ST ANNE'S

 

JANE'S ART

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

What has changed since 1813, the year Jane Austen’s most famous novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was first published? Maybe not as much as we would like to think! Especially for women, who, in my opinion, remain one of the most underprivileged people worldwide, albeit with some and sometimes significant differences depending on the country and the society they live in. This is despite Mao Zedong’s famous proclamation that “Women Hold Up Half The Sky”.

When you dig under the surface of our ‘evolved’, modern and technological world, we (disturbingly!) still find much in common with the early 19^th century society described by my beloved Jane.

I’m a great fan of Austen and have read every word she has ever written plus much that has been written about her. She is the centre of my literary universe. Never having wandered far from the small area in the south of England where she spent her 41 years of life (between Steventon, Bath, Southampton, Chawton and Winchester), her works have reached across the globe and across the ages in a way so extraordinary that it could never have been predicted or foreseen by the ever-humble Jane.

“The little bit (two Inches wide) of Ivory, on which I work with so fine a Brush, as produces little effect after much labour.” is how she once described her work to her nephew Edward with typical modesty.

Having refused an offer of marriage, this most influential of all female writers has lived a quiet, simple life. Supported by her dear sister Cassandra, she has devoted her time to writing. From the tiny corner of her small world and limited life experience, she has simply observed. Like a forensic scientist Jane has applied herself to describing the rules of society, the nature of human relations and the dramas of love and other passions. The intensity of her emotions always inversely proportional to the restraint of her prose. Austen’s reflections are harsh and reveal her to be a realist, yet the message is made digestible by a wit and irony that make us laugh at what we recognize to be our and our society’s cardinal sins. The style of her writing makes her both cynical and compassionate at once.

“He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather cold hearted, and rather selfish, is to be ill-disposed” – is said about Mr John Dashwood in ‘Sense and Sensibility’.

She points out the everlasting truths that money rules, most men and women are hypocrites, social class is a prison that’s hard to break out of, but perhaps needed to give us all an illusion of order.

Her characters come alive with their unforgettable and often humorous personal weaknesses, foibles and vanities, sometimes with their noble virtues and strengths.

She reveals the unquestionable fact that love remains a mystery so great and so powerful as to blossom even in the most unfavourable circumstances and in defiance of all attempts at control by social mores and rules.

Jane Austen’s message is essential, it transcends the boundaries of culture and time and is therefore, by definition, true Art. It clearly tells us that a woman’s mind, ability and vocation should always be nurtured and encouraged and never ever be denied.

 

Main works by Jane Austen:

‘Sense and Sensibility’

‘Pride and Prejudice’

‘Mansfield Park’

‘Emma’

‘Northanger Abbey’

‘Persuasion’

‘Lady Susan’

‘The Watsons’ (unfinished)

‘Sanditon’ (unfinished)

#JaneAusten  #Art  #PrideandPrejudice #SenseandSensibility #MansfieldPark  #Emma  #Persuasion

Jane Austen was born on the 16th of December 1775. Today would have been her 246th birthday!

'WHAT DO YOU HOPE FOR WHEN COVID IS OVER?' - poster and writing seen on gate of UK park at the start of the first lockdown March 2020

 

'THE MUSIC ROOM' by William Fiennes

William Fiennes’ book ‘The Music Room’ is aptly titled: it reads like a song.

Fifty-one year old Fiennes, third cousin of the actor Ralph Fiennes, is a British writer who had an unconventional upbringing – he grew up in a castle.

The narrative revolves around the author’s home, a medieval castle in Oxfordshire, which becomes a central character, like a living thing. People and events all arise from it and are connected to it from beginning to end.

‘The house didn’t just belong to us: it was part of the country’s heritage, the world’s, and our task was to care for it for as long as we were here, and do our best to leave it in good health for future generations. ‘

Fiennes’ formal education at Eton and Oxford comes through in a rich and creatively complex language that manages to steer clear of arrogance. Everyday detail is described with such clarity and skill as to transform it into something as important as life itself. From time to time the text pops up bubbles of pure genius: ‘Mrs Upton was most forthright in everything, talking as if language had been welling up in her overnight and this was the first opportunity for overspill.’, later she is ‘shuffling in from the world’. Of the brother who died before he was born, Fiennes writes: ‘I knew it was a loss, but I couldn’t feel it as one. He was a presence to me, not something taken away.’ As a young boy watching his mother tune the viola in the music room, what he liked best was ‘the way she’d loosen the peg a fraction before bringing it up to the correct pitch, as if it was only by being first slightly mistaken in something that you could see the right answer clearly.’

The characters are all painted with the colour of love. Amongst them, one figure dominates and encapsulates all that is wonderful and terrifying about being human: Richard, the older brother.

For all who have ever asked themselves ‘What is love?’, here’s a book that offers the definitive answer. Never allowing the thin veil of nostalgia to detract from the truth and honesty of the author’s emotional life, Fiennes’ work is consistently kind and gentle. Therein lies its power; it is deep and precious to the very end.

Let the young William Fiennes, his ‘GUIDE’ badge still attached, take you on the mossy path, over the Sor Brook, through the gates, the castle and into a modern masterpiece.

#TheMusicRoom #WilliamFiennes #Britishwriter #Oxfordshire #castle

A special thank-you to Margaret for giving me this wonderful book

RESPECT MATTERS: M&S, Eastgate - leading through positive action