Roger Ascham, Serving Four Monarchs

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

220px-roger_ascham_-_project_gutenberg_etext_12788 Born in Kirby Wiske (a village in the North Riding), Yorkshire, in 1515, Roger Ascham was the third son of John and Margaret Ascham. Ascham was the steward to Baron Scrope of Bolton. Roger Ascham was a scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, his promotion of the vernacular, and his theories of education. In 1530, Ascham entered St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he studied Greek among other challenging subjects. He received his degree at the age of eighteen on 18 February 1534 and became a fellow of the college in March. At the age of twenty-one, Ascham became master of arts and began tutoring younger students. Ascham became reader in Greek around 1538 until Henry VII founded a lecture to take his place.

00ascham.jpg Ascham was educated at the house of Sir Humphrey Wingfield, a barrister, Ascham tells us, in the Toxophilus under a tutor named R. Bond. His preferred sport was archery, and Sir Humphrey “would at term times bring down from London both bows and shafts and go with them himself to see them shoot.”  In 1545 Ascham published the treatise Toxophilus or the Schole or Partitions of Shooting partly in defense of archery against those who found the sport unbefitting a scholar. The work was dedicated to Henry VIII, who enjoyed the treatise so much that he granted Ascham a pension: ten pounds a year. Ascham was further honored by being assigned to tutor Prince Edward.  

In 1548, after the death of Princess Elizabeth’s tutor, Ascham was appointed to the post of teaching the young woman who would become Queen Elizabeth I. He held the post until 1550 when he left the post without her consent. He was appointed secretary to Sir Richard Morisine and accompanied him to Germany later the same year. During his journey, Ascham wrote his Report and Discourse of the Affairs in Germany containing his impressions on the people and culture of Germany. Ascham also visited Italy, later recounting “the vices of Venice” in The Scholemaster.  Morisine was recalled to England at the death of Edward in 1553, and Ascham returned to Cambridge.

During Ascham’s absence he had been appointed Latin secretary to King Edward, a post he was instated in also under Queen Mary I. In 1554 Ascham married Margaret Howe. Upon Queen Mary’s death in 1558, he was appointed secretary to Queen Elizabeth, and in 1559 he was given the prebend of Westwang in Yorkshire.

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Roger Ascham and Princess Elizabeth. Engraving by Michael Burghers, 17th-c. (via Luminarium)

In 1563 Ascham was invited by Sir Edward Sackville to write a treatise on education. This became The Scholemaster, published posthumously in 1570. Ascham took ill in 1568 with an unidentified disease and died at the age of fifty-three. Hearing of his death Queen Elizabeth is said to have exclaimed: “I would rather have cast ten thousand pounds in the sea than parted from my Ascham.” 

Ascham’s first published work, Toxophilus (“Lover of the Bow”) in 1545, was dedicated to Henry VIII.  “Toxophilus” is a Greek word meaning “the lover of archery.” It is a treatise on the sport of archery. The objects of the book were twofold, to commend the practice of shooting with the long bow, and to set the example of a higher style of composition than had yet been attempted in English. Ascham presented the book to Henry VIII at Greenwich  soon after his return from the capture of Boulogne. Toxophilus was the first book on archery in English. The work is a Platonic dialogue between Toxophilus and Philologus. Editions were published in 1571, 1589 and 1788, and by Edward Arber in 1868 and 1902.

Preface to Toxophilus tells us: To all Gentlemen and Yeomen of England. Croesus, the king famed for his riches, left the world an example: to give most regard to that at which nature has made us most apt. Thus, Englishmen should shoot with the long bow. This weapon should be used in peace as practise for war, and the author advocates that this is an honest and wholesome exercise, says the author. 

At this point, he digresses to discuss the superiority of the classic languages over the English; but he, he adds, that he will follow Aristotle’s counsel, and speak as the common people do. Now, he digresses again to discuss the old chivalric literature, declaring it to have been produced by a “blind kind of living” in the monasteries. Further, he apologizes for not being a perfect archer, but emphasizes that even if the practise is not perfect, one may preach. 

Book I of the piece has Ascham expressing the following ideas: (1) His pleasure that children are taught singing; (2) Even the Bible praises singing; (3) Singing is especially important to preachers and lawyers, for a fine voice moves the passions and singing helps the development of such a voice.

After that, Ascham returns to shooting. All English, he says, love shooting. The practise of shooting will draw young men away from vicious pastimes. It also prepares people for war. 

In Book II, Ascham describes winds – hot, cold; an up-and-down wind or a side wind. When he was traveling once over snow covered fields, the snow was blown in many directions. Thus, he came to know of its variability, which affects the shooting of men. 

In 1563 Ascham began the work The Scholemaster, published posthumously in 1570, which ensured his later reputation. Richard Sackville,  Ascham states in the book’s preface, told him that “a fond schoolmaster” had, by his brutality, made him hate learning, much to his loss, and as he had now a young son, whom he wished to be learned, he offered, if Ascham would name a tutor, to pay for the education of their respective sons under Ascham’s orders, and invited Ascham to write a treatise on “the right order of teaching.” The Scholemaster was the result.

As a former school teacher, I was most interesting in this piece. Book I of The Scholemaster claims a child should just learn grammar, but he should be taught cheerfully. In learning Latin, all should be carefully explained; rules should be learned by examples. Slow students should be treated sympathetically. Sometimes these prove to be the greater men whereas many a bright youth dies unheard of. “Hard wits be hard to receive, but sure to keep.” We should choose carefully those youngsters who are to be sent to the university. They should be sound in body and mind, should have good memories, love learning and labor, should be bold to ask questions. Then, at school, he should be taught “a good order of living” and discipline. 

Ascham goes on to explain that because of the deficiencies in the present methods of teaching, innocence and modesty were rare virtues. Nor can the English depend upon experience to teach a right way of living, for it is a costly way. “Learning teacheth more in one year than experience in twenty.”  He cautions those who live in court to be especially careful to live properly, for others shall imitate them. Then he warns that the young Englishman should be very careful not to follow the way of the Italians for the Italians are subtle and cunning and immoral. They often live in lechery and their religion is a sin. Ascham claims that England should remember that “an Englishman Italianate is the devil incarnate.” The essay closes as follows: “And thus far have I wandered from my first purpose of teaching a child, yet not altogether out of the way, because this whole talk hath tended to the only advancement of truth in religion and honesty of living….” 

