Most of us think we know something about Jane Austen. As I began research for Jane Austen’s Paper Trail – a new podcast from The Conversation marking 250 years since her birth – I certainly believed I did.
Perhaps, like me, you’ve read her novels or enjoyed one of the many screen adaptations. Maybe you’ve seen her portrait, painted by her sister Cassandra, hanging in the National Portrait Gallery – or gazing serenely from a £10 note. But the more I learned about Austen, the more she seemed to slip away.
The image that adorns countless books, tea towels and souvenirs isn’t actually Cassandra’s painting at all. It’s an embellished copy: a Victorian engraving by William Home Lizars, who took the unfinished original and softened Austen’s features – uncrossing her arms and adjusting what some have called her “sour look”.
Even in her own day, Austen was hard to pin down. One acquaintance recalled her as “fair and handsome”, while her nephew remembered “bright hazel eyes and brown hair”. A niece, however, insisted that her aunt had “long, long black hair down to her knees”.
Accounts of her character differ just as wildly. One older woman who knew Jane in her youth described her as “the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers”. Others said she had a “certain critical aloofness”, and was particularly shy in company.
The difficulty of knowing Jane is made worse by one peculiar act. In 1841, 25 years after Jane’s death, Cassandra Austen crouched by the fireplace and burned nearly all of her sister’s letters. Only 160 survived. Why did she do it? To protect Jane’s privacy? To preserve her image? Or was Jane’s famously sharp pen simply too dangerous for posterity?
That mystery – and many others – drives Jane Austen’s Paper Trail.
Over six episodes, one for each of her novels, we take you on a journey through Austen’s life and times with the help of the UK’s top experts. We’ll head to a scandal-filled tearoom in Bath to ask whether Jane was a gossip, visit a glittering Regency ball to find out whether she was a romantic, and visit her house in Hampshire to find out what she thought about being a writer.
Along the way, we’ll unpack the characters and themes that have made her work so enduring – and uncover the real Jane Austen.
Episode 1 of Jane Austen’s Paper Trail will be published on November 4. If you’re craving more Austen, check out our Jane Austen 250 page for more expert articles celebrating the anniversary.
Jane Austen’s Paper Trail is hosted by Anna Walker with reporting from Jane Wright and Naomi Joseph. Senior producer and sound designer is Eloise Stevens and the executive producer is Gemma Ware. Artwork by Alice Mason.
Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
