The Crown's Emma Corrin reads a 13-year-old Jane Austen's letter
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- The Loiterer was a weekly periodical that ran for 60 issues beginning in January 1789, founded and written by Jane Austen’s brothers, James and Henry. Two months after its debut, the brothers received a letter of from one Sophia Sentiment, who, with tongue in cheek, complained that The Loiterer contained nothing of interest to women.
Sophia was in fact a 13-year-old Jane Austen. Her letter was reprinted in issue 9.
The Crown's Emma Corrin joined us to read the letter at our Royal Albert Hall show in October 2021.
13 years old? Dear God: Who taught that girl to write! She could make it as an author if she wanted to. I hope we hear more from her. (Ever your humble servant, Mr. Darcy)
When I used to read more, I used to write more, and the more I read and wrote, the easier the words came. I'm willing to bet that not only was Miss Austen an avid reader, she was probably also an avid writer, and also just blessed with a gift to set her apart from her peers.
I'm sure she taught herself to write, Mr. Darcy. :)
Reading.
"May your work be condemned to the pastry cook shop and may you always continue a bachelor and be plagued with a maiden sister to keep house for you."
Oh wow...I wish people could throw down more of such classy, witty insults!
She said, "May you be PLAGUED with (or by?) a maiden sister" etc.
Made all the more funny by the fact that she was, at the time, their maiden sister!
It was tongue in cheek, she was their sister after all. Ironically Her brothers married and she was the maiden sister :D
@@trinacogitating4532 Yes... one of the many fine things about Austen's wit is that she did not spare herself from it's bite.
Even at 13 she was a wonderful writer, as well as quite cheeky and amusing. I enjoyed this very much.
The Austen siblings spent their childhoods reading and writing. Parodies of the overly sensational gothic novels were young Jane Austen's specialty. And that's how we got this letter... and "Northanger Abbey"
There you have a young lady who really knew her mind and was not afraid to speak it!!
and read by another one. genius!
There you have a joung Lady who want's her brothers to publish her own works; perhaps.
This was enjoyable to hear. Miss Austen's sharp, somewhat sarcastic wit is evident in this letter, even at a young age. Austen never missed a chance to send up the sentimental novels and stories of her era, and clearly she started early.
I love her! What a witty, delightful girl she was! I love how she rips the guy's boring Oxford lifestyle and offers to assist him AND curses him to singleness!
If I am not mistaken, the Loiterer was written (and/or edited) by Jane Austen’s brothers, who were undergraduates at Oxford, so the letter is a cheeky bit between siblings (if she wrote it, which some scholars debate). In any case, not something she wrote to a stranger, so NO, it is not rude or entitled. It falls very much in line with the humor in her juvenilia (early works pre “the big six” novels-especially something like Plan of a Novel) and in her personal letters, so I would suggest this letter is intended with humor (although the criticism about a lack of a good female character is something she would have legitimately thought about any fiction that did not have a good female character). I understand some people’s comments, given that there was no context, but just so you don’t get the wrong impression . . .
Heh, makes it even better 😅
Thank you for the clarification. That makes it even funnier
It's written in the description on this vid
The context makes for a richer story with a strong complex (meant on the best of terms, multifaceted if you will) female lead
I was impressed by Austen's insight regarding the then narrowed horizons of ivory tower literati. That the recipients of her complaint were her older male siblings makes it all the more biting. I wonder if they knew it was Jane?
This letter, if directed at me, would make me feel more shame than a thousand nasty comments on the Internet.
Comforting that all 13 year old girls are practically the same - despite spanning centuries apart.
That is what I thought too.
Jane Austen was apparently a goth girl. And that's not a far stretch. Gothic fiction was the favourite literary genre to read and make fun of in the Austen household.
Marianne Dashwood made an early appearance...
Wonderful read of a wonderful letter.
I do love this!
Lovely letter
Brilliant
Acerbic, rye and witty at merely 13?
Where will that young lady go next ?
Well, she went on to write six novels that have been adapted to film over the ages.
@@cheriremily9360 Clearly I was being a tad ironic. I know her works and literary brilliance.
Rye? I bread your pardon :)
Absolutely fucking savage! 😂
She'd never use language like that. And it was not savage. It was subtle and clever.
Jane Austen is my favorite author. I love Pride and Prejudice and it's spin-off novel "Wickham's Second Attempt". I really wish that they would make Wickham's Second Attempt into a movie - it has a duel between Wickham and Darcy!
Its spin-off etc. It's= it is.
P.D. James' "Death Comes to Pemberly" might suit....
@@dellaroux I watched it
May ask about the identity of the writer that she talking about and where can i find it?
Jane Austen's brothers, their names are in the description.
@@Anika6.91 thank you very much 🌹
nice video
Nice language aside, she was clearly being a 13yo
Please upload Toby Jones next!!
WOW! Emma looks gorgeous 😍
The quintessential little madam.
please do leave if you can.
If a 2021 13-year-old wrote it: "So, I'm gonna , like, go ahead and, like, unfriend you, mkay? I read, like, everything - periodicals are, like, super-nice, when I saw yours I was like "Woo-hoo!", but it's like super-dumb... " etc, etc.
We've lost so much in language
Your agist hatred is a defence mechanism to cope with a generation you no longer understand inheriting a world which no longer needs you.
This was fun, but she mispronounced several key words. “Perdida” became “ perdrida”, “homilies” became “homelies “ and so on.to read well requires some familiarity with the vocabulary and times of the writer.
It's live. You only get one take.
@@mikes5637 Are you saying there were no rehearsals, not even a quick, out-loud read through to a friend?
Welcome to live performance.
The way she said "a great person," too...not quite sure she got the true meaning there!
HA HA HOW FUNNY AND INSIGHTFUL. THEY DO NOT MAKE 13 YEAR OLD LIKE THAT ANYMORE.
Oh my dear madam,but they do. They do indeed.
Are you kidding? They make all of them like that.
Reading it too fast.
At 13 girls are very fast.
Yes, at 13 yo, the female attitude starts.
Wonderful, isn’t it!😊
Yep, smart, discerning, and articulate
@@sweetpotatofries99 No, obnoxious, annoying and ignorant.
Goodness she was certainly a bossy boots. I’m not surprised she never married.
Witty not bossy - forthright not simpering .
Actually she accepted a proposal but the next morning she negated her acceptance because she didn't love the man. I know that's foreign to you since I doubt in the 21st century someone would want to marry you unless you had sufficiently broken down her spirit beforehand
so is not in fact a recent thing. sounds like rich little girls were always rude and entitled... sigh
@kousetsuhana - Jane wasn't rich. and again - "tongue in cheek"
Not rich .
Considering that the letter was to her brothers (per the description), sassy and teasing are more accurate words than rude and entitled. One doubts she would have addressed a stranger in such terms.
If that's all you take away from this, I can only assume that you're a tiresome man who doesn't like to hear women speak.