Sacramento's JA Book Club: Week 2

_______________________________________

At last!
_______________________________________

Sense & Sensibility

"All those other Jane Austen fans are real people!" I'm always reading things they've written and seeing their pictures in magazines and the like, but I've never really seen any in person outside of my family and friends. So, this experience was special and exciting for that very reason. Talking with them and seeing them with their own copy of S&S tucked under their arm made me realize: I am not alone! And I loved it!

It was my first formal book club experience! My mom and I arrived at the Central Library at a few minutes past two (after circling the block a few times to find a parking spot...). A pair of what we discovered were fellow Janeites directed us to the second floor to join the discussion. The group had to be divided into two to make room for everyone! The first group was sitting in on the lecture by Ed Ratcliffe on Regency transportation on the first floor, while the rest of us discussed S&S on the second floor.

Out of the 5 tables set up, only one of them was used because of the small size of our group. The discussion was led by an excited young lady who's finishing up her degree from one of our local universities. There were only about twenty of us, and the discussion, though rather subdued at first, became more exciting as we all grew more comfortable around one another.







We began with discussing the displays of (or lack of) propriety of some of the minor characters, such as John Dashwood and Mrs. Jennings. That was so interesting! People's remarks were all different. Finding the lack of propriety in these characters wasn't too difficult, but seeing how they really did display propriety, whether from the heart or just through outward conformity, led to an insightful conversation. We also wove into that talk how certain characters changed, and how some didn't. John Dashwood and Mrs. Jennings, for example, are on exact opposite ends of the scale of propriety, and in how their characters changed! Mrs. J. comes across as paying almost no heed to society's rules for propriety, but by the end we see that she possesses the most important kind: a real concern for others. Mr. J. D., on the other hand, does not change in the least. Although outwardly conforming to society's definition of propriety, he still lets his impulses toward kindness be squashed by his selfish wife.



Next was the discussion of secret engagements, both actual and supposed, and the danger of entering in to them. The actual is of course between Edward and Lucy, with the dangers of being cut off from the family and dis-inheritance. The supposed is between Marianne and Mr. Willoughby, the dangers being that when people found out that it wasn't an engagement, Marianne's reputation could be considered damaged, with their open and apparent regard people had witnessed, plus her writing him letters (as you know, only engaged couples were permitted to do).




We shared our opinions on who displayed the most exemplary conduct, which most of us who spoke up believe to be Colonel Brandon, and I most heartily agree. But I must say that I believe Edward to be a close second, as far as his conduct during the story is concerned. I was a bit timid about sharing this opinion, because of his accidental misleading of Elinor during his stay at Norland. But I needn't have been, especially when our discussion leader, when asked who she thought behaved the most exemplary, named Edward as one! Indeed, his faithfulness and willingness to stand by Lucy -- Lucy -- even after he is disinherited, which lesser men would have seen as an ample excuse for breaking their engagement, must be seen as particularly exemplary qualities. (Remember, in Regency society only women were allowed to break engagements.) And, as to showing those qualities, I must say that Willoughby failed most miserably! And he even had the chance to be married to a very amiable woman in Marianne! Badly done indeed! (Pardon my outbursts... that subject gets me quite excited.) Of course the kindness, discretion and steadfast heart of Colonel Brandon will always rank as one of the highest displays of exemplary conduct with me.

"Do you think that Austen intends Elinor to be the embodiment of sense and Marianne the embodiment of sensibility?"

I felt brave enough to just dive into this question! I began by "wisely" saying that at the beginning of the novel they do seem to embody those characteristics, but by the end, they learn better how to balance the two, which seemed to receive a murmur of general agreement from the group. Which led to discussing what the novel suggests about the proper relationship between those two characteristics. The idea was brought up that Jane seems to show a degree of both is important.

________________________________________________________________

We adjourned downstairs, joining the rest of us who had been unable to fit into the lecture before. And this lecture was splendid! Ed Ratcliffe described the status and appearance of every sort of wheeled vehicle in the Regency period, with pictures from William Felton's book of 1795. We covered public transport, starting with the "long wagon" which is like a present day 18-wheeler and very uncomfortable, with no suspension. The next step up was the stagecoach, then the Royal Mail coaches, which were very fast, with 8 coaches leaving every night to deliver mail to 320 post offices in the country! (But traveling all night...) Horses were rented, just like present day rental cars, and changed at inns, every 20 miles or so.



Private transportation included the 4 wheels: chaise, coach, chariot, low phaeton, landau, barouche, landaulet and barouche-landau. Most had a suspension system of a "cee" spring with two leather straps each on the front and the back attached to the corners of the bottom of the carriage box. Except for the chariot, which had real springs that the leather was attached to. Make sense? It wasn't the best system -- the box still rather bounced around -- but certainly better than nothing!

Then there is the 2 wheeled: gig, curricle and whiskey. A gig is quite unpretentious (no matter how much John Thorpe might brag on his) with usually only one horse, but the curricle was the Regency sports car! And it often had two horses. A whiskey was so named for its practice of whisking around larger coaches, and could be hung very high, and could therefore be quite dangerous.



An interesting tidbit is the reason for a swordcase on the back of a vehicle. That was where a gentleman would place his sword, therefore marking him as a gentleman. Even when gentlemen stopped carrying around their swords, a case still indicated his genteel status, so they were placed on the vehicles anyway as a "status symbol."

From memory, here's a list of the vehicles owned by Jane's characters:

• Chaise: Mr. Bingley, General Tilney, Mr. Suckling, Mr. Willoughby, Sir Walter Elliot and Mrs. Jennings
  
• Curricle: Mr. Tilney, Charles Musgrove, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Elliot, Mr. Willoughby and Mr. Rushworth
• Gig: Admiral and Mrs. Croft, John Thorpe, Mr. Collins and Sir Edward Denham
• Coach: The Bennets, the Musgroves
• Chariot: Mrs. Jennings, the older Mrs. Rushworth and Mr. and Mrs. John Dashwood
• Phaeton: Miss De Bourgh
• Landaulet: Anne Wentworth
• Barouche: Henry Crawford, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer and Lady Dalrymple
• Barouche-Landau: The Sucklings (of course)

If you'd like to read a sort of transcript from Ed Ratcliffe's lecture, here is a link with lots of pictures and a lot more information: JANSA NorCal: Transports of Delight

_____________________________________________________________

I hope this tempts you to join us! As I said before, one of the most enjoyable things of the day was meeting fellow admirers of Jane. As Anne said, "My idea of good company, Mr. Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation." And that is what I've found so far. It's hard not to enjoy oneself in the company those who also appreciate the work and world of Miss Jane!

____________________