The Genteel Reading Circle For Ladies

[EverySongbirdSays]

In which like minds will discuss Jane Austen and other such 19th Century Classics sparked from an unhealthy interest in the sex life of one Mr Collins, parson to her ladyship Catherine De Bourgh of Rosings Park

First up : Sense And Sensibility

Bring your love of Dashwood, Brandon, Willoughby, Farrars, and Emma Thompson's weird crying noise here!!!

Re: illness in Austen and later writers like the Brontes. I read once about the scale of the TB epidemic in the 18th and 19th centuries, I think it said something like 80% of the English population had latent TB in 1800. So an awful lot of people on the cusp of being very ill indeed, and only needing one thing to lower their immune system to send them over the brink.

Her accent was Somerset/Gloucestershire I think

That makes a lot of sense, Rosie.

In fact, I know someone, who in recent years, contracted meningitis after struggling with what he just thought was a bad cold. He was in hospital for weeks, and in JA's day would have died.

So, while we snigger kind of malignant Georgian rain that might carry someone off, if they were caught in it, in JA's day, people did have experience someone apparently dying from seemingly just catching a cold.

Daisy Haggard played Miss Steele in the BBC version. She was amazing

The mum from outnumbered played the bitchy sister in law! Married to Markgatiss!s

Loving reading your thoughts on the characters-has anyone else on here done the OU course (possibly now defunct) on 19th Century Literature? Twas my happiest year :-)

Dan Stevens from Downton played Edward in the BBC version!

Has anyone read the Trollope re write of S&S? It's absolutely terrible. She needed to be a bit cleverer than just taking the characters situation and dumping it in the 21st century because all I did was yell, 'get a fecking job!' before throwing my book across the room in disgust.

lumel YY to the plebby by farm workers out in the rain!

Surely the delicate ladies keeling over after a rainstorm was proof of how much protection they needed, which was only available from relatives or husbands. Hence the luck of Marianne catching Brandon on her way down.

Tbh a lot of people were chronically ill then as now. Any person with an income would have a wodge of dependants.

And the plebby farmers would also have known people who died suddenly of catching "a cold". They would have had less choice about working out in the weather, though.

The Bennets were concerned about Jane's cold, and that may well have been irrational. But, how many of us, these days, don't let our children play out, because we have heard the odd story of children being abducted? It's not likely to happen, but it's a real fear for people, whether rational or not.

Also, for the plebby farmers, it was a bit of a numbers game. Have a lot of children, and at least some would probably survive to look after you in old age.

I didn't know about the scale of TB! Makes more sense now, everyone being on the brink of death all the time. Of course, the doctors probably made things worse...

'Twas interesting to watch the programme "Being the Brontës" iplayer (still there). The scale of mortality, particularly from TB which the Brontës saw happening around them was staggering. People were either ill or dying from it all the time, including the sisters themselves, of course.

Although we see references to illness as plot devices in Austen, I can't remember any of her characters actually dying or even her family circle or friends being fatally affected by anything other than old age (apart from JA herself, of course). And even she was 41-hardly a youngster.

The Brontës lived in a tiny village with a graveyard that was massively overcrowded though. If you've ever been to Haworth, it's almost unbelievable how many they packed into that cemetery. And they lived right next to it!

The difference with the Brontës I think, was the fact that they were around just as the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, which meant more people living in closer, unhygienic conditions. It was a massive public health issue at the time.

I've never been to Haworth, but having taken more of an interest in the Brontës of late, I was surprised to find how close it was to Keighley and Bradford. These places, even in the mid-1800's would have been fairly heavily industrialised, I guess. It makes the Brontës' experience all the more interesting, even though I've never been particularly interested in their work.

There's an idea stuck in the public imagination that the Brontës lived almost in isolation in this little village on the edge of the moors, rarely coming into contact with the outside world, due mainly in part to Mrs Gaskell's biography, but I don't think that's quite true.

If you're interested in reading more about them, Juliet Barker's biography is good although she has a bit of a girl crush on Charlotte, with a tendency to dismiss the other two.

That accent - the steele's accent - it's not Somerset/glos, it's Plymouth. Or Plimerrf. That's where they're from. It's pretty much spot on, too.

Daisy Haggard! Of course. No wonder she was so good unlike the rest of it

She would have been a great Fanny Dashwood, what a missed opportunity.

The mum from outnumbered played the bitchy sister in law! Married to Markgatiss!s

I'm confused

Mark Gatiss is gay and married to a man.

Mark Gatiss plays John Dashwood

It's an on screen marriage.

The BBC S&S is the version I always refer to as the Pug one. Both Willoughby and Marianne looked like small dogs. Elinor actress was just trying to be Emma Thompson. It was dreadful.

Not a Bronte fan, but I really enjoyed visiting Haworth.

Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhh

Well now I feel like a right wally

See? I've seen it and have zero recollection of him even being in it.

I loved Haworth and the moors. I can never get into Wuthering Heights though. I've tried loads of times and give up

The best age to read WH is in your teens. It's like a really intense, gothic love story. But then as you move into adulthood you realise it's not a love story at all, it's a tale of child abuse, obsession and revenge with a hint of the paranormal thrown in. It's an incredible book, and all the legalities and timelines have been researched to perfection (unlike say, Jane Eyre ).

Ah. Then I've possibly missed the boat. Whereas I loved Jane Eyre