By Elizabeth Jewell
The August 25, 2024, meeting was to celebrate and discuss the recent publication of Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey’s Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in June of 2024. The book examines the endings of Austen’s novels, describing them as “rushed, ironic, and reluctant to satisfy readers’ thirst for romance.” Brodey examines both the endings of Austen’s novels and the authors Austen read during her lifetime, as well as recent adaptations of Austen novels. Brodey argues that Austen’s endings reveal her convictions about authorship, novels, and the purpose of domestic fiction.
Inger Brodey, our guest for this meeting, is a professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is the cofounder and director of the beloved Jane Austen Summer Program, as well as Jane Austen and Company, which features talks all year round. She is the principal investigator of Jane Austen’s desk.
Brodey started reading Austen when she was a teenager; her older brother came home from college and gave her Pride and Prejudice to read. She read her way through Austen’s works, being struck by how different Mansfield Park seemed to her when compared with the other works. In that book, there’s a great deal of detail about nature and the things Fanny sees from her window, but the ending felt so rushed to Brodey that she at first thought Austen hadn’t been able to finish the book. As the thought about Austen’s endings over the years, she concluded that the endings were not the result of Austen being unmarried or being an “embittered spinster,” as some have suggested. Brodey was also struck by the difference between the book endings and the way the stories have been portrayed in popular media, especially in the last several decades.
Brodey notes that focusing on the “happy ending” and marriage makes the books blend together somewhat; they become homogenized. This obscures the reality that Austen challenged herself in each successive novel to do something very different. She demonstrates her devotion to the novel as a form in this way, more than many of her contemporaries.
Brodey identifies what she calls “anti-romantic” techniques employed by Austen in the latter parts of various novels. Objections to marriage are overcome by prosaic considerations—Mr. Woodhouse is so concerned about the theft of chickens from the poultry house that he accepts Emma’s marriage to Mr. Knightley and the added protection that Knightley will provide when he moves in with them. General Tilney is distracted from his objections to Henry’s marriage to Catherine by the sudden arrival of a titled suitor for his daughter; expectations that Fanny Price should marry Henry Crawford are disrupted by Crawford’s adulterous elopement with Maria Bertram Rushworth; Edmund’s infatuation with Mary Crawford is damaged when he realizes her character is inferior to Fanny’s; Marianne Dashwood’s illness leaves her more calm and accepting of the attentions of Colonel Brandon, whom she had previously deemed too old. Quite a few momentous events happen on the last one to three pages of the books. Resolution in the novels includes both recognition and restoration as well as romance.
Sue Scott mentions that this is one of her favorite books about Austen, answering many of the questions she’s had reading Austen—such as why we often don’t see the proposals themselves. She remarks on Brodey’s idea that Anne Elliot’s willingness to be persuaded (as she is by Lady Russell) is based on love; her family is not willing to be persuaded to retrench when Anne urges it because they do not love her.
Brodey affirms that the endings are happy, yes, but Austen gives them to us with a price tag attached—what people must do to accept the reality of their lives.
Karin Wiberg agrees that this was a favorite nonfiction study of Austen. She wonders how much of Austen’s work is intentional and how much is our interpretation of the work? She asks about the Buddhist connection with Austen’s work, especially in connection with Mansfield Park and Persuasion; Brodey says this is based on the work of Kathryn Duncan, who wrote Jane Austen and the Budda: Teachers of Enlightenment (2021; Toplight Books). Duncan creates a hierarchy of who she thinks, according to Buddhist thought, are the best and most enlightened of Austen’s heroines. Brodey says, though, she thinks Austen’s themes are more universal than Buddhist.
Brodey talks about Austen’s wide reading and how deeply she engaged in what she read. Many contemporary writers also wrote poetry or plays or other works; Austen was dedicated to the novel more than many others were.
