Origins of the Regency Romance, Silver Fork Novels

[sartorias]

There were two things going on with silver fork novels: the unrepentant glorying in the wealth and exclusiveness of rank, and the stories of marriages. They were not always romantic by today's standards. Pelham, the granddaddy of them all (especially the 1828 edition, before Bulwer hyphenated his name and toned down his cheerfully impudent

Comments

[asakiyume]

What Austen novels do prostitutes get mentioned in? Is it more than a passing reference

[sartorias]

I remember in specific Lizzy and Jane worrying about Lydia, that running away with Wickham would ruin her chances of marriage and she'd end up 'on the town' which was prostitution. There is more about it in S&S with the unfortunate that the Colonel protects, and I think there may be a slight reference in Mansfield, but I can't remember the exact place or instance. There may even have been a careless reference in Northanger, when Captain Tilney is dissing Isabella Thorpe. And Lady Susan is all about a high class lady on the town.

[asakiyume]

Okay, I thought maybe the worries over Lydia stretched to that, but I wasn't sure.

Lady Susan? (Is there a novel by that title, or is that a character in a novel?)

[sartorias]

This is Austen's naughty novel. It's early, and many Austenites don't know what to do with it, so they pretend it doesn't exist. It was never published during her time.

[asakiyume]

Cool! What did you think of it?

[sartorias]

It's obviously early--not only is it epistolary, as were most novels of the eighteenth century, but it depends on some of its more trite conventions . . . however her genius is emerging in how many of those conventions she makes fun of. She also varies the voices in the letters a la Richardson to an impressive degree. It's very short, and parts of it are quite wickedly funny. Lady Susan is so unrepentantly wicked--Austen understood intuitively that everyone is the hero of their own tale, which I think is one of the reasons she never creates a flat stereotype.

[asakiyume]

I'm going to read this! Thanks :-)

[asakiyume]

from pilgrimsoul

Adding my two cents worth on Lady Susan. It is a truly remarkable production that can transform one's views of Miss Austen, but mostly I grieve anew that she died so young with so many veins untapped.

[kateelliott]

[zeborahnz]

I love Lady Susan and keep trying to find a nice copy of it but everyone ignores it so the best I've got is a little paperback that gathers it along with the other bits and pieces that don't make it into the big 6.

[asakiyume]

I'm very much looking forward to it!