In
Janeites, Rita Lamb wrote: “If Frank was a precise, evangelical Christian at a
time when naval officers generally weren't – and different enough from the norm
to make others see him as quite a `character' – it might give rise to such
tales. As he rose through the ranks and became superior to younger men, they
would be likely to tell after-dinner stories illustrating what they perceived as his personal quirks. Brabourne
does say something to the effect that he's heard this anecdote repeated about
him `all my life'. So my guess is there's probably a grain of truth in the
blue-shark story, but it may have been exaggerated for effect. And Diane is
probably right, there may also be a bit of English self-mythologising involved.
I feel I'm missing the point though. Even if it's true, I don't see that the story
is necessarily the source for anything in Austen. She must have known about
sharks anyway. Even Harriet knows what a shark is.”
I replied as follows:
Before
you asked them, above, I answered all your above questions in Janeites earlier
today, but, alas, I am still awaiting that message being distributed to
Janeites.
In
the interim, here are the links to that very same answer in both Austen-L and
in my blog, read it as and where you like it:
In a
nutshell, my revised claim, after reviewing all the evidence I could gather, is
that the “shark of the blue species” story is not a source for what Jane Austen wrote, it is the
precise opposite. It is the elderly Frank Austen’s very clever and erudite homage to Persuasion, showing that he
understood, among other important things, Sir Walter’s color-coded wit and also
the covert allusion to the Book of Job in Persuasion.
In
that sense, it’s even more interesting than
my original guess, because it makes it clear that Frank Austen was a serious “player”
when it came to understanding the Jane Austen Code—hence my Subject Line
for these latest posts.
And also
following sister Jane’s example (with, e.g, her Dedication of Emma to the
Prince), Frank Austen, from beyond the grave (having died in 1865) in effect gulled
Lord Brabourne (in 1884) into including the anecdote in his edition of the
letters, by making himself (Frank) sound ridiculous in it, and giving his overeager
great-nephew the companion anecdote about the chronometer as a bonus, to really
reel him in. Old Uncle Frank, Mr. Super
Precise. Har har har.
I.e.,
the anecdote is a kind of cuckoo’s egg that Frank induced Lord Brabourne to
take into his “nest”, appealing to
the younger man’s desire to make fun of an elderly relative (from a
competitive branch of the Austen family,
I might add), the same way that JA induced the Prince to put out copies of
Emma in all his residences, even as she
was royally skewering him within the pages of Emma, repeatedly!
To
the knowing reader of Brabourne’s letters, however, the “shark of the blue species”
anecdote actually shows that Frank really ‘got’ his sister’s coded references in
Persuasion to himself and to the Book of Job, and that Frank knew how to trick a fool. It’s
part and parcel with Frank’s other cuckoo’s egg, the letter he wrote to Susan
Quincy.....
...that demonstrates, similarly, that he understood the disturbing “rears and vices” subtext of Mansfield Park.
Very,
very sharp elf, that Frank Austen. He knew a hawk from a handsaw.
Cheers,
ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode
on Twitter
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