Jane Axelrod agrees that she enjoyed the book a great deal. She notes that the romance, recognition, and restoration follow one from another in a sequential pattern. Brodey characterizes this as a kind of sentimental education. She notes that Elizabeth Bennett says after her engagement to Darcy that they have both grown in civility, which is an interesting word because it relates to the wider society in which they live.
Cindy says that Elinor is the character that she thinks is most like Austen herself. Maybe Austen didn’t value the things Marianne does—passionate, physically based love, versus the more mature appreciation of a man who could live by his values. Brodey says she sees parts of Austen in all the heroines. She remarks on the transition between Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park, in which Austen goes from the charm and wit of the first to the more sober reality of the second, in which she almost rejects charm (in the person of the Crawford siblings) for Fanny’s many fine qualities that don’t include charm. Even today, we have not caught up with Austen’s ideas of who could be a heroine, and we still expect the standard tropes of beauty and charm. This is why Fanny Price is such a challenge for many readers. Cindy remarks that she’d like a part II for Pride and Prejudice, especially with the two remaining unmarried Bennett sisters. One sequel mentioned in the chat is Light and Shadow at Pemberly: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice by Lee Elliott (2021).
Vicki admitted she hasn’t received her copy of the book yet, but mentioned that she’s realized that Mary and Henry Crawford lack any sense of how their actions affect others. Is Austen arguing against a romantic ideal of the time that accepted such behaviors? Brodey says that social awareness is part of love in Austen. The lover is often set back, observing his beloved in her family or social circle. The face-to-face connection is often more narcissistic (for example, Frank Churchill and Emma together with Mr. Knightley observing them from a slight distance).
William asked about the title of the book—what’s the price? Do you have to give something up? Brodey says no, the reader gets to “have the cake and eat it too.” There’s a kind of cost to inevitability; you have to work on yourself and fix your own life as much as you can. Austen gives up the happy ending but leaves the price tag attached; it makes the reader aware of self.
Judy also enjoyed the book. She appreciated that Brodey discussed the books in the order Austen wrote them and that the differences between the books (and their narrators) are noticeable. She notes that Austen’s juvenilia uses all her reading to make fun of the books she’s read, and then Austen also uses the critiques in her own novels later.
Connie said she’d learned so much from this book and also appreciated the chronological treatment of Austen’s works. Brodey pointed out that the conflict between Mr. Knightley and Frank Churchill in Emma stands for the conflict between England and France.
Betty also enjoyed the book. She loves terminology and appreciated Brodey’s mention of the narrative drive or narrative list (attributed to C. S. Lewis). She loves “resources for solitude” as well, defined as when one’s individual power is not strong enough to overcome the power of external and corruptive forces. The main lesson seems to be growth is necessary to manage disappointment with cheer (referring to Elinor in Sense and Sensibility). Austen uses that phrase in the negative—saying that Maria Rushworth does not have resources for solitude.
Sara asked about some of the adaptations, including the somewhat odd video cover for Persuasion, which used a different actress because Amanda Root was not considered glamorous enough. Unflattering comparisons were made between the more recent adaptation of Persuasion in 2022 with the 1995 version.
Brodey says that reading novels, especially older novels, allows us to enter worlds that we don’t naturally belong in, and some recent adaptations that try to make the stories more relatable may damage the story and its point. For example, having Wentworth buy Kellynch Hall and give it to Anne at the end is contrary to Austen’s ending (and also contrary to the very real legal issue of having an estate entailed)—making Anne a traveling heroine without an estate is somewhat radical for the time.
Have people changed in the centuries since Austen in how they feel about romance and happy endings? No, Brodey says, not much; despite the many more options women now have, the same desires exist now as then.
Up Next
Sara is still ironing out the details for September’s meeting will be an exploration of brisé fans and the Language of Fans with Candice Hern, which you can learn more about here; October will be the debrief of the AGM meeting (click here to learn more). November is the next book club meeting for a fanfiction selection that we’ll choose by voting (look to the September newsletter in your inbox!). JASNA-NC is also seeking an Instagram manager to post a few times a month.