I have previously blogged on several occasions about the clearly intentional editorial distortions and outright lies that JEAL promulgated in the Memoir, such as these…
And that’s
only skimming the surface. I want to conclude by bringing to your attention what
I believe to be the best treatment out there in print on the subject of JEAL’s deceptions
in the Memoir--- Searching for Jane Austen (2004), by Emily Auerbach.
My
source for what follows is Chapter 1 of her book, entitled “Dear Aunt Jane: Putting Her Down and
Touching Her Up”, but you will find much of that same material in the 2005
print Persuasions, under the title "Searching for Jane Austen:
restoring the 'fleas' and 'bad breath'.":
Here
are some excerpts from Auerbach’s first chapter, which perfectly sum up why the
Bank of England should change everything in their planned 10-pound note (while
keeping Jane Austen, of course!). Tell me if you don’t get M.A.D. just reading what
JEAL did!:
“Book
jackets of new Austen studies sport prettified images of her face surrounded
with flowers and lace, and comedians joke about men dragged to Austen movies
against their wills. Old attitudes die hard. Old texts die hard, too…Internet
users [and here I would add, the Bank of England] priding themselves on their
state-of-the-art technology unknowingly download not only distorted
representations of Austen’s face, but also incomplete or altered versions of
her writing. As we will see, Austen’s relatives and early editors would be
pleased to know this: they worked hard to sweeten her image, weaken her words,
and soften her bite. Paradoxically, JA nowadays seems everywhere yet still hard
to find. Hence my title: Searching for Jane Austen.”
And
then this about JEAL’s techniques for deception and distortion:
“Like
his brother Henry, James Austen emphasized his sister’s mild and traditional
feminine nature….His sister did not let her writing inflame her vanity or pride
or distract her from completing useful chores, James insisted. James’s son,
JEAL, continued this verbal softening in his 1870 Memoir…We are still feeling
the effects of the JA myth constructed in 1870 for public consumption ….Noting
that her nephews and nieces ‘did not think of
her as being clever’….JEAL emphasizes those qualities considered
ladylike …JEAL presents his modest aunt’s occupation as a little hobby for her
own amusement and claims she felt no mortification about her lack of early
success…”
Then,
after detailing the cynical, calculating and unacknowledged editing of the
first JA letter JEAL refers to in the Memoir, Auerbach brilliantly concludes:
“In
effect, JEAL creates a brilliant Catch-22. After removing references to
politics and literature from the letters, he then observes that his
songbird-like aunt takes ‘no notice of politics or public events’ and avoids
‘discussions of literature.’ This pattern continues throughout the Memoir…”
And that's not the half of it.
Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment