an addition...
Posted by P. Bingham on April 07, 1998 at 14:28:48:
In response to theories, written by P. Bingham on April 06, 1998 at 00:08:03
] ] Second, is there a generally held supposition as to why she stopped writing? I mean, is Tomalin's view generally accepted, or are there other theories? I have a book called The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen which suggests that the conditions once she settled in at Chawton were more suitable to writing, so she started back at it again. To me this suggests a feeling of rootlessness, but not necessarily depression.
] I have this book too. One thing to understand is that it is not a biography. Their intentions are not to delve into Jane's physical mind, only her books and her publishing history. So they covered this part in particular briefly.
I don't think I expressed this very well. I was rushing off to watch Tom Jones and my husband was calling me! Anyway, what I meant to say on this topic was that biographies have the priviledge of expressing opinions about things that might only be hinted at. That is the nature of a biography. This other book, not being a biography, can only state what is known to be absolutely true as its "suppositions" must be pointed at only her books (which can be open to interpretation. So, stating that "Chawton was more suitable to writing" would be more appropriate than to go into all the theories of why she did not write for ten years. The most that might be appropriate would be to say that so and so's biography suggested that...
Patricia
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