Sanditon
Encyclopedia
Sanditon also known as Sand and Sandition is an unfinished novel
by the British novelist Jane Austen
.
, where Austen stayed in late 1805 when the resort was first being developed , or on Eastbourne
.) The town is less of an actual reality than it is an ideal of the inhabitants – one that they express in their descriptions. These inhabitants have a conception of the town’s identity and of the way in which this identity should be spread to, and appreciated by, the world:
However, the founders of Sanditon must create the town within their own circle of intimate acquaintances before it may be spread to the world. Each time these townsfolk meet, their “conversation turn[s] entirely upon Sanditon, its present number of visitants and the chances of a good season” (36). Thus, these people are the founders and supporters of the town by means of the images that they share through conversation; they build the town by means of words with greater facility than it is built in reality. Mr. Parker, one of the founders and most eager creators of the town demonstrates this oral formation when discussing the relation between the building of streets and the arrival of lodgers: “if we have encouragement enough this year for a little crescent to be ventured on… then, we shall be able to call it Waterloo Crescent – and the name joined to the form of the building, which always takes, will give us the command of lodgers” (23). Later, events demonstrate that there is not likely to be such an abundance of lodgers, and that the town is therefore unlikely to grow so rapidly as Mr. Parker expresses; yet, in his mind and in his communications, the town thrives.
From these conversations amongst intimates, Sanditon’s fame spreads through letters and by word of mouth. Mr. Parker’s sister sends him a letter in which she states that she has “secur[ed]… two large families… I will not tell you how many people I have employed in the business – Wheel within wheel” (31). This letter provides a perfect description of the epistolary and oral communication that furthers the creation of the town by means of reputation. But Austen develops a sense of the artificial foundation of the town by undermining the gossip
with which she built it in the first chapters of the story: the two families turn out to be one – exaggerated in number by the multiple “intermediate friend[s]” (65) who had relayed the information – “Mrs. Charles Dupuis lives almost next door to a lady, who has a relation lately settled at Clapham, who actually attends the seminary and gives lessons on eloquence and Belles Lettres” (57). Austen allows the reader to imagine the development of the town’s reputation as it spread from mouth to mouth in one direction and the way in which the number of families was augmented in the other.
Thus, Sanditon is a text that demonstrates Austen's interest in the practical results of communication — an issue with which she had experimented since she used the epistolary novel
form in such early works as Lady Susan
.
, Austen had depicted how men of merit and small means could rise to affluence and position by means of service in the British navy. Sanditon builds on this theme, depicting the commercial development of a small watering place and the social confusion of its society (one character is a mulatto heiress from the West Indies).
Sanditon is bitingly witty. One character, in a manner reminiscent of Austen's much earlier novel Northanger Abbey
, has read so many Gothic novels that he has convinced himself "that he was formed to be a dangerous Man." Austen's satire of the hypochondriac Parker sisters (who project their hypochondria on to their brother Arthur as well) is poignant in light of her own serious illness at the time.
s" - later writers who try to complete the novel within Austen's vision while emulating her style. Such "completed" versions of Sanditon include:
1 Anne Telscombe is apparently a pseudonym for Marie Dobbs, or vice versa – it is also possible they are both pseudonyms for the same person.
Unfinished work
An unfinished work is creative work that has not been finished. Its creator may have chosen never to finish it or may have been prevented from doing so by circumstances outside of their control such as death. Such pieces are often the subject of speculation as to what the finished piece would have...
by the British novelist Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
.
Background
In Sanditon, Austen explored her interest in the verbal construction of a society by means of a town – and a set of families – that is still in the process of being formed. Austen began work on the novel in January 1817 and abandoned it on 18 March 1817. The manuscript for Sanditon was originally titled "The Brothers," likely after the Parker brothers in the story. After her death, her family renamed it "Sanditon." The original manuscript includes only the first eleven chapters of the story.Plot summary
The people of “modern Sanditon” (pg 22), as Austen calls it, have moved out of the “old house – the house of [their] forefathers” (22) and are busily constructing a new world in the form of a modern seaside commercial town. (The town of Sanditon is probably based on WorthingWorthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
, where Austen stayed in late 1805 when the resort was first being developed , or on Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
.) The town is less of an actual reality than it is an ideal of the inhabitants – one that they express in their descriptions. These inhabitants have a conception of the town’s identity and of the way in which this identity should be spread to, and appreciated by, the world:
- "My name perhaps… may be unknown at this distance from the coast – but Sanditon itself – everybody has heard of Sanditon, – the favourite – for a young and rising bathing-place, certainly the favourite spot of all that are to be found along the coast of Sussex; – the most favoured by nature, and promising to be the most chosen by man.” (Sanditon, 10-11)
However, the founders of Sanditon must create the town within their own circle of intimate acquaintances before it may be spread to the world. Each time these townsfolk meet, their “conversation turn[s] entirely upon Sanditon, its present number of visitants and the chances of a good season” (36). Thus, these people are the founders and supporters of the town by means of the images that they share through conversation; they build the town by means of words with greater facility than it is built in reality. Mr. Parker, one of the founders and most eager creators of the town demonstrates this oral formation when discussing the relation between the building of streets and the arrival of lodgers: “if we have encouragement enough this year for a little crescent to be ventured on… then, we shall be able to call it Waterloo Crescent – and the name joined to the form of the building, which always takes, will give us the command of lodgers” (23). Later, events demonstrate that there is not likely to be such an abundance of lodgers, and that the town is therefore unlikely to grow so rapidly as Mr. Parker expresses; yet, in his mind and in his communications, the town thrives.
