Pride and Prejudice Conversation Recap
at Mother Foucalt's Bookshop
By Vonnie Alto, Secretary
On January 24, 2019, erudite Janeite, Arnie Perlstein held a Pride And Prejudice conversation at Mother Foucault’s Bookshop on 532 SE Morrison Street, Portland. An intimate gathering participated for the evening in this freewheeling conversation exploring Arnie's shadow theory about Jane Austen’s fiction, focusing mostly on Pride And Prejudice.
Mother Faucault’s Bookshop kindly pulled a display of research books of the period along with works by Jane Austen.
Arnie proved again to be a terrific speaker and extremely knowledgeable about Jane Austen. His remarkable recall and attention to details was most welcoming, probably because he keeps meticulous records of articles/books he reads and researches.
We were asked to think about the ambiguity of Jane Austen’s characters. Isn’t it interesting that the male characters gravitate towards Elizabeth Bennet! Charlotte Lucas realizes that her friend, Elizabeth is in danger of being taken from her. One reason why Charlotte marries Mr. Collins is that he will inherit and she’ll end up at the estate of Elizabeth.
Arnie then asked, Did Mr. Darcy really reform or not? Did he trick Elizabeth into marrying him? What if Mr. Darcy constructed a fake reality for Elizabeth? Arnie says that it’s possible that Mr. Darcy used his resources to make Elizabeth think that he likes her when he really has his sights on another.
What is also interesting is that all the male characters who are interested in Elizabeth are connected to each other off stage but show up on stage and converge on Elizabeth at the same time. Maybe Mr. Darcy and Bingley are actually attracted to each other!
Arnie noted that Agatha Christie knew the works of Jane Austen well. Miss Marple is called Aunt Jane who lived in a small village just like Jane Austen. What a coincidence!
Arnie says that there are really shadow stories to the works of Jane Austen—stories that are beneath the main story. Jane Austen cleverly wrote two different stories at once with two messages for each of her books. The deeper message underneath the main story expands the flexibility of our minds. It’s up to the reader to figure it out. She trains us to doubt our first impressions which was the original title of Pride and Prejudice.
When Arnie looked further, he saw glimmers of other writers messing around with shadow stories, too, such as Henry James and Shakespeare. Therefore, Jane Austen followed in the tradition of great writers. For example, The Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollenstonecraft is really a rallying cry for women.
Also, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is full of shadow stories too. Her sister, Charlotte Bronte became famous due to her novel, Jane Eyre which also contains shadow stories. Interestingly, she is credited with hating Jane Austen and thought that there’s no passion to Jane Austen’s writings. Interestingly, Charlotte Bronte corresponded with Henry Lewes, a Janeite who loved Jane Austen’s writings and who recommended that she read Jane Austen. It turns out that Charlotte was really interested in Jane Austen and the darker themes meaning Jane Austen’s shadowed stories. As a result, the subtext of Emma permeates Jane Eyre.
Even Mark Twain read Jane Austen although he didn’t want to acknowledge that he admired her.
Arnie further noted that all the great authors borrowed endlessly from one another. The writings of Henry James is filled with allusions to both Jane Austen and Shakespeare. Jane Austen herself inserted metaphors and similes from Shakespeare and other phrases of his into Emma. The borrowing of great literature continues today. Even the movie, Clueless is based on Emma.
The character, Emma is manipulated by other characters and doesn’t know it. Sixty years before Jane Austen wrote Emma, Samuel Richardson wrote Pamela in 1749. Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones and also Shamala (a parody of Richardson’s Pamela). In fact, Arnie believes that Richardson was up to something and deliberately incorporated a shadow story into Pamela.
What if Harriet Smith in Emma is actually a Shamala? Harriet thinks that Emma is her plaything. Emma tries to match Harriet with others. Later Emma realizes that Harriet really has her eye on Mr. Knightly, not Mr. Churchill.
There’s also echoes of usurpation in Emma similar to that of Richard II by Shakespeare in which Henry usurps Richard’s throne. In Emma, Harriet usurps Emma. Harriet does this on purpose when she uses a different voice. She no longer speaks using “Yes, Miss Woodhouse.”
Next, Arnie discussed Jane Austen’s family toward her legacy. Apparently. Her nephew airbrushed Jane out of revenge because his mother didn’t get along with her mother. What survived is Jane Austen’s handwriting in Juvenlia—stories she wrote when she was a teenager.
Jane Austen’s letters shows sexual innuendos, however, it is up to the reader to see what they’re ready to see. The word, "confinement," is actually a pun. Women entered into final confinement during childbirth with some never surviving!
