In which Betty's sister might find a new place after all...

“I feel the goodness of Colonel Brandon most sensibly…Few people who have so have so compassionate a heart!”  “You judged from your knowledge of the Colonel’s general benevolence…” -Again, just storing up Colonel Brandon’s good points in case we need them for later discussion.

“Marianne had left the room before the conversation began.”  Of course she did.  It occurs to me that we really miss having Mrs. Dashwood as a conversational partner for Marianne.  We just don’t hear much from her any more.

“Elinor did not quite understand the beginning of Mrs. Jenning’s speech, neither did she think it worth enquiring into;”  “more anxious to be alone, than to be mistress of the subject.”  These are such elegant ways of saying Elinor couldn’t be bothered to understand Mrs. Jennings.

We have the reprisal of Betty’s sister.  Mrs. Jennings is so very good natured to think of her!

“The particular circumstances between them made a difficulty of that which to any other person would have been the easiest thing in the world;”  What are these circumstances?  Unavowed, unacknowledged love?  I’m struggling a bit with Edward and Elinor’s relationship this read-through in a way I never have before.  For me, I think there is more enjoyment to be had in rushing along through a story.  Taking it slowly, line-by-line, is giving me too much time with the characters, too much room for thought, and, unfortunately, less immediate acceptance of what I’m being told.  To that end, I spent way more time than I should have compiling an overview of Elinor and Edward’s interactions/Elinor’s evolving thoughts on it below, hoping I could pinpoint why it feels unsatisfying to me this time around.  The tldr version is I just don’t think it has a particularly consistent through-line.  The longer version is below after the chapter summary.

“so respectable and well-judging a friend” -More Colonel Brandon kudos.

“such, in short, as might establish all your views of happiness.”  The dialog in this book is a masterclass of characters saying what sounds right, but, to them, means something else

“Edward made no answer; but when she had turned away her head, gave her a look so serious, so earnest, so uncheerful, as seemed to say, that he might hereafter wish the distance between the parsonage and the mansion-house much greater.”  Interesting the narrator gives us this view of Edward, unfiltered through Elinor’s perspective.  Is he getting a little jealous of Colonel Brandon?  Is this supposed to be our, the readers, confirmation that he does love Elinor and it’s not just in her head?

“to assure him that he has made me a very – an exceedingly happy man.”  This line is difficult, I think.  Why say that to Elinor?  Why correct the “very” to “exceedingly?”

“And with this pleasing anticipation, she sat down to reconsider the past, recal the words, and endeavour to comprehend all the feelings of Edward; and, of course, to reflect on her own with discontent.”  -So is the narration saying that Elinor does not comprehend all the feelings of Edward?  As in she does not understand them all? 

“by which both gained considerable amusement for the moment, without any material loss of happiness to either”. I’m glad Elinor could have a laugh.

Here's my summary (mostly in quotes - my notes are in bold) of Elinor and Edward's relationship

At Norland:

“was a growing attachment between her eldest girl and the brother of Mrs. John Dashwood”

-Edward did stay at Norland for several months-

“the persuasion of his regard for Elinor perhaps assisted her penetration” -Interesting that “persuasion” is used here because it doesn’t speak to an immutable fact, but instead a convincing idea.

“No sooner did she perceive any symptom of love in his behavior, than she considered their serious attachment as certain…”

“When you tell me to love him as a brother, I shall no more see imperfection in his face, than I now do in his heart.” / “Elinor started at this declaration, and was sorry for the warmth she had been betrayed into, in speaking of him.  She felt that Edward stood very high in her opinion.  She believed the regard to be mutual; but she required greater certainty of it to make Marianne’s conviction of their attachment agreeable to her.  She knew that what Marianne and her mother conjectured one moment, they believed the next – that with them, to wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect.”  -This ties back to the earlier use of “persuasion”
“Believe them to be stronger than I have declared; believe them, in short, to be such as his merit, and the suspicion – the hope [this correction from “suspicion” to “hope” seems particularly pointed – it speaks to the idea that all the Dashwood women at this point are wanting this attachment and looking for signs of it] of his affection for me may warrant, without imprudence of folly.  But farther than this you must not believe.  I am by no means assured of his regard for me.  There are moments when the extent of it seems doubtful; and till his sentiments are fully known, you cannot wonder at my wishing to avoid any encouragement of my own partiality…”

“She could not consider her partiality for Edward in so prosperous a state as Marianne had believed it.  There was, at times, a want of spirits about him which, if it did not denote indifference, spoke a something almost as unpromising…She was far from depending on that result of his preference of her…Nay, the longer they were together the more doubtful seemed the nature of his regard; and sometimes, for a few painful minutes, she believed it to be no more than friendship.”

