Embarking On A Course of Study

An Emotional History of Britain (w/ a Jane Austen bit)

I happened upon this great series called Ian Hislop's Emotional History of Britain. It's in three parts but, alas, only part one is on YouTube. Still, it's the part that covers Austen so, hurray!

Ian doesn't only touch on S&S, but also P&P, and Emma. And the curator of the Jane Austen House Museum has some great advice for ladies to follow when choosing who to give your heart to. (Hint: Knightley to Emma: "If I loved you less, I could say more."

Ian walks a bit through the house, which is lovely to see. There's a wonderful peace to this six minute section. I miss her house!

But don't just watch the Austen bit, watch the whole thing. It begins discussing how Brits used to be considered very emotional by other Europeans. And how a romantic sensibility was to be cultivated and prized, in the early to mid 1700s. Then he traces how the tide turned to the 'stiff upper lip'.

The part related to Austen is 42:43 - 48:36.  

(If you can't watch the video, there's a great summary of the segment, with pictures, over at Austenonly.)

Jane Austen's Guide to Dating: Hurray! I'm a 'Lizzy' - Nearly Perfect

I am loving this book!

It's perfect for this project - the dating phase - witty, down to earth, sensible, sweet. Just fabulous, practical, thoughtful advice - the kind your best girlfriend, who has known you since you were in the sandbox or an awkward teen and calls you out on your B.S., would give you. And probably does, but you don't always listen. Bad you.

There are fun quizzes in the back where you find out which Austen character you are. Happily, I am Lizzy, who is described as 'nearly perfect' in the character summary.  But here's the little write up of her when you take the quiz:

"You are Elizabeth - outgoing, funny, and direct. You want a serious relationship, but it's essential for you to find someone you can have fun with or teach to have fun. Your best matches are:

Mr. Darcy (yay!)

Henry Tilney (yep, I could do that)

Captain Wentworth (yum)"

Parenthetical comments are my own. :)

So, having taken that quiz, and being halfway through the book, I decided to look back on my last three long term relationships and try to figure out which Austen character they were.

J. was a John Thorpe, through and through. Boring, self-absorbed, superficial, immature, arrogant, bad-tempered, petulant, thoughtless, clumsy when it came to romance on all levels. Started off as a Henry Crawford, maybe a Frank Churchill, so there could have been some hope if the latter. But no. And thank goodness.

J.P. was an Edmund Bertram. Sweet, kind, smart, good guy, means well and wants a relationship, but can't seal the deal and/or not quite ready for the real thing as he still needs to learn to see the truth of people's character. Should have been a Henry Tilney. Was so close!

F. was a Willoughby who could have been a Colonel Brandon. Enough said.

This past weekend I attended services at an Episcopal church with my sister. Austen's father, George, served as the rector of the parish of an Anglican church and Anglicanism is Episcopalianism today so just trying to hit all the bases here. I'll discuss the experience in another post.

Suffice it to say it was a bit uncomfortable for me as I'm an ex-Catholic and didn't fancy being in any church again. But I'm willing to keep at it for the purposes of this project. There'll be no conversion, though, I assure you!