The Evolution of the English Language, as Demonstrated by Austen

I was reading the novel Emma for an English class, and happened upon the following phrase, which made me laugh:

A sudden freak seemed to have seized him at breakfast... (Vol. II, Chapter 7)

At first glance, it would appear that a character was kidnapped from the breakfast table by some sort of lunatic. (Yes, the use of "sudden" is a bit of a giveaway that something is amiss in this interpretation.) Not quite the sort of scene one would expect in a Jane Austen novel.

What "a sudden freak" actually means is more along the lines of "a capricious fancy."

BBC: Jane Austen's Style Might Not Be Hers

Frank sent me this article last week:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11610489

As much as it bursts a childhood bubble (Authors are crazy geniuses! Which, come to think of it, is still mostly true for some authors.), I know that most art, most literature, doesn't happen in a vacuum. And having been on the inside, as it were, I've seen just how much (or little, if the author's really good) editing goes into the making of a book. I shouldn't be so surprised that a lot of editing went into Austen's books.

Except, well, I am. I've always thought of her as one of those pioneering women in the arts world, for all that her writing is somewhat the "chick lit of the Regency era". It comes as a bit of a shock to my inner high school English student that her (male) editor had such a hand in making Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion what they are.

Regency Costuming: The Aftermath

I thought people might be interested in seeing the final product, so here are some pictures of me at the dance, courtesy of Lucas:

Yes, I know it's not accurate in that it's sleeveless. Puffy sleeves of the Regency persuasion are ridiculously annoying to make, not to mention that they're really difficult to render in such a way as to allow free movement of the shoulder. I decided that if some people were allowed to come as zombies, I was certainly allowed a bit of artistic license.

And here's a full body picture, with a shawl. You can see the ruffles along the bottom edge. (I did them by hand, and it took forever!) And the guy whose face you can see on the right is the social dance instructor here, Richard Powers. He's sort of a mini-celebrity on campus.

The Evolution of Women's Fashion through the Regency and Victorian Eras

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppbrokil.html#ppoth

More costuming! The above diagram is just great; not only do you get surprisingly good detail at the given scale (click on it), you also get to compare the silhouettes by decade-ish. I'm going for somewhere between the second and third figures, myself. (Thank goodness it's a Regency ball. Some of the Victorian ones are insane; I don't know how I'd walk in one of those gigantic bustle/hobble skirt numbers, let alone dance!)

The History of Opera Gloves

I'm making myself a Regency ballgown (for the Stanford Big Dance, which is the big social dance event of the quarter); the theme of the dance is "Pride and PrejuDance and Zombies". As you know (well, now you do) any Regency ballgown requires a pair of opera gloves. I ordered them online (Here's to hoping that they arrive in time!), since I don't pretend to know how to fit opera gloves, nor do I have the time to. Anyhow, here is an article on the history of said gloves:

http://www.operagloves.com/history.html

Expect a smattering of posts on Regency costuming in the coming days; costuming resources, you know.