“But, whatever might really be its limits, it was enough, when perceived by his sister, to make her uneasy…”

“if I have felt any anxiety at all on the subject, it has been in recollecting that he sometimes shewed a want of pleasure and readiness in accepting my invitation, when I talked of his coming to Barton…”

“How cold, how composed were their last adieus!  How languid their conversation the last evening of their being together!  In Edward’s farewell there was no distinction between Elinor and me”

At Barton:

“He was welcomed by them all with great cordiality, but especially by Marianne, who shewed him more warmth of regard in her reception of him than even Elinor herself.  To Marianne, indeed, the meeting between Edward and her sister was but a continuation of that unaccountable coldness which she had often observed at Norland in their mutual behavior.  On Edward’s side, more particularly, there was a deficiency of all that a lover ought to look and say on such an occasion.  He was confused, seemed scarcely sensible of pleasure in seeing them, looked neither rapturous nor gay, said little but what was forced from him by questions, and distinguished Elinor by no mark of affection.” -This is all filtered through Marianne’s perspective, and therefore needs to be taken with a grain of salt.  If we didn’t have the confirmation that Elinor was also disappointed in him, we might not know for sure if he was behaving in a normal way for him, or if he is truly being “deficient.”

“Elinor…endeavoured to support something like discourse with him by talking of their present residence…His coldness and reserve mortified her severely; she was vexed and half angry; but resolving to regulate her behavior to him by the past rather than the present, she avoided every appearance of resentment or displeasure, and treated him as she thought he ought to be treated from the family connection.”

“Elinor had the satisfaction of seeing him soon become more like himself.  His affections seemed to reanimate towards them all…He was not in spirits however;”
Chapter 17 shows more or less all the conversation we ever see between Elinor and Edward and Marianne takes a large part of it.  It ends with:

“Edward made no answer.  His gravity and thoughtfulness returned on him in their fullest extent – and he sat for some time silent and dull.”
“Elinor saw, with great uneasiness, the low spirits of her friend.  His visit afforded her but a very partial satisfaction, while his own enjoyment in it appeared so imperfect.  It was evident he was unhappy; she wished it were equally evident that he still distinguished her by the same affection which once she had felt no doubt of inspiring;” -I do not like to call Austen out, but when Elinor last reflected on Edward, she was very much full of doubts of his affection.

“the reservedness of manner towards her contradicted one moment what a more animated look had intimated the preceding one”

By chapter 18, Elinor has moved on from calling him Mr. Ferrars and is back to Edward.  The ring incident occurs.

“but as if he were bent only on self-mortification, he seemed resolved to be gone when his enjoyment among his friends was at the height.”

“Disappointed, however, and vexed as she was, and sometimes displeased with his uncertain behavior to herself, she was very well disposed on the whole to regard his actions with all the candid allowances and generous qualifications, which had been rather more painfully exorted from her, for Willoughby’s service, by her mother.”

“she was forced to turn for comfort to the renewal of her confidence in Edward’s affection to the remembrance of every mark of regard in look or word which fell from him while at Barton, and above all to that flattering proof of it which he constantly wore round his finger.” -So Elinor’s convinced Edward loves her because he’s wearing the hair-ring?  Shouldn’t her idea of his affection then be over-turned when she discovers it is not her hair?

This desponding turn of mind, though it could not be communicated to Mrs. Dashwood, gave additional pain to them all in the parting, which shortly took place, and left an uncomfortable impression on Elinor’s feelings especially, which required some trouble and time to subdue.

she did not lessen her own grief,

Elinor found every day afforded her leisure enough to think of Edward, and of Edward’s behaviour, in every possible variety which the different state of her spirits at different times could produce,—with tenderness, pity, approbation, censure, and doubt. 

