“I thought I’d have a look at her own life to see what it was like.”
Jane Austen is thought to have had a relationship with Thomas Lefroy, who may have been the inspiration for the character of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, when she was 21.
Their friendship was depicted in the 2007 film Becoming Jane.
But Dr Norman believes that after Mr Lefroy returned to Ireland she was introduced to Samuel Blackall, a young clergyman, in 1798.
“It looks from Jane’s letters that she would have liked to have gone further with him,” Dr Norman commented.
“But he disappeared for a while.
“According to family accounts, four years later she was staying with her parents in south Devon when she met up with a clergyman who was staying with his brother, a doctor, in Totnes.”
Dr Norman said he then searched the Devon County records.
“To my amazement I found a Dr Blackall in Totnes at the exact time Jane was staying near there.”
The records showed Dr Blackall had an older brother called Samuel.
He said Rev Blackall was “interested in making a nearer acquaintance” with Ms Austen but that he later went on to marry someone else.
“Jane wrote some fairly sarcastic comments about the marriage, as if it was sour grapes,” said Dr Norman.
He also claimed that Ms Austen may have had a rival for Rev Blackall’s affections in her sister Cassandra.
【Sour grapes】相关文章:
★ 小学英语词汇趣谈 be taken aback 大吃一惊
★ 学习方法:A good way to learn english
最新
2020-09-15
2020-08-28
2020-08-21
2020-08-19
2020-08-14
2020-08-12