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Home , Byron (play), Darkness (poem), Mansfield Park, Villa Diodati

Early 19th century English Literature, part 1

Presented by Mike Trial and Patrick McGraw With support from Compass Flower Press In this course we will discuss these authors • Today Friday, October 12 9:30-11:00 – – Maria Edgeworth – Frances Burney – • Next week Friday, October 19 9:30-11:00 – The Bronte’s – William Thackeray – George Meredith – Wilkie Collins Timelines

• Mary Shelley 1797 - 1851 (died age 54) • Frances Burney 1752 - 1840 (died age 88) • Maria Edgeworth 1768 - 1849 (died age 81) • Jane Austen 1775 - 1817 (died age 42)

• The Regency Era: 1795-1837

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley (1797-1851) Mary Shelley’s book is born during the legendary summer of 1816 • A luxurious villa in Switzerland; an unusually cold and stormy summer • The company of the greatest poet of the age, Lord • Ghost stories read by candlelight • The emotional tensions between , Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Clare Claremont and John Polidori • Revolutions, atheism, new science, exile from Britain, divorces, etc. The Regency Era (1795-1837) was chaotic for Britain, but the Victorian Era which followed it was Britain’s finest hour • Industrial revolution (1760 – 1830) • Political revolutions: America, France • The Napoleonic wars (1803 – 1815) • The Victorian Age (1837 - 1901) sees the British Empire become the dominant world power – Britain gains military control of the seas, establishes colonies, and builds a trading empire Events in France dominated British and continental European thinking during the Regency Era and the legendary An excellent book about that summer, summer of 1816 and the people involved is titled ‘The Monsters’

Lord Byron rented Villa Diodati, Mary and Percy and Clare rented a house nearby

The summer of 1816 was extremely cold and rainy due to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia that put volcanic dust in the air. The climate was affected worldwide. 1816 was later called ‘the ’. That summer, Lord Byron was reading books of the occult, the gothic, and the fantastic William Beckford the author of Vathek, a book Byron read, was himself, a rather Bryonronic character.

Matthew Lewis, author of one of the most notorious gothics, visited villa Diodati that summer Lord Byron challenged each of them…

“…to write a ghost story…”

Of the five (Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Clare Claremont, Mary Shelley and John Polidori) only Mary Shelley and John Polidori completed their stories: – Mary wrote Frankenstein – John wrote The Vampyre Mary Shelley in 1816

• She is only 18 years old, with no published writing • At 16 she had run away with Percy Shelley who was married • She had given birth to a daughter (by Percy Shelley) who died, and a son, William • She and Percy Shelley and Clare Claremont are in ‘exile’ from England (social disapproval and debt) • She learns that her half sister and Percy Shelley’s wife Harriet have committed suicide • She is, like many of her generation, enamored with new sciences like galvanism (and pseudo sciences like phrenology) • She has retained, from her parents and from Percy Shelley, very radical views: anti-church, anti-marriage, anti- monarchy, etc. • She spends the summer of 1816 in close contact with the most famous writer in the world, Lord Byron Frankenstein, the book, is unusual and very powerful An excellent … edition of • Only 70,000 words (very short for a novel of Frankenstein that day) is the Norton • Inside the frame, the story is told first person Critical edition from Victor Frankenstein’s perspective, except chapters 3 thru 8 in volume 2 which are from the monster’s perspective • Multiple, parallel, themes: social acceptance, parental love (and lack of it), defining humanity, the morality of life taking and life making… • The ending is ambiguous • The writing style is excellent – Then he sprang into the ice raft, and was soon borne away by the waves and lost in distance and . John Polidori’s story, The Vampyre, is also memorable

One of the first modern Vampire tales, it is a thinly veiled reference to Lord Bryon’s vampirish treatment of Polidori and others.

After 1816, Polidori returned to London but was never successful at the variety Of occupations he attempted.

He committed suicide at age 41.

But his book remains in print, and has redefined the Vampire legend For all time.

Other points…

• Mary and her step-sister Clare spent much time together but never really got along well • After Frankenstein, Mary wrote five more novels, none of which were particularly successful • Percy Shelley died in a boating accident, age 29 • Lord Byron died of fever, age 37 • Clare died in Florence, Italy, at age 81 having never published anything – though she was the one who brought them all together at Diodati • Mary’s one surviving son married well, received a title, served in parliament, lived a comfortable life – but history has entirely forgotten him. • Many critics believe that Mary’s posthumous editing and promotion of his work is largely responsible for Percy Shelley’s high reputation as a poet today A couple of videos, one depicting the summer of 1816 at Villa Diodati, the other, Mary Shelley’s life Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849)

