Interview with Margaret C. Sullivan, Author of The Jane Austen Handbook

Inquiring readers, Tony Grant recently interviewed Margaret C. Sullivan, author of the delightful Jane Austen's Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World. I hope you'll enjoy their conversation as much as I did.

A short while ago a chunky package, smallish, but with some solidity about it came to my door delivered by courier. I haven’t ordered anything from Amazon for a while and I certainly don’t do mail order. It was a book!! Margaret’s book ,”The Jane Austen Handbook.” I perused it. I read bits in the minutest detail, some bits twice over. I examined the index, the glossary. I thought up,”what about , education?” and yes there it was. How about, “dancing,”? Oh yes it was there. The index was an education in itself. A great little book. Margaret’s editor had contacted me ages and ages ago. I think Vic had put him on to me. He asked if I would write a review of this new edition and I accepted. Weeks and weeks later it arrived. I had actually forgotten all about it. It was a very very pleasant surprise.

After writing the review I had no idea of Margaret’s reaction to it. I deigned to contact her and ask for an interview

Oh dear me!!!!! Apparently I had managed to charm the words right out of Margaret.
She wrote back to me.
“I loved the review! A few smiles, a few compliments for my word-nerdiness and I'm a lost woman.”

Here is the interview.
All the best,
Tony

Why did you write The Jane Austen Handbook?


Being kind of a bigmouth obsessive Janeite who liked to write and had acquired a largish book collection about Jane Austen, after I had several Austen-related articles and stories and things published in various places, many people said to me, "You should write a book!" But what book to write? It seemed to me that everything about Jane Austen had been done.

Margaret Sullivan at JASNA 2008. Image @Laurie Viera Rigler

Fortunately, an editor at Quirk Books, Melissa Wagner, approached me with a proposal. They had a line of faux-but-not-really handbooks related to various popular culture properties, such as the Batman Handbook, the Spiderman Handbook, etc., and they wanted to do something literary for the next handbook. They asked if I was interested in writing The Jane Austen Handbook. They already had the format, with the "How-to" scenarios with documentation-like procedure lists. I liked the idea and thought the format was fun--it was informative and yet there was an opportunity to really have fun with it, which was right up my alley. It was the book I wanted to write, but didn't know it.

Where did you get all those fascinating facts and information from?

Like I said above, I had acquired a pretty extensive library of Austen-related books, because they interested me and also because I was writing a lot of Austen fan fiction and needed the information. While I was writing the book, I acquired some more books and tortured the local librarians with interlibrary loan requests. Also, I depended on the kindness of friends! My friend Allison Thompson, who is a dance historian, was really helpful with the dance sections and sent me a lot of really interesting information. I also picked up a lot of esoteric information (for instance, how to ride sidesaddle) while researching my fan fiction stories.

What is your writing process when you write a book like this?

Many readers have noted that the book is easy to consume in small bits because there are short scenarios and bits of information. That was how it was written, too; I was working full-time at my day job during the writing process, snatching a few minutes here and there on the train, at lunch, and in the evenings and on weekends. Melissa and I had brainstormed an outline of the scenarios, so I had a starting point. Some of the scenarios were easy, because they were all out of my own books or were suggested by the novels themselves (such as How to Avoid Dancing with an Undesirable Gentleman) and some were more difficult. We had to abandon a couple of scenarios because I was unable to find sufficient information in time to write them. (I had six weeks between the time the proposal was accepted and the first draft was due.)

Incidentally, in your review you noted that the book seemed directed towards women. That was on purpose. because Jane Austen's heroines were young, unmarried women, and the idea was to imagine yourself in the place of one of her heroines. However, I knew a lot of male Austen fans would be reading it, and older female fans, so I persuaded the editor to let me add information geared towards these readers. I knew that a real Janeite would find it all interesting!

Tony Grant in Bath, down the road from
the Jane Austen Centre

Why did you choose to write in a formal, evocative of the period, sort of way? ( I love the words and language you use by the way.)

Thanks! Really, that's how I write most of the time; I tend to use long sentences with lots of semicolons (and I am also a parentheses fiend). I love authors who use language elegantly. One of the best books I've ever read, prose-wise, is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. The first paragraph gives me goosebumps--the more so because I am torn between adoration of the elegant economy of the language and revulsion at the subject matter. Jane Austen's prose also frequently gives me goosebumps, and the stories are certainly more pleasant.

