I bought this book purely because of the price and because it said “Jane Austen” somewhere on the title (when faced with cheap books, I am not the most discerning of buyers). Thankfully, I ended up enjoying this, and I think this will be a book that I return to in the future.
The Genius of Jane Austen argues that Jane Austen has been severely underrated as a comic genius (an idea that Katie at Never Not Reading introduced to me), and that her books were inspired by the comedic theatre that she was familiar with. The first section establishes convincingly that Jane Austen would have known the theatre well, and would even have participated in a few private performances, while the second (and longer) section analyses the potential theatrical references that Jane Austen is making through her books. As you can imagine, Mansfield Park gets a lot of analysis, since it actually features a play in the book, but Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice are also analysed.
After reading this book, my eyes have been opened to the fact that Austen was familiar with popular plays and actors of her day. The first part is extremely detailed and I finished it convinced that Austen would have intimate knowledge of the theatre. And because of that, I have no problem believing that Austen would have been influenced by the theatre in her writing.
Now, am I convinced that all the references were deliberate? I’m not too sure. I believe that a few would have been conscious in her mind as she worked, but I’m not sure if it’s systematic as Byrne argues. After all, Byrne is arguing for this as one of the major influences of Austen.
Then again, this hesitancy for me to completely buy the argument could be because it feels strange to me to believe that something that reads as effortlessly as Austen’s works could contain so many deliberate references. Writing that out makes me wonder if I’m undervaluing the work that Austen put into her works, but as it is, my position is that Austen was influenced by the theatre, some of it perhaps unintentionally.
Overall, I enjoyed The Genius of Jane Austen and appreciated the arguments that it made. There’s a lot of information and arguments packed into the book, and some of it flew over my head, so I foresee myself returning to this book in the future.
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This sounds really interesting. I don’t know a lot about Austen, but I think there is often an idea (not even just with her) that authors are kind of isolated geniuses just writing what pops into their mind. It would make sense for her to be familiar with the culture and arts of her time and be inspired by that.
That’s a good point! One good thing about the book is that it goes into a lot of detail about the theatre and what Austen saw (or acted, in private performances). It’s a bit academic in tone but if you’re interested in learning more about this specific influence on her, I’d definitely recommend it!
Sounds good. I do agree that she is very funny.
This makes me think of a book I have heard of but never owned or read, “The Urban World of Jesus Christ.” Apparently, growing up in Nazareth, Jesus was likely to have seen performances of Greek-style plays and perhaps even worked in construction on the playhouses, given that Joseph was a carpenter. He coined the term “hypocrites,” which at that time referred to the actors who would wear big wooden masks.
I didn’t know that! The Urban World of Jesus Christ sounds like a very interesting read – I will have to look for it.
I know what you mean about inexpensive books! LOL I bought two today that sounded interesting, but I probably wouldn’t have bought if they hadn’t been so cheap. The Genius of Jane Austen does sound like an interesting take on Jane Austen’s work.
Oooh, I hope you enjoy them! Books bought on a whim are fun because you never really know what you’re going to think about it haha. It is an interesting look at Austen, I’m glad I own it now!
This sounds so cool! I haven’t read anything about the influence of theatre on Austen, but, as soon as you said it, it made sense to me. Mansfield Park at least indicates that Austen was familiar with putting on private productions. Why wouldn’t she be responding to the culture around her?
Exactly! The play in Mansfield Park is the most recognisable, but the book showed that she definitely made references to the theatre in her other works. Fascinating stuff!
This sounds so so interesting!!! I think I’d like to read more from Austen before I delved into a book like this
Definitely! Austen is so readable and it’s nice to experience the books without knowing all the possible meanings that could be inside first!