• A financially successful and popular Anglo-Irish writer of novels, non-fiction, and children's literature • During the height of her novel-writing popularity she was rivaled only by Frances Burney • one of the first realist writers of children's literature • Author of non-fiction books such as Practical Education, encouraging progressive schooling for children (especially girls) • She travelled to The Continent in 1802, where received offers of marriage, all of which she declined • She held advanced views on estate management, politics, and education • She co-managed, with her father, the family estate • She became the first writer of ‘regional fiction’

Maria Edgeworth’s novel Belinda

• Published in 1801, some critics consider this novel to prefigure Jane Austen’s work in that it features a bright young woman in search of a marriage based on love and respect, not money • When Austen was revising , she added a mention of Maria Edgeworth’s novel Belinda ( and Frances Burney’s novels Cecelia and Camilla) The Anglo-Irish: Maria Edgeworth to Elizabeth Bowen • Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) • Elizabeth Bowen (1899 – 1973) Oliver Cromwell, and the ‘Puritan Revolution’ of 1642 created chaos in England. One result of this was that English adventurers conquered large parts of Ireland and set themselves up as gentry there.

They lived there for generations, becoming the Anglo-Irish.

Many Anglo-Irish writers have touched on the experience of being outsiders in your ‘own’ land. Some other Anglo-Irish authors

Elizabeth Bowen Jonathan Swift Oliver Goldsmith JM Synge WB Yeats St. Patrick’s cross, often used as a symbol of the George Bernard Shaw Anglo-Irish Samuel Beckett CS Lewis Bram Stoker Cecil Day-Lewis Oscar Wilde

Frances Burney (1752-1840) called her the mother of English literature

An excellent biography of Frances (Fanny) Burney

Frances Burney’s life story is just as fascinating as any Regency Era novel Both her first book, Evelina, and her second book, Cecelia, were best-sellers

Jane Austen, among many others, read Evelina, first published in 1778, and Evelina is epistolary in Cecelia, style and relatively short. published in Cecelia is a narrative 1782 comedy of manners in 10 volumes (!) And her 3rd book Camilla was also a best-seller • Published in 1796 • First edition sold out quickly, more editions followed • She was paid £1000 for the manuscript, then sold the copyright for another £1000 • With the money, she and her husband Alexandre D’Arblay had ‘Camilla Cottage’ built Camilla Cottage

FOR SALE: This seven bedroom house with gardens and gargoyles in Westhumble, Surrey, has been lovingly restored. The house is built on the site of the property where a cottage was built in 1797 by author Frances Burney and her husband Alexndre D’Arblay. Reprints of Burney’s books are in the library of the house and are included with the sale. Frances Burney

• Dr. Johnson himself praised her first novel Evelina, published when she was only 26 • Her father, whom Frances admired, embodied the new middle class: self-made, talented, ambitious, well connected, so Frances was introduced early to the best of the London literary world • Frances held a position at King George III’s court for 4 years • She married (at age 41) a French exile; they had a long happy marriage, and only one child, a son, who tragically died at age 40 • Her third book, Camilla, made them a great deal of money • She travelled to France with her husband and was trapped there by the wars for nearly 10 years • Her writing takes the best tradition of Richardson and Fielding, adds social nuance, satire, keen observation, and a large cast of characters to tell compelling stories Jane Austen read Frances Burney’s book Cecelia where she found this passage:

“The whole of this unfortunate business,” said Dr. Lyster, “has been the result of …”

Jane liked the sound of that phrase… Jane Austen’s Life

• Born in December 1775 • Possibly as early as age 12, starts Juvenilia, experimental writing • 1793, writes , epistolary novel too outrageous to print • 1801-05, Austen lives in Bath, the setting for two of her novels • 1805-09, Austen’s “Lost Years”—abandoned • 1809 -17 Lived at Chawton Cottage. Revised and/or wrote the six novels for which she is primarily known • July, 1817, dies in Winchester and is buried in its cathedral Austen has been accused of being…

• a dried up spinster, unexperienced in the world • someone who lived through the Napoleonic Wars without being aware of them • disconnected from politics and social injustice • boring Austen was familiar with sexuality, in and outside of, marriage

Adultery • Eliza Brandon commits multiple adulteries in • Rushworth commits adultery with in • In Mansfield Park, Mary Crawford comes to live with her sister because her uncle the Admiral has moved his mistress into his London home following the death of his wife Illegitimate Children • Eliza Williams, illegitimate daughter of Eliza Brandon, is seduced by Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility and has her own illegitimate child • Harriet Smith in is a tradesman’s “natural” daughter And she wrote clearly about the consequences of seduction Seducers • Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park tells his sister that he is going to seduce • At first, Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility visits Marianne with the intention of seducing her • Lt. Wickham in Pride and Prejudice lives with Lydia Bennet in London without the benefit of marriage; it comes out that he has also seduced most of the tradesmen’s daughters in Meryton • Mr. William Elliot in seduces Mrs. Penelope Clay who abandons her family to live “under his protection” in London Her novels read well in part because she describes sexual tension well

Sexual Tension between Heroes and Heroines • In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy is so drawn to that he proposes to her even though he knows he shouldn’t • In Mansfield Park, the straight-laced clergyman is so attracted physically to Mary Crawford that he totally ignores her amoral comments • In Persuasion, Captain Wentworth only gradually becomes aware of Anne Elliot’s beauty; but by the end of the novel, he writes a letter to her saying, “You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.”

