Sanditon by Jane Austen and Another Lady – Juliette Shapiro
Alterations to This Uncompleted Jane Austen Novel Come Up Short
Shapiro claims she did it for the “lay reader,” not for critics who would intensely scrutinise the manuscript, and that is a fine distinction, because critics could easily rip her addition apart.
To her credit, Shapiro includes an “apology” section, where she says her additions begin in chapter 11. She makes no effort to hide behind Jane Austen’s skirts, nor does she pretend to be Jane Austen. She obviously is a fan and well-read of Jane Austen’s works and familiar with the style of writing in Jane Austen’s day.
But her writing is clearly distinctive from that of Jane Austen’s, and perhaps it should not have been added at all.
A Contrived Ending
Whilst Jane Austen supplies her heroines with plenty of courage and independence, they always have some manner of grace about them, a grace that Shapiro fails to deliver to Sanditon’s heroine, Miss Charlotte Heywood, “a very pleasing young woman of two and twenty…”
Charlotte does not have the same spark of grace that Jane Austen’s other heroines possess, even in awkward moments.
- Charlotte allows herself to be abducted by Sir Edward, a baronet who lacks the good sense and manners his title implied he should have.
- She manipulates this young gull into driving her to her home, even though he is trying to remove her from friends and acquaintances. There, she hops out of the carriage and is reunited with Sidney Parker, the man who loves her, to live happily ever after.
- This manipulation and Charlotte’s temper somehow lack the grace and elegance of Elinor Dashwood, or the quiet strength of Anne Eliot, or the fiery but proper spirit of Elizabeth Bennet
Unnecessary Details and Prodigious Flirtations
Co-author Shapiro assures readers in her apology that Sidney Parker was certainly considered by Jane Austen as a suitor for Charlotte. However, she takes greater liberty with that fact than Jane Austen would ever do, or Regency-era manners would allow.
- For example, Sidney Parker ushers friends and relatives out of a tearoom whilst holding Charlotte’s hand. This is quite the liberty in that day and time, and in Jane Austen’s work, the only time hands were held would have been during a dance or perhaps when helping a lady in or out of a carriage.
- Shapiro places great store in recounting Sidney Parker’s gift of a shell-covered box to Charlotte, a detail that is dwelt upon a bit too much, as regular readers of Jane Austen have already had clues aplenty that Sidney Parker is definitely romantically interested in Charlotte. In contrast, Mr. Darcy gives Elizabeth Bennet nothing but a letter, and Elinor Dashwood’s would-be beau gives her nothing but heartache until the very end of the novel.
Apologies, However, are Made
Shapiro cites letters between Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra to validate her continuation of the plot of this novel, the naming of the characters, and other such details. She feels quite confident that in her research, she gets everything right.
But she misses the spark, the grace, the exact tone that Jane Austen set for ten-and-a-half chapters.
Readers, however, do get an apology from Shapiro:
“(Jane Austen’s) language, her integrity and her painstaking methods of work…combine to give us the same sense of serenity and assurance in the six novels in which she brought her world to life and made it real for us. None of these things can be faithfully copied. And for their deficiencies in this seventh novel, I do apologise.”
Sanditon, though a charming read for hardcore fans of Jane Austen, lacks the fire of her first six completed novels. Shapiro gives it her best try, and her love of Jane Austen’s works and technique are evident, but in the end, the finished product comes up short.
Jane Austen had introduced all of the major characters by the time she stopped writing, so perhaps Sanditon would have been best left unfinished, as was The Watsons, and readers left to complete it with their own imaginations.
Source: Sanditon, by Jane Austen and Another Lady, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975.
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
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