#persuasion novel

[nasty-bog-boy]

not to post about persuasion again but i have so much to say.

one thing i really love about persuasion and that makes it feel so very true to life is Wentworth's bitterness towards Anne and his subsequent forgiveness. he's a flawed guy!!!

Wentworth loved someone, proposed to her and then found that she was not confident in her love for him and so rejected him out of fear and weakness. he put himself on the line for her and was essentially told by the woman he loved he isn't good enough.

of course I love Anne Elliot. she was vulnerable and pursued by someone older and wiser who she looked up to. and honestly Lady Russell isn't completely wrong. Wentworth was in the navy and just as likely to die and leave Anne a penniless widow as become a rich and respected captain.

but Wentworth's resentment towards Anne just serves to make him an equally flawed yet admirable character. his character arc involves him learning to forgive Anne for her actions when she was younger and allow himself to love her again, both for who she was when they were young but also for the older woman she is now. he has to recognise the changes in her and her new strength of character and resolve.

both Anne and Wentworth must admit to themselves where their faults are and change over the course of the novel, because if they don't they won't be able to confess their feelings to each other again.

Wentworth has to be a bigger person and let go of his very justified anger. he loved Anne and she broke his heart, but she's different now and he must admit to himself how he never truly stopped loving her and comparing all other women to her. he has to acknowledge the pain her mistakes caused her and forgive her, as otherwise he would never be able to get her back.

there's just something so beautiful about persuasion featuring two leads who carry very complicated feelings towards each other from their pasts having to reckon with that. they have to forgive each other and move past the very real hurt that was caused in order to have another chance at happiness

its something we can do! its a lesson! we can resolve to act as Anne and do and seek to improve ourselves, to move through the world with grace and forgiveness!

[realpersonfacts]

collection of lines from netflix persuasion reviews that sent me into coughing fits

[cottagecore-raccoon]

The more I think about it, the more I think that Persuasion has my favorite premise of all of Jane Austen's novels

Anne Elliot as a character speaks to my soul. She feels tremendous guilt for a decision she made eight years ago. Her life is lonely, as she doesn't really have anyone she can truly confide in despite being surrounded by people. So she swallows her pain, the yearning she feels deep in her soul, and vows that if nothing else at least she'll be helpful.

And of course she is reunited with Frederick Wentworth (the one that got away) who seems to hate her now, and she just keeps going. She keeps being kind and supporting her loved ones while slowly carving out a life for herself. There's something about her classic heroism that just feels so attainable. I don't have Elizabeth Bennett's wit, or Jane Bennett's unwavering belief in the goodness of everyone, or even Elinor's constant composure. But I can be like Anne and just keep moving forward attempting to be helpful

Of course it all works out in the end, and Anne is finally surrounded by people who truly appreciate her, even if she had to wait an extra eight years. Others have observed the fairy tale quality of the ending, and perhaps that's why it speaks to me. The idea that if you just keep doing your best and being kind, you'll eventually find happiness

[fancy-nancy-all-grown-up]

girls want boys to act how they do in jane austen novels and they do—but it’s mr wickham

[lily-s-world]

Thanks to @hotjaneaustenmenpoll I decided to watch Persuasion (1995) for the millionth time this weekend, and inspired me to create some propaganda on why you should vote for Captain Wentworth as the Hottest Austen Man:

Anne's face the moment she saw him after eight years screams "Oh, no, he is hot!" and she is right.

He makes one snarky comment towards Anne and immediately shows a regretted puppy face, because he realized he can't hurt her in any way. Gentleman as it finest.

Life of the party charms the pants off anyone. Not literally, except for Anne.

Mister "I don't care about Anne", but will gladly listen to anything other people has to say about her and won't stand seeing her struggle in anyway. Pure gentleman behavior.

Also, will give deadly stares to the men that approach Anne in a romantic manner.

Ciaran Hinds in a Marine Uniform. Even Lady Dalrymple said he looked fine as hell in that uniform.

The letter with that voice, perfection.

The yearning and longing on his eyes is worthy of an Oscar, this man embodies that character perfectly.

I know you love Darcy, I do too, but that is the obvious choice; Wentworth is as good as he is (if not even more).