And Austen used innuendo deftly…

Sexual Comments • In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy is invited to join Miss Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet in a stroll around the room; he replies that he can better appreciate their figures from where he is sitting • In the same scene, the narrator says, “Miss Bingley, however, was incapable of disappointing Mr. Darcy in anything” • In Mansfield Park, Mary Crawford, who was raised by her lecherous uncle Admiral Crawford, says that she has known too many admirals and is tired of all their Rears and Vices!

The Napoleonic Wars

• In Pride and Prejudice, the militia is quartered in and around Meryton to train for the expected French invasion • In Pride and Prejudice, Kitty and Lydia bring home the news that a private was flogged • In Mansfield Park, William Price is a midshipman who, in visiting his sister Fanny at Mansfield Park, entrances the family with stories of naval battles, shipwrecks, and blockade duty. Their father, Lt. Price, was a marine who was disabled in the war. • Persuasion is deliberately set during the time Napoleon spent on Elba Politics in Jane Austen’s Novels

• Northanger Abbey engages with the nostalgia for monasteries starting in 1540s and lasting into the early 19th century • The Watsons reflects the debate about the Restriction Act • Sense and Sensibility reflects the movement to reform Poor Laws • Pride and Prejudice reflects debate on the Speenhamland System • Mansfield Park obviously engages with the issue of • Emma holds up Highbury as alternative to England’s economic crisis • Persuasion depicts the post-Waterloo Crash in England • pits Tory and Whig economics against each other Jane Austen is Humorous

• In Mansfield Park, Mary Crawford refers to Mr. Yates, a young man who had acted in their play earlier in the year, saying that he would be a good marriage prospect if only his “rents would match his rants.”

• In Emma, the narrator says of Mr. Woodhouse, who did not approve of matrimony, “Though always objecting to every marriage…he never suffered beforehand from the apprehension of any; it seemed as if he could not think so ill of any two persons’ understanding as to suppose they meant to marry until it could be proved against them.” “‘Run mad as often as you choose; but do not faint’”

Austen is making fun of the contemporary and sentimental novels of the late 18th century—think Emily St. Aubert (of The Mysteries of Udolpho) who is constantly fainting. “Lady Susan”

• An unpublished novella that is written almost entirely in letters between the various characters. Widowed Lady Susan Vernon is totally amoral. At the age of 36, she is still so beautiful that she seduces a husband (Mr. Manwaring) away from his wife and simultaneously gets the suitor of the wife’s sister, Sir James Martin, to fall in love with her.

• A famous line: “Facts are such inconvenient things!” Austen’s Writing Is Never Boring!

• Her narratives are fast-paced; something is always happening to move the story forward • Austen largely created the modern novel: the characters’ action are realistic • Her plots are carefully constructed and always probable • No two character in her six novels sounds like any other character; each has a unique “voice” (idiolect) Austen’s Irony

• Much of Austen’s narration consists of irony: mostly verbal irony • While seeming to praise a character, Austen will cut the character to ribbons: “Mrs. Ferrars…was not a woman of many words: for, unlike people in general, she proportioned them to the number of her ideas.” (Sense and Sensibility) • Often a single word undercuts a favorable description: “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence.” The word “seemed” undercuts all the positive statements to tell the reader that all is not right in the opening lines of Emma. Opening Sentence of Pride and Prejudice • “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” • There are layers of irony in this sentence: – First, “universally” is obviously verbally ironic: nothing on this earth is acknowledge or accepted by everyone. – Second, the sentence is situationally ironic: it is the young women in the neighborhood who are in want of a rich husband.

The fact that it is written as an epigram makes it sound truthful when it isn’t actually stating a “truth.” Austen’s Dialogue

Austen is a master of dialogue. She uses dialogue to reveal a character’s inner traits. Rather than telling the reader something about a character, Austen allows the reader to discover it in what the character is saying: Mrs. Bennet: “You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves.” Mr. Bennet: “You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.” Mrs. Bennet: “Ah! You do not know what I suffer.” The reader immediately knows that Mrs. Bennet is a whiner, and Mr. Bennet is sarcastic. I’ll close with a quote from Henry James speaking of Jane Austen’s writing:

“...from that spare, cool, drawing room of other days...she provides touches of universal human truths...little masterstrokes of imagination...”