There is some criticism of Ascham’s works, including the fact that much of his writing is inspired by the spirit of nationalism. What would ordinarily be a technical treatise, whether on shooting or on education, colored with Ascham’s ardent nationalistic sentiment, becomes a glowing piece of literature. He loved the long simile to draw comparisons, and drew upon nature frequently to fill out these comparisons. He also loved the epigrammatic manner of expression which give a homely quality to the writing of this man who was one of the greatest classical scholars of his are and whose works are full of classical allusions. It was natural for Ascham to fill his writing with Latin and Greek phraseology, but it must be said to his credit, that he explains fully to his reader whatever might be obscure. In general, he wrote with a high degree of clarity. 

Resources: 

“Ascham, Roger” in The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago. 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 617.

History of English Literature: Part I – Early Saxon through Milton. Hymarx Outline Series, Student Outlines Company. Boston, MA.

“Roger Ascham,” Luminarium

“Roger Ascham,” Spartacus Educational 

“Roger Ascham,” Wikipedia 

Posted in British history, drama, Elizabethan drama, history, legacy, literature, Tudors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Learning to Be the “Lady of the Manor”

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

adam-buck-portrait-of-a-mother-and-her-daughter-in-white-dresses-the-daughter-with-a-skipping-rope.jpg Ladies in a country house were expected to practice the “correct” moral, social, and religious customs of the day. Not only were them women judged by these standards, but so were the rest of their family, especially if they acted from character. When Lydia Bennet elopes with George Wickham, she is considered a fallen woman, and by association her sisters were also considered of low morals. Such is the reason Darcy sets out to force a marriage between his old school chum and Elizabeth Bennet’s younger sisters. There would be those who criticized his marriage to Elizabeth because of her connections to trade, but the idea of marrying a woman who sister was of such low morals would not be easily overcome, even by a man of Darcy’s stature in Society. He cannot risk ruining his sister Georgiana’s Come Out by bringing a woman into her life who has relations of such low moral fiber. 

Young girls were trained from an early age to be the perfect Lady of the Manor. They often accompanied their mothers on house calls, church work, charity work, and tending to the cottagers upon the estate. They were expected to read religious tracts to encourage their intellect and charitable natures, but not to expand their thinking to issues of the day. Do you recall Miss Bingley’s description of an accomplished woman in Pride and Prejudice? 

“Oh! certainly,” cried his faithful assistant, “no [woman] can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with.  A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved.”

 

This “education” was not necessarily at the hands of their parents. First, the children had a nurse or a nanny and later a governess to instruct the young ladies in needlepoint, drawing, painting, music, etc. Nurses might have charge of the children of the house for long periods of time while the parents are away. The nurse would be responsible for not only the children’s instruction, but also at meals and playtime and on journeys to the park (while in London) or a family holiday to the seaside or the Peaks. The nurses brought the children down to “visit” with their parents at an appointed time each day.

Meals for the nursery and the schoolroom were prepared separately from the rest of the household. There was little variety in the children’s diets. We often read in our Regency novels of the gruel served over and over again to the children.  Throughout the day, children might be chicken, fish,  jellied soup, a milk or suet pudding, thinly sliced bread, butter, jam or preserves, etc. It was not unusual for the nursery to have its own china and silver and linens. 

2066127.jpg Facilities for the children were often quite sparse in comparison to the rest to the household. Girls’ toys were dolls and doll houses, perhaps a rocking horse or a small ball. Pamela Horn in Ladies of the Manor (page 32) tells us, “The clothing worn by well-to-do children for much of the Victorian and Edwardian period was cumbersome and uncomfortable. Little girls wore numerous petticoats – flannel in winter and stiffly starched cotton in summer. For outdoor excursions there were black-buttoned boots, ornate hats, and coats of pelisses, embellished with tucks, frills or pleats. There was also a large amount of ‘dressing up’ to cope with. According to Sarah Sedgwick, who was a nanny in several large households, winter clothing were retained, irrespective of the temperature, until late September. In winter, girls wore a vest, ‘a woollen binder, drawers, a bodice, a flannel petticoat and on top flannel dresses.’ Summer saw the flannel petticoat exchanged for one of lighter weight, ‘the binder was cotton instead of wool, and the frocks cotton, linen or muslin.’ The same clothes were never worn both morning and afternoon and a further complete change was required before the youngsters went downstairs for the ‘children’s hour.'”

 

Posted in British history, Georgian England, Georgian Era, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, Regency era, Victorian era | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Happy February Birthdays to Some of Our Favorite “Austen” Actors

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

party-clip-art-balloons-different-coloursThese fabulous Thespians have brought us hours of viewing fun in Austen-inspired films. Happy Birthday! 

 

 

 

2550-ciaranhinds1bMichael-Amini_Jane-Seymour9 February – Ciarán Hinds, who portrayed Captain Frederick Wentworth in 1995’s Persuasion

15 February – Jane Seymour, who portrayed Mrs Wattlesbrook in Austenland

 

80795cf07e9cf5158827991a453ed48ffac2d4a2MV5BMTYzOTQzMDM4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTcxNzgwNA@@._V1_UX214_CR0,0,214,317_AL_17 February – Benjamin Whitrow, who portrayed Mr Bennet in 1995’s Pride and Prejudice

18 February – Greta Scacchi, who portrayed Cassandra Austen in Miss Austen Regrets

 

MV5BMTI3NDQ3NTMwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMzY4NjEz._V1_SX640_SY720_brenda-blethyn420 February – Anthony Head, who portrayed Sir Walter Elliot in 2007’s Persuasion 

20 February – Brenda Blethyn, who portrayed Mrs Bennet in 2005’s Pride and Prejudice 

 

images21 February – Alan Rickman, who po469900_1rtrayed Colonel Brandon in 1995’s Sense and Sensibility (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016)

22 February – Julie Walters, who portrayed Mrs Austen in Becoming Jane

 

441079-downton-abbey-robert-bathurst-sir-anthony-strallan22 February – Robert Bathurst, who porUFzuW-tbtrayed Mr Weston in 2009’s Emma

23 February – Tamsin Greig, who portrayed Miss Bates in 2009’s Emma

 

 

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25 February – Douglas Hodge, who portrayed Sir Thomas Bertram in 2007’s Mansfield Park

url                                          28 February – John Carson, who portrayed Mr Knightley in 1972’s Emma 

Posted in film adaptations, Great Britain, Jane Austen, real life tales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Lovely World of the English Language ~ Do You Know These Idioms?

