It’s 250 years ago this week that Jane Austen was born and she’s being celebrated on the Beeb and elsewhere, so I thought I’d re-read the “big six”. On checking order, I came across “Lady Susan”, an epistolary novella that pre-dates the big hitters. I think I’ve read it before. But it made less of an impression on my memory than the others, which I’ve read several times.
It’s rather interesting having a “bad” character at front and centre and no authorial voice. We only know the characters from what they say about themselves to others in their letters, and what others say about them!
I’m beginning to think that Lady S is either a thwarted Domme or a potential emotional and cerebral dominatrix who takes pleasure in the submission of others and her belief in her own innate superiority! Very entertaining so far – and I don’t yet know if she gets her comeuppance. Austen was a very moral writer I find, who likes goodness to win, but also a very clever and intellectually thwarted woman. She must have had great fun creating Lady S!
The Spinster's Exploits 
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