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A Glimpse of Jane Austen

November 14, 2007 by Vic

Jane’s beloved niece, Fanny, recalled Jane and Cassandra in 1869, when Fanny was in her seventies.

[Jane] was not so refined as she ought to have been from her talent . . . They [the Austens] were not rich & the people around with whom they chiefly mixed, were not all high bred, or in short anything more than mediocre & they of course tho’ superior in mental powers and cultivation were on the same level as far as refinement goes . . . Aunt Jane was too clever not to put aside all possible signs of “common-ness” (if such an expression is allowable) & teach herself to be more refined . . . Both the Aunts [Cassandra and Jane] were brought up in the most complete ignorance of the World & its ways (I mean as to fashion &c) & if it had not been for Papa’s marriage which brought them into Kent . . . they would have been, tho’ not less clever & agreeable in themselves, very much below par as to good Society & its ways.*

Fanny’s seeming ungratefulness to an aunt who doted on her is deplored by many Jane fans. A forgiving Claire Tomalin explains this passage, saying “it should be remembered that Fanny was very fond of her aunt, and that she ended the passage, which was written in a private letter to her sister Marianne, ‘If you hate all this I beg yr. pardon, but I felt it at my pen’s end, & it chose to come along & speak the truth.'”

Image #1: Jane Odiwe’s watercolour of Jane and Cassandra

Image #2: Cassandra’s watercolour portrait of Fanny Knight.

*Jane Austen: A Life, Claire Tomalin, ISBN 0-679-44628-1, pages 134-135

Read a book review about Jane and Fanny in Austen’s Ungrateful Niece

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Posted in jane austen, Jane Austen's World, Regency letters, Regency Life | Tagged a glimpse of Jane Austen, Claire Tomalin, Fanny Knight, Glimpse of Jane Austen | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on November 14, 2007 at 13:58 laura

    on first reading, i don’t think she was ungrateful at all! i rather like the image of austen, quite out of fashion, penning the most enjoyable insights on society. i think most writers *must* be like this, in a way–or else, how would they find time to write? and how could they find irony in the frivolous, worldly concerns of others?


  2. on November 14, 2007 at 21:32 Ms. Place

    Agreed. Fanny recollected her aunts with fondness but with a realistic attitude. I find nothing grating in this statement. Neither do I think that it is condemning of Jane. Rather, Fanny adds details about a woman of whose life we have so few descriptions and images.

    Apparently, there have been Jane fans who were/are upset with this description, believing Fanny to be ungrateful.


  3. on November 15, 2007 at 13:19 laura

    yes, possibly fans who wish her to be like a heroine in one of her novels (becoming jane, anyone?). i wish someone would make a movie about jane austen portraying what she was really, probably like. i would find that much more interesting. maybe there is one and i don’t know about it…?

    btw, thanks for the shoutout to Girlebooks in your other blog!


    • on December 12, 2010 at 04:27 Jennie

      Long overdue I know but have you maybe tried Miss Austen Regrets? It’s lovely.


  4. on January 9, 2008 at 04:00 Sick and wicked « Austenprose

    […] A Glimps of Jane Austen: Jane Austen’s World […]


  5. on March 27, 2009 at 09:19 In Jane Austen’s Own Words: Advice to Fanny Knight About Love « Jane Austen’s World

    […] died young and Fanny lived to be of a great age. We know of Fanny’s infamous letter about her aunt written to her younger sister Marianne in 1869, over 50 years after Jane’s […]


  6. on October 4, 2009 at 14:49 Cassandra Austen: Jane’s Confidante, Supporter, and Helpmate « Jane Austen’s World

    […] A Glimpse of Jane Austen – Fanny Knatchbull’s impressions of her aunts Jane and Cassandra. […]


  7. on August 22, 2010 at 13:36 A Glimpse of Jane Austen: Anna Lefroy’s Recollections « Jane Austen's World

    […] A glimpse of Jane Austen: Fanny Knight’s  recollection of her aunt Jane […]



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