ENG308Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Impermanence, Mr. Darcy, Longbourn
ENG308 November 21, 2017
-elizabeth’s short sightedness
-austen’s novel is all about the exploration of a local personality, but not so deeply
connected to things that exist outside, like war, empire, etc
-these things aren’t that concrete to her
-seeing is gendered
-women are localized and this places them against others who are mobile
-bingley and darcy are the first ones who move, into merriton
-how do you deal with newcomers
-we see bingley and darcy through the girls’ eyes
-the girls haven’t been married off yet because there are not enough eligible men
around
-marrying a soldier might be a bit disreputable: soldiers are in the military because
they are not the oldest son
-novel is set up by the appearance of all these moving men
-austen is not celebrating the narrowness and provinciality of the town
-wickham knows pretty much everything about Elizabeth, whereas she only know
what he tells her
-strangers can appear different from what they are
-darcy is not confined to one place
-is it possible that these people live different lives in different places, or are their
lives richer because they live in different places?
-why is it that Bingley and Darcy are able to live in more than one place?
-both wealthy men
-when they leave the locality in which they are seen, they almost seem to leave the
novel
-object impermanence
-the stranger
-as readers, we are in the situation where we have to keep track of these men, and
it’s not easy to keep track of them, as when Wickham elopes with Lydia
-there’s power in the fact that these men can move across distances
-elizabeth’s struggle to figure out Darcy makes up much of the novel
-would be have a novel if these strangers didn’t come in?
-whole novel is driven by the struggle to deal with strangers
-strangers being understood as a new way of being in the world
-wickham about darcy: sees him only as he chooses to be seen
-the irony is that wickham can be described this way as well
-he notices how easy it is to manipulate her
-clearly austen wants women to be at a position where they can see at a distance too
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Document Summary
Seeing is gendered connected to things that exist outside, like war, empire, etc. Bingley and darcy are the first ones who move, into merriton. Austen"s novel is all about the exploration of a local personality, but not so deeply. Women are (cid:498)localized(cid:499) and this places them against others who are mobile. We see bingley and darcy through the girls" eyes. The girls haven"t been married off yet because there are not enough eligible men around. Marrying a soldier might be a bit disreputable: soldiers are in the military because they are not the oldest son. Novel is set up by the appearance of all these moving men. Austen is not celebrating the narrowness and provinciality of the town. Wickham knows pretty much everything about elizabeth, whereas she only know what he tells her. Strangers can appear different from what they are. When they leave the locality in which they are seen, they almost seem to leave the novel.
