A Bone To Pick With Jane

[poliphilo]

 At present we can't just step into the kitchen but have to go into the hall, out through the inner front door, into the garage by a side door and so through the garage (which is very cold) and down a short, dark, passage. It makes me think of the servants in big houses who had to shuttle continuously between the rooms where work got done and the rooms where the masters were- and how nobody questioned the arrangement....

It's one of the bones I have to pick with Jane Austen that she never casts a glance (I'm prepared to be corrected on this) at the people who keep her characters fed and comfortable. 
 

Comments

[paserbyp]

Because she is boss and master?

[poliphilo]

Put simply, yes.

[cmcmck]

Whereas Elizabeth Gaskell does which is why she's my preference.

[poliphilo]

Gaskell is a little later. It makes a difference.

[kulturschnepfe]

May I suggest the novel "Longbourn" (2013) by Jo Baker? It's a rather clever parallel novel to Pride and Prejudice, describing the the life of some of the servants of the Bennets.

[poliphilo]

Thanks. that does sound interesting.