Voices from the World of Jane Austen

by Malcolm Day

Jane Austen, arguably still the most popular novelist ever, spend much of her life between 1775 and 1817 shut away in the depths of rural England. Her books evocatively inform our vision of the times, but they are only the starting point for the much wider view of the world contained in these pages - one of stark contrasts between rich and poor, married and single, men and women. Now these lives are revealed in all their detail through the eyewitness accounts of those who lived them as well as the words of Jane herself. Marriage, Wealth and Breeding - and why a ‘good match' was so vital for any self-respecting family. Work and Social Rank - and how your job defined your social position, from landed gentlemen to country parson. Education and Upbringing - how boys went to school and university, and girls got the governesses. Politics, War and Industry - the cries for change, the beginnings of social reform and the privations of conflict. Health and Illness - and how riding, walking and taking the waters kept the Georians fit.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics, Books About Books, 18th Century, British Literature

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2006

Reviews

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 so many errors. Last error...Anne Sharp was Fanny Knight's governess...not Jane Austen's governess...JA didn't have one!!!(stuff it Lady Catherine, they couldn't afford one, nor did they have room for one)

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A super little book for fans of Jane Austen and anyone wanting to know more about the world she lived in. The chapters are easy to dip in and out of, and there are some lovely colour and black and white plates included.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting book that will obviously appeal to those who are fond of Jane Austen. To be sure, there are other ways that a book like this could be labeled or marketed. It could be labeled as a source that discusses the life and thinking and experience of people in the Georgian or Regency period, but this book does a good job at showing how it is that the writings and life of Jane Austen manage to be a worthwhile and interesting entrance into her times, not least because Jane Austen herself and her family were involved in so many interesting parts of the world of her time, even if Austen herself never married and was not particularly wealthy. It all goes to show, if one is inclined to pay attention to it, just how small the elite world of Jane Austen was when you ponder that her aunt faced the threat of transportation to Australia, two of her uncles ended up admirals in the navy, one of her brothers attended an exclusive party hosted by the Prince of Wales (who himself "requested" a dedication in Austen's novel Emma through one of his courtiers), and one of her nieces married a member of parliament while one of her brothers served a high sheriff in his county, to give but a few examples of how few degrees separated a lady spinster from the highest elites of her place and time.

This book is a sizable one at about 300 pages of material, divided thematically into various chapters that discuss different aspects of the world of the late 1700's and early 1800's. The book begins with an introduction before discussing Jane Austen's family tree. The book begins, naturally enough, with questions of marriage, wealth, and breeding that were at the basis of both Austen's life and writing in their presence and absence. After that comes a chapter that looks at work and social rank, and how those were closely connected in terms of the sorts of jobs that gave class of a kind. This is followed by a chapter on education and upbringing that discussed both schools and more informal learning. This is followed by chapters on both domestic life as well as the way that people behaved in public. There are then chapters about the rhythm of the year and matters of fashion and etiquette. The last two chapters of the book then tackle interesting matters of politics, war, and industry as well as questions of health and illness. The book then ends with a bibliography, chronology, gazetteer, a map of Jane Austen's England, sources, an index, acknowledgements, and picture credits.

One of the aspects of a book like this is that its approach allows one to find out a lot about Jane Austen and her world. All of that is remarkable because for all of Jane Austen's importance in our own world, she had no real relationships with other writers, which is very unusual for writers. Fortunately, this book is able to collect a diverse group of people whose written testimony on a wide variety of mostly English cultural matters is interesting both to those who want to read about Jane Austen's time and place and those who are interested in writing about it as well. One of the more fascinating aspects of that time is just how small of a world it was, and this book conveys that rather accurately. Still, there were a lot of different experiences to be found, and not everyone lived the life of a Jane Austen novel, although a great many people find her realistic fiction about her time a bit on the austere side and want to explore the fantasy life of those who lived even better than her heroes and heroines, who were, after all, people she might have met and danced with and observed, which is lamentably not the case for us today.

[Jamjars · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some interesting information to be found here about life in Georgian/Regency England, however I found it to be a very very dry read and quite difficult to get through.
As I find this time period fascinating it was disappointing that I could find a book on this subject so boring; I definitely prefer The Gentleman's Daughter by Amanda Vickery as it presents a much more engaging social history of the time.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sections that covered the areas Jane Austen wrote about - domestic life, etc - worked better than the Politics, War and Industry which felt forced into the book.
I just don’t find these books with large sections of quotes work well. I’d rather have more analysis by the author or longer quotes.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book that gives you a sense of Georgian England especially during the time of Jane Austen (1775-1817). Using Jane Austen, her books and her life as the framework, readers are introduced to how Jane and her contemporaries would have lived and what would have been of importance to them.

[Carmelita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been dipping in and out of this book for ages now. It gives a lovely insight into Georgian England and its society. One shortcoming is that May sometimes quotes on a topic from primary sources a century apart, undermining his own narrative.

[Duckpondwithoutducks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a history book that describes England in the time Jane Austen was alive. It uses many quotes from Jane's own books, and other authors of the time, to illustrate customs and manners and much more.

[Raquel Curvacheiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great "curiosity" book, that, from the premisses of Jane Austen's books, and other people's (fictional and real) quotations, gives us a taste of Georgian life in England. Highly recommend it!

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read July 2011.