Some other authors whose use of language I really admire and love to read are Harper Lee, J.R.R. Tolkien (when he's writing the hobbits and not being all King James Bible, though really some of that I like, too), Stephen King, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Georgette Heyer. You might hear a bit of each of those authors--and of course Jane Austen--in my writing.

Would you like to have lived in the Georgian period?

Yes and no. I'm a bit of a frustrated sociologist so, like Jane Austen, I'm interested in men and women, and would like to travel through time and just see how things were back then. But the inconveniences and lack of mod. cons.* keep me happy right here in the 21st century.

*See, I can talk Brit too when I try. ;-)

Amanda Vickery has recently produced a series of programmes called, At Home with The Georgians. I don't know whether you have seen it on your side of The Atlantic? If you were to turn The Jane Austen Handbook into a TV series what locations would you use to illustrate various themes in your book?

I haven't seen it, but I know of it and it seems very interesting! Like that time travel trip I mentioned above, but you get to come back.

A big piece of the book would have to be set in the country, as so much of it is how one travels to the country, how one runs a country house, how one amuses oneself in the country, etc. But I think, like many of Jane Austen's heroines, at some point we have to go to either London or Bath, because the city has its attractions, as well. Plus I love Bath!

• Tony's review of The Jane Austen Handbook
• Vic's interview with Margaret C. Sullivan
• Vic's review of The Jane Austen Handbook

Giveaway: Enter a Chance to Win a copy of Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart

Another author interview and giveaway at Austenprose. Discover author Beth Pattillo’s inspiration for writing Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart, her new novel that was officially released today and enter a chance to win one of three copies and one set with her previous novel Jane Austen Ruined My Life by leaving a comment at Austenprose. Contest ends Sunday, February 7th, 2010 so don’t delay.

Read two Austen bloggers opposing reviews of this new novel: Vic’ at Jane Austen’s World and mine at Austenprose.

Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Interview With Syrie James: Author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen

Gentle Readers,

Syrie James graciously agreed to an interview about her fabulous book, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, and her thoughts about writing and the enormous amount of research that was required before she even began her novel about Jane. Here then is the interview, and some photos that Syrie sent of herself in front of Chawton Cottage and with her own Mr. Ashford at a Regency ball - her husband Bill!

Ms. Place: How old were you when you read your first Jane Austen novel? Which one was it? What made you become an admirer, and did you become one instantly or did this process take time?

Syrie: I first read Pride and Prejudice and Emma in college, and I really enjoyed them. Few novels can match Pride and Prejudice for pure brilliance of plot, pacing, characterization and dialog. No matter how many times you read that book, you can’t put it down! I also loved Emma, with its delightfully misguided heroine, hilarious supporting characters, and comedy-of-errors plot.

It wasn’t until 1995, however, that Jane Austen appeared full-force on my radar. That was the year that three films that brought her books vividly to life: Emma Thompson and Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth, and a wonderful adaptation of Persuasion with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. When you put Jane Austen on the screen, something magical happens! The same year, Clueless came out—a modernization of Emma— and the next year there were two fabulous screen adaptations of Emma. Overnight, Jane Austen seemed to be everywhere. I adored those films, and I became obsessed with All Things Austen.

I read the rest of her books, and especially loved Persuasion. Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth are beautifully drawn characters, and exhibit great depth of feeling. Because Jane wrote it as a mature woman, when she was reflecting on loss and regret, it provides a wonderful counterpoint to her earlier views of life and romance.

I became an admirer of Jane Austen’s work for many reasons. She was a brilliant craftsman; her novels are beautifully structured gems. She wrote with a wonderful sense of irony and humor, and a great understanding of character, and she wrote about real people in recognizable circumstances. Her characters all wrestle with familiar social and emotional problems that we still confront on a daily basis: difficulties with family relationships, money (or the lack of it), and the struggle to live within society's rules. All of her main characters go on a voyage of self-discovery; they all learn something important about themselves by the end of the book. Her books always leave me satisfied: the good are rewarded, the bad punished, and the lovers united. Most importantly, she wrote about what people risk when they fall in love, and what it can cost—a topic anyone can relate to, at any time.

Ms. Place: Your book, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, is so meticulously researched. I am curious. Were you a Jane scholar before you began to write the book, or did you come up with the idea of writing the book first, which then led you to do the research? Would you be willing to share one story about your research, and an interesting tidbit you uncovered that surprised you?

Syrie: I came up with the idea a number of years ago, right after watching Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time, followed by a screening of Shakespeare in Love. I remember thinking: what about a love story for Jane Austen? Why hasn’t anyone done that? At that point, I knew next to nothing about Jane Austen’s life. I started reading every Jane Austen biography I could find. Her life story, as portrayed by historians, left me unsatisfied. I found it hard to believe that this brilliant woman, who gave the world such wonderful and romantic stories, never fell in love herself.