[ceaselesslyinlove]

how did women in 1817 read wentworth’s letter to anne and not immediately start running through the streets screaming

[adobongsiopao]

I still love this version of "Persuasion" starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. It's really great.

[bethanydelleman]

Jealousy in Jane Austen's Works

Since I got an ask about this recently, how does Jane Austen use jealousy in her novels?

Justified Jealousy (a person has made promises to another and is now violating them):

Catherine for her brother James, when Isabella flirts with Captain Tilney (Northanger Abbey) "jealous for her brother" and James for himself.

Lucy about Edward and Elinor: "That Lucy was disposed to be jealous of her appeared very probable: it was plain that Edward had always spoken highly in her praise, not merely from Lucy’s assertion, but from her venturing to trust her on so short a personal acquaintance, with a secret so confessedly and evidently important." (Sense & Sensibility) Lucy is right that Edward has fallen for Elinor, wrong that he would betray her because of it.

Sophia Grey, about Marianne Dashwood and Willoughby (her betrothed) "and Sophia, jealous as the devil on the other hand, looking all that was" (Sense & Sensibility)

Mr. Rushworth, about Maria and Henry Crawford, "I do think that Mr. Rushworth was sometimes very jealous." (Mansfield Park)

The reactions to this justified jealousy are all different. James Morland endures for a little while, then breaks off his engagement. This was the healthiest thing to do. Lucy attacks the rival instead of addressing the issue with her fiance. Mr. Rushworth ultimately ignores the fact that his future wife loves someone else, and agrees to a doomed marriage. Sophia Grey forces Willoughby to "break up" with Marianne, unsure how that goes for her, but at least she went into marriage with her eyes open.

Manipulative (Supposed) Jealousy:

Isabella to Catherine, when Catherine refuses to break a prior engagement with another friend, "I cannot help being jealous, Catherine, when I see myself slighted for strangers, I, who love you so excessively!" (Northanger Abbey)

Isabella tries to use jealousy to guilt Catherine into breaking her engagement with the Tilneys. Catherine finds it unjust and mean, she refuses to give in.

Jealousy as a Means to Establish Boundaries:

Henry Tilney, speaking about Catherine and John Thorpe, "I consider a country-dance as an emblem of marriage. Fidelity and complaisance are the principal duties of both; and those men who do not choose to dance or marry themselves, have no business with the partners or wives of their neighbours." (Northanger Abbey)

This is a particular case. I don't think Henry is in love with Catherine yet, and I don't think he actually believes that Catherine likes John, but he does frame his opposition to John and Catherine talking in jealousy. As Catherine has agreed to be his partner, he is justified in asking her to devote her time to him. Also, once Catherine assures him of her "faithfullness", he backs off, "Now you have given me a security worth having; and I shall proceed with courage". They have established their level of commitment.

Wanting Someone Who is Interested in Someone Else:

Caroline Bingley about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, "Miss Bingley saw, or suspected, enough to be jealous; and her great anxiety for the recovery of her dear friend Jane received some assistance from her desire of getting rid of Elizabeth." (Pride & Prejudice)

Fanny Price, during the play about Edmund and Mary, "She was full of jealousy and agitation." (Mansfield Park)

Julia about her sister and Henry Crawford, "made even Julia admit, in her jealousy of her sister, the absolute necessity of distrusting his attentions" (Mansfield Park)

Charles Hayter of Captain Wentworth and Henrietta, "It was evident that Charles Hayter was not well inclined towards Captain Wentworth." (Persuasion)

We can assume that Colonel Brandon was jealous of Willoughby (Sense & Sensibility)

Both Colonel Brandon and Fanny Price keep their feelings to themselves. They do not pressure their object of affection or attack rivals. Colonel Brandon is even extremely hesitant to reveal what Willoughby has done to Eliza. Charles Hayter feels jealous of Captain Wentworth and quits the field, which helps Henrietta realize where her true affections lie.

Caroline Bingley and Julia both act out because of their jealousy. Julia sulks and Caroline attacks Elizabeth.

