Book Review: Yes, because of the recent film Love and Friendship, I resolved to read Lady Susan (the source for the film, not Austen's story "Love and Friendship," as might be expected). This precocious novella, consisting only of letters written among the characters, was drafted early in Austen's career, perhaps around 1793-4, with a "final" draft copied out around 1805, although it wasn't published in Austen's lifetime. What first becomes clear after reading, is how much and how well director and "co-writer" Whit Stillman added to the story.
What is also striking is what a unique character Lady Susan is for Austen, and wonderfully so. This quickly became a favorite. Margaret Drabble refers to Lady Susan's "excessive wickedness," which seems a bit much. She's also called "ruthless" and "unscrupulous," when in fact she is simply doing what she needs to do, given the tools available to her, to control her life and live as she chooses, as others were free to do at the time. She may be fierce and savage, but in a good cause. Lady Susan writes: "I am tired of submitting my will to the caprices of others -- of resigning my own judgement in deference to those, to whom I owe no duty, and for whom I feel no respect. I have given up too much." Do we hear Jane Austen? Some say she is cruel to her daughter, but only because the foolish and penniless girl wants to marry for love when she can become rich by marrying the suitor her mother found for her. I found the character of Lady Susan, who I think is Jane Austen unbound, even more interesting than the eponymous novella. It's intriguing to speculate what Austen (who may have written it at 18) might have done with this irresistible character when her writing skills were more developed, if she had felt more free to release an uninhibited Lady Susan on the world, and if unconstrained by the limits of the already outdated epistolary style. For the style hindered the story; I wished for more and different correspondents to broaden and spice the story. And without being straitjacketed by the postal system, the ending could have been less forced and hasty. Stillman's film gives some idea of where Austen might have gone with the characters.
The other two fragments contained in the book are mostly a tease, and neither was completed or published in her lifetime. The Watsons, written after the first drafts of Austen's early novels but prior to their publication, seems much like a traditional Austen, a disappointed heiress, the necessity of a good match, the affectations of the stylish. Although written with wit and humor, it leaves the reader wondering what may have come next, and is only for Austen completists who feel that any bit of Jane is worth seeking out. Sanditon, however, the last of Austen's writing, written shortly before her death, is something new for Austen and may have pointed to a more contemporary outlook, considering both the focus on "speculation" in a seaside town, and that one of the characters is "half mulatto," which took me aback when I read it. Is this our Jane? What Austen might have done with this should lead to lively conversation. I enjoyed all three stories, but enjoyed all three more for what might've been, than what is fully upon the page. [3.5 Stars]
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