But she does mention it — and the associated social changes — pretty constantly. Persuasion is the most obvious one but also consider the soldiers living in the Bennett’s village and Lydia’s excursion to Brighton. Fanny’s brothers in Mansfield Park. Etc. The war had an effect on the characters she writes about in that many of them knew people in the military and they dealt with economic side effects and the fact there was more class mixing than in previous years but for ordinary people living in their equivalent of the upper middle class suburbs, they are much more concerned on a day to day basis about who was cheating on their spouse and how their neighbours were raising their kids and of course who was marrying whom. Not unlike the average “comfortable” suburban American in 2001/2002.

Anonymous wrote:Remember when Caroline Bingley said "Apparently, Lady Bathurst is re-decorating her ballroom in the French style. A little unpatriotic, don't you think?"

To avoid any Elaine Benes "War, what is it good for?" embarrassment among the DCUM crowd, this is a joke

To see how the setting of P&P plays out when the social and political aspects are made explicit, read Longbourn by Jo Baker

Remember when Caroline Bingley said "Apparently, Lady Bathurst is re-decorating her ballroom in the French style. A little unpatriotic, don't you think?"

I think that Austen was just more focused on character development, gender, and class *within* the gentry. She never does a lot of commentary on broad political issues so it's not surprising she wouldn't mention a lot about upheaval caused by war.

I love PP's idea of reading an annotated version. I'm going to do that for my next re-read. I'm sure I'm missing all sorts of things.

Anonymous wrote:Some of the male members of her family were in the British navy. So when she talks about ships and seafaring in a book like Persuasion, it comes from a place of deep respect.

Jesus, she wasn't an American you know. And she was writing centuries ago, this wasn't a "thing".

Some of the male members of her family were in the British navy. So when she talks about ships and seafaring in a book like Persuasion, it comes from a place of deep respect.

Anonymous wrote:She absolutely mentions it -- where do you think all those army officers and naval officers come from? -- but it's in the background of her stories, not the main focus. My guess is that the wars didn't have the same kind of effect on the home front as later wars did.

+1, she is also interested in other wold events and brings them into her stories in other ways. For instance, drawing the abolition movement and the issue of the slave trade in British colonies in the Caribbean into Mansfield Park. I remember being interested about the reference when I first read the book in high school, having never really thought that much about how slavery was viewed outside the US or how other countries, especially colonizing countries, were very heavily implicated by the obvious moral problem posed by slavery.

So I was also interested later to discover that the the reference was very much intentional and that abolition was a particular interest of Austen's: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/volume-41-no-2/huff/

She was a very curious and perceptive person who was well read and extremely curious about how the world works. While her books focus on the minutia of every day life in her small corner of the world, she doesn't shy away from allowing the broader events of the time to come in and influence that world, even when individual characters would prefer that they not. In fact that tension between characters who wish to maintain a very specific social and political order and the inevitable messiness of human life is central to all of Austen's work on one level or another.

She did not write with blinders on.

I heard a podcast once about the importance of teaching the canon but focusing on all the world events that were going on in the background, but were unmentioned. It was thought provoking.

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t that how Captain Wentworth in Persuasion distinguished himself (and maybe how he made his $)?

Yes!

Read the annotated Belknap/Harvard Press editions sometime. You'll see all sort of things that a modern reader can easily miss. Oxford Press also has nice annotated editions.

Yes, all the soldiers in Pride & Prejudice are Napoleonic war soldiers.

Isn’t that how Captain Wentworth in Persuasion distinguished himself (and maybe how he made his $)?

She absolutely mentions it -- where do you think all those army officers and naval officers come from? -- but it's in the background of her stories, not the main focus. My guess is that the wars didn't have the same kind of effect on the home front as later wars did.

Considering the upheaval they caused in British society at the time she was writing, it is indeed very odd that she never mentions the war or its impact on the lives of her characters.