From these conversations amongst intimates, Sanditon’s fame spreads through letters and by word of mouth. Mr. Parker’s sister sends him a letter in which she states that she has “secur[ed]… two large families… I will not tell you how many people I have employed in the business – Wheel within wheel” (31). This letter provides a perfect description of the epistolary and oral communication that furthers the creation of the town by means of reputation. But Austen develops a sense of the artificial foundation of the town by undermining the gossip
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others, It is one of the oldest and most common means of sharing facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and variations into the information transmitted...
with which she built it in the first chapters of the story: the two families turn out to be one – exaggerated in number by the multiple “intermediate friend[s]” (65) who had relayed the information – “Mrs. Charles Dupuis lives almost next door to a lady, who has a relation lately settled at Clapham, who actually attends the seminary and gives lessons on eloquence and Belles Lettres” (57). Austen allows the reader to imagine the development of the town’s reputation as it spread from mouth to mouth in one direction and the way in which the number of families was augmented in the other.
Thus, Sanditon is a text that demonstrates Austen's interest in the practical results of communication — an issue with which she had experimented since she used the epistolary novel
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
form in such early works as Lady Susan
Lady Susan
Lady Susan is a short epistolary novel by Jane Austen, possibly written in 1794 but not published until 1871.-Synopsis:This epistolary novel, an early complete work that the author never submitted for publication, describes the schemes of the main character—the widowed Lady Susan—as she seeks a new...
.
Critical appraisal
Austen was seriously ill when she wrote the opening chapters of Sanditon; she had less than six months to live. It is thus remarkable that the book is so fresh, innovative, and original. In her last completed novel, PersuasionPersuasion (novel)
Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel. She began it soon after she had finished Emma, completing it in August 1816. She died, aged 41, in 1817; Persuasion was published in December that year ....
, Austen had depicted how men of merit and small means could rise to affluence and position by means of service in the British navy. Sanditon builds on this theme, depicting the commercial development of a small watering place and the social confusion of its society (one character is a mulatto heiress from the West Indies).
Sanditon is bitingly witty. One character, in a manner reminiscent of Austen's much earlier novel Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be completed for publication, though she had previously made a start on Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. According to Cassandra Austen's Memorandum, Susan was written approximately during 1798–99...
, has read so many Gothic novels that he has convinced himself "that he was formed to be a dangerous Man." Austen's satire of the hypochondriac Parker sisters (who project their hypochondria on to their brother Arthur as well) is poignant in light of her own serious illness at the time.
Continuations
Because Austen completed setting the scene for Sanditon, it has been a favorite of "continuatorContinuator
A continuator, in literature, is a writer who creates a new work based on someone else's prior text, such as a novel or novel fragment. The new work may complete the older work , or may try to serve as a sequel or prequel to the older work A continuator, in literature, is a writer who creates a new...
s" - later writers who try to complete the novel within Austen's vision while emulating her style. Such "completed" versions of Sanditon include:
- Sanditon, by Jane Austen and "another lady", ISBN 0-684-84342-0; also published as Sanditon, by Jane Austen and Marie Dobbs, ISBN 3-423-12666-3 and Sanditon, by Jane Austen and Anne Telscombe, ISBN 0-395-20284-1 1
- A Completion of Sanditon, by Juliette Shapiro, ISBN 1-58939-503-4 (does not include Austen's text)
- A Return to Sanditon: a completion of Jane Austen's fragment, by Anne Toledo, ISBN 978-1-4580-7426-3 (includes Austen's text)
- Sanditon, by Jane Austen and completed by D.J. Eden, ISBN 0-7541-1610-7
- Jane Austen's Sanditon: A continuation, by Anna Austen Lefroy (Austen's niece), ISBN 0-942506-04-9 (also unfinished)
- Jane Austen out of the blue, by Donald Measham, ISBN 978-1-84728-648-2
- Jane Austen's Charlotte, by Jane Austen and completed by Julia Barrett, ISBN 0-87131-908-X
- The Price of Butcher's Meat, published in the UK as A Cure For All Diseases, by Reginald Hill ISBN 9780061451935, a novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series, is acknowledged by the author to be a "completion" of Sanditon. In Hill's novel, the village is renamed Sandytown, and lies on the Yorkshire coast.
- The Brothers by Jane Austen and Another Lady, by Helen Baker, ASINAsínAsín is a municipality located in the Cinco Villas comarca of the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, located a few kilometers west of Orés. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 106 inhabitants....
B002AD1WJS incorporates all the original draft while retaining Miss Austen's own title for her work.
1 Anne Telscombe is apparently a pseudonym for Marie Dobbs, or vice versa – it is also possible they are both pseudonyms for the same person.