"Woman Is Fine for Her Own Satisfaction Alone": Fashion in Jane Austen's Letters

Li-Ching Chen

時尚 ； 衣著 ； 矛盾 ； 珍奧斯汀 ； 珍奧斯汀書信 ； 著作 ； fashion ； dress ； paradox ； Jane Austen ； Jane Austen's letters ； creative works

中山人文學報

34期（2013 / 01 / 01）

1 - 19

英文

涵蓋1796年1月9日到1817年5月28日這段期間，並且記錄她所有極重要的瑣事，珍奧斯汀（Jane Austen, 1775-1817）寫給其姐卡珊卓拉（Cassandra）和其他人的書信，反映她對穿著議題的濃厚興趣。本文一開始，我將以《諾桑葛大宅院》（Northanger Abbey 1818）中敍述者對女性和衣著間複雜的關係所持之嘲諷性的觀點，以及奧斯汀書信中顯現的自主女性形象，指出本文標題引文所涵蓋之雙重意義。輔以擷取自奧斯汀書信和小說的些許例子，我將接著檢視作者在兩種書寫中對衣著的描繪上所蘊含的矛盾，並將主張作者在其書信中對服裝相關議題的高度關切，和其小說中呈現之相對保守的衣著概念形成對比。藉由她書信裡對於時尚與服裝的描述，本文亦將探究奧斯汀如何把玩時尚潮流，並以此展現她的自由意志。文章末了，我將指出，對奧斯汀而言，時尚衣著為她和她所愛的人們，創造多樣性和新奇感，以疏解日常生活的枯燥與一成不變。她的書信不但揭露其生活點滴，也同時驗證生活瑣事對奧斯汀而言，具有莫大意義。

Covering the time span from 9 January 1796 to 28 May 1817 and recording all her highly important little matters, Jane Austen's letters to her sister, Cassandra, and others reflect her never-failing interest in the discourse of apparel. In the opening of this article, I will use the narrator's sarcastic view of women's complicated relationships with clothes in ”Northanger Abbey” as well as the picture of the autonomous woman revealed in the letters concerned to point out the title quotation's double meanings. By means of a number of instances extracted from the letters and novels by Austen, I will further examine the paradox intrinsic in the two kinds of writing in relation to clothes and argue that the author's preoccupation with the matter of dress recounted in her life writing stands as counterpoint to the relatively conservative sumptuary notions conveyed in her creative works. Drawing on her epistolary account of fashion and dress, this article will also investigate how Austen managed to play the game of fashion for pleasure and demonstrated her free will through the exertion. In the end, I will maintain that to Jane Austen, fashion created variations and novelties for her and her loved ones to relieve the humdrum of everyday life. And, her letters simultaneously lay bare the minutiae of her life and attest to the extreme significance she attached to life's little things.

1. Anonymous. The Lady's Preceptor. Or, a Letter to a Young Lady of Distinction upon Politeness. 1743. Morris, Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770 Vol. 3. 1-82. Print.
2. Pennington, Sarah. An Unfortunate Mother's Advice to her Absent Daughters; in a Letter to Miss Pennington. 1761. Morris, Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770 Vol. 5. 229-328. Print.
3. Essex, John. The Young Ladies Conduct: or, Rules for Education, under several Heads; with Instructions upon Dress, both before and after Marriage. And Advice to Young Wives. 1722. Morris, Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770 Vol. 1. 42-218. Print.
4. Bennett, John. Letters to Young Lady on a Variety of Useful and Interesting Subjects Calculated to Improve the Heart, to Form the Manners, and Enlighten the Understanding. 1789. Morris, Conduct Literature for Women, 1770-1830 Vol. 2. 1-171. Print.
5. Moir, John. Female Tuition; or, An Address to Mothers, on the Education of Daughters. 2nd ed. London, 1786. Print.
6. Q. The Lady's Monthly Museum, or Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction 11 (Nov. 1803): 312-13. British Periodicals. Web. 29 Dec. 2009.
7. Williams, Carolyn D. “Your abstract.” Message to Li-ching Chen. 27 September 2010. E-mail.
8. Le Beau Monde, or, Literary and Fashionable Magazine 4.28 (Nov. 1808): 243-44. British Periodicals. Web. 29 Dec. 2009.
9. Decker, Catherine, ed. The Lady's Magazine, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to their Use and Amusement, 1814. 21 April 2004. Web. 20 December 2012.
10. Allen, Charles. The Polite Lady: or, a Course of Female Education in a Series of Letters, from a Mother to her Daughter. 1760. Morris, Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770 Vol. 6. 1-297. Print.
11. Marriot, Thomas. Female Conduct: Being an Essay on the Art of Pleasing. To be Practised by the Fair Sex, Before, and After Marriage. A Poem in Two Books. 1759. Morris, Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770 Vol. 5. 1-228. Print.
12. Wilkes, Wetenhall. A Letter of Genteel and Moral Advice to a Young Lady. 1741. Morris, Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770 Vol. 2. 337-482. Print.
13. Wilkes, Wetenhall. A Letter to a Lady. In Praise of Female Learning. 1739. Morris, Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770 Vol. 1. 369-92. Print.
14. Austen-Leigh, James Edward. A Memoir of Jane Austen. 1871. Sutherland 1-134. Print.
15. Austen, Caroline. My Aunt Jane Austen: A Memoir. 1867. Sutherland 163-82. Print. Austen, Henry. “Memoir of Miss Austen.” 1833. Sutherland 145-54. Print.
16. Austen, Jane,Le Faye, Deirdre(Ed.)(1997).Jane Austen's Letters.Oxford:Oxford UP.
17. Byrde, Penelope(2008).Jane Austen and Fashion: Fashion and Needlework in the Works of Jane Austen.Ludlow:Moonrise.
18. Chapman, R. W.(Ed.)(1988).The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen.Oxford:Oxford UP.
19. Chapman, R. W.(Ed.)(1988).The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen.Oxford:Oxford UP.
20. Chapman, R. W.(Ed.)(1988).The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen.Oxford:Oxford UP.
21. Chapman, R. W.(Ed.)(1988).The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen.Oxford:Oxford UP.
22. Chapman, R. W.(Ed.)(1988).The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen.Oxford:Oxford UP.
23. Chapman, R. W.(Ed.)(1988).The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen.Oxford:Oxford UP.
24. Day, Malcolm(2006).Voices from the World of Jane Austen.Cincinnati, Ohio:David & Charles.
25. Friedman, Marilyn(2003).Autonomy, Gender, Politics.Oxford:Oxford UP.
26. Hannon, Patrice(2007).101 Things You Didn't Know about Jane Austen: The Truth about the World's Most Intriguing Literary Heroine.New York:Fall River.
27. Lane, Maggie(1995).Jane Austen and Food.London:Hambledon.
28. More, Hannah.Essays on Various Subjects. Principally for Young Ladies.
29. Morris, Pam(ed.)(2005).Conduct Literature for Women, 1770-1830.London:Pickering & Chatto.
30. Morris, Pam(ed.)(2004).Conduct Literature for Women, 1720-1770.London:Pickering & Chatto.
31. Olsen, Kirstin(2008).All Things Austen: A Concise Encyclopedia of Austen's World.Oxford:Greenwood.
32. Schor, Juliet B.(Ed.),Holt, Douglas B.(Ed.)(2000).The Consumer Society Reader.New York:The New Press.
33. Sutherland, Kathryn(ed.)(2002).A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections.Oxford:Oxford UP.
34. Veblen, Thorstein(1994).The Theory of the Leisure Class.New York:Penguin.