About Me

“I am afraid you do not like your pen. Let me mend it for you. I mend pens remarkably well.”

“Thank you — but I always mend my own.”

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Darcy writes to Elizabeth

I’m reminded of a quote from Wajda’s “The Promised Land” where a certain character says Everybody has a palace, and so do I. The cited gentleman did have a palace in order not to be worse than others, but he didn’t live there.

I wanted to have a blog, because so many people do, but I never knew what to write in one. This place will be a kind of diary. Since I’m active in various places in the Jane Austen and Regency England world, I’m going to copy here the longer and more informative posts I write.

In my attempt to interpret Austen’s novels as thoroughly as possible I constantly reread her texts, trying to get rid off the common misconceptions created by the various adaptations of her writings. At the same time I acquaint myself with the works of her contemporaries, in order to properly understand the worldviews prevalent in her times, and discern Austen’s own standpoint.

I won’t shy from any topic that might be relevant, so one can expect both posts about sexuality and prudence, philosophy and theology, British and Continental history. I am not an early 19th century person, and I don’t necessarily embrace the views as they were back then, but I believe that in order to understand a representative of the Regency era one should understand that world. For example I do not approve of entail, but while speaking of it I’m going to look for its good sides in order to explain why people back then could think differently. I am not an Anglican either, but I read a good deal of sermons because Austen was a parson’s daughter and religion back then had a much greater influence on the life of the society than it has today. Finally, I am all for equality among genders, classes and races, but I won’t forget that people back then did not yet hold the same opinions we do today, and even those who put foundations for the changes formed their thoughts differently than we do now.

Do not be then afraid to discuss the views freely. This is not a personal blog where I’d write about my own convictions. Are there things you would like me to write about? Just drop me a message here.

Sylwia

P.S. I am not a native English speaker so I can make mistakes. Feel free to correct me. It’ll help me to learn.