Jealousy as a Means to Realize Feelings:

Mary Crawford realizing that she loves Edmund, "She had, moreover, to contend with one disagreeable emotion entirely new to her—jealousy. His friend Mr. Owen had sisters; he might find them attractive." (Mansfield Park)

Mr. Knightley about Frank and Emma, "On his side, there had been a long-standing jealousy, old as the arrival, or even the expectation, of Frank Churchill.—He had been in love with Emma, and jealous of Frank Churchill, from about the same period, one sentiment having probably enlightened him as to the other. It was his jealousy of Frank Churchill that had taken him from the country." (Emma)

Captain Wentworth of Mr. Elliot and Anne, "Jealousy of Mr Elliot! It was the only intelligible motive. Captain Wentworth jealous of her affection!" (Persuasion)

These feelings are mostly presented as morally neutral. Mary Crawford takes no action against the Miss Owens, she just becomes more friendly to Edmund. Mr. Knightley does speak against Frank to Emma, but Emma disagrees with him about it. Captain Wentworth leaves when jealous, but does not impose his feelings upon Anne.

Other:

Emma supposes that Jane was jealous of her, but that's not completely clear from Jane's perspective, "No doubt it had been from jealousy.—In Jane’s eyes she had been a rival" (Emma)

Mrs. Elton jokes that Mr. Elton will be jealous because Mr. Woodhouse is so complimentary (Emma)

Mrs. Bennet is jealous of Charlotte Lucas's eventual position as the future mistress of Longbourn (Pride & Prejudice)

What You Don't See: No Austen hero displays possessive jealousy, like forbidding a heroine from seeing a male friend or dancing with other men at a ball. No male friendships are curtailed or challenged, which can be a common romance trope.

I ignored mentions of jealousy that didn't really relate to interpersonal relationships

Conclusion: Jane Austen shows a lot of healthy and unhealthy jealousy and reactions to it. Mr. Rushworth is stupid for ignoring that his fiance was in love with someone else, but Lucy attacking Elinor because Edward loved her was also wrong. Several main characters feel jealousy because their object of affection loves another, but they do not impose those feelings on others. Jealousy can help a person realize their true feelings. Establishing commitment can also be a healthy thing to do.

[oldshrewsburyian]

I love this ask! A Persuasion Campus novel please. (Must go lie down at the thought of Ciarán Hinds as a college professor.)

So, to address your parenthetical first: you've seen Circle of Friends, right? I didn't love it, and his role, iirc, is not sympathetic; however:

The academic gown over the three-piece suit is just gratuitous. AHEM. A Jane Austen campus novel AU is tricky, I think, because I have to undo most if not all of the family relationships in favor of other connective nexuses (nexes? nexii? help). Here goes. I might have spent too much time thinking about this over my morning tea.

Sir Walter Elliott is, inevitably, the college president. He's photogenic. He loves uttering empty and incorrect platitudes about his own achievements. He loves schmoozing with important people. Unfortunately, he's perfect for the job.

The Admiral and Sophy have been at the university for ages, and the Admiral loves to tell the story about how he was her spousal hire in 1987, not the other way around.

Elizabeth is using family money to take a never-ending PhD in fashion history. She's always weirdly vague about her project, and finds a way not to participate in chapter exchanges. Rumor says that it's Sir Walter's influence keeping her from being kicked out.

Mary took an M.A., married money, and has been (dis)contentedly living on the UWS ever since. It's not quite true to say that she's never looked back. She visits colloquia and other open department functions with a depressing persistency, and appears not to notice that this is sometimes awkward for people who are united by their passion for a subject in which she never excelled.

Louisa and Henrietta are grad students, and remarkably carefree with it. Somehow their work does, in fact, get done.

Harville is, I think, Wentworth's sailing club buddy.

Mr. Elliott will be a smarmy visiting academic at another area institution. Unfortunately, I know his type. Eventually it will come out that he's eternally "visiting" because of a plagiarism scandal in his past.

Lady Russell is, of course, Anne's PhD supervisor. Who else would be in loco parentis and giving prudent and unwelcome advice?

