Customer Reviews

Jane Austen's Christmas

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Jane Austen's Christmas provides detailed insight into the Christmas celebrations of Austen's day. Passages from her books, diaries and letters from her own family, and journals and pieces from other writers are compiled together to give the reader a historical (rather than literary) perspective of the Christmas holiday. My one disappointment with the book was that all the pieces by Austen herself were excerpts from her novels, all of which I'd read already; but overall, it's a good book for Austen enthusiasts wanting to know more about the traditions of her day.

In between reading Austenesque Christmas novels and purchasing Austen-Inspired gifts for their loved ones, the only thing needed to complete your Janeite Christmas (besides Mr. Darcy under the tree) is discovering how our beloved authoress celebrated the Christmas season. Did she deck the halls? Exchange gifts? Sing carols? We know that over the years customs have changed and new traditions have developed, but are there any similarities between Jane Austen's festive season and ours?

Included in this compilation are the excerpts from Jane Austen's novels, letters, and Juvenilia in which Christmas is mentioned. Most of these are obscure references where Christmas is casually mentioned, often not providing much enlightenment of Georgian Christmas traditions. This dearth of material unfortunately makes Maria Hubert's compilation about Jane Austen's Christmas a brief and uninformative one. To supplement the lack of material from the Austen family, Ms. Hubert includes excerpts of poems, letters, and diary entries from poet Robert Southey and clergyman William Holland amongst others. While I did enjoy Southey's poems, I felt Reverend Holland's diary entries a little bit ill-fitting and uninteresting. Poor Reverend Holland seems a glum person and his diary entries reflect little joy or excitement for the holiday season.

Besides the lack of material, my other complaint for this compilation is its disorganization. There appears to be no order or sense to the entires and excerpts. I would have loved to have seen thematic chapters or some type of structure in this collection. Perhaps a chapter designated for each aspect of the holiday season (i.e. music, games, food, etc.). In addition, I would have greatly appreciated an index or some sort of appendix at the end, which are included in most resourceful reference books.

Now I don't fault Maria Hubert for the lack of recorded material and data about the Austen family's Christmas traditions; that is something she has no control over. But I do wish she went another direction with her supplemental text. Her audience is most likely readers who love and admire Jane Austen and are curious about how she celebrated Christmas. If there isn't enough information about the Austens, broaden the scope! Illustrate the traditional festivities and customs of typical Georgian families. The Austens were most likely similar to most average families of their time.

Bottom line: I would love for a redo of this book! I think discovering how the Austen's celebrated Christmas is a subject of much interest to Austen admirers, but unfortunately this compilation does not deliver! I see that Maria Hubert has compiled several other Christmas collections, I would love to read A Brontė Christmas and Christmas in Shakespeare's England, but since they are out of print and reviewers on Goodreads said basically the same thing I did about Jane Austen's Christmas, I might hold off.

Austenesque Reviews

This book is a slender compendium of Christmas-related writings from Jane Austen and some of her family members (letters, excerpts from Jane's juvenilia, "A St. Nicholas Verse" that Jane wrote for a friend in 1792, excerpt from "Lady Susan," and Jane's novels of course) as well as other relevant writings from her era. Period or period-style illustrations (all b&w) are also included. Non-Jane/Austen family writings include: Britannia's Housewives Blithe (a poem/game from 1795); Charades that may have been devised/played by the Austen family; poems and diary excerpts from Jane's contemporaries or near contemporaries (Robert Southey, Reverend William Holland, Washington Irving, Sir Walter Scott, Benjamin Robert Haydon, etc); a Parlor theatrical by Jane; a Christmas themed "charade in three acts" from the late 18th century, a description of Twelfth Night festivities, and so on. In short, it's nice to have all these collected into one little book, especially if you are interested in reading aloud a Regency-era poem or story at Christmas time, or putting on a small theatrical - it's great for that. If you're hoping to learn a lot about Christmas in the Georgian/Regency era - this won't be too helpful. It doesn't really touch on music, or decorations, nor are there recipes (other than one for Black Apple Butter - not Martha Lloyd's) - there are other resources for the latter. I wouldn't have wanted to pay a lot for it, but at a bargain price am well pleased with it because of the poems and theatricals.