The sharp poker in the Garden of Austen

"The gist of what you've written in your post today -"Jane Austen was a sharp poker with a prodigious memory and a clever poking strategy", creates a Jane Austen that, inmho, could not have written the stories she wrote...especially, if her father, brothers, and family had been consistently betraying her. It's starting to feel, for me anyway, that the cumulative amount of conspiracy and betrayal you've assigned to this Austen family....would have made her prosed emanations reveal a very different kind of person and writer indeed."

Christy, I would not say it's "starting to feel", that is pretty much the reaction you have reported your having everytime I have presented variations on my theme of JA as a closet feminist who had a very complicated personality, which included but was NOT limited to her persistent anger and frustration at the manifold injustices toward women that her society presented as unchangeable givens.

We've been around this block a dozen times, and as always I appreciate your politeness in strongly disagreeing with me. We've just taken another turn through the Garden of Austen together. ;)

Cheers, ARNIE

P.S. Apropos my little pun on the Garden of Austen--note that "aus" means "south", and therefore Austen can be "translated" into South-ton ===> Sotherton, a place which had a very interesting garden, too.