I’ve always been a huge fan of Jane Austen. My mom first introduced me to her via the 1995 A&E/BBC adaptation with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. It was love at first sight, and since then I’ve revisited all her books and adaptations (especially that miniseries) time and time again. It was the first thing I pulled out after my mom died.
Despite reading and rereading all her published works, I had never read any of Austen’s juvenilia except for Lady Susan.
I had heard of her history of England and Love and Friendship, but had never read them.
When I recently came across a beautifully bound collection of her juvenilia (in this case it was labeled “youthful writings”) I couldn’t resist. So I bought it and promptly started reading.
It’s delightful.
Yes, it’s clearly the work of a younger, less mature writer, but you can see the beginnings of the Jane Austen we all know and love. Her sense of humor, particularly her satire, were always there, they were just more broad than in her published works. We’re used to her very subtle, very pointed jokes. That’s not what you’ll find here.
Love and Friendship is a great example of this. I don’t think you need to have read any 18th century novels to appreciate the humor in this satire, but I will say it’s much funnier if you have read at least one. I had to read Pamela by Samuel Richardson for a class in college and I’ve been known to say that all the heroine does is cry and faint, cry and faint. Austen clearly caught on to that theme as well and ran with it in her own version and it’s hilarious.
The other thing that struck me about her juvenilia was all the things I could point to that would end up in her published works. The most striking example was a short story in which a bunch of characters share names with some of her most famous characters from her novels. There’s an Elinor, a Maria, and a Mr. Musgrove.
If I hadn’t known it was Austen’s own juvenilia, I would have thought it was someone making fun of her books by bringing a bunch of characters from different books together.
Last, but certainly not least, is her sense of fairness, particularly where women are concerned. I wouldn’t have even thought of this before joining some online Austen fan groups, but some members there have pointed out just how progressive her feminism is, even in her later works.
For example, Lydia Bennet does an incredibly stupid thing that has the potential to ruin, not only her own prospects, but her entire family. And yet Austen refused to punish her for it. Instead, she arranges it so that it all works out for her.
The same is true of her juvenilia, particularly Lady Susan. The titular Lady Susan is a conniving, manipulative widow who is forced to rely on the charity of others. She is painted as a villain, but again, she is not punished for her duplicity. On the contrary, when her almost fiancé finds out the truth and leaves her, far from being distraught, she’s relieved because she never liked him anyway. Instead, she marries another rich man, ensuring she has everything she wants and gets to live happily ever after.
Not only was it refreshing in that way, it was a delight to read and I highly recommend it, especially if you are already an Austen fan.