Jane Austen: Tensions at the Table – Dining room dynamics in abbeys & castles

Through dining, lunching and breakfasting with the Tilneys, the heroine of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey becomes increasingly aware of the subtle pressures, masquerading all too often as hospitality and politeness, with which the all-powerful male head of the family gratifies his appetite not only for ‘fine dining’ but for power over his children, guests and servants.

This talk will examine tensions at the table in Jane Austen’s personal experience and writing, with particular focus on Northanger Abbey, comparing them not only with developments in her own fiction, but — in a novel which had its origins in Gothic parody — with examples from that genre.

Hazel Jones is the author of Jane Austen & Marriage, Jane Austen’s Journeys and The Other Knight Boys: Jane Austen’s Dispossessed Nephews. She is the editor of the Jane Austen Society Annual Report and a founder member of the Society’s branch in the South West (Exeter).