14.2 Summer 2010
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The Female Spectator CHAWTON HOUSE LIBRARY VOL.14 No.2, SUMMER 2010 ISSN1746-8604 Chawton ChroniCles: a letter from THE CEO He left Chawton House in 1953 but now, fifty- few months. There has been a significant increase seven years later, I am delighted to report that in the number of events being held – from confer- he has returned! Edward Austen Knight or, more ences to weddings and from plays to open days accurately, the enormous portrait of him thought – there has also been a significant international to have been commissioned in Italy during his dimension to these activities. This has been very ‘Grand Tour’, has come home. noticeable in the context of the Visiting Fellow- ship programme. In addition to scholars from the For many years it was hanging in the dining room UK and North America, we have seen representa- of the ‘Great House’. Sadly it had to be sold off in tion from many parts of mainland Europe (includ- the nineteen-fifties, but eventually it found its way ing Norway, Spain and Poland) and also from Aus- to the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton, tralia and Asia. This expansion sits comfortably where it remained until earlier this year. Then, with the overseas alliances which we have been thanks to the generosity of individuals and organi- steadily developing. These include the forging of sations, enough money was raised to have the pic- productive links with institutions such as the Uni- ture lovingly restored versity of Notre Dame by Dr Clare Finn (it and with academic has also been beauti- sponsoring bodies as fully framed). Subse- far afield as China. quently (and with the backing of the Director In a different area of of the JAHM) the Jane endeavour, some of Austen Society, which you may recall that owns the work and in 2009, as part of the whose efforts made celebrations to mark the restoration pos- the 200th anniversary sible, agreed that it of Jane Austen’s ar- should be made avail- rival in Chawton, we able to Chawton House launched a short story Library on loan. competition which was judged by the ac- We are immensely claimed author Sarah grateful to all con- Waters. The twenty cerned and we hope winning entries were that as many friends of published as an an- the Library, along with thology entitled ‘Danc- members of the public, ing with Mr Darcy’. will come to enjoy a Such was the critical viewing of this impor- acclaim for the book tant piece of Chaw- that the American ton’s history. An offi- rights have been ac- cial unveiling is being quired by Harper Col- planned for December lins. The paperback this year, in the week (under the same title) that marks the 235th is due out in the USA anniversary of Jane and Canada in late Austen’s birth. October 2010. Mean- There have, of course, while, a follow-up been many other inter- competition will soon esting and exciting ini- be launched – this tiatives over the past time we are inviting Portrait of Edward Austen Knight after conservation stories inspired by the heroes and villains in Jane Austen’s novels. The Female Spectator Other developments of note include the comple- tion of a Historical Parkland Review in collabora- Summer 2010 tion with Natural England. The consultation docu- ment which has been produced provides a frame- work (technical and financial) for implementing Editors: improvements on the wider estate that reflect Academic: Gillian Dow key planting, layout, circulation routes etc from, broadly, the period 1800 to 1840. The Schedule of General: Helen Cole, Sandy White Works outlined for the next two years includes the undertaking of further archaeological surveys in Chawton Chronicles: the Wilderness area adjacent to the main house. A Letter from the CEO 1 Plans are also progressing for the erection of an Stephen Lawrence eighteenth-century barn in Church Meadow. The structure, which was originally on the Sainsbury’s ‘Such a sprightliness of the site in Alton, will provide a multi-purpose edu- imagination, such a reach and cation and exhibition space. Specifically, it will turn of thought’: Mary Astell and enable us to considerably grow the work we un- dertake in the area of environment, ecology and Jane Austen 3 sustainability. Elizabeth Lenckos, Former Visiting Fellow Lastly, but by no means least, our links with local universities, especially the University of South- House and Estate News 6 ampton, continue to generate new projects and these provide real impetus for our academic out- Paul Dearn, Operations Manager puts. Indeed, they have helped to increase the number of people using the Library and have pro- moted new lines of enquiry. Our Visiting Fellow- ‘Out of the Wilderness’: ship scheme is run in partnership with the School A New Rose Garden 6 of Humanities at the University, who provide sig- Alan Bird, Head Gardener nificant funding for the