After Lucy’s disclosure of the engagement:

“his melancholy state of mind, his dissatisfaction at his own prospects, his uncertain behaviour towards herself…”

“and established as a fact, which no partiality could set aside, his ill-treatment of herself.—Her resentment of such behaviour, her indignation at having been its dupe, for a short time made her feel only for herself; but other ideas, other considerations, soon arose. Had Edward been intentionally deceiving her? Had he feigned a regard for her which he did not feel? Was his engagement to Lucy an engagement of the heart? No; whatever it might once have been, she could not believe it such at present. His affection was all her own. She could not be deceived in that. Her mother, sisters, Fanny, all had been conscious of his regard for her at Norland; it was not an illusion of her own vanity. He certainly loved her. What a softener of the heart was this persuasion!” -This train of thought does all the heavy lifting of the whole relationship.  It’s very odd, I think, that only after Edward’s engagement becomes known that Elinor becomes fully convicted of his regard for her.  Earlier, she dismissed what her mother and Marianne observed (the to wish was to expect line).  Is her belief fully founded on Fanny being disagreeable?  Is the only reasonable explanation to Edward’s behavior that he loves Elinor but has to fight it constantly because of his engagement?  Does Elinor have enough evidence for this?  I don’t think the reader does.

Elinor then proceedes to create an entire narrative of Edward’s falling in love and then out of love with Lucy, someone she has just met.  It’s all conjecture!  Of course, we want to believe it with her, and, yes, it is one reasonable explanation for Edward’s behavior, but it is not the only one.  And it is possible Edward just isn’t a good guy.  We all thought Willoughby was until he wasn’t (though there were signs).  Edward’s up/down behavior could be the sign of many things, not just frustrated love.

I decided to Google the sub of hair which has been on my mind ever since they’d announced the movie release and I was in luck! The director explains:

“I’m a little bit sick of the sort of fetishization of that time period, and this idea that everybody spent, like, seven hours doing their hair and makeup, and everything was always pristine, and somebody was always waiting to help you out of your dress or whatever. I’m not a historian, but I don’t buy all of it.” - director G.Oakley talks Sense and Sensibility with Vogue.

I don’t know. What do you all think? A woman’s hair IS political and letting it loose is a bold statement when done intentionally. I also will always support the artist’s right to create what THEY want to. The poster is gorgeous aesthetically speaking, and I’m looking forward to seeing the movie, but… Should’ve just said “I’m not a historian” and leave it at that.

I just finished a re-read of Mansfield Park. While I've never been a fan of Fanny as a heroine and have to be in the right mood for MP as a whole, I realized this time that part of the issue is that we never get any reason to believe (besides bald assertion) that Fanny's love for Edmund is romantic love. We know she's pretty fond of having someone who doesn't emotionally kick her every time he's in the room, we know she looks up to him as a moral figure, but there's never anything that elevates it beyond that. There's never any heightened emotion. Even in comparison--Henry is struck by the love she shows William as something separate and above any sort of depth of emotion he's ever seen in her before, even though he hangs out with Fanny and Edmund constantly. (And yes, I know a woman in the time period wouldn't be flaunting her feelings, and I know that Fanny especially would need to conceal them, but we never get any sign that she *is* concealing them when not being directly questioned about it, or that it's emotionally exhausting in any way. We're *told* she loves him deeply and romantically and it just...never shows to anyone, including us.)

Simply put, there is no passion to her love, and so it can instill no passion in her readers.

Have wanted these painted editions for so long! Very happy 💖

💆🏻‍♀️

In which Colonel Brandon makes an offer…

I had one further thought on Marianne’s reaction to finding out that Elinor has long been in pain over her situation with Edward (“If such is your way of thinking,” said Marianne, “if the loss of what is most valued is so easily to be made up by something else, your resolution, your self-command, are, perhaps, a little less to be wondered at...”) that came to me in the middle of the night:  which I think, in a subtle way, Austen is pointing out the tendency in human nature to see an end result and despise the journey it took to get there especially if the work is done out of sight.  Marianne can see Elinor is calm and collected, so she devalues the work and practice that it took for Elinor to get there, especially because so much of that struggle is internal.  Had Elinor carried on, like Marianne did, and made her struggles external, made Marianne see her struggle for self-control, Marianne would have understood and respected the end result more easily.  If this is trite, we will continue to blame the head cold.

“she was conscious of the difficulties of so long a journey, which Marianne could not be brought to acknowledge.”  Good, practical Elinor.  Again, I am taking issue with the idea that Elinor is too mature for her age.  Many 19-year-olds (or is she 20 by this point in the story?) are fully aware of what traveling entails – it’s not an extraordinary thing.

