Literature of the English Country House: Finding the home of Mr Darcy
As learners on Literature of the English Country House finally arrive at Jane Austen week, we speak to Lauren Nixon (current PhD student and Author of 鈥楾he Complete World of Jane Austen鈥�), to get her views on the great Pemberley Debate.
If there was any doubt of the importance of the country house in the works of Jane Austen, then Pride and Prejudice would be the novel to dispel it; after all, it is her 鈥榝irst seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley鈥� that induces Elizabeth Bennet to change her mind about Darcy.
In Austen, as in Regency society, a house is always more than a home: it is an expression of class, of taste and of character and Elizabeth is moved by Pemberley because it reveals to her a part of Darcy she hadn鈥檛 yet been able to see.
Pride and Prejudice is perhaps Austen鈥檚 most famous novel, and as a result Pemberley is her most famous country house. Today, when we think of Pemberley we often think of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. So much so is Chatsworth linked to Pemberley that it made a fitting location for the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and 2013鈥檚 BBC adaptation of Death Comes to Pemberley.
Chatsworth is often suggested as the inspiration for Austen鈥檚 own grand Derbyshire estate and though it certainly fits the bill, there is an issue here: Austen never visited the house- or even the county, for that matter.
She would have certainly been familiar with it. The Devonshire鈥檚 were infamous, after all, and Austen would have been familiar through sketches, descriptions and literature with the house (it is in fact mentioned in Pride and Prejudice, as a stop on Elizabeth鈥檚 tour with her aunt and uncle.)
The country house at the heart of all Jane Austen鈥檚 work may not be named in her novels, but it provided Austen with the insight and understanding to create Hartfield, Mansfield Park, Kellynch Hall and of course, Pemberley: Godmersham Park, a beautiful Georgian estate in rural Kent.
Godmersham became the home of Jane鈥檚 brother Edward Austen when he was adopted into the Knight family, distant cousins in possession of estate and fortune with no children of their own to name their heir. Prior to Edward鈥檚 ascension to the landed gentry, the Austen family, though genteel, had occupied a much lower rung on the social ladder.
Edward鈥檚 inheritance of Godmersham Park, alongside a smaller estate at Chawton in Hampshire, allowed Jane an insider鈥檚 understanding of the landed classes, of what it was to own, manage and live within a country house.
Her first three novels Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice (in terms of when they written, rather than published) all occur primarily within Austen鈥檚 own social space. Here, country homes are to be visited and marvelled at, rather than dwelt in.
Yet those novels set after Jane鈥檚 experiences with her brother and his family at Godmersham - Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion move within the country home. Indeed, much of the description of Mansfield Park match that of Godmersham Park and Emma Woodhouse could never have existed without Austen鈥檚 niece Fanny, who took over running the house after the death of her mother.
Though Chatsworth House may be Pemberley鈥檚 spiritual twin, it is Godmersham Park that brought it to life.
Written by Lauren Nixon on 22 July 2015.
Lauren is the author of .