Anne administers the interdisciplinary center in eighteenth-century studies. While she is several decades younger than those who usually take on such jobs, this works out well for several reasons. She has a head for detail, and is conscientious to a fault. Also, the faculty are (almost) all extremely fond of her, and the importance of this in getting academics to comply with bureaucratic necessities cannot be overstated. She's an alum of the program, and did finish her PhD. Lady Russell still sometimes sighs, a little too audibly, when she sees her erstwhile star student being competent in the front office. But care-taking duties during her mother's long illness meant that Anne's progress through the degree was slow, and international conference travel to boost her reputation didn't happen. The job market, with its precarity and long-distance upheavals, didn't either. So here is Anne, still in the department. Anne herself may not have the career or the life she dreamed of, but she has employment and health insurance, which is more than many recent PhDs can say. She sings in a choir. She tells herself that she has a good life.

Frederick Wentworth was Sophy's student. (I will miss her big sister energy, but a PhD supervisor also has the lifelong privilege of dragging you and telling you to get your life together, so here we are.) Lady Russell thought he was always going to burn out. Sure, he looked good on paper: a bright scholarship student from a state school in the fields of nowhere. But his project, studying contested empire and constructions of masculinity in the Atlantic world using network analysis, was always too ambitious. Until it wasn't.

With several fellowships, a postdoc, and a visiting position at a SLAC behind him -- the OUP monograph is in press -- Frederick Wentworth is back. Lady Russell wasn't on the search committee. But not only is Frederick Wentworth competent to teach the gender studies courses the department wants and the survey courses the university wants, he is also willing to take on the military history courses that the jocks want. "Thank God," says Sophy bluntly, once he's accepted the offer, "I won't have to read their opinions of my haircut in the student evals anymore." Also, there's that OUP monograph. No one quite says out loud that they have in their midst that rarest of creatures, the photogenic male historian who actually is a historian. But the consciousness runs through the halls like a current. This, for the department, could be a beginning.

For Anne, it is something else. It's not that they dated, exactly. It was never that formal, or that limited. Only in retrospect, really, did she realize that it was odd to spend an entire day walking around looking at architecture, or to end up with intertwined ankles on a museum bench, or to cook freely in each other's kitchens, before having an understanding. The understanding came. It was a November night, and they were sitting on a bench in Riverside Park, and she didn't feel the cold. They had agreed that they'd go on the job market together. They would read each other's applications the way they read each other's dissertation chapters. And they'd move to wherever one of them got a tenure-track job first. And then everything fell apart. Anne still thinks that Dr. Russell was right, that it wouldn't have been fair to hold him. More, she thinks that she herself could not have borne to lose what they had in a slow death of long-distance phone calls, too-brief visits, awkward negotiations of what they could and could not expect. Better to be sensible. Better to make a clean break while they were still young, still resilient. But she has never felt resilient. And now Frederick Wentworth is back.

[theboarsbride]

THE BONES WE HAUNT - WIP Intro.

Title: The Bones We Haunt.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Gothic horror, romance, novella.

Status: First Draft + development.

Synopsis:

November, 1905. 

While on holiday in Cambridge and attending museum lectures with her mother, Jane Sterling seeks to make this her chance to officially pursue her love of paleontology. While her family encourages the pursuit of passions and challenging rigid social norms, the institutes in place hinder her passion, making her resort to dressing brightly and speaking loudly for attention.

Jane's chance comes to reveal itself in the form of the wealthy and reclusive Sir Terence Hayes, who’s come in search for her father, the esteemed paleobotonist Dr. Samson Sterling, to appraise fossils found in his garden. Her mother eagerly volunteers Jane to go in Dr. Sterling’s place as he remains ill in America, and Terence brings her to his isolated family's estate in the vast, deep, muddy marshes of Wolf’s Run. And the land is shrouded in urban legends. There are whispers of 'The Wolf's Run Beast,' the 'Monster of the Marshes,' that haunts the land under the cover of night, and as Terence leaves Jane to her work he is hell-bent that she's to return to Cambridge before nightfall.

However, freak storms rage, causing the marshes' waters to rise and wash out the roads in flash floods before Jane has a chance to return, leaving her stranded at Wolf’s Run - and at the mercy of all that lurks there.

