EMMA.

[Alfred]

De site van de uni is erg traag nu. Misschien is dat het probleem?

Navigeren op de site, het werkt, ik kan mijn weg vinden. Maar er zijn dingen die gebruiksvriendelijker kunnen.

[Karenlee]

Ja, ik ben ondertussen mijn weg ook aan het vinden. Maar het is wel een beetje omslachtig. Heb ook nog helemaal geen rechtstreeks commentaar van Sandie op wat ik heb gepost behalve de allereerste die zei dat ik een week op vakantie zou zijn. En ik heb HEEL wat gepost vandaag .

[Karenlee]

Nou, ik vind het tot nu toe een klein beetje rommelig, maar ook heel leuk en interessant. Hier typ ik gewoon mijn gedachten en daar gaan ze. Maar daar spendeer je veel meer tijd om over te prakiseren wat je denkt en waarom voordat je op de 'zend' knopje druk. Moet zeggen dat ik dat 'Free Indirect Dialogue' een kut onderdeel vind. Snap ik nog steeds helemaal niet .

[Christien]

Eind april start de cursus opnieuw. Lijkt mij erg interessant.

Heb je verplichte momenten dat je "online" moet zijn??
Kun je de 10 studieuren in de week zelf indelen??

Ik werk in de zorg met nogal wisselende diensten, vandaar.

[A Novel's Tune]

Lenneke, onder welke naam ben jij geregistreed op de forum? Ik heb Alfred gezien, maar jij nog niet.

Gewoon onder mijn eigen naam Maar ik heb nog niet erg veel gezegd op het forum maar vooral aan het blog gewerkt. Tis erg druk op school nu.. maar ik kom eraan

[Alfred]

Iedere woensdag start een nieuwe unit. En het zijn altijd dezelfde mensen die het eerst reageren. Het is niet de bedoeling dat je info gaat herhalen, dus als je dan wilt reageren op de oorspronkelijke vraag, moet je alweer nieuwe elementen zoeken, of ingaan op een item van een eerdere post. grrr, kan dat nou niet anders...

[Karenlee]

Ja, daar heb ik ook af en toe moiete mee als ik een paar dagen later pas de kans heb om te reageren op de vragen die de prof stelt. Maar desondanks moet je je best doen, en ik vind dat interactie zo leuk dat ik de post dat ik net afgemaakt hier wilt zetten om mensen een idee te geven van hoe dat gaat in zo'n online cursus.

What would have happened to Jane and Elizabeth Bennet if they had not made advantageous marriages? Are readers made to despise Charlotte Lucas for her marriage? Post some thoughts to the forum, and respond to colleagues’ thoughts

What would have happened had Elizabeth and Jane not made advantageous marriages? In answering this, I’m looking beyond Jane and Elizabeth as ‘characters’, and considering them as true representations of what young women in that day and age would have been (although I must confess that, for this purpose, Jane borders a bit too much on the angelic to be real ). In any case, aside from the course resource materials, I've recently been reading other books in order to get a bit more insight into the subject.

First of all, Lizzie and Jane may well have had the opportunity to make matches that were less advantageous. Austen gave them both (particularly Jane) good looks which, in that day – probably even more so than in ours – gave you a serious head start in attracting proposals from any gentlemen who was in want of a wife (particularly one who did not have all that much to offer himself). Couples had comparatively much less opportunity to really get to know each other, so a pleasing outward appearance was worth its weight in gold in 'fixing' someone (I can’t help but think that if Mr Bennett, Sir Thomas and Mrs Elliott had had the chance to become familiar with the mind behind the pretty faces, they may have thought twice before proposing/accepting).

That said, I understand from Jane Austen & Marriage (H. Jones), that the ratio of marriageable men to women in Austen's time was at a remarkable low, due to the war with France. Even if you were pretty, there was sure to have been serious competition with other relatively poor lovelies who had nothing but their charms to recommend them. But even assuming that Elizabeth and Jane did receive proposals from unremarkable, but respectable-seeming men (no ghastly Mr Collins) – the question is, would they have accepted if they could feel no serious personal attraction/affection for the person in question? The man may well have had the advantage of choice, but the lady, at least, retained the power of refusal.

If an Elizabeth Bennett could be formed in the mind of Jane Austen, women like her must have been out there. Ones who would hesitate to become in every sense the ‘property’ of someone who – to all intents and purposes - was relatively unknown, and merely guaranteed a roof over their head and food in their mouths. And I am absolutely sure that Austen (and therefore Elizabeth and Jane) would have been keenly aware of the fact that such a situation was just as fraught with potential unhappiness as eking out an existence on your own on the edge of poverty.

It is assumed that Cassandra destroyed or expunged all of Austen’s letters containing any markedly personal information and emotion. How curious we are about what it contained! But I am sometimes equally curious about the correspondence that Austen received in her lifetime, which must have been voluminous. What kinds of confidences were sent to her?

The (excellent) book, The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives In Georgian England (A. Vickery), which draws on a rich collection of letters and diaries from a network of gentlewomen who lived in late 18th century Lancashire, gives an idea of the hell that life with an uncongenial husband could be and – equally importantly – testifies to the fact that this kind of information was exchanged between female family and friends, and – in varying degrees of discretion – even passed on to those not in the immediate, intimate network. Austen’s characters may well have preferred to remain on their own rather than subjecting themselves to such uncertain physical, emotional and sexual domination.