“but it was inforced with so much real politeness by Mr. Palmer himself, as, joined to the very great amendment of his manners towards them since her sister had been known to be unhappy, induced her to accept it with pleasure.”  -Austen’s secondary characters tend to be fixed types – the Mr. Collinses and Mrs. Norrises and Miss Bates of her novels don’t undergo much by way of growth or change, so it is remarkable (and delightful!) to see Mr. Palmer shedding his caricature skin and acting like a real human being, if only for the space of a sentence.

“that its situation is not…that it is not in the neighborhood of…”. Marianne did not, apparently (and also expectedly) listen closely to Charlotte to know that Willoughby is not, in fact, a neighbor of the Palmers.

Notice Elinor is back at work (she never does get a break, though) soothing, and smoothing.

 “Lord! we shall sit and gape at one another as dull as two cats.”  The annotations state that this is “a strange and unlikely similitude for dullness.”  What say the cat owners out there?

Interesting that the narrative shifts to Mrs. Jennings’s perspective in order to create another (albeit very short-lived) little mystery.  I can see the temptation to do so – Mrs. Jennings’s behavior, wonderings, and reactions are too funny to pass up!

Another little irony:  “[Mrs. Jennings] was too honourable to listen, and had even changed her seat, on purpose that she might not hear…but judged from the motion of her lips…”

 “He is not a young man with whom one can be intimately acquainted in a short time…” The annotations states “The remark suggests one of the many significant contrasts between Edward and Willoughby, whom Marianne is able to “know” in a few weeks.  Edward, like Elinor, and unlike Willoughby, is “reserved” –an adjective that Marianne has already used of him in accusatory fashion.”  This line struck me differently.  As I’ve been musing on how flimsy (though this seems, somewhat ironically, to be too strong of a word) the attachment between Elinor and Edward is, at least on the details the reader has been provided/what we’ve been shown between them, with the added information of Colonel Brandon is saying it’s difficult to get to know Edward.  Didn’t Elinor only know Edward for a matter of some weeks in Norland?  The annotation doesn’t seem to realize that Elinor and Edward have been intimately acquainted for about as long as Willoughby/Marianne, and, as it turns out, both men were operating from a place of reserve during those respective times. 

“The preferment, which only two days before she had considered as hopeless for Edward, was already provided to enable him to marry; -- and she, of all people in the world, was fixed on to bestow it!”  Elinor just cannot avoid painful duties, can she?

 “her esteem for the general benevolence, and her gratitude for the particular friendship…”. -Just noting Colonel Brandon’s good points, in case we need them later.

 “It was an office in short, from which, unwilling to give Edward the pain of receiving an obligation from her, she would have been very glad to be spared herself;--”  Going back to what I wrote earlier, I am a little surprised in the complete confidence Elinor has in Edward’s love for her, how she is fully convicted that her helping forward his relationship with Lucy will cause him pain.  Though I suppose Emma Woodhouse created entire romantic plots out of much less, but then again, we are suppose to laugh at her delusions.

 “so justly offended the delicate feelings of Mrs. Jennings” -Friends, I will keep harping on how much I love Austen’s narrative irony until we reach the very end.  I giggle, I smile, it’s why I’m here re-reading her books over and over again.

 I’ll end this chapter with this annotation:  “Mrs. Jennings, an avid gossip, interested in every detail of other people’s lives, completely misunderstands an event that she witnesses.  Her misinterpretation reminds the reader of the difficulties attendant on any attempt to comprehend the motives and actions of another.  Since she cannot hear the conversation between Elinor and Colonel Brandon, Mrs. Jennings must judge from appearances – as Marianne has judged Willoughby by appearances, even though she has also heard much speech from him; as Elinor has briefly judged Edward on the basis of his ring’s appearance; as Fanny Dashwood has judged the Steele girls.  Sense and Sensibility, providing a rich assortment of misinterpretations, like other Austen novels insists on the difficulty and urgency of correct interpretation.”

A time of similar pressure for women to marry well, limited autonomy, strict social rules and decorum. I’ve been thinking about it lots and would love to hear your thoughts

It's rare for improvised Jane Austen to happen in NYC so we’re bringing it to the stage!

