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Book review
Jane Austen: Antipodean Views

edited by Susannah Fullerton & Anne Harbers

Wellington Lane Press, 2001

Reviewed by Pamela Whalan

And oh, how pleased his lordship was, and how he smiled to say,
‘That’s good, my boy. Come tell me now; and what is Christmas Day?’
The ready answer bared a fact no bishop ever knew –
‘It’s the day before the races out at Tangmalangmaloo.’

(From John O’Brien’s poem Tangmalangmaloo.)

The editors of Jane Austen: Antipodean Views asked people from all walks of life, all ages and various levels of fame to respond to their question. Of course many did not respond at all but a gratifying number did. The final selection that made it into print provides us with a representation of opinions from 13 year old schoolgirls, to horse breeders, to politicians past and present, to teachers, opera singers, actors, journalists, footballers and Supreme Court judges. There is now a reference point for when the question of the relevance of the work of Jane Austen is raised. 

This book should be compulsory reading for anyone who dares to teach literature. Of course teachers are aware that students come to literature with a preconceived notion that if they have to read something it is bound to be boring, but there are some horror stories here of Austen being so badly taught that the student has never returned to her work in the following 50 years, some stories of people who enjoyed it despite their teacher, or who only discovered the delights and merits of the work by accident some years later. When you are just about to sign a petition to ban the study of literature in educational institutions you come across the stories of gratitude to teachers who introduced their students to the world of Austen, or the memory of the ardent discussions in the football change room about Pride and Prejudice. 

Even stronger than the memories of classroom introductions are the memories of parents and grandparents handing on treasured copies of the works, or the discovery of the volumes on the bookshelf in the spare room. Perhaps this work should also be compulsory reading for parents and all who want to pass on a love of literature to future generations. 

What a good idea it was to ask cartoonists to contribute. The inclusion of these visual tributes adds another dimension to the work. The Murray Ball cartoon which graces the front cover and the frontispiece of the book is particularly apt, showing a Footrot Flats inhabitant wearing gum boots, shorts, blue singlet and battered Akubra being gracious to Fitzwilliam Darcy. 

The selection of comments is not limited to glowing tributes or to academically sound arguments. A teenage girl thought Emma an excellent film, while admitting to having never read the book. An actor found ‘old stuff’ like Jane Austen boring and wanted kids to read current relevant novels and then proceeded to show that he had Austen muddled up with the Brontë sisters. At least a former New Zealand Prime Minister was more honest about his ignorance. He responded with the question: ‘Is she the one who lived with her sisters in the parsonage?’ There is a comment from an ex-coalminer who left school at 14, who said he admired her as a wordsmith and rarely saw filmed versions of Austen’s work because he was hard of hearing and preferred the written word. A book illustrator said ‘Jane who?’ and perhaps he can best be answered by a high school student who summed up the works thus: ‘Everything that Mills and Boon doesn’t have.’

This is a book that can be dipped into when you have a spare half hour. It will be extremely useful to anyone who needs a useful quote when speaking on Jane Austen and if ever you feel that you are going to be asked about the relevance of Jane Austen to inhabitants of the Southern Hemisphere two hundred years after the books were written, make sure you refer to it.

Original cartoon for Jane Austen: Antipodean Views by Marty’s Cartoons. 

10 August 2002

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