Reading, Writing and Emma
Dr. Gillian Dow, of the Chawton House Library and the University of Southampton in England, considers women's reading in the Regency period as well as the authors that inspired Austen in Emma, and those who in turn were inspired by it.
"Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was twelve years old. I have seen a great many lists of her drawing up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through — and very good lists they were — very well chosen, and very neatly arranged — sometimes alphabetically, and sometimes by some other rule. The list she drew up when only fourteen — I remember thinking it did her judgment so much credit, that I preserved it some time; and I dare say she may have made out a very good list now. But I have done with expecting any course of steady reading from Emma. She will never submit to any thing requiring industry and patience, and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding."
So says Mr. Knightley to Mrs. Weston, Emma's former governess, in chapter 5 of Jane Austen's Emma. Knightley's objections to his future bride are to what he sees as Emma's lack of application as far as her reading is concerned: "handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition" she may be, but she is too flighty, and has not read enough for a well educated girl of her privileged position and class.
Knightley's anxieties about his future bride are very much of the time in which Austen created her hero. Austen's name must always be linked with the Regency period (1811-1820), and indeed Emma was dedicated to the Prince Regent, the future George IV. In England
Another of Austen's romantic heroes, Mr. Darcy, famously says in Pride and Prejudice (1813) that a well educated woman must not simply excel at the female accomplishments (music, singing, drawing, dancing, and modern languages, as defined by Miss Bingley), but must add something "more substantial" and look after "the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.'' Elizabeth Bennet is suitably teasing that Darcy cannot know any such creature — but then she demonstrates that she is very well read herself.
What was "extensive reading" to consist of for Austen's female contemporaries and her fictional heroines? Certainly, a diet of pure fiction would not suffice. Indeed, many late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century novels employ the device of a warning from the narrator, directed at their female reader: beware of the dangers of fiction, the young woman is told, it enflames the mind and leads to romantic flights of fancy.
Jane Austen herself is all-too aware of this fear of fiction, and plays with the theme in Northanger Abbey (1818), where Catherine Morland's flights of fancy are shown to be influenced by her reading of Gothic fiction, those "horrid books" that she and her friend Isabella take such pleasure in. Austen's narrator does, however, stand up for the novel in Northanger Abbey: she calls novels by her contemporaries Frances Burney and Maria Edgeworth works in "which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed" and are "conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language." Austen is not afraid to claim the novel as a work that can educate and instruct as well as entertain, and in so doing, she pays homage to earlier female practitioners.
In Emma, the education of the young heroine is in many ways an exercise in learning to read, and many works that are now long-forgotten are mentioned in the course of the novel. Emma herself moves from a misreading of many characters and situations in Hartfield and Highbury to reading correctly, with Knightley's guidance and help.
What characters actually read (or fail to read) can even serve as a device that informs Austen's intricate plot. As a committed matchmaker, Emma is determined to turn her protégé Harriet Smith's attentions away from the farmer Mr. Martin as a potential suitor. Emma first meets with success when she reminds Harriet that he has failed to get either Ann Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest (1791) or Regina Maria Roche's The Children of the Abbey (1796) — both popular novels that Harriet has recommended to him. From planting the seeds of doubt about Robert Martin in Harriet's mind, Emma then moves on to recommend Mr. Elton to her friend by employing him in reading aloud while she draws Harriet's portrait: "Mr. Elton was only too happy" the narrator tells us, "Harriet listened, and Emma drew in peace."
These misreadings about Harriet, Mr. Martin and Mr. Elton, along with the misunderstanding about Frank Churchill's feelings, and the nature of his relationship with Jane Fairfax, threaten to ruin Harriet's happiness as well as Emma's own. But Austen gives us a finely plotted happy ending, with order restored and everyone marrying their intended partner. The very last mention of a work of fiction in Emma is of the French novel Adelaide and Theodore (1782), by Stephanie-Felicite de Genlis: a work in which another well-read young heroine finds a happy ending in a suitable marriage.
What have Austen's readers made of Emma? Her contemporaries recognized that there was something new in the novel, and that it was representative of a new style of prose fiction that took inspiration from the ordinary lives of ordinary people. Sir Walter Scott, who was to become the most popular novelist in Europe for a large part of the nineteenth century, said in his 1816 review of Emma that Austen's greatness "consists much in the force of a narrative conducted with much neatness and point and a quiet yet comic dialogue." The author Maria Edgeworth seems to have felt much the same:
"There is no story in it, except that Miss Emma found that the man whom she designed for Harriet's lover was an admirer of her own—& he was affronted at being refused by Emma & Harriet wore the willow—and smooth, thin water-gruel is according to Emma's father's opinion a very good thing & it is very difficult to make a cook understand what you mean by smooth, thin water-gruel."
Where Edgeworth recognizes the comic value of Austen's characterization, another literary woman, the celebrated Charlotte Brontë, has less praise to offer:
I have likewise read one of Miss Austen's works Emma—read it with interest and with just the right degree of admiration which the Miss Austen herself would have thought sensible and suitable—anything like warmth or enthusiasm; anything energetic, poignant, heartfelt, is utterly out of place in commending these works: all such demonstration the authoress would have met with a well-bred sneer, would have calmly scorned as outre and extravagant.
Brontë recognizes the refined and the ladylike in Austen's novels, but her romantic hero, Mr. Rochester, and the passion simmering beneath the surface of the mid-nineteenth century Jane Eyre and Villette, are very different to Austen's style.
In more recent times, however, Emma has been recognized as the best example of Jane Austen's technical perfection — it shows an author at the height of her literary skills. As an example of a novel that can be read and reread while finding something new in each rereading, Emma is hard to beat. It should certainly be included in any list of reading for a twenty-first century wannabe heroine or hero!
Emma Synopsis
Episode 1
Rich, independent and kind spirited, Emma Woodhouse has no interest in marriage herself, but is inspired by matchmaking for those around her. Once she has married off her close companions, she settles on the pretty Harriet Smith to fashion into her new playmate and ally. She persuades Harriet that she is too good for her suitor, the farmer Robert Martin, and encourages her to set her sights higher. But close family friend Mr. Knightley warns Emma that her meddling will cause great pain. Undaunted, Emma continues her efforts on Harriet's behalf.
Meanwhile, Emma is intrigued by the mysterious and elusive Frank Churchill, whom she hopes to meet at a party. Frank does not arrive, but instead Emma becomes the subject of unwanted attention from the vicar, Mr. Elton.
A few weeks later, village gossip focuses on the arrival of young Jane Fairfax and a large piano that she has been sent by a mystery admirer. Emma refuses to believe that Mr. Knightley could be the secret admirer.
Episode 2
Emma teases Mr. Knightley about Jane, but he remains tight-lipped. Meanwhile, Frank and Emma plan a ball, and Emma wonders whether she might be in love with him. With her matchmaking officially abandoned, Emma feels cooped up and bored. Mr. Knightley suggests a day trip to Box Hill for a change of scene. He also tells Emma that he suspects Frank and Jane are secretly in love. Emma rebuffs the suggestion — she can personally vouch for Frank's indifference to Jane.
Episode 3
What was intended as a day of fun turns into a day of agony for everyone on the Box Hill excursion. Things come to a head when, egged on by Frank, Emma behaves very badly, insulting Miss Bates. Emma is berated by Knightley and realizes that her behavior was shameful. She tries to repair things with Jane and Miss Bates, but Jane will not see her. Miss Bates tells her that Jane has cried all night and decided to accept a job as a governess. Meanwhile, Knightley goes to stay with his brother in London
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/emma/reading.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/emma/synopsis_ep3.html
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