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

Unknown Are you like me? Do you wonder from where a particular phrase originates? I am often in a position to search out a phrase or a word to determine whether it is too modern for my writings set in the Regency Period of British History. I once had an editor who changed my sentence from “He donned his cloak and beaver” to “He donned his cloak with the beaver lining.” For those of you reading this who are not aware, a “beaver” was a type of hat worn by gentlemen of the Regency period.

So, what are some of you favorite phrases? These are ones which have always brought forth my curiosity…

“Crying Uncle”
Being from West Virginia, colloquialisms abound in my language. The boys would often taunt each other to cry “uncle” or even to cry “cavey.” The “uncle” part could be traced to the Latin phrase, Patrue mi patruissinme, which means “Uncle, my best of uncles!” – a fair cry for someone crying quits in a matter of wills. Meanwhile “cavey” is a corrupted contraction of peccavi, meaning “I am at fault.”

notes2p6.JPG “Whipping Boy”
We know this phrase lies in the use of a scapegoat for an inflicted punishment. Some five hundred years prior, a royal prince was considered sacred; therefore, no governess or tutor would dare to strike the child. In the early 1600s in England, a “whipping boy” was presented with the punishment meant for the prince. The son of James I (who was to become Charles I) was the first reportedly to be given the reprieve of a punishment at the expense of a lad known as William Murray, his fellow pupil.

“On Tick”
This was originally a form of an IOU. “On Ticket” was a form of note of hand, a written notice of indebtedness. The contracted “On Tick” came into use in the early 17th Century. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the phrase first coming into use in 1642, but we know such words and phrases are likely around for 20 years or more before they show up in a dictionary.

“High Jinks”
This phrase was first used by Sir Walter Scott in Guy Mannering: “[t]he frolicsome company had begun to practicse the ancient and now forgotten pastime of High Jinks.”

“On the Carpet”
Originally “on the carpet” referred to something “on the table,” meaning something to discuss. However, in the early 18th Century, the mistress of the house placed the table coverings upon the floors of their bedchambers. Later, a servant might “walk the carpet,” meaning he/she was called before his/her master or mistress for a reprimand. We in America have transformed the phrase to “on the carpet.”

not_worth_a_hill_of_beans_tshirt.jpg “Not Worth a Hill of Beans”
This is one of the oldest phrases common to our language. Robert of Gloucester used it in his English Chronicles of 1297:
Be king of alimayne sende specialliche inou
To king Ion bat he wipdrowe him of is wou
& vnderuenge be erchebissop holichurche al clene
Lete abbe ir franchise & al nas wurp a bene.
{The king of Almain sent especially to king John to forget his hurt, and receive the archbishop, and let Holy Church have her franchise, clear and clean; although not worth a bean.}
Americans inserted the “Hill” to the phrase during the later part of the 1800s. It added an exaggerated emphasis, a characteristic common to Americanisms.

GOP-Spite-Your-Face.jpg “Cutting Off One’s Nose to Spite His Face”
This one likely stems from a French 17th Century phrase. In the 1658 Historiettes of Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux, one finds “Henri iv conçut fot bien que détruire Paris, c’étoit, comme on dit, se couper le nez pour faire dépit à son visage.” Essentially, this says Henry IV would know destroying Paris would be as foolish as cutting off his own nose. The French phrase made its way to England by the end of the 18th Century and was recorded in Grose’s A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue” (1796).

“Alpha and Omega”
Needless to say, these are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and the meaning comes from that particular fact, but did you know that “alpha” and “omega” are found in the Bible in the “The Revelation of St. John the Divine”? The phrase is repeated four times: in both the 8th and the 11th verses of chapter one; in the 6th verse of chapter 21; and in the 13th verse of chapter 22.

“Jitney”
This term became popular in the early 1900s in the United States as a slang term for a nickel. The term was transferred to the passenger vehicle (except for a streetcar) which required a five-cent fare. Dr. F. H. Vizetelly suggests the word might be a corruption of jetnée in a catch song of the French-speaking Louisiana Negro:
Mettons jetnée dans li trou
Et parcourons sur la rue –
Mettons jetnée – si non vous
Vous promenez à pied nu!
(Translation: Put a jitney in the slot; And over the street you ride; Put a jitney – for it not; You’ll foot it on your hide.)

“Fortnight” or “Sennight”
The Anglo-Saxons who had conquered Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries did not accept the idea of seven days = one week. Instead, they clung to the traditional phrasing of calling a week “seven nights.” Their term became seofon nihta in Old English, which was eventually corrupted into the term sennight. For those of us who write Regency pieces, a “sennight” is 7 days. Austen uses the word when Mr. Collins assures Mr. Darcy that Lady Catherine was well when he had last seen her a “sennight” past. “Fortnight” comes from the Old English feowertene nihta, meaning 14 nights – eventually contracted into “fortnight.”

“Milliner”
In the early 16th Century Milan traders flocked to English ports, bringing with them products from Milan and from Lombardy – chief among them textile goods such as Milan gloves and lace and ribbons, as well as steel work. At the time, the English pronounced “Milan” as if the city’s name rhymed with “villain.” Therefore, Milan merchants became “Milaners,” which was pronounced as if it were “milliners.” Thus, “Milliner” became the accepted spelling. The use of “millinery” to refer to women’s headgear came about in the years which followed.

So, tell me some of your favorites. Are there those we should search out together? Perhaps, I should make this a regular feature on my blog. It was certainly fun to organize.

Posted in word origins, word play | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Happy Book Birthday to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

220px-PrideAndPrejudiceTitlePage.jpg images.jpg Today marks the 204th Anniversary of the release of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and in my humble opinion, the world is a better place for having read Austen’s most popular work. 

Publisher T. Egerton, Whitehall
Publication date
 28 January 1813
Media type Print (Hardback, 3 volumes)

After her death, during the nineteenth-century romantic period, Austen was often looked upon with begrudging admiration, as her elevation of intelligence over feeling contradicted the romantic temperament. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, however, Austen’s reputation rose considerably, and she gradually gained an enthusiastic cult of admirers that were known as the “Janeites.” In America, Austen was little known before 1900, but by mid-century she was receiving more critical attention there than in England. In the last decades of the twentieth century, Austen and her works received considerable attention from the general public: Most of her novels were adapted into films, modern novelists wrote sequels to Pride and Prejudice and endings to Sandition, and a mystery series was even developed with Jane Austen herself as the heroine.

