|
Comments:
I here also reprint some essay-postings showing how detailed
and carefully set up are all the character sketches and the
relationships between characters, Emma's history, the houses
in oppostion. It has been argued that The Watsons
is a first draft; one perusal and comparison of it with some
of Austen's scaps or the cancelled chapters of Persuasion,
or even her Sanditon, shows what Virginia Woolf
and Q. D. Leavis argued in the last century: the genius and
magic of Austen's suggestive nuanced texts comes from
repeated endless revision and that is precisely what we find
in this manuscript fragment of a novel.
February 8, 1998
A Gem Begun 1801 and put aside 1807-8 (I)
I know I am not alone in thinking this little novel
is a gem. Far from a mere fragment which is jolty or
without depth or unlike Austen's finished books in
its movement, I see in it the same concision which
can contain aesthetic shape, psychological depth,
and suggestive social commentaries which are
far-ranging in their implication. The characters are
fully-formed and of real interest. Although as with
all Austen's novels, they resemble in outward outline
other characters we have come across, they are
individualized so that we are in different presences
once again, and, even more interesting, find ourselves
in a milieu Austen only explores once before,
that of the fringe person, and I mean fringe, the
desperately impoverished genteel. Not impoverished
in the manner of the working or agricultural classes,
but as Trollope writes, impoverished enough to make
life one continual struggle to live in a way one
has not got the money or means or connections
for. Of course the other place Austen explored this
milieu was in the Portsmouth episode in MP.
I said I am not alone in seeing in this brief work
a great deal to be explored and of interest and
something far more finished than is usually thought--by
which I mean this is not the first draft. I should
say who else in print agrees with me. Deborah
Kaplan (see her chapter on this novel in JA Among
Women), Juliet McMaster, Margaret Drabble, Claudia
Johnson are names that spring to mind. I particularly
recommend an essay by Juliet McMaster called
"God Gave Us Our Relations" and the chapter
in Kaplan's book JA Among Women.
Several of us have discussed the book, and it
is interesting to me how many of us
were gripped by the depiction of the struggle
between the sisters for men, space, peace,
comfort, a struggle which is ugly and raw
enough to break through the veneer of surface
politeness as we see in the few poignant
and bitter comments by Elizabeth on her
loss of Purvis (desperate as she is, she
says she would not marry another if
she didn't feel she must); others talked
of the viciousness of the sister-in-law and
brother, of the impositions placed on
Elizabeth and the preying of Margaret
upon her when Margaret is forced to join
them. The genuinely ill old man is also
worth thinking about. Finally, the lovely
scene at the dance and Emma's gracious
behavior to a young boy to whose misery
adults would normally be utterly indifferent
is beautifully achieved.
The autobiographical element is strong
too and worth exploring. This was Austen's
milieu, not Pemberley and when we have
this one might almost say who cares
that we have none of her letters from
Bath. This is her letter to us from the
years at Bath just before and just after
her father died.
A Fully Imagined Little Book
James Heldman may be right when he says the
mood of this book is "unqualified hopelessness
and despair," and it may be this fragment which
led Tomalin to think Austen had a severe depression
during her time at Bath. But the novel itself shows
intense energy, a sharp working out. It's
astute, concise, and fully-imagined. We are
already dense with a family picture. I read it as
harder, Gissing-like, much less idealized
than any of her other novels. It holds
to the real details of every day life in a way none
of her other novels do. It seems to me Austen
was headed somewhere else from what she
had written in First Impressions, Sense
and Sensibility (out of an original Elinor
and Marianne) and Susan, a place which she decided
not to go to. There are strong elements of
similarity in tone as well as situation in
Austen's Three Sisters to this as well
as in that hard to read abrasive letter in A Collection
of Letters where one Lady Greville psychologically
abuses one Maria. So she had headed this
way before. Why she didn't continue no-one
knows.
But she did create a fully-developed world with her
usual casts of characters from different families
all intertwined in a village setting. She
went pretty far. I am here also arguing strongly against
the idea this is a rough draft so again as with my
calendar I will simply go include all the characters
who come into the picture by the time of the visit
of the in-laws in order to make my point. Many people
have read ahead or the whole piece by now.
First there's the Watsons, and I will be concise, writing
as a series of notes since there is so much detail
given even in the very few pages we have read already: we have
a family poor, no close carriage, who live in a village 3
miles distant from the town; they consist of
- Older People:
- Mr Watson, sickly, a
widower, cannot provide, loves
cards, a game of whist (Penguin 107, 109);
- Emma's aunt, a Miss Watson, perhaps her father's
sister, who became a Mrs Turner, widowed 2 years ago,
and is now a Mrs O'Brien, said by Elizabeth to have
married foolishly (Penguin 117), had she not Emma would have
remained an "heiress of eight or nine thousand pounds" (Penguin 142);
- Captain O'Brien whom it did not suit that Emma
should come to live with him and her
aunt in Ireland (Penguin 117), and whose fault
it is Emma is driving in that cart with Elizabeth
to get at least some "comfortable soup."
- Sisters and Brothers:
- Miss Elizabeth Watson, an eldest sister
who had enjoyed balls for ten years (Penguin 107),
9 years older than Emma, so 28 (Penguin 112);
- our heroine, 'the youngest sister'
Miss Emma Watson who has been brought up by
an aunt (Penguin 107), age 19 (Penguin 112),
hint she is pretty given by Elizabeth--"I should
not be surprised if you were to be thought one
of the prettiest girls in the room... a great
deal in novelty" (Penguin 108), a brown eye (Penguin
116);
- Penelope Watson, a treacherous sister (Penguin 108);
- Margaret Watson, yet another sister (Penguin 109),
gentle and mild in public, fretful and perverse
at home, still chasing Tom Musgrave; persuades
herself Musgrave in love with her, "sharp and
anxious expression on her face made her beauty
in general but little felt" (Penguin 139).
- Brothers, also living elsewhere:
Sam Watson, another brother, in love with Mary
Edwards and fears Captain Hunter preferred
(Penguin 112), youngest, said to look like
Emma; grey eyes, now 21, long face, wide mouth;
- There is also a footman named James.
- In-Laws Living Elsewhere:
- Robert & Jane Watson in Croydon to whom Margaret has gone
a second time in a twelvemonth in order to
"egg" Tom Musgrave on (Penuin 111); Jane Watson, an
only daughter of an attorney to whom Robert had been a clerk,
came with "six thousand pounds (Penguin 113) and
Robert, an attorney at Croydon (Penguin 139).
- Their daughter,
Augusta, a little niece at Croydon lied to so as to leave
her behind (Penguin 140) since mother could
not bear to take her without her maid (for whom
there would be no room at Stanton);
To match these we have also the Edwards, people of fortune who live
in the town and keep a coach, and they consist of
- Older People:
- Mrs Edwards who has a maid,
goes early to have good place
by fire (Penguin 111), has 2 satins dresses and new
cap from milliner's get her through winter;
- Mr Edwards who makes uncivil remark about Mr Sam
Watson's profession and complexion and
who may lose money at cards, and plays
too late at inn for Mrs Edwards's peace of mind (Penguin 116);
- And Marriageable Daughter:
Mary Edwards, a daughter with taste, an only child
with ten thousand pounts, age 22 (Penguin 112).
Looking ahead to the third group of characters
we meet at the ball, we have one more large group, the full
household of the wealthy Osbornes:
- Older People:
- Lord Osborne (Penguin 119);
- Lady Osborne (Penguin 120), nearly 50, very handsome, dignity
of rank, but a hypocrite because says she has come
early to please little boy; has come late to be
paraded over and is preening further by saying
she is early;
- Sons and Daughters: a son Lord Osborne (Penguin 120),
cold, careless, awkward, came because politic to do so,
not fond of women's company, and never danced (Penguin 121);
a daughter, Miss Osborne who carelessly cut and
disappointed the young Charles Blake (Penguin 120),
and who is just the type Tom Musgrave is said to want
to marry (Penguin 112).
