In Passing

[poliphilo]

Is it just us or is there something seriously amiss with Google?

We were in Tenterden yesterday afternoon- such a handsome town! There must be a reason for the high street being so broad. I'll look it up later when Google comes back.

I've just started Shirley. The rector of a West Yorkshire village has dispatched his curate- armed with pistols and shillelagh- to defend the local mill against frame breakers- which is totally mad and Bronte knows it. This is Jane Austen's period but Bronte is choosing to write about all the things Austen left out.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I'd imagine it's for a market - as is the case in Marlborough, another town with a notably broad high street.

Not too many cotton mills in Hampshire and Bath, but point taken.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That sounds very likely.

It does annoy me how Austen ignores the wider world. I came across an article the other day (I didn't read it) which was arguing she was a radical really- and I thought, "Get on yer bike!"

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I don't think one could really argue that Austen was a social radical. Not convincingly, anyway.

But I don't think that's a criticism, necessarily, or that she had a duty to write about subjects that didn't interest her and about which she was very conscious of her own ignorance. It would be - to borrow her own analogy of the miniaturist - like critizing Hilliard for his lack of breathtaking landscapes.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's fair enough.

And perhaps all I'm saying is I have more relish for Bronte than I have for Austen. I like it that Bronte's characters talk about Bonaparte and Castlereagh. I don't deny that Austen is a wonderful artist.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

The reason for Tenterden's wide High Street is quite simple- it was the main market town for the region and grew fat on the wool trade.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That explains it. :)