I might have guessed...
Posted by Helen on February 08, 1998 at 09:09:40:
In response to But I couldn't answer the question authentically, written by Erin on February 07, 1998 at 01:07:44
... that you would get philosophy into it... but would you have to go in drag? Does anyone know what opportunities there would have been for the Erins of the C18th (I'm sorry I adopt C18th as a blanket term for JA's lifespan, it's not entirely the case, I know, but it's the shortest way I can think of typing it) to get first-hand experience of philosophy? I have never come across any reference to a woman reading Kant, for instance - but I'm sure some women got the basic ideas through articles in journals, etc (I'm thinking of e.g. Coleridge and William Hazlitt, on whose essays the influence of German philosophy is tangible).
]... are my tendencies a product of the age (late 20thc.), or are they something inherent? Honestly, I don't know what I would do if I existed in the early 19thc.
That's another reason why I think it's an interesting question: my instinctive reaction is, I would want to be a governess (at least you get to read) but having read Agnes Gray, I'm not so sure I would have liked that in reality...
Helen
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