One passage mentioned the large number of years between children for James and Mary and speculates that she insisted on separate bedrooms. We know that it was not uncommon for women to die in childbirth, and without birth control, the best way of avoiding having children was abstention. Tomalin had some interesting commentary on sex and childbirth. Austen-running a boarding school in her home, managing lots of kids, farm responsibilities, etc. To be fair, Tomalin made the point that pregnancy was a huge part of women’s lives, that many women died in childbirth, and that wet-nursing was not unusual especially in middle- and upper-class families. Was it a modern view of common past practices? Will we look back on our mothers who smoke and drank during pregnancy and condemn them? There is so much we don’t know. There also seemed to be implications of maternal neglect, e.g., sending Jane away to school at a young age.

Austen does not come off well in the Worsley biography either.) To some, the description of her hypochondria felt a bit overboard. Austen seemed to take a good deal of criticism from Tomalin, whether directly or just in tone. One person described it as “food for thought…like picking up breadcrumbs.” Poor Mrs.

Some people were uncomfortable with the amount of speculation some were more comfortable with it. One person commented that Deirdre Le Faye’s biography is much more “these are the facts.” Tomalin’s language itself-“could have” or “would have”-emphasized her speculation. This observation brought forth the idea of biographers’ biases and what they bring into the book.

Several people commented that while this book was strong on research, it felt like it had more speculation than other Austen biographies (e.g., Lucy Worsley’s, Deirdre Le Faye’s) about things that simply couldn’t be known. A few of the virtual book club crew Biographers’ Speculation Many of us were still making our way through the book, but some clear themes emerged in the discussion.

The book will be featured at June’s Jane Austen Summer Program and we took the opportunity to get a head start. On May 16, JASNA-NC met for our quarterly Virtual Book Club to discuss Claire Tomalin’s Jane Austen: A Life.

Jane austen a life claire tomalin