 

Posted in book release, books, British history, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Pre-Elizabethan Drama: The Interlude

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

51AvMASH0VL._SX289_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg Pre-Elizabethan drama moved from miracle plays to morality plays to folk plays to interludes. Interludes were the last to develop. Initially, “interludes” were closed identified with morality plays, especially in subject matter. 

Precursors to Elizabethan Drama summarizes the development from Morality plays to interludes. “A separate class of drama, called the morality play, also became popular in medieval England. Morality plays, like the later developed Renaissance masques, may seem a little strange to us, as they were more allegorical in nature. That is to say, the characters were not individuals, but rather abstract concepts. For example, in the most famous morality play, Everyman, some of the characters include Death, Knowledge, Strength and Discretion. The purpose of the plays was, generally speaking, to illustrate the conflict between good and evil.

“Here again, we must not believe that such a genre could ever possibly survive were it to be all humorless instruction. The important, and very popular, development of the English morality play was the introduction of a fatuous character called Vice, to which the Elizabethan authors refer repeatedly. Vice, the tempter of man, served the Devil, but his main role seemed to be to “torment and tease” his master, to the guaranteed delight of the audience.

“Another type of play, called the interlude, developed in the 16th century. Its great practitioner was John Heywood. An interlude was brief play of a non-religious nature (we must note, however, that the terms interlude and morality play overlap, and it may not be easy, nor is it usually necessary, to absolutely categorize a given play as one type or another); for example, in Heywood’s The Play of the Weather, the god Jupiter has to determine what kind of weather to provide England, and a debate ensues between two Millers, a Gentleman and a Ranger about what kind of weather is most desirable. Again, we see that we have characters that are not developed individuals, but rather character-types.”

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The First Stage ~ Miracles, Moralities and Interludes, Everyman/Hickscorne/Magnyfycence/The Play of the Sacrament/Pride of Life/The Castell of Perseverance/Mary Magdalene/Mind, Will & Understanding/Fulgens & Lucres/Mundus et Infans

Moralities continued to be heavy in lessons in ethics. They were designed for the lower classes and presented before large audiences. The moralities denied the idea that physical pleasure and intelligent speculation against the superstitions of the day could be enjoyed without eternal damnation. These plays purported the life everlasting.

Meanwhile, by 1500, interludes separated themselves from what were termed as morality plays. First, they were shorter. Secondly, the audience changed. They were accepted by a more aristocratic viewer. Finally, they lost their moral emphasis. The interludes spoke of the values found in the world. Condemnation for enjoying some of life’s pleasures was not the subject matter. 

renaissance-theatre-troupe.jpeg Interludes were performed at colleges or at the homes of the wealthy. They were often staged between the courses of a supper. The dialogue was very lively and contemporary (politics, new scientific discoveries, the secular elements of religion, etc.). Interludes spoke of the ruling group, changing from emphasis on Protestants to Catholics, and back again. Sometimes they went so far as to “attack” a person or a cause. They might, for example, defend a personage. In John Skelton’s Magnificence, the plot satirized Thomas Wolsey, a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. 

John Heywood, who was mentioned above, was likely the best known writer of interludes. In his early days, Heywood served as Master of Revels at court, meaning he was to provide pleasant entertainment for those the Court hosted. Heywood studied the works of Chaucer and Boccaccio. He borrowed some of their favorite characters for his plays: friars, poticaries, peddlers, wives, husbands, pardoners, priests, etc.). He used them in situations which were also similar to the early tales. In The English Drama 900-1642 (W. W. Norton, 1963), editors Edd Winfield Parks and Richmond Croom Beatty tell us, “He [Heywood] was fortunate in appearing before the regular drama had had opportunity to develop. After him the men who wrote Interludes were mostly uninspired versifiers who found the new and lusty national drama too vigorous a form for their taste. They returned to the stock devices of early writers, they were lacking in humor and resourcefulness, and as a result their achievement is, by comparison, dull Writers of genuine talent had turned to the regular drama.” 

 

 

 

 

Posted in British history, Chaucer, drama, Elizabethan drama, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Fitzwilliam Darcy: Hero or Bad Boy? Guest Post from Martine Roberts

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

This post was originally posted on Austen Authors, but I thought it worthy of a second look. From Martine Roberts we have a post on our favorite Austen hero (or it that our favorite bad boy)?

IT is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

This is the first, and undoubtedly the most famous sentence from Jane Austen’s popular, and much-loved novel, Pride & Prejudice. 

It is now 203 years since this magnificent piece of fiction was published, but it is still, if not more, popular than ever. I cannot help but ask why? Is it because we all love a love story, or maybe it’s because we enjoy the lively exchanges between Elizabeth and Darcy. Alternatively, perhaps it is because we all secretly love to see a bad boy turn good? Did Jane purposely write Darcy in this style? Or maybe she underestimated the attraction Darcy’s character would have on the female population?

There have been many visual incarnations of the Fitzwilliam Darcy character over the years, and everyone who has watched one, or all of these productions has their favourite.

My personal introduction to Mr. Darcy was at the tender age of 9, when I first watched the 1940 film version starring, Sir Laurence Olivier.
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Unaware of the multitude of inaccuracies in the film, I was nevertheless hooked.  I was seduced by the language, the clothes, their manners, and courtesies. I can’t think of anything more romantic than to have a man bow to me and then press a light kiss on my outstretched hand, (sigh). Though for a star-struck child from a working-class family, it was the prospect of a happy ending.

However, today’s generation have a plethora of Darcy’s to choose from. The two most recent, and apparently most popular, are the BBC mini-series starring the delectable Colin Firth, and his now iconic wet shirt scene. And the deliciously handsome, Matthew MacFadyen from the 2005 film version. And although Matthew did not walk out of a lake half undressed, his proposal during a thunderstorm was just as seductive. (Hands up all those who longed for him to kiss Keira Knightley in that scene?)

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Before either of these, there was the rich-voiced David Rintoul in the 1980 mini-series, which is for some reason is rarely shown on TV.

We must also include a slightly different incarnation of P & P, and one of my personal favorites, Lost in Austen, which is another TV mini-series set in both modern and the Regency times. It is a must for all Austen fans. Though Elliot Cowen’s Mr. Darcy is the only character that remotely resembles the one Jane invented, it is still very watchable.

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images-3These are just a few of the versions available to us. We also have the Bridget Jones films, Death Comes to Pemberley, Austenland, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, etc., etc., etc.

So, what is it that attracts us to this man? Jane’s initial description of him is rather vague.