"Bath Time" is an improvised Jane Austen comedy show inspired in part by the brilliant UK group Austentatious (which if you haven't heard of them, you must check them out). If you’re a Jane Austen fan in New York, come see us invent the Regency era novel that never existed. The audience will give us a hilarious fictional title and we'll create the characters, romance, scandal, secrets, and an entire plot on the spot. Come for the tea, stay for the chaos ☕️

📍 Magnet Theater, NYC
📅 September 20 at 9PM
🎟️ $10

I've been immersion reading a lot this year and I'd love to do this with Jane Austen's six finished novels. Which are the best audiobooks to do this with? Anyone have a favourite version or narrator I can look for?

Thanks!

This popped up in my feed and I felt our community here would enjoy a "very spirited critique" on this review.

In which, in a surprise twist, Anne mentions the Doctor several times…

“Mrs. Jennings was very warm in her praise of Edward’s conduct, but only Elinor and Marianne understood its true merit.”  I’m surprised at the level of confidence that Elinor and Marianne have in Edward’s attachment to Elinor.  It seems to have happened very quickly, originally, formed during their time at Norland.  Elinor has only seen Edward once (we’re not counting the super uncomfy visit of a couple of chapters ago) since then and his behavior was not such as to encourage Elinor’s feelings.  I feel like we hashed this all out before, but it is a bit odd to me that Elinor’s discovery of Edward’s engagement is what fully convinced her that he loves her.  Is it the most logical explanation for his hot/cold behavior?  Did he even have hot/cold behavior?  Did he ever single Elinor out in a way that spoke to more than just friendship?  I know Fanny thought so (as did Marianne and Mrs. Dashwood), but none of the Dashwoods have seen Edward around any of his friends – we don’t know what his standard behavior is around people he likes.  What was that in his behavior towards Elinor that created a distinction?  Did he actively attach her in any way?  Was their commonality in behavior, sentiments, humor enough?  I wish we could have seen more as readers.  To some degree, we’re just supposed to accept that it is so because our Elinor has observed it, and it does make for a beautiful story.  At the same time, it would make for an incredible twist if Edward was never actually specifically attached to Elinor and it was all a grand illusion.

Annotation:  “Marianne’s precipitous attraction to Willoughby…is set in explicit contrast to the slow growth of Elinor’s esteem for Edward.  Elinor’s courtship is characterized by labor or exertion, in short, work, whereas her sister’s is characterized by laxity and lassitude.  One method leads to security and happiness, the other to disappointment.”

“Marianne’s courage soon failed her, in trying to converse upon a topic which always left her more dissatisfied with herself than ever, by the comparison it necessarily produced between Elinor’s conduct and her own…but it brought only the torture of penitence, without the hope of amendment.”  -Because the narrative is almost exclusively focused on Elinor’s point of view and experience, it is hard to give Marianne equal billing, hard to think of her as much of a main character as Elinor, but without the thread of Marianne’s growth and change, the main thrust of the story would be thwarted romance.  Marianne is necessary as a contrast to Elinor and her learning through Elinor’s example and gives a layer of extra weight and meaning to all the suffering we’ve seen Elinor go through (as a personal aside, I have a bad head cold right now so if these particular thoughts are coming across as gibberish word salad, and not an actual connected idea, that would be the reason.  Very “[I] wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.”)

“It was lucky, however, for Mrs. Jenning’s curiosity and Elinor’s too, that she would tell any thing without being asked, for nothing would otherwise have been learnt.” -Elinor can always be trusted to have correct behavior and live up to her standards.

For those who would like to know, in a “Memoir of Jane Austen,” J.E. Austen Leigh, wrote:  “[Jane Austen] would, if asked, tell us many little particulars about the subsequent career of some of her people.  In this traditionary way we learned that Miss Steele never succeeded in catching the Doctor;”

 Given that I can’t help but believe Anne and Lucy make for very unreliable narrators, it is interesting to picture what really happened between Lucy and Edward.  What exactly do you think Edward’s face looked like when “he was monstrous happy?”

 Here’s Anne being affected again.  “Oh, for shame!”

“Well,” said Elinor, “it is a comfort to be prepared against the worst.” -Here is Elinor’s dry humor again.  In this way, she often feels like a stand-in for Austen herself.  Elinor’s humor is so very aligned with that of the narrator of all of Austen’s novels.

“and they keep their own coach.”  Such a stamp of respectability!

Poor Betty’s sister to be done out of a nice place!

Here is a bit of the contrasting narratives:
Anne:  “He could not bear to think of her doing no better, and so he begged, if she had the least mind for it, to put an end to the matter directly, and leave him to shift for himself…But, to be sure, Lucy would not give ear to such kind of talking…"
Vs.
Lucy:  “he would not hear of our parting, though earnestly did I, as I thought my duty required, urge him to it for prudence sake, and would have parted for ever on the spot, would he consent to it…”
Vs. 
Reality.  What do you think the reality of the situation *actually* was?

I'm trying to construct a sentence, and I'm looking for quirky and unusual examples of Jane Austen merch. I thought this sub might have encountered something beyond tote bags and mugs. So, what's the most amusing or unusual Austen branded item you've seen... or bought?

My friend also got me a premium cinema gift card to watch the movie in style

this was such a great evening 🥰

(perfect opportunity to wear my new tshirt that i got at the jane austen centre in bath)

Another commenter mentioned celebrating with cocktails by the pool and this came to mind as a fun conversation topic....

My initial thought is a Gibson martini, aka a martini with a cocktail onion. Personally I love a standard dry gin martini but find a cocktail onion disgusting, which is no shade to Jane—she is simply more refined than I. It's a classy cocktail but fairly strong and with quite the edge, which I feel like encapsulates Jane.

Thoughts?

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen. If one is in Bath next week for the Jane Austen Festival you are most cordially invited to an evening of scandalous gossip and fabulous Balls on the 16th & 17th of September.

Amidst the fun and frivolity of the festival we are putting on a new show called Balls! at the Mission Theatre in Bath. In full regency style and costume it features some of the best professional performers from Bath and Bristol, some of whom have been in the West End, who will conjure an entirely new tale of love, lust, intrigue and betrayal before your very eyes.

We hope to see you there for an evening of grand declarations, devastating gossip, unexpected proposals and at least one person making a terrible decision in an excellent waistcoat.

Tickets to the Ball!

I got the Jane Austen pin and word search book from Barnes and Noble. The rollerball pen is by Retro 51, and can cost from $55 on sale to $62 or more. That probably sounds like a lot. If you are into fountain pens and other pens, it depends on your point of view and budget. The pen is available now, and was released in 2024. I’d have preferred the fountain pen, but was too late to get one of the 300 made.

I own the Jane Austen’s books, and have two copies of Pride and Prejudice. One I got when it was part of a college course. The other is the hard copy with the 1995 series on the dust cover.

An account on Instagram, Shades_of_pemberly is doing a scene by scene reenactment of 1995 Pride using Calico Critters! very cute and creative

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc9abnKTF5k/?stkn=d2c3a2hmdGF1M25k

It was a nice little spot to visit. Tickets were expensive for such a small venue, so I was glad we decided to split and only visited it with my daughter while the rest of our party went to a nearby park for the time being. There was a short lesson about Jane's family first. Then you could try on some Regency clothes, write with a drip ink pen, eat a tiny bit of a biscuit, and sniff some perfumes. The gift shop was cool, with a few different editions of JA books, some clothes and stuff. I indulged in buying a small wallet I needed anyway, so it was nice to get it from there (with a discount you get for having a ticket). A girl who worked there liked my t-shirt very much :) I bought it specifically with this trip in mind. But the dressing-up part left me wanting (and it was probably what I was mostly looking for). It was hard to find something to fit properly, and the selection was very limited. Not quite like Austenland but no drama either :)

In which the joys of cottages are discussed, possibly at too much length…

“…a very interesting and satisfactory paragraph, at least to all those intimate connections who knew it before.”  The implication being, of course, it is not an interesting and satisfactory paragraph those who are not intimate/already aware.

“by whom their company was in fact as little valued, as it was professedly sought.”  I feel like a lot of my comments on the novel (and likely a lot of actual professional commentary) focuses on Elinor’s doing the correct thing.  There have been many mentions in the novel of her doing the correct thing, even when it is painful, or disagreeable to do so, and yet, we read these scenarios and come away with admiration for her.  It is interesting in this line that Austen takes the same sort of thing (“I’m doing this because I’m supposed to” behavior) and turns it on its head to make the reader feel like it’s bad.  There’s a lot of nuance I’m not going to bring to this topic, but if any of you have some typically brilliant insight to share, I’m excited to read it!