In closing, Arnie recommended reading Pride and Prejudice. Be sure to look for the shadow stories in Jane Austen’s works. If you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice, read it for fun and see what happens. Be sure to visit his blog, Sharp Elves Society for more on his shadow theory.
at Mother Foucalt's Bookshop
By Vonnie Alto, Secretary
On January 24, 2019, erudite Janeite, Arnie Perlstein held a Pride And Prejudice conversation at Mother Foucault’s Bookshop on 532 SE Morrison Street, Portland. An intimate gathering participated for the evening in this freewheeling conversation exploring Arnie's shadow theory about Jane Austen’s fiction, focusing mostly on Pride And Prejudice.
Mother Faucault’s Bookshop kindly pulled a display of research books of the period along with works by Jane Austen.
Arnie proved again to be a terrific speaker and extremely knowledgeable about Jane Austen. His remarkable recall and attention to details was most welcoming, probably because he keeps meticulous records of articles/books he reads and researches.
We were asked to think about the ambiguity of Jane Austen’s characters. Isn’t it interesting that the male characters gravitate towards Elizabeth Bennet! Charlotte Lucas realizes that her friend, Elizabeth is in danger of being taken from her. One reason why Charlotte marries Mr. Collins is that he will inherit and she’ll end up at the estate of Elizabeth.
Arnie then asked, Did Mr. Darcy really reform or not? Did he trick Elizabeth into marrying him? What if Mr. Darcy constructed a fake reality for Elizabeth? Arnie says that it’s possible that Mr. Darcy used his resources to make Elizabeth think that he likes her when he really has his sights on another.
What is also interesting is that all the male characters who are interested in Elizabeth are connected to each other off stage but show up on stage and converge on Elizabeth at the same time. Maybe Mr. Darcy and Bingley are actually attracted to each other!
Arnie noted that Agatha Christie knew the works of Jane Austen well. Miss Marple is called Aunt Jane who lived in a small village just like Jane Austen. What a coincidence!
Arnie says that there are really shadow stories to the works of Jane Austen—stories that are beneath the main story. Jane Austen cleverly wrote two different stories at once with two messages for each of her books. The deeper message underneath the main story expands the flexibility of our minds. It’s up to the reader to figure it out. She trains us to doubt our first impressions which was the original title of Pride and Prejudice.
When Arnie looked further, he saw glimmers of other writers messing around with shadow stories, too, such as Henry James and Shakespeare. Therefore, Jane Austen followed in the tradition of great writers. For example, The Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollenstonecraft is really a rallying cry for women.
Also, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is full of shadow stories too. Her sister, Charlotte Bronte became famous due to her novel, Jane Eyre which also contains shadow stories. Interestingly, she is credited with hating Jane Austen and thought that there’s no passion to Jane Austen’s writings. Interestingly, Charlotte Bronte corresponded with Henry Lewes, a Janeite who loved Jane Austen’s writings and who recommended that she read Jane Austen. It turns out that Charlotte was really interested in Jane Austen and the darker themes meaning Jane Austen’s shadowed stories. As a result, the subtext of Emma permeates Jane Eyre.
Even Mark Twain read Jane Austen although he didn’t want to acknowledge that he admired her.
Arnie further noted that all the great authors borrowed endlessly from one another. The writings of Henry James is filled with allusions to both Jane Austen and Shakespeare. Jane Austen herself inserted metaphors and similes from Shakespeare and other phrases of his into Emma. The borrowing of great literature continues today. Even the movie, Clueless is based on Emma.
The character, Emma is manipulated by other characters and doesn’t know it. Sixty years before Jane Austen wrote Emma, Samuel Richardson wrote Pamela in 1749. Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones and also Shamala (a parody of Richardson’s Pamela). In fact, Arnie believes that Richardson was up to something and deliberately incorporated a shadow story into Pamela.
What if Harriet Smith in Emma is actually a Shamala? Harriet thinks that Emma is her plaything. Emma tries to match Harriet with others. Later Emma realizes that Harriet really has her eye on Mr. Knightly, not Mr. Churchill.
There’s also echoes of usurpation in Emma similar to that of Richard II by Shakespeare in which Henry usurps Richard’s throne. In Emma, Harriet usurps Emma. Harriet does this on purpose when she uses a different voice. She no longer speaks using “Yes, Miss Woodhouse.”
Next, Arnie discussed Jane Austen’s family toward her legacy. Apparently. Her nephew airbrushed Jane out of revenge because his mother didn’t get along with her mother. What survived is Jane Austen’s handwriting in Juvenlia—stories she wrote when she was a teenager.
Jane Austen’s letters shows sexual innuendos, however, it is up to the reader to see what they’re ready to see. The word, "confinement," is actually a pun. Women entered into final confinement during childbirth with some never surviving!
In closing, Arnie recommended reading Pride and Prejudice. Be sure to look for the shadow stories in Jane Austen’s works. If you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice, read it for fun and see what happens. Be sure to visit his blog, Sharp Elves Society for more on his shadow theory.