The March winds may have been blustering, but JASNA NC couldn’t resist the call of Mary Jane Curry’s Zoom presentation “Wild Nature: An Exploration.” Curry’s talk tackled the role of nature in Jane Austen’s novels, a topic discussed in detail in Jane Austen and Nature: The Novels as Pastoral Literature.
Thirty-seven Austen fans from as far away as Wales relished the presentation’s lush landscape photos and peppered the chat with lively comments.
Opening break-out sessions asked listeners to recall formative moments in nature from their childhoods, a perfect preparation for exploring how nature impacts Austen’s characters. Jane Austen, Curry explained, was a Janus-like figure, half Neoclassical, half Romantic, a dichotomy reflected in her novels. Industrialization in Austen’s era threatened nature. As early as Addison and Steele’s Tatler articles, landowners were reminded they were stewards of nature and responsible for tenants. In Austen, Darcy represents that ideal at Pemberley. This concept of stewardship, Curry said, contrasted with an increasing drive in the period to accumulate wealth for its own sake and to enclose lands.
Wild nature mattered to Jane Austen and to her main characters, but not to her villains. Unattractive characters in her novels destroy nature. In Mansfield Park, Rushworth’s “improvement” plan involves cutting down an avenue of mature trees, which appalls Fanny Price.
The heroes and heroines in Austen’s novels, in contrast, are bound together by a love of nature, Curry explained. Edward Ferrars and Edmund Bertram prefer rural life, rejecting London careers. Austen heroines are likewise drawn to nature. Whether she’s rolling downhill or marveling at the view from Beechen Cliffs, Catherine Morland appreciates nature in its unaltered state.
Nature offers Austen heroines freedom, as well. Elizabeth Bennet retreats to the outer boundaries of Rosings for her walks, away from Lady Catherine’s imperious eye. Curry noted that Elizabeth is a boundary breaker, leaping over stiles and tramping through the mud early in Pride and Prejudice. Late in Sense and Sensibility, Marianne Dashwood wallows as she wanders alone about the wilder parts of the Cleveland estate, courting a cold.
When heroines retreat to what Curry called “unmitigated nature,” a change is in store, as readers can see after Emma’s cruel treatment of Jane Fairfax or Fanny’s anticipation of future greening in spring and her own renewal after her return from Portsmouth.
Curry pointed out that verdure is linked in Austen’s novels to love, sex, fertility, and emotional maturity. Reveling in this verdant tour of Austen passages, the JASNA attendees left the meeting enlightened, replete, and eager for spring.
Next Up
In April, we have JASNA president, Mary Mintz, with us, who will take us through Jane Austen’s presence in American periodicals (Learn more here.). It promises to be a fascinating meeting!