Jane Austen quiz : the answers

So here are the answers to the quiz about Jane Austen and her work:

What is Mr Collins' first name, and how do we know?

William - it's written at the foot of his letter to Mr Bennet, but that's the only time we hear it.

Who is the only woman to marry a man younger than herself?

Charlotte Lucas (marrying Mr Collins)

Who is the only married woman to call her husband by his Christian name?

Mary Musgrove, Anne's sister in Persuasion, calls her husband Charles (often in tones of exasperation or complaint).

Who is the only married man to call his wife by an affectionate shortening of her name?

Admiral Croft, also in Persuasion, calls his wife Sophy

Which characters are never heard to speak directly?

Captain Benwick in Persuasion - although he's often quoted, we never actually hear him speak, neither do we hear Robert Martin, Harriet's suitor in Emma, or - more surprisingly (when you think about the movies) - Georgiana Darcy. (Of course, you couldn't have a non-speaking main character in a movie - it wouldn't work.)

And lastly, not from the books but from real life: how many other contemporary writers (novelists or poets) did Jane Austen meet in her lifetime?

The answer?

None. Not one. Imagine that.

Wonderful Jane Austen

The other good thing about libraries - usually a good thing, although it can be inconvenient - is that they waylay you with enticing-looking books to read when you should be doing something else.

I couldn't resist What matters in Jane Austen? (subtitle: twenty crucial puzzles solved) when I spotted it among the new books.



The chapter on "What games do characters play?" made me aware for the first time that that whenever I come across a description of any of the characters settling down to a game of whist, loo, speculation, vingt-et-un or anything else, I tend to block out the name and mentally replace it with "random card game". But actually, readers of Jane Austen's time would have known exactly how each game differed and what the subtext was. For example, some games demand a certain number of players, so each card game is a way of grouping the characters, separating some, throwing others together. It's almost like choreography in the limited space of  a drawing room.

And blushing! Such a simple act but again, how much subtext it carries. Which novel has the most blushing? Which heroine blushes the most? Do men blush? What do they do instead? Who is the one male character who does blush, and when?

You can also find out which characters die in the course of the novels (surprisingly few of them), and how much money you need to live on, and what the characters call each other - particularly the married ones, and the hidden meaning behind words like "blunder' and "the seaside".

John Mullan is an English professor, and if his lectures are like his book, they must be highly entertaining. In fact, one of the best things about this book is that it makes you want to go back and read all the novels again, looking for hidden signs amongst the blushes and blunders. I enjoyed the way he drops in little snippets of information, like the fact that most of Jane Austen's novels take place over a year (but there is never any mention of the heroine's birthday) as well as the attention he gives to Jane Austen's beautifully written sentences, so perfectly turned that they can hinge on one well-placed word such as "wisely" in Mr Darcy's self-deluded musings: "He wisely resolved to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration should escape him."

There are many more fascinating aspects of the novels to mull over: how often do plots rely on the weather? how does the age of her heroines relate to the average age for women to marry in Jane Austen's time? how do sisters get on together, and which sisters seem to be the best suited?

And here are a few more tantalising questions::

• What is Mr Collins' first name, and how do we know?


• Who is the only woman to marry a man younger than herself?


• Who is the only married woman to call her husband by his Christian name?


• Who is the only married man to call his wife by an affectionate shortening of her name?


• Which characters are never heard to speak directly?


• And lastly, not from the books but from real life: how many other contemporary writers (novelists or poets) did Jane Austen meet in her lifetime?

Cathedral to garden shed

Lovely post today on Beatties book blog, quoting Sadie Jones. "I'm never happy with what I've written," she says. "You imagine, before you start, there's a cathedral, and the moment it starts on the page, it's a garden shed. And then you just try to make it the best shed you can."

What a great description of what often happens between the words in your head and the ones that end up on the page! Anne Lamott in her writing guide "Bird by bird" says something similar about first drafts; how you've just got to get the words down on the page and then start shaping them into what you really meant. (She uses a slightly more graphic term, which I'll leave you to look up by yourself.)

When I think of cathedrals, there are two that immediately come to mind. One is Old St Paul's here in Wellington, a beautiful 19th century wooden church made from native timbers.



The other is Winchester cathedral.  We once lived in Winchester for 6 months and I loved being able to visit the cathedral often enough to get to know it better - the statue down in the flooded crypt, the stained glass window featuring Izaak Walton, the Close, the Winchester Bible in the Library and, of course, Jane Austen's grave - with the inscription that doesn't mention her being a writer.



Garden sheds pale in comparison. They are are smaller, jumbled, untidy, cobwebby, more personal. I guess you just have to hope that somewhere in there you might be able to unearth some hidden treasures and bring them to the light.