For those interested in spending some time in the Regency period, I’ve included a number of essays I’ve contributed to various blogs.
Mysteries of the Human Heart in Austen’s Sense and Sensibility
According to Ellen R. Belton, “the pattern of mystery is a vitalizing structural principle in all of Austen’s novels” (“Mystery Without Murder: The Detective Plots of Jane Austen” [Nineteenth-Century Literature 43.1 [1988]). Sense and Sensibility fits this pattern as Elinor Dashwood acts as a kind of detective, striving to penetrate the secrets that threaten her own happiness and that of her beloved sister Marianne. Secrets, in fact, are the lifeblood of mystery stories—and any secret possesses a dangerously unpredictable power. To protect herself, Elinor remains guarded until it’s safe to show her vulnerability. In the meantime, she uses her “sensing” apparatus—that is, her rational intelligence and keen powers of observation, paired with earnest efforts to restrain her impulses—to steer a course through murky, shark-infested social waters.
Read the full essay at SarahEmsley.com
An English Rose
Readers of Georgette Heyer’s Regency novels are familiar with her references to skin care products such as Denmark Lotion or Olympian Dew. A young lady’s fair and blooming complexion could be just as critical to her success as her dowry and social position. Then, as now, those with unsightly spots sought to avoid embarrassment. But the ideal of complexion went much deeper than that. It was, in fact, tied to anxieties about Britain’s Empire, notions of proper Englishness, and the desire to maintain boundaries of class and race.
Read the full essay at Reading the Past
The Public Gaze
Nowadays we are all too familiar with living under the public gaze, but this phenomenon is not new. Set in 1813 London, my novel Die I Will Not explores royal scandal, early 19th-century journalism, and dirty politics. As I researched these topics, I became fascinated by the idea of individuals struggling to preserve their privacy under the ubiquitous modern gaze—a gaze feeding voracious scandals that often refuse to die. Perhaps in our own era of 24-hour news cycles trumpeting the latest brouhaha, readers can relate.
Read the full essay at Reading the Past
Women in History: Caroline Norton, 19th Century Social Reformer and Writer
We go on living with things as they are for a very long time. Centuries pass while we remain trapped in the same old, tired, frozen mindsets that cause so much pain, so much injustice. We cannot seem to overturn things as they are. Perhaps this is because many people (hint: often the ones who most benefit) embrace these systems as natural, inevitable, and moral. Such modes of thought are difficult to question, incredibly tough to shatter.
Read the full essay at Hook of a Book