And that could well have been their only alternative. As pleasant and intelligent as they are, neither Elizabeth nor Jane have the qualifications that would be expected in a governess. They are apparently well read, but that’s about it. Lizzie plays the piano, but not very well. The Bennett girls have had no qualified governess themselves, or access to ‘masters’ as Jane Fairfax did in London, to polish the musical, artistic, and language skills that were a governess’ primary prerequisites. Jane and Cassandra were lucky in having brothers that could help maintain them on the edge of comfortable, genteel respectability, but Elizabeth and Jane had none. In a worst-case scenario, they may well have ended up living in extremely reduced circumstances over a cramped shop just like Miss Bates. Much less garrulous, certainly, but more aware of their descent, and probably much more wistful about what their lives could have been if they had been better provided for by the masculine relatives they were so utterly dependent on. I don’t think they would have necessarily extended this to curse the societal system that made it so. For them, it was simply the way things were.

To move on to the second point: Are readers made to despise Charlotte Lucas? Albert and Joan pointed out the ‘negative’ language used to describe her capture of Mr Collins. But I experience words such as ‘scheme’ and ‘contrivance’ not so much as condemnation, but as a wry and knowing sort of chuckle at the machinations that were a woman’s only resort in bending events, in a world that was determined and dominated by men, to her own satisfaction. Last, but not least, If Austen really meant us to ‘despise’ Charlotte Lucas (because of the choice she made), she could have done so just as easily as she makes us end up disliking Wickham, Miss Bingley and Lady Catherine. But she doesn't, does she? And that fact indicates, I think, where her own thoughts, feelings, and sympathies lie.

[Sebazzel]

Leuk geschreven.. Maar ik zie overal Bennett staan.. Leuk trouwens die subtiele verwijzing naar Northanger Abbey ("Man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal", dat zei Tilney toch als ik het me goed herinner? )

[Alfred]

Ja, daar heb ik ook af en toe moiete mee als ik een paar dagen later pas de kans heb om te reageren op de vragen die de prof stelt. Maar desondanks moet je je best doen, en ik vind dat interactie zo leuk dat ik de post dat ik net afgemaakt hier wilt zetten om mensen een idee te geven van hoe dat gaat in zo'n online cursus.

De interactie maakt veel goed ja!

[Karenlee]

Ja! De docent vondt mijn eerst 'officiele' opdracht heel goed !

De opdracht was: Write a review of any resource you have used which provides background information about Jane Austen and/or her work. You should indicate the ways in which the resource (which can be printed or online) was useful, informative and/or insightful, or limited and/or unhelpful. A maximum of 1000 words is allowed for assignments one and two in total. You should write 150-200 words for the first assignment and 800-850 for the second.

Dit is wat ik opgestuurd heb:

Jane Austen
Assignment #1
Resource review: Jane’s Fame – C. Harman

Rarely has an author achieved such iconic status, almost independent of their body of work, as Jane Austen. Jane’s Fame explores how this came to be. The book documents, from Austen’s time to the present, the serendipitous forces that kept her in print, the fluctuations in appreciation of her work – both public and critical, and the chimera-like portrait of ‘Jane’ that emerged over the years and took on a life of its own.

The chronicle is fascinating in itself, but I chose it for the unexpected insights it gave me into how I approach Austen, and experience and evaluate her work. Jane’s ‘fame’ is a double-edged sword: it’s made her familiar to millions who have never read a single word she wrote, but it has also at times – especially in the past – placed blinkers on the ability of those most familiar with her oeuvre to impartially judge its literary merits.

Jane’s Fame helped me to start clearly distinguishing for the first time between Austen’s persona, Austen’s ‘stories’ and Austen’s writing – something that is crucial to getting the most out of this class. Unfortunately, after reading it, I doubt that I’ll ever feel completely comfortable calling myself a ‘Janeite’ again!


De docent had maar een paar kleine op- en aanmerkingen. Hoe je 'officieel' moet referen naar je bron ("give a reference: Claire Harman, Jane’s Fame. Edinburgh: Cannongate, 2009"); over bepaalde terminologie ("instead of 'appreciation for', 'reception of’ her work would be the academic convention" - ach, kom op mens...); en dat ik op moet passen voor 'split infinitives' (weet niet wat dat in het nederlands is, maar 'to impartially judge' is een voorbeeld van - en ik moet zeggen dat Astrid, mijn baas, roept me ook af en toe op het maatje over mijn split infinitives). Maar dat waren de enige kantekeningen. De overal beoordeling was:

"This is a well-written and cleverly compressed piece which manages within the very small allowance of words to convey something of the importance of your chosen text in terms of Austen’s life and posthumous history, the contents of the text, its function, and the way in which it has been of use and relevance to your work on Austen. You also even managed a comment on Jane Austen’s fame itself. I enjoyed this very much, and very much look forward to reading your second piece, which will afford you more space for the development of your ideas and analyses."



Ik moet zeggen dat ik me een beetje opgelaten voel dat ik hiermee gaan pronken. Ik ben tenslotte schrijfster van beroep. Maar in mijn baan krijg ik eigenlijk zelden echt 'complimenten' van klanten dat ik iets mooi, helder en duidelijk heeft neergezet. Daar hebben ze voor betaald, en dat verwachten ze gewoon. Negen van de tien keer krijg je gewoon in respons, "Ja, het is goed zo', stuur maar de rekening". Heel af en toe krijg je iets van, "wij zoeken al jaren tevergeefs om een manier om dit aspect van onze bedrijf krachtig neer te zetten - en dat heb jij prachtig gedaan!" Maar het is relatief zeldzaam. Ik vind het echt dus super leuk om zo'n deskundige 'aai over mijn bol' te krijgen.