Jane Austen News - Issue 98

Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney, authors of the book A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf, have dubbed Jane Austen a role model for the #MeToo movement. We're sure you've come across it in the news, but just in case you haven't, #MeToo is the hashtag sweeping the Internet in a bid to raise awareness of just how widespread sexual harassment is. The hashtag also became shorthand for the many people — both women and men — going public with accusations of sexual misconduct against a string of prominent men in industries ranging from media and entertainment to politics and finance. The reason why Emily and Emma have called Austen a role model for the #MeToo generation is because she championed the work and rights of women. Austen's care of one woman in particular stood out for Emily and Emma: that of Anne Sharp - an amateur playwright who’d worked as one of the family’s governesses. When Sharp confided in Austen about the trials she had endured over the course of her working life (in one home, she had suffered the advances of a man who held power over her, that being a common problem for governesses), Austen did all she could to help Anne. This included looking for alternative employment for her, and inviting her to stay with her to get Anne out of harm’s way. Crucially Austen accepted without question Anne's allegations of sexual harassment. There are of course, far more reasons why Austen is a role model for the #MeToo movement. She wrote at a time when getting published, for a woman, was a tough battle with stigma attached to it. She supported fellow female writers in their efforts, Anne Sharp being one, Maria Edgeworth another, as well as her nieces. Above all, Austen created strong female characters who overcame the trials society exposed them too and made their own decisions on life and marriage, despite the objections of those around them. She is an excellent role model for sure!

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 Austen Escape Room

Watership Down Meets Austen At Auction Hundreds of books which had been collected and owned by the famous author of Watership Down, Richard Adams, recently went up for auction at Dominic Winter Auctions in Cirencester. All together the collection, which was made up of around 1,500 books that had been split into 134 lots, sold for more than £250,000! Among the lots was  a complete set of Austen first editions. A rare gem indeed, and especially sought-after given the added literary connection of Richard Adams. The set was bought by an anonymous private buyer from southern England, and was sold for £78,870! Auctioneer Nathan Winter called the sale "incredible", and said that some of the books had fetched such high prices due to them being "antiquarian rarities".

Richard Adams, when he came into proceeds from his own books, had the means to buy rare titles and became quite a bibliophile. They always were, and are still, rare. Also, with the added association with his own ownership, of a famous writer, something intangible but important is added to the value, and that is reflected in the prices we got.