‘Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend’

Miss Austen does not describe Darcy as having a thick head of curly hair, or that he possessed piercing blue eyes, yet these are properties we automatically attribute to him.

Undoubtedly she describes him as a gentleman of noble birth, yet he lacks all the social niceties considered essential in the day. He is rude, arrogant, proud, intolerant and over-confident of his self-worth. Having said that, let’s not forget that Jane also tells us that Darcy is tall, handsome, AND incredibly wealthy. OK, the last two items might have some influence on us, but what about Darcy as a person.

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images-5Is it because we secretly like the excitement that inevitably comes with a bad boy? Alternatively, it may be that we like to imagine that we could be the one person who could touch his heart, and by doing so, reform him? Or, is it that we cannot resist a challenge?. For me, it is all these reasons.

Jane Austen certainly knew one thing; a good novel had to have four things;

A hero, a villain, and a love story and a happy ending

In fact, all of Jane’s books follow a very similar recipe.

Each novel has a hero.

Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice, Mr. Knightley in Emma, Captain Wentworth in Persuasion, Edward Ferrars in Sense & Sensibility, Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park, and finally Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey.

And the proverbial ‘bad guys.’

George Wickham, Mr. Elton, Mr. William Elliot, Willoughby, Captain Fredrick Tilney, and Henry Crawford.

Thankfully, (spoiler alert) Jane provides us with a happy ending in all her books.

And who could fail to be impressive by how Jane misleads us throughout the book, intertwining the character traits of Darcy and Wickham, making them both appear slightly bad while remaining generally decent. Only later in the story, as their real natures are revealed, do we discover their true worth. Darcy is the good guy with a bad reputation, while Wickham is a scoundrel, with all the appearances of being a good man. 

Yet no other of Jane’s novel have been so reproduced, or are so loved, as her baby, Pride & Prejudice. There are also thousands of spin-off books written every year on the subject. These are generally described as ‘What if’s’ or Pride & Prejudice Variations, usually involving some, or all of her characters, and some, or all of the plot lines from Jane’s original story. Indeed, I write them myself. Amazon.com: Martine J Roberts: Kindle Store

So, what is it about this book in particular? It is Darcy!

georgiana-and-wickham-at-ramsgate-2-300x225Imagine you are seeing or reading Pride & Prejudice for the first time. Initially, Jane gives us permission to dislike Darcy. Indeed, we could do nothing but dislike him. To promote this, Jane made his character rude, cold and aloof, in stark contrast to, Elizabeth and Wickham’s, which are warm, witty, and charming. It is only as the story unfolds that we learn of Darcy’s struggles, especially where Wickham and Georgiana are concerned. Only then, does our hearts begin to soften.

The heavy responsibility of a large estate, a young sister to raise, the friend who turns out to be an enemy, not to mention suffering delusional relatives or the dozens of servants and tenant’s that rely on him. His responsibilities are heavy indeed.

Then, as our budding like of Darcy begins to unfold like a flower, he does the most selfless thing imaginable. In rescuing Lydia, and by default all her sister’s, Darcy bind’s himself to his nemesis forever. With this final act of chivalry, Darcy’s transformation is complete, and our hearts are finally won.

Personally, I liked Darcy just the way he is, gorgeous, rich, and a little bit dangerous. (I loved how he dealt with Mrs. Younge and Wickham).

For whatever reason, you like this novel, I would like to think that Jane was sending a message through the media of her book.

Love can cross any divide; we should never give up hope, and real love is worth the wait.

What do you think?

You may find Martine Roberts at these links: Amazon Author Page and Facebook

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Posted in book release, books, eBooks, excerpt, fashion, film, film adaptations, Georgian England, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, love quotes, marriage, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

A Changing of the Guard…

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

This is not meant to be a political post, so NO “haters,” please. As an author, I DO NOT discuss politics or religion publicly. Heck, I barely discuss those topics with family and friends, for I consider both quite personal subjects. Therefore, I will delete comments that grow nasty or too opinionated.

We sometimes think that history happens elsewhere, and we merely read about it. But history has a way of extending its finger and etching a line upon our souls. Therefore, this is a quick look back at the U.S. in my near 70 years on this earth, especially from the perspective of my hometown of Huntington, West Virginia. Huntington is a small town of some 70,000 people upon the Ohio River. Like many towns and cities in the United States, it has seen its moments of greatness and of despair.

In my lifetime, I have known thirteen presidents. They were…

33. Harry S. Truman (April 12, 1945—January 20, 1953). Democratic. Democratic. Truman served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third vice president and succeeded him on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died less than three months into his fourth term. During his presidency Truman had to deal with many challenges in domestic affairs. He established the Truman Doctrine to contain communism and spoke out against racial discrimination in the armed forces.
(Truman spoke in Huntington, West Virginia, my home town, on October  1, 1948, near the end of a nationwide campaign tour. He spoke from the armor-plated Pullman private car Ferdinand Magellan, which was rebuilt for Roosevelt’s secure use during World War II. Nearly everyone was surprised when Truman defeated New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey in the November 2 general election. Incidentally, Ken Hechler, who would go on to be a 4th District congressman from West Virginia and West Virginia Secretary of State, worked as one of Truman’s speechwriters for a while. I will admit not to recalling Truman’s presence in Huntington for I was but a year old at the time, but my Aunt Alma assured me I was present.)

34. Dwight D. Eisenhower (January 20, 1953—January 20, 1961). Republican. Before his service as the 34th U.S. President, Eisenhower was a five-star general in the U.S. Army. During WW2 he served as Supreme Commander of Allied forces with responsibility for leading the victorious invasion of France and Germany in 1944 to 1945. His focus as President was to reverse end U.S. neutrality and challenge Communism and corruption. He drafted NASA to compete with the Soviet Union in the space race.
(I recall as a child marching up and down the sidewalk before our house and chanting “I like Ike.” Neither my cousins or I knew much about politics, but we enjoyed the Presidential slogan.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke in Portsmouth, Ohio (on Norfolk and Western Railroad) and Kenova and Huntington (on the Baltimore and Ohio) when his 18-car Look Ahead Neighbor Special stopped at those points on September 24, 1952. His talk in Huntington came from the rear platform of New York Central business car 17.
Eisenhower’s body came through Huntington again on the morning of April 1, 1969, en route to burial in Abilene, Kansas. And on the way back from Kansas, when the train stopped to change crews in Huntington on April 4. Mamie Eisenhower came out on the rear platform of the AT&SF Railway private car Santa Fe to thank people for their concern and sympathy.)

