Happy (Belated) Birthday, Jane Austen
December 2025 Bulletin
Tuesday December 16th marked the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, and to celebrate it, my husband and I read an Austen novel at the same time. We chose Mansfield Park because neither of us had read it before. I was going to write something about it for The Lichfield Rambler, but then Henry Oliver wrote a Substack called Is Mansfield Park about slavery? which pretty much says it all. (See also his Did Austen’s readers associate the name Mansfield with slavery?)
I don’t think there’s much I can add to these excellent posts, except to say that there is more about the cultivation of apricot trees in Mansfield Park than there are references to slavery. My personal view is that Fanny Price’s interest in her Uncle’s plantations is meant to shed light on her character - she is moral, well informed, and sensitive to the plight of others. She may very well be an abolitionist, although Austen does not say so. The point of the slavery reference is to tell us something about Fanny - we can see how much better she is than her shallow, selfish cousins, and we realise that the future of the Bertram family is better off in her hands.
As for the rest, I feel that the plot fundamentally doesn’t work if we’re supposed to see Sir Thomas Bertram as evil, and I’m not convinced that Austen is referring to Justice Mansfield (the 18th-century judge known for his ruling in Somerset’s Case) in the title of the novel.
For more on Austen, here’s a post I wrote about visiting her house at Chawton.
This month I’ve been twice to Covent Garden, first to see Handel’s Ariodante and a second time to see Puccini’s Turnadot. I won’t give my own opinions because a) I was there as a guest and b) Richard’s reviews are pending here. However, I will say that - although I love Handel - it was refreshing to attend Turandot, which seemed short in comparison, especially with the great Anna Netrebko in the title role. I have already seen this production, but wanted particularly to hear Netrebko, who is a singer of such immense skill that I felt lucky to catch one of her performances.
I’ve spent a lot of time lately trying to teach myself how to paint in watercolour, and, in particular, trying to capture a tree I saw in the courtyard of Beethoven’s house in Heiligenstadt. Many years ago I studied fine art but I painted in acrylics, which means that I’m making all the usual mistakes with watercolour - trying to paint in too much detail, overworking, etc. We own a few paintings by the 18th-century watercolourist, John Louis Petit, so I’ve been studying those in the hope of improving my technique. As they say: life is short… art is long!
What I’m looking forward to soon … I’m keenly awaiting the TV series Amadeus, which I hope won’t be a travesty. With Paul Bettany as Salieri, it appears promising (how brilliant he was as Stephen Maturin in Master and Commander!) It looks from the trailer that they have filmed some of it at Eszterháza Palace, Hungary, which we visited last September (above) and I still haven’t had time to write about. We’ll certainly enjoy geeking out on all the historical locations.
I’m also a fan of the ridiculous will-they-won’t-they Netflix series Emily in Paris. Berets at the ready - Season 5 is out now!
An incredible writer. (And a devoted reader of Samuel Johnson!)
When I lived in England I saw her last resting place in Winchester Cathedral. A very moving memorial there.