- Household, friends, semi-dependent not-quite equal relatives, companions and servants,and educated people given "places" by
Osbornes on their estate:
- Miss Fanny Carr, Miss Osborne's friend (Penguin 120, 131);
- Mr Howard, formerly tutor to son, now clergyman
in parish in which castle stood (Penguin 120);
- Mrs Blake, widow-sister who lived with Mr Howard (Penguin
120), 35-36;
- Charles Blake, her fine boy of 10 (Penguin 120), with 2
brothers and sisters, Mr Howard teaches him
Latin, has a horse given him by Lord Osborne;
Now note I have not included Thomas Musgrave (a major
character) or Purvis or Dr Harding (whom Penelope is after)
or Dr Shaw (whom Sam works for) or the Tomlinsons
(a banker and family). I suggest we might have met
more Musgraves and found out more about Purvis. Dr
Harding might be a character like Nancy's doctor in
S&S--though Penelope's desperate hunt is not
funny in the manner of Nancy's garrulous chatter.
Each of the above characters is set in a house which is
carefully situated in a place which is set up in accordance
with the same criteria of verisimilitude and realism we
find in the other books.
This is not a rough draft. It is not the work of a depressed
woman. Bachelard argued long ago that serious creative
work demands a mind at peace, in tranquillity, at work
intensely. This is what we have here. We have here
a little novel as fully developed in all its essentials
as the other six. It is just not fleshed out. I take it
to be something like Volume I was to be. The original
situation and the cruxes are all set; what we are
wanting is elaboration and taking things to their
conclusion (Volumes II & III).
March 8, 1998
The Watsons: An Epistolary Interlude and Uses of Letters to Come
In all Jane Austen's novels but Emma the heroine travels somewhere.
The first two published, P&P and S&S have again and again been
analyzed to try to demonstrate their first versions were or might
have been epistolary. There is documentary evidence to suggest
that S&S definitely was. We have a long epistolary interlude
brilliantly worked into the third volume of MP while Fanny
is at Portsmouth, Mary in London, and Lady Bertram at the Park.
Letters provide important turning points in NA and Persuasion,
and the subplot of Emma, the story of Jane Fairfax is a
story of a clandestine correspondence and Emma itself uses
letters for central turns in the plot.
It is then no surprize that in The Watsons when Mr Watson died,
Emma Watson will be taken to live at Croydon with Jane and Robert
Watson. It is also no surprize that Elizabeth Watson and she
have grown very close. The question is where would Elizabeth
go to live because once the two were set up as close intimate
congenial confidants and placed in different spots in England,
they would have written letters. I see in The Watsons a
plan for an epistolary interlude and opportunities for central
uses of letters. Let us also recall that Emma's aunt, once
a Miss Watson, then a Mrs Turner, and now a Mrs O'Brien,
lives in Ireland cares about Emma.
Bibliography:
- Brown, Edith C. "The Date of The Watsons", The
Spectator, June 11, 1927, pp. 1016-17.
- James-Cavan, Kathleen, "Closure and Disclosure: The
Significance of Conversation in Jane Austen's The Watsons,
Studies in the Novel, 29 (1997), pp. 437-52.
- Leavis, Q. D., "A Critical Theory of Jane Austen's
Writings", Scrutiny, 10 (1941-42), pp. 114-142,
272-294; 12 (1944-45), pp. 104-119
- McMaster, Juliet, "'God Gave Us Our Relations': The Watson Family,"
Judith Terry, "'Knit Your Own Soul'; or, Finishing Off Jane
Austen," James Heldman, "Where Is Jane Austen in
The Watsons, John Norris, "Sam Is Only a Surgeon,
you know," Mary Margaret Benson, "Excellently Qualified
to Shine at a Round Game," Joseph Wiesenfarth"The
Watsons as Pretext," all in Persuasions,
8 (1986), 61-109
|
