Product Description

What was the significance of the pyramid of fruit which confronted Elizabeth Bennet at Pemberley? Or of the cold beef eaten by Willoughby on his journey of repentance to see Marianne? Why is it so appropriate that the scene of Emma's disgrace should be a picnic, and how do the different styles of housekeeping in "Mansfield Park" engage with the social issues of the day? While Jane Austen does not luxuriate in cataloguing meals in the way of Victorian novelists, food in fact plays a vital part in her novels. Her plots, being domestic, are deeply imbued with the rituals of giving and sharing meals. The attitudes of her characters to eating, to housekeeping and to hospitality are important indicators of their moral worth. In a practice both economical and poetic, Jane Austen sometimes uses specific foodstuffs to symbolize certain qualities at heightened moments in the text. This culminates in the artistic triumph of "Emma", in which repeated references to food not only contribute to the solidity of her imagined world, but provide an extended metaphor for the interdependence of a community. In this study, the author offers a perspective on the novels and illuminates a period of food history, as England stood on the brink of urbanization, middle-class luxury, and change in the role of women. Ranging over topics from greed to gender to mealtimes and manners, and drawing on the novels, letters and Austen family papers, she also discusses Jane Austen's own ambivalent attitude to the provision and enjoyment of food.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #945809 in Books
• Published on: 1995-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

Lots to learn about Jane Austen's world!
This book tells you much more about the world of Jane Austen than the title suggests.

It is roughly divided in two. The first part is about everything to do with food in Jane Austen's time, what they ate, and when they ate, how they made it, what they wore when they ate and lots and lots of interesting information like that. The second part concerns food as a symbol - those who pity Marianne when she marries the old Colonel Brandon should remember his (still fruitful) mulberry tree and be comforted, and "vaguer" things like that - it is also interesting, but the first part is absolutely brilliant.

Things to learn: How to make syllabub, what does Mrs. Bennett mean by "two full courses", how does Aunt Philips betray her vulgarity by inviting guests for cards and supper, why are the Bates's apples baked twice?

It teaches you about all of society, not just about food. Perfect for people like me, who love background material!

More than that
A fascinating insight into changing society and women's changing roles within it with the move from an agriculture based economy to an industrial one. Up until the late 18th early 19th century women were different but equal - they had the essential role at all levels of society of ensuring that there were adequate supplies of nurishment for the whole household or the whole family spread throughout the year, a task requiring skill, intelligence and pro-active foresight. After this time the wealthy went to market and the poor, with no access to the actual means of food production, were simply wage slaves at half the rate of pay that men got - and so respect for women plummeted over just two generations.
It's also well written and a very valuable extension of one's enjoyment of Austen - alas limited to the six novels and minor works.