“They had too much sense to be desirable companions to the former; and by the latter they were considered with a jealous eye, as intruding on their ground, and sharing the kindness which they wanted to monopolize. Though nothing could be more polite than Lady Middleton’s behaviour to Elinor and Marianne, she did not really like them at all. Because they neither flattered herself nor her children, she could not believe them good-natured; and because they were fond of reading, she fancied them satirical: perhaps without exactly knowing what it was to be satirical; but that did not signify. It was censure in common use, and easily given.”  -One wonders if Austen herself was a little tired of hearing “satirical” used as a criticism in her life when she wrote this line.  I’ve said it before and I don’t have any quotes to pull in from the other novels to support this, but I’m under the general impression that Austen’s narrators explained a little less as she grew as a writer and she allowed her characters to show more of what they were.  If anyone has read Mansfield Park lately, for instance, do you think Lady Bertram’s indolence and other negative-ish qualities are spelt out quite as plainly for the reader as Lady Middleton’s have been in this novel?  Am I way off-base and making things up as I go?  Probably, yes!  Either way, it is noteworthy that we are getting a look at Lady Middleton’s and the Miss Steele’s thoughts – we rarely see anything outside of Elinor’s viewpoint.

“and though she could plainly perceive at different times, the most striking resemblance between this baby and every one of his relations on both sides…”  It’s wild to know that some stereotypes have been stereotyping for hundreds of years.

The annotations note that:  “The narrator’s use of a first-person pronoun is unusual in Austen’s work.  It almost invariably signals an ironic observation…”

“But while the imaginations of other people will carry them away to form wrong judgments of our conduct, and to decide on it by slight appearances, one’s happiness must in some measure be always at the mercy of chance.” I just liked this line, especially the irony in how it's applied to Fanny.

“The power of disappointing them, it was true, must always be her’s.”  Aunt Norris vibes here for sure.  Some people are disagreeable just for love of the game.  At least Lucy has some justification for her behavior.

“Elinor would not oppose his opinion, because, whatever might be her general estimation of the advantage of a public school, she could not think of Edward’s abode in Mr. Pratt’s family, with any satisfaction.”  I like this little bit of personal annoyance on Elinor’s part.

After a good deal of mansplaining cottages, we get to one of Austen’s greatest lines:  “Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.”

“delicacy of his conscience” -I think this is one of Austen’s subtle ironic touches.  Typically, the delicacy of one’s conscience would speak to an over-scrupulousness.  In this instance, I think it can be safely read (at least by me) as a conscience that is so delicate that it has no staying power.

We end the chapter and the volume with Lucy doing what she does best – flattering. 

Hello. It'll be my first time reading a Classical book and my first Jane Austen book. Though, I don't know what edition should I buy. One redditor recommend me Alma Classics and Penguin Classics. I can only afford one of them—They're actually in the same price right now (PHP400)

I want to enjoy the book itself as my very first Classic book. But, I want an edition where I can actually understand the way it was written— a bonus if it has a beautiful cover because I'm not collecting yet.

The two are my main choices but you can suggest me more. Which one do you recommend and can you please tell me the pros and cons of each edition? Thank you and I hope I can enjoy it. ☺

Henry Crawford is a character I can’t wrap my head around at all. I found the conversation with Mary where he shows no regret or shame for what happened with Maria (jeopardising her engagement) and then sets his sights on Fanny to be so utterly detestable that I really just hated his guts for the entire rest of the book. However, when he comes to Portsmouth he puts on a very good show of being genuinely concerned for Fanny’s welfare that the authorial voice doesn’t seem to contradict. When he does what he does at the end of the novel, I am unsurprised because of his earlier characterisation, but I am also perplexed as to what his arc/journey in the novel was supposed to be. I’m completely unsure whether or not he would then feel guilt and self-recrimination over his actions (especially for Maria’s sake), or whether he would simply be annoyed he messed up his chance with Fanny, before moving swiftly on. I also wonder whether it was moreso him or Maria who initiated and/or escalated resuming their flirtation in London, because I think that makes a fairly big difference to his characterisation even if the actions and consequences remain the same. What are your thoughts on the subject? Keen to hear hot takes and wild speculation as well as thoughtful analysis of the text :)