project. This enables Fel- lows to access the important resources in the Hart- ‘Girls playing Music’ 7 ley Library. The Arts and Humanities Research Jane Girdham, Council Collaborative Doctoral Award examining Former Visiting Fellow illustration in the long eighteenth century is an- other fine example of the potential for meaning- ful co-operation between Chawton House Library Chawton House Library and the University of Southampton. Moreover, the Visiting Fellowships 10 positive relationship with the Southampton Cen- Sarah Parry, Archive & tre for Eighteenth-Century Studies has contribut- Education Officer ed to the increasing level of interdisciplinary work being undertaken at CHL. Library News: Chawton House This has just been a snapshot of recent goings- Library Reading Group 11 on. Most importantly, they exemplify the energy Jacqui Grainger, Librarian and commitment of our staff and trustees. It also augurs well for the future despite the current Conference report: Rethinking gloomy economic climate. Taking such a unique and inspiring project forward requires innovation, the Fall of the Planter Class 11 restructuring, rebuilding (sometimes literally) and Dr. Christer Petley, careful planning. We are fortunate to have friends, University of Southampton members and volunteers in the UK and further afield who continue to support a wide range of ventures. We have an exciting vision at CHL and Dates for your diary 12 your participation and backing will help provide the critical resources necessary for achieving our exciting goals. Stephen Lawrence 2 The Female Spectator Vol. 14 No. 2 Summer 2010 ‘suCh a sprightliness of the imagination, suCh a reaCh and turn of thought’: mary astell and Jane austen Elisabeth Lenckos has taught in the Graham School in matters of courtship did not aim at aiding women at the University of Chicago since 2001, and is an ac- to achieve socially advantageous positions, but more tive member of the Jane Austen Society of North Amer- importantly, to find intelligent inspiration in their per- ica. She has published a book on Barbara Pym and is sonal relationships: currently writing a book on Austen, as well as editing a collection of essays on Austen and aesthetics. She … [W]hat qualities must encline a woman to ac- held a Visiting Fellowship at Chawton House Library cept, so that our married couple may be as hap- in 2009-2010. py as that state can make them? This is no hard question; let the soul be principally considered, The Chawton House Library owns several works by and regard had in the first place to a good un- a woman who was arguably the most intriguing sev- derstanding, a vertuous mind, and in all other enteenth-century English woman philosopher, Mary respects, let there be as much equality as there Astell (1666-1731). A celebrated conversationalist and could be. (Mary Astell, Some Reflections upon author of books on Platonism and religion, Astell also Marriage, 42) wrote about education, deportment, and marriage. Her style attests to a sense of humour and elegance of mind Since the deplorable state of women’s education had surprising in a ‘bluestocking’ that would find its equal a not changed when Austen embarked on her writing ca- century later in the country’s most distinguished ‘lady’ reer, Astell’s advice would still have seemed sound to novelist, Jane Austen. Since considerate behaviour her. More importantly, Astell’s way of thinking would and proper tone are central to Austen’s stories, it has have appealed to Austen, because a similar vein of as- been suggested by critics that advice literature such as piration – to create model ‘marriages of true minds’ for Astell’s anticipated and even influenced Austen’s depic- her heroes and heroines – flows through her narratives. tions of female conduct. In particular because Astell’s George Knightley, the hero of Austen’s 1815 novel focus was not on social forms, but on the tenets of a fe- Emma, famously says that, ‘Men of sense… do not male communal philosophy, and because the Platonist want silly wives.’ Although he delivers this adage with movement she helped sustain developed into the 18th the confidence of stating an indisputable fact, one may Century cult of feeling that would be instrumental in glimpse behind his words the anxious outline of the less shaping Austen’s outlook, it might be important to ex- assured author. Austen, in truth, knows no such thing, amine whether Astell’s system of thought is reflected in but reveals, through this proclamation of her leading Austen’s novels. Such an investigation might also show man, her ambition to represent in her novels an ideal Austen as more of a philosophi- of egalitarian wedded partner- cal author than she is usually ships similar to that proposed seen to be. by Astell. A more mature inter- A Serious Proposal to the Ladies locutor than Emma might have (1694) and Some Reflections on responded to Mr.