35. John F. Kennedy (January 20, 1961—November 22, 1963). Democratic. Also known as JFK. At age 43 Kennedy was the second youngest president ever when elected, after Theodore Roosevelt. JFK was the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize and the only Catholic president. Events that happened during Kennedy’s presidency included the building of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban missile crisis, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the early Vietnam War, the Space Race, and the African American Civil Rights Movement.
(Ironically, I was in American history class when the school announced that Kennedy was shot in Dallas. We were devastated. My small town rolled up the streets. We all went home to grieve for the man. He was a Presidential candidate to come to my home state of West Virginia to campaign. There are images of him in the coal fields of the mountainous states. A whole scene in Homer Hickam’s best-selling novel Rocket Boys, later turned into the movie October Sky, was based on that experience.)

36. Lyndon B. Johnson (November 22, 1963—January 20, 1969). Democratic. President Lyndon Johnson was one in four presidents to have served in all four federal offices of the U.S. government (President, Vice President, Representative, and Senator). He was well known for his domestic policies, including civil rights, Medicaid, Medicare, Public Broadcasting, the “War on Poverty,” educational aids, and environmental protection. However, his foreign strategy with the Vietnam War dragged his popularity.

(Johnson’s escalation of the Vietnam War marked my generation. Friends and family went to fight in a country few of us could locate on a map. The experience scarred us, but made us stronger in so many ways.)
37. Richard Nixon (January 20, 1969—August 9, 1974). Republican. President Nixon was the only president to resign from office. His presidency involved improvement of relations with the People’s Republic of China, the ending of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and the achievement of détente with the Soviet Union. Nixon’s second term was riddled with controversy of the Watergate scandal.
(Many will think me a bit crazy, but I can honestly say I felt safer during Nixon’s presidency than at many times in my life from a worldwide standpoint, for he had served the U.S. as Eisenhower’s advocate to the world. He had dealt with many of the world’s leaders as Eisenhower’s Vice President. We simply remember him for his resignation, but we should also know that Nixon ended American involvement in the war in Vietnam and brought the American POWs home, and ended the military draft.  He initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty  with the Soviet Union. His administration generally transferred power from Washington to the states. He enforced desegregation of Southern schools.)

38. Gerald Ford (August 9, 1974—January 20, 1977). Republican. Ford was assigned vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned during Richard Nixon’s administration. When Nixon resigned, Ford became president. While in office Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, easing relations during the Cold War. Involvement in Vietnam essentially ended not long after he became president when North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam. The economy was the worst since the Great Depression while he was in office. He also granted a presidential pardon to President Richard Nixon for the Watergate scandal, which drew controversy towards his name. He is credited with helping to restore public confidence in government after the disillusionment of the Watergate era. Ford understood that his decision to pardon Nixon could have political consequences, and it probably cost him the presidency in 1976. That year, he lost a close election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. Ford took the loss in stride, however, telling friends that he had planned to retire from Congress that year anyway. He viewed his brief tenure in the Oval Office as an unexpected bonus at the end of a long career in politics. Ford often said that he was pleased to have had the opportunity to help the nation emerge from the shadow of Watergate.
(As a teacher with a several degrees as a reading specialist, Ford impacted my life when he signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which established special education throughout the United States. I began my teaching experience as a special education teacher in an ESEA [Elementary and Secondary Education] Title I program. I also recall sitting in gasoline lines in 1973. Do any of you hold this memory?)

39. Jimmy Carter (January 20, 1977—January 20, 1981). Democratic. Carter was the 39th President of the U.S. and the only to receive a Nobel Peace Prize (in 2002) after leaving office. As president, he created two new cabinet departments: the Department of Education and the Department of Energy. The end of his term saw the Iran hostage crisis and the failure of its major rescue operation, resulting in the deaths of eight American servicemen, one Iranian civilian, and the destruction of two aircraft, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the 1979 energy crisis, and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
(I recall how he boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and how he espoused a process of bureaucratic streamlining and was responsible for deregulating the airline, trucking, rail, communications, and finance industries.
To understand the magnitude of change we have witnessed in the last 20 years or so, remember that in 1980 the Interstate Commerce Commission regulated both trucking and the railroads. “Ma Bell” had a nationwide monopoly in which long distance calls came through copper wires, each strand with the capacity of carrying 15 calls. (A single fiber optic line in use today can carry 2 million calls.)

Airlines had been “deregulated” for only two years. Government controlled the pricing and allocation of oil in the United States. “Regulation Q” and other restrictions on banks and financial institutions kept capital formation in the doldrums. Another way of putting it was that many sectors of this economy were more socialistic then than they are now.Carter’s administration played a large part in many of the deregulation efforts.)

40. Ronald Reagan (January 20, 1981—January 20, 1989). Republican. Prior to becoming a politician Ronald Reagan had been a radio broadcaster and actor. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and economics. As president, Reagan implemented new economic policies that became known as “Reaganomics.”
(He advocated tax rate reduction to spur economic growth, control of the money supply to curb inflation, economic deregulation, and reduction in government spending.The tax cuts  were signed in August of 1981. These enactments were a major reduction in domestic expenditures and the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, were designed to lower federal revenues over a five year period in the amount of $737 billion. Secondly, he advocated the reduction of nuclear arms with the signing of the INF treaty together with Mikhail Gorbachev on December 8, 1987. This treaty eliminated all cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,000 kilometers. “Tear down this wall!” is a line from a speech made by Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961.

In his first term Reagan survived an assassination attempt, which scared the “Bejesus” out of the county after what happened to Kennedy.)
41. George H. W. Bush (January 20, 1989—January 20, 1993). Republican. Before becoming the 41st President of the U.S., George H. W. Bush served as the 43rd Vice President, an ambassador, a congressman, and Director of Central Intelligence. He served as a U.S. Navy aviator during World War II. After the war he attended and graduated from Yale in 1948. He went into the oil business and became a millionaire by age 40.
(By this time, presidents and presidential candidates were spending more time in the air than on the rails. But George H.W. Bush (“Bush 41”) broke with the new tradition and rode a 19-car campaign train from Columbus, Ohio, to Plymouth, Michigan, on Sept. 26, 1992, and Plymouth to Grand Blanc, Michigan, on Sept. 27. The train, which was assembled in Huntington, was pulled by two of CSX Transportation’s month-old locomotives, 7812 and 7810. The lead unit was all decked out in a patriotic red, white, blue and yellow scheme that included American flags on its flanks and a phony number, 1992. Reserved for the president’s use was CSX business car Baltimore, and protective trains preceded and followed the POTUS train.)