Wasn’t it possible, I thought, that Jane Austen had a secret love affair? What if she recorded the entire experience in a journal, that had never been found? I was also intrigued by the idea of Jane Austen’s genesis as a writer. According to her sister, Austen wrote early drafts of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice in her twenties; how much, I wondered, did those manuscripts change when she revised them years later for publication? What part did real life events play in the development of her stories?

I spent an enormous amount of time researching and developing my story before I felt ready to write it. It was important to me to stay true to every known fact of her life, and to present an entirely plausible story, just as Jane herself might have told it. As I conducted my research into Jane Austen’s life and work, a lot of things surprised me.

For one thing, I was struck by how beautifully written, well-planned and structured Jane Austen’s novels are. The first time you read them, you enjoy the story, you laugh at the comic characters and you root for the lovers to be united. On a second read, you begin to notice how cleverly the story is plotted and how real and consistent the characters are. You appreciate the character arcs: the way the heroine (and hero, in most cases) grow and change during the story, as they learn the lesson they’re meant to learn.

I was surprised to see how few descriptions of people, places, and clothing Jane Austen included in her books—it’s almost all left to the imagination. In her letters to her sister, however, Jane expounded on these subjects; she wrote often and in great detail about clothing and hats, and the price of fabric and lace and trimmings, even though she was on a very small budget—but there’s almost nothing about it in her novels. Perhaps she didn’t include these details because she was writing for a contemporary audience, and didn’t think it was necessary… or maybe she was simply more interested in focusing on character and dialog! Most locations in her novels are imaginary and hastily depicted. Two places that she did spend a great deal of time describing are Lyme Regis and Pemberley. We know that Jane Austen visited Lyme Regis herself several times, and loved it; I reasoned, therefore, that she had also been to “Pemberley”—and so I included it as an important locale in my novel.

I was surprised to learn that Jane Austen never went to school… except for a year when she was seven and went away to boarding school with Cassandra, where they both became ill and nearly died. It was relatively unusual for a girl to go away to school then, but for a writer of Jane Austen’s brilliance and skill, it somehow came as a surprise to learn that she’d never been formally educated by anyone other than her father.

I was also amazed at how prolific she was. Jane Austen wrote or rewrote 6 books in 7 years when she moved to Chawton. Apparently it only took her a little over a year to write Emma and a year to write Persuasion (even though she was ill at that time.) I consider this to be remarkable in an era when books were written with a quill and ink, and you had to copy over the entire manuscript before submission. I could never write that fast!

Ms. Place: Tell us a bit about your writing process. Do you set aside a daily scheduled time for research and writing? Or do you wait until inspiration hits you, and write in long spurts?

Syrie: I try to write every day, from 10 AM to 4 or 5 PM. I don’t have to wait until inspiration strikes; I love what I do, and I’m always inspired! If I feel that I’m not ready to write a particular part of a novel, I’ve found it means that I haven’t done enough research. I go back to reading, studying, note-taking, and rethinking my outline and the characters’ motivations. When the story becomes clear again, I plunge back in.

Ms. Place: One thing that struck me is how well you were able to write as Jane, keeping her voice, yet managing to communicate with today's audience. At the beginning that task must have seemed daunting. How did you prepare to write in another author's voice?

Syrie: In order for this novel to be perceived as Jane Austen’s memoirs, I knew that I had to not only sound as much like her as possible, but to create a story that was Jane Austen through and through, peopled with her unique roster of characters, and filled with her wit and sense of irony. To “get into character,” I read dozens of Jane Austen biographies, and I researched her era extensively. I reread her novels, over and over again. I read all her juvenilia and unfinished works. I studied her letters in minute detail. I watched all her movies, some many times over. I even took English Regency Country Dance lessons! Eventually, I felt I understood who she was, and her voice (and the voices of her characters) seemed to come naturally to me.

Ms. Place: Hollywood has called, and wants to make a movie of your book. Which actors and actresses would be at the top of your list to play Jane and Frederick Ashford?

Syrie: I’d love to see Naomi Watts, Frances O'Connor, or Kate Winslet as Jane, Christian Bale as Frederick Ashford, and Emma Thompson as Cassandra!

• Visit Syrie James's websitehere.

• Click on the Avon website here.
  

• And click here to browse inside the The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen.