ProfessorBob has a podcast on Jane Austen's death LINK.
lecture on Austen and patriotism: Remember, her brothers were in the British Navy.
.Francis Austen was her brother. Wikipedia page.
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.Jane lived at a time of change in England: JaneAusten.org discusses the Regency period, when the decadent prince regent took over from his father... and Jane Austen wasn't exactly pleased when he requested that she dedicate a book to him:
Upon finishing her novel, Emma, the Prince Regent gave her 'the honor' of dedicating it to him. Unable to disregard a royal charge, Jane used her words in the dedication to show her disdain:
'To His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, this work is, by His Royal Highness's permission, most respectfully dedicated to His Royal Highness by His dutiful and obedient humble servant, the Author.'
one background for this is his divorce from Princess Caroline, which had implications not just for discussing divorce, morality, and women's rights, but in questioning the monarchy.
The Regency period is a favorite one for romance novels, because it is remembered for it's elegance and strict social rules.
but Jane wrote about the lives of ordinary middle class people, who were in danger of falling into poverty, hence the stress on money in marriage.
although as a clergyman's daughter she undoubtably was familiar with the poor, she rarely wrote about them or the servants but was mainly writing about issues that she saw in her experience. HistoryExtra discusses.
But what about other social issues in those days?
Rural poverty was real and pervasive.
These did not affect their lives directly, but Jane did hint at these problems in her novels. For example:
These did not affect their lives directly, but Jane did hint at these problems in her novels. For example:
one of my interests, but not one that I have seen much written about, is the care of the sick in Austen's novels.
Usually they were cared for at home, not in hospitals of course.
Sense and Sensibility discusses the pneumonia of Marianne Dashwood as an extension of her overly passionate personality. Essay at JaneAustensWorld website here discusses, and contrasts the novel to how this is portrayed in two films.
and Louisa Musgrove's head injury and treatment is discussed in this article.
Louisa Musgrove, who suffers a severe head injury, requires ten weeks of convalescence and undergoes a marked personality change, which we might today attribute in part to post-concussion syndrome but which may reflect contemporary debate about the biological basis of personality and behavior.
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