42. Bill Clinton (January 20, 1993—January 20, 2001). Democratic. Clinton was elected into office at 46, making him the 3rd youngest president. He was the first president of the baby boomer generation. He graduated from Yale Law School. Clinton was involved in a scandal with a White House intern, which nearly got him impeached. Despite that, his work as president earned him the highest approval rating of any president since World War II.
(On August 25, 1996,  Bill Clinton rode Amtrak’s 13-car Twenty-First Century Express from Huntington to Michigan City, Indiana, to convince Americans that the country was “on the right track to the 21st century” and to accept his party’s nomination for a second term at the Democratic National Convention meeting in Chicago in 1996. His private car was the Georgia 300, owned by Fernandina Beach, Florida, mortician Jack Heard. Locally, Clinton spoke in Huntington and Ashland; Billy Ray Cyrus sang the national anthem at the latter stop. Interestingly, another route through Pittsburgh was considered that would have avoided Huntington, but Dick Morris, in his book Rewriting History, says Hillary Clinton herself nixed it.
“She warned that the Secret Service ‘will shut down the entire Eastern Seaboard just to embarrass us,'” Morris quoted Clinton’s wife as saying. “‘They’re mostly Republicans. They hate us. They always take the most extreme option just to cause us embarrassment. We enter a city, and they close down all traffic. We can’t go to Pittsburgh!'”)

43. George W. Bush (January 20, 2001—January 20, 2009). Republican. Bush graduated from Yale in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, working in oil businesses after. Bush advocated policies on health care, the economy, social security reform, and education. In 2005 Bush was criticized for his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina. With the combination of dissatisfaction with the Iraq War and the longest post-World War II recession in December 2007, Bush’s popularity declined sharply.
(George W. Bush and running mate Dick Cheney campaigned in several states by rail in 2000, but when Bush campaigned in Huntington, he came by air and stayed overnight at the Radisson Hotel Huntington, now the Pullman Plaza Hotel.}

44. Barack Obama (January 20, 2009—???). Democratic. Obama was the first African American U.S. president. He was previously a U.S. Senator from Illinois. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. He will be remembered for Obama Care and some not so popular foreign affairs. His legacy is yet to be named. 

Donald_Trump_August_19,_2015_(cropped).jpg 45. Donald J. Trump (June 14, 1946 — ???} Republican. Trump is an American businessman, politician, and television personality. He is President of the U.S. as of today. His legacy, like Obama’s, is yet to be defined. Trump won the general election on November 8, 2016, gaining a majority of electoral college  votes, while receiving a smaller share of the popular vote nationwide than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.  At age 70, Trump will become the oldest and the wealthiest person to assume the presidency, and the first without prior military  and the first without either prior military or governmental service.

Resources:  
Except for Mr. Trump’s the bios listed above come from Totally History. The first 44 Presidents may be found at this site. My comments are in parentheses.

The tidbits regarding train travel for the Presidents comes from Bob Withers, a retired Herald-Dispatch reporter and copy editor who pastors Seventh Avenue Baptist Church in Huntington. Much of the background information about local presidential visits comes from his first book, “The President Travels by Rail: Politics and Pullmans” (1996, Lynchburg, Virginia: TLC Publishing Inc.), which is now out of print.

Rethinking Carter 

 

Posted in American History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

John Spilsbury and the First Jigsaw Puzzle

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

dbd0c215-2dbe-4e27-b936-bd217f200f35_1.6379472f2e78388594f84fc46c0554d5.jpeg Okay, over Christmas I gave and received several jigsaw puzzles. I do puzzles on my Kindle Fire every evening. The presents I gave were those personalized puzzles where a person receives a puzzle of his or her hometown or community based on Google maps. I received a 3D one of London. With over 1200 pieces, it will take me a good long while…at least, I hope so. 

220px-Richard_Baxter_by_Riley.jpg All this got me thinking of John Spilsbury (1739 – 3 April 1769), a British mapmaker and engraver, who is credited as the inventor of the jigsaw puzzle. Spilbury was the second of three sons of Thomas Spilsbury; the engraver Jonathan Spilsbury was his elder brother,  and the two have sometimes been confused. [Can you imagine naming your children Johnathan and John? Shades of George Foreman…] The younger Spilsbury served as an apprentice to Thomas Jefferys, the Royal Geographer to King George III.

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jigsawpuzzles.weebly.com

According to the repeated tale, Spilsbury created the first puzzle in 1767 as an educational tool to teach geography. He affixed a world map to wood and carved each country out to create the first puzzle. Later, he created puzzles on eight themes – the World, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

Spilsbury married Sarah May of Newmarket, Suffolk in 1761. After his death she ran his business for a period before marrying Harry Ashby, who had been apprentice to Spilsbury and who continued to sell puzzles.

 

imagesIt is not ironic that the “dissected map” remains a favorite puzzle today. My grandkids have one of those wooden puzzles with the U. S. States, and my personalized puzzle gifts were based on maps.

Puzzles for adults came onto the market in the early 1900s. Early puzzles had pieces cut exactly upon the color lines. From “History of Puzzles” on About.com, we learn, “There were no transition pieces with two colors to signal, for example, that the brown area (roof) fit next to the blues (sky). A sneeze or a careless move could undo an evening’s work because the pieces did not interlock. And unlike children’s puzzles, the adult puzzles had no guide picture on the box; if the title was vague or misleading, the true subject could remain a mystery until the last pieces were fitted into place.”

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In the beginning, puzzles were expensive to own. The pieces were cut one by one. It could cost up to $5 for a 500-piece puzzle in 1908 when the average household saw a monthly income of $50. Also, early puzzles had no picture on the box to follow to know what the image should be.

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Parker Brothers’ United States Puzzle Map. Made in Salem, Massachusetts by Parker Brothers in 1915 or later.

 Two significant innovations occurred in the early 1900s. First, Parker Brothers® introduced figure pieces, which made puzzles easier to assemble, into its ‘Pastime’ brand puzzles. Pieces shaped like dogs, birds, and other recognizable objects did not take away from the experience of putting the puzzle together. Second, Pastimes and other brands developed interlocking pieces, reducing the possibility of spilling or losing pieces. Pastime® puzzles were so successful that Parker Brothers stopped making games and devoted its entire factory to puzzle production in 1909. 

