Conversation in literature. I. Title. PR4037.D87 1989 832'. 7—dc20 89-31597 © CIP The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Printed in the U.S.A. 987654321 For Astrid, Karin, and Camilla / do not write for such dull elves As have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves. —Chawton, 29 January 1813 Contents Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 I. Play 17 1. Performance 19 2. The "Irresistible Waltz" 30 3. The Crown Inn Ball 35 4. "Every Savage Can Dance" 40 II. Desire 45 1. Emma in Love 50 2. "The Power of Eating and Drinking" 65 3. "The Work of a Moment" 74 III. Character (Written) 81 1. Self and Other 84 2. Inner and Outer Self 88 3. Narrative Authority and Readerly Freedom 93 4. Subjective and Objective Description 100 IV. Speech 111 1. Mrs. Allen: "No Real Intelligence to Give" 114 2. Mrs. Jennings: "A Voice of Great Compassion" 116 3. Mrs. Bennet: A Complete Victory 121 4. Miss Bates's Secrets 128 V. Text (Printed) 145 1. The Media 148 2. The Writerly Reader 155 3. The Violence of the Word 162 4. The "Language of Real Feeling" 168 Conclusion 175 Notes 185 Index 209 Acknowledgments Many of the ideas for this book originated while I was teaching the novels of Jane Austen in the late 1970s at the Uni­ versity of Illinois, whe n her comic subversity suddenly quick­ ened in the minds of the students and prompted considerable rereading to find some answers. Northrop Frye's brilliant ordering of comicfiction in Anatomy of Criticism immeasur­ ably eased m y task in the classroom and also emboldened m e to undertake this study. For the early stages of research and contemplation, I owe special thanks to James Sambrook for making possible m y teaching exchange at the University of Southampton in early 1979, where I enjoyed spending the precious time retracing Jane Austen's footsteps in southern England as well as meeting astute British readers of her novels, who were always gener­ ous in imparting insights to an American visitor. I a m especially grateful to the Department of English and the Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Illi­ nois for a sabbatical research fellowship during 1980-81. M y colleague Jack Stillinger was encouraging from the start and gave helpful advice on the rough draft. Frederick Keener and Charles Knight wrote painstaking and constructive criticisms of the whole argument in its earliest stages. An enormous debt goes to Alistair Duckworth, who devoted many hours of his time trying to make sense out of confusion. Besides the anony­ mous readers of the later drafts of this book, I should thank Ronald Rosbottom and James Thompson for comments invalu­ able for thefinal revision, and Barbara Folsom for the meticu­ lous copyediting. If darkness still lingers in the corners of this phenomenological reading of Austen's novels, the responsibil­ ity is entirely mine. Finally, without the conversations at hom e with a wife and two daughters, all keen and perennial readers of Jane Austen, writing this book would have been a muc h more lonely endeavor. Champaign, Illinois J.A.D. February 1989 XI Abbreviations All references to Jane Austen's novels and fragments are taken from the edition of R. W. Chapman, 6 vols. (London: Oxford University Press, 1933-34, 1954); page numbers are included in parentheses within the text. All references to her correspondence are from Chapman's edition, Jane Austens Letters to Her Sister Cassandra and Others, 2d ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952 [reprint 1979]), cited hereafter as Letters. Wherever necessary, the following abbreviations are also used: NA Northanger Abbey SS Sense and Sensibility PP Pride and Prejudice MP Mansfield Park E Emma P Persuasion MW Minor Works Xlll Introduction "Writing, when properly managed . is but a differ­ ent name for conversation." —Tristram Shandy, II, xi Jane Austen's narrative art excels in rendering the tex­ ture of actual speech, and almost any scene in her novels al­ ludes to the precarious circumstances of conversation: 'The meeting was generally felt to be a pleasant one, being com­ posed in a good proportion of those wh o would talk and those wh o would listen" (MP, 238-39). Even when the participants in the social event seem to be interacting, the narrator hints, there is usually a residue of mistrust about the gestures of the moment, something that remains open to interpretation. The dual card games in chapter 25 of Mansfield Park, for instance, are activities symbolic of the "real-life" roles played by the characters in the room, reflecting not only the Crawfords' competitive energy, expressed in their conversa­ tion on improving Thornton Lacey, but also the heroine's quiescent spirit. In response to Edmund's cautious rejection of Henry's expensive plans for the parsonage, Mary insinuates her libertine indifference by playing a card recklessly: Miss Crawford, a little suspicious and resentful of a certain tone of voice and a certain half-look attending the last expression of his hope, made a hastyfinish of her dealings with William Price, and securing his knave at an exorbitant rate, exclaimed, "There, I will stake m y last like a woma n of spirit. N o cold prudence for me. I am not born to sit still and do nothing. If I lose the game, it shall not be from not striving for it." (MP, 242-43) Mary wins the hand, we are told, but at too high a cost. In contrast to this selfish motive, Fanny, wh o resorts to the game mainly to conceal her interest in the conversation about Thornton, almost squanders her queen on William, much to Henry's dismay, causing Edmun d to observe that she would rather have her brother win the game: "Poor Fanny! not al­ lowed to cheat herself as she wishes!" (MP, 244). 1 Introduction In the other part of the room, at the whist table, there is "steady sobriety and orderly silence" during concentrated play until Mrs. Norris, "in high good-humour" after taking a trick with her partner, Sir Thomas , against the Grants, enters into the conversation in a predictably self-seeking way. While the older members of the group engage conventionally in win­ ning and losing without any thought of the future, the younger ones express their "real-life" attitudes through the metony m of the game of speculation; and just as the activity defines a sphere of interest, so it also marks off the nonplayers and strengthens their ties as outsiders: "William and Fanny were the most detached. They remained together at the otherwise deserted card-table, talking very comfortably and not think­ ing of the rest, till some of the rest began to think of them" (MP, 249). The card games in this scene thus rehearse the parts that are played elsewhere on more "serious," less cate­ gorical occasions. This scene illustrates Austen's general narrative strat­ egy of bringing her characters together in an encounter,1 a radically focused interaction, to reveal nuances of behavior; and we have seen that it serves at least four important func­ tions: (1) it divides the group into playing two ideologically dif­ ferent games—the young at speculation (Lady Bertram is en­ couraged to participate here mainly because her husband does not want her for a partner in his game) and the old at whist; (2) it divides them according to the rules of the game as "win­ ners" and "losers" without any connection to their status in the everyday world (both Mar y Crawford and Mrs .