As night looms, the staff hastily depart, an eerie silence falls, Terence forbids her from even coming near the cellar, and, most importantly, he warns her against leaving her room before dawn. All is merely a strange act to Jane, brushing it off as the eccentricities of an Englishman, until something comes scratching at her door, hungering for her blood.

What started as a mere chance at becoming known swiftly becomes a tumultuous game of blood, teeth, survival, love, and salvation - and Jane must prepare to sharpen teeth of her own if she's to survive the horrors of the Wolf's Run marshes.

Pinterest

Spotify Playlist

surprise surprise, another WIP inspired by Jojo's need to turn every DILF she falls in love with into a love interest in a monster romance-adjacent book! 🥰 This one's victim??? Ciaran Hinds as a brooding but sweet capital 'r' Romantic were-beast/werewolf-ish creature. 😍 The vibes for this WIP are, like... 90s gothic period drama.... bluebeard meets 'mexican gothic' meets company of the wolves meets 'the death of jane lawrence'... and i've only known this WIP for 3 days and I'm already obsessed, help-

[darkpoetrynprose]

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

— Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, 1818

[nasty-bog-boy]

one thing i find funny (but probably shouldn't) about persuasion is that jane austen writes herself into a bit of a corner with regards to louisa musgrove and to get herself out of it she gives louisa permanent brain damage !!!!!!!!

wentworth himself admits all of the flirting prior to the fall has made everyone think theyre engaged (and possibly louisa thinks so too) and so he cannot pursue anne like he truly wants too because he won't jilt lousia.

and obviously jane austen needs to find a way for this couple to face obstacles but also end up together, so when shes got everyone convinced there something between wentworth and louisa she gives louisa a massive head injury that permanantly alters her behaviour. at the end of the novel charles musgrove tells anne that ever since her accident and coma louisa hates loud noises and twitches about and needs to be soother by captain benwick. obviously now we can read that as brain damage from her huge head injury.

idk theres just something so extreme about jane austen's most romantic and melancholy novel about reuniting with your lost love also featuring brain damage as a plot device to break up a potential relationship!!!!!! its bananas to me!

[angelkarafilli]

Persuasion,Jane Austen

[starrbucky]

There are two wolves inside you: one wants period movies to be more popular so that they'll make more of them, the other wants everyone involved with Persuasion (2022) to drop dead

[lavenderfables]

I've always wanted to see a Persuasion adaption that frames the present alongside the past in order to emphasize and enhance the novel's longing.

I want the scene in which Anne and Wentworth meet again to be contrasted with their very first meeting.

I want the scene in which Wentworth helps Anne into the carriage to be constrasted with the very first time they touched.

I want the scene in which Anne reads Wentworth's letter to be contrasted with when she broke the proposal seven years ago, so when she makes the right decision this time everyone watching is sobbing so violently that they run out of tissues.

It's what we deserve!

[rainycat2]

Stop the Presses, New Fic Incoming!

I blame all y’all in the batpham discord. Be proud.

Dare not say that a man forgets sooner; I have loved none but you.

Essentially, this fic shall be a Danny/Jason fic, both adults in their early twenties. The plot boils down to:

Arranged Marriage

Royal Marriage

Marriage of Convenience

Husbands to Friends to Lovers

A good few tender scenes as Danny helps Jason cope with the whole “died horribly and dragged himself back to life” thing

Infinite Realms Politics

Not a clue when any of this’ll be out, but I’ll post an update. For now, have a tidbit:

Honestly, how Constantine continued to get himself into messes had to be a curse. This, frankly, was ridiculous. A mandatory JL meeting where we was “requested” to attend, where a glowing goddamn portal from hell showed up above the table, dropped two, similarly-glowing sealed envelopes on the table, then closed itself before Constantine could even properly react.

With a groan, he reached over and snagged the one with his name in swirling, pretentious script, and cracked it open to see a… card.

An honest to God invitation, sent on behalf of the Infinite Realms, for the “Esteemed Magician” to attend a “brief meeting with His High Majesty, King Phantom of the Infinite Realms, Ancient of Space”, blah blah blah.

And the other letter?

The script on the front read *Jason Todd-Wayne*.

Shit.