By 1933, sales of puzzles for adults reached 10 million per week. Puzzles were a popular form of entertainment during the Great Depression. During the 1930s, home craftsmen made their own puzzles and public libraries added puzzles to their lending libraries.

Die-cut cardboard puzzles for adults became more popular when the combination of mass production and inexpensive cardboard allowed the manufactures to cut prices substantially. In the early 1830s, retail stores offered free puzzles, which were an early form of product placement, with the purchase of a toothbrush, a flashlight, or hundreds of other products.

In 1932, people could purchase a weekly jigsaw puzzle each Wednesday from their local new stands. These were very popular. There were dozens of weekly series and the inexpensive puzzles cut into the marketplace for those who still made puzzles by hand. Yet the top quality brands like Parker Pastimes retained a loyal following throughout the Depression, despite their higher prices.

A pair of savvy businessmen, Frank Ware and John Henriques, marketed their hand cut puzzles to movie stars and others of affluence. Their customized puzzled were designed to meet the buyer’s unique wishes – a birthdate or a person’s name. Ware and Henriques’s puzzles were designed with irregular edges, which frustrated those who used the straight edges to form a frame for the final product. They also published their “Par Times” for Par Puzzles. Those who put the puzzles together competed to beat the “par” times.

After WWII, Springbok introduced fine art jigsaw puzzles. I recall trying to put together Jackson Pollock’s ‘Convergence,’ billed by Springbok as ‘the world’s most difficult jigsaw puzzle.'” Even so, sales of most puzzles dropped, and die-cut cardboard puzzles replaced the hand cut wooden ones. Parker Brothers’ Pastime puzzles were no more by 1958. The exclusive Par puzzles could not be purchased after the early 1970s. The English ‘Victory’ puzzles, easily found in department stores in the 1950s and 1960s, almost completely vanished.

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Further reading: Cutting borders: Dissected maps and the origins of the jigsaw puzzle. An article written by Martin Norgate and published in 2007 in Cartographic Journal, volume 44 number 4 on pages 342-350.

History of Puzzles 

Jigsaw Puzzles – A Brief History: From the 1760s to Modern Day Puzzle Makers 

The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life by Marcel Danes (Google Book)

Posted in American History, British history, family, Great Britain, toys and games, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Introducing Georgina Young-Ellis, Fellow Austen Author

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Regina Jeffers

My Journey to JAFF

By Georgina Young-Ellis

imgresWe all have our own moment, the one in which we said to ourselves, “I’m hooked.” Like many other Jane Austen fans, I can safely say it was the moment I read the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice. For others, it may have been a different instance altogether, or it might have taken longer for the journey. There are plenty of people, however, who look at me oddly when I profess to being a Jane Austen fanatic, responding with: “I read Pride and Prejudice in school but I don’t remember it.” I often just stare blankly back at these people until I remember to say something polite in return, because, what I’m really thinking is: Don’t remember it? How could you not remember something that has such an impact on so many? And why did it not have an impact on you? What is wrong with you? I feel sorry for these people because mayhap they simply had a bad English teacher that caused such a masterpiece to fade to the back of their memories.

The fact is, I started reading Austen in my early twenties, which was, I hate to admit, quite a long time ago, when, in America at least, it seemed Austen fanatics were a clandestine group who stumbled upon each other by accident, joyously sharing their insights on Austen’s work, and then creeping back into the shadows again. We possessed only very dated movie versions of Jane’s books, and no internet with which to share our rabid love.

When the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries was released, everything seemed to change. It was followed in quick succession by Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, Roger Michell’s Persuasion, Clueless—a darling retelling of Emma; Emma itself with Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as the TV miniseries of Emma with Kate Beckinsale, and Mansfield Park with Francis O’Conner. I think those who didn’t consider themselves Jane Austen fans before had their heads turned with these great film portrayals and, perhaps, the films made people go back and read the books. Then Bridget Jones’ Diary stormed the scene and suddenly, women were fangirl-ing their heads off about Pride and Prejudice. I didn’t even know fan fiction existed before Bridget Jones, but now I realize that book was my first foray into it. And I liked it, but I was still unaware that there was an underground movement of JAFF authors growing already.

Now that I am ensconced in the reading and writing of JAFF, I actually have something to confess. I kind of miss the time when it was a rare surprise to come across a kindred spirit with whom I could hungrily discuss Jane Austen: the merits of Persuasion as opposed to Mansfield Park for example, or Northanger Abbey versus Sense and Sensibility. These discussions were about more than which hero was hotter: Mr. Darcy, Mr. Knightley, or Captain Wentworth or which villain was more dastardly: Wickham or Willoughby. They were serious conversations of the plots, the characters, and the prose. I’ll never forget when I told a staunch Jane scholar my favorite of Austen’s novels was Northanger Abbey, and her telling me how “immature” a choice that was. Though I disagreed with her, it made me go back and read, and reread again, all the novels, eventually admitting that Pride and Prejudice was probably the most well composed, though I still maintain that Northanger Abbey is the most amusing. My favorite now though is Persuasion, which, to me, is the most heart-wrenching, while also so satisfyingly romantic.

Do I wish the Austen fervor would die down? Of course not. It’s thrilling to see how many readers around the world have embraced “my” Jane. And certainly, she has been one of the most revered, if not always as popular, writers in the English language for a couple of centuries now. So, no, I don’t begrudge the world its love of Austen, I just miss the days when I could consider her, more or less, my own. Anyway, read on, JAFF lovers! I’ve willingly joined your ranks! Just remember to go back to her sometimes, and revel in those original words, written by the mistress herself, that started the whole thing.

31wo7zkaeyl-_ux250_Interested in Knowing More of Georgina…

Author Bio: Georgina Young-Ellis lives in Portland, Oregon, a magical place full of inspiration for a writer. She has a rock star son, and a wonderful husband who is her own personal cheering section. Georgina writes romantic, time travel fiction, and has four books available in my Time Mistress Series: The Time Baroness, which takes place in Regency England; The Time Heiress, a journey to pre-Civil War New York City; The Time Contessa, set in Renaissance Italy; and The Time Duchess, an adventure to Elizabethan England. She also has the Elizabeth, Darcy and Me Series, which includes Elizabeth, Darcy & Me and the upcoming Elizabeth, Darcy & Me: The Quarrel. 

51yuqgfvjl-_uy250_Social Media Links:

Website, featuring the Time Mistress Series and the Elizabeth, Darcy & Me Series 

Blog: Nerd Girl Romantics

Facebook           Amazon Author Page         Twitter

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