When I first read Northanger Abbeymy favorite Austin work, I haven’t woken up for hours. Like Catherine Morland, the clumsy but compassionate protagonist of the novel, I struggle to negotiate the boundaries between literature and life because the work completely consumed me. Catherine mistakenly thought it was a normal laundry list with an incredible, indicative paper; I think that the ghostly spirit might emerge from a squeaking drawer, or the distant rattle of ice cream was the weep of some evil power. As lightning illuminates the northbound sky, I imagine a storm brewing outside my own suddenly cold room. Yes, Gothic clichés, but Austin’s clichés are clichés that are both sarcastic and embrace.
Austin coined the term “imaginist” in another work, Emmarefers to the trend of character with the same name making romantic plans. In the Morgan Library and Museum, the nonce word is seen in “Living Thoughts: 250-year-old Jane Austen”, I found it to be a statistics of Austen herself, her character and her stimulating the creative imagination of readers, to Austen herself, her character and readers.
The curator of “lively thought” is of course also imagined, making Austin active in a creative way. Curator Dale Stinchcomb told Observer that the title is a tribute to the phrase variants that appear in several Austin novels. Here you will find the sacred material of sacred material from Morgan’s own collection of Austin letters and the first editions and from her artifacts borrowed from the Mountain House Museum in Chawton. Contemporary artistic expressions of Austin heritage features also include paintings by Amy Sherald and a series of Austin translations and versions.
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Juliette Wells, an Austin scholar at Goucher College, read for the first time Emma As a junior in high school, I was immediately interested. She began to develop Austin’s expertise in college, where she searched for courses for the name of the syllabus – “stunning blossoming” of the 1990s Austin TV and film adaptation. In the years since, Wells honed his niche: a study of early readers of Austin.
She discussed the show’s potential with Morgan in 2018, but has experienced only serious preparations over the past three years, including a draft checklist, a planning meeting, a research visit. Ultimately, “lively thought” is the time to celebrate Austin’s 250th birthday, and a bequest by American collector Alberta Burke, whose important collections are collected in the museum.
But enough introduction – let’s get into the exhibition. Morgan Stanley West Gallery is divided into two by a partly black wood wall with a window to mimic the feeling of a comfortable Georgian residence. As Stinchcomb said, green and yellow leaves and vines adorn the walls, copying Austin’s own wallpaper – “Boot Chawton.”
Exhibition designers from Pure + Applied work with curators to create visual identity for the space, the “oasis”, which Wells calls it “oasis.” “We know we’re going to be in a high ceiling gallery area with super dark wooden doors, the shapes and everything. I think all of this really helps with the work that spans Jane Austen, which is not only pleasant, enjoyable, but literary.”
As for how people who existed two centuries ago live, this is the challenge and answer that the exhibition confronts several approaches. For curators, energizing the author does not necessarily mean understanding the gaps in Austin’s biography; instead, they explicitly allow these gaps to exist and breathe.
“We had a patchwork piece that wouldn’t fit together without holes to make the pattern,” Wells explained. “For me, this pattern has always emphasized how important Austin was to be ambitious since childhood, her very professional attitude towards writing and how support she had from her family.”
Austin does not belong to the literary environment or has an academic tutor. Instead, her family, especially her beloved sister, Cassandra, made most of her companions and sounded boards. One way she gains vitality in “lively thoughts” is by giving Cassandra a witty message. Stinchcomb likens them to “eavesdropping conversations.” In one of the letters, she wrote, the person who wrote the letter as close as possible to talk to you: “I’ve been talking to you, almost as quickly as possible.” The result was obvious in her hasty hands: it tilted to the right consistently, the drooping stem of her “DS” and the hovering point on her “IS”. One of the letters is almost illegible, with overlapping cross-writing lines.
But my favorite letters are from April 1811 from Austin to Cassandra. Before the particularly unique speech or loopy consonant that fell on the page in my eyes (actually, before they stepped towards anything there) no Catching my attention: Cut a tiny page, I imagine a sad, cut Cassandra, rooted in a dent rectangle to examine my sister’s legacy. While we never know what Austin spits out in her quick cursive hand, and Cassandra (or perhaps someone else) is forced to lift it, the label assumes it is “unpaid remarks about relatives.” Stinchcomb and Wells also suggest that resection can describe Austin’s personal illness or physical symptoms. “People like Cassandra might think, ‘Oh, it’s a kind of personal and TMI’,” Wells said.
Apart from her handwriting, the closest we get to Austin is the touch that once stuck to her body: a bunch of hair. In a small brass frame, the beige lock in the loop is curled. Seeing the hair is fascinating, it is a spiritual experience of a resume.
For the visuals, we can turn to her sister’s unfinished watercolor, which depicts a hat-covered Austin with his arms crossed in front of her. Most portraits were proposed by preliminary graphite profiles, but Cassandra has begun to color the face. The brown-haired snake fell off the hood and then sprouted on Austin’s forehead. This is not a particularly clever portrait, but it is probably the best window into the Austin look: thin lips, brown eyes and long straight nose.
In Oscar Wilde Dorian grey picturesPainter Basil Hallward fears that the titular portrait reveals his own passion rather than his babysitter. I wonder if this emotion applies to Cassandra, who portrays Austen who seems to be particularly meditative and profound in thinking. Cassandra, known as Austin devotee, wrote after Austin’s death, that the author was “The Sun” [her] Life. ”
If Cassandra shed light on her work in her work, her sister is no exception. Although Austin’s writings are by no means autobiographical, I noticed some interesting overlap between the artifact characters, which gave us insight into her personal life and her work. In a letter of revelation to Cassandra, she expressed her love for a new acquaintance because she “admired” Camilla,” a book by Frances Burney, who mentioned along with other Bernie novels Northanger Abbey. Another example: Jane Austen’s favorite poet William Cowper Mansfield Parkquoted by the heroine of this book. “She could imagine all of this material,” Wells said. “So we hope not to draw a very simple or simple connection and say, ‘This is our inspiration’, but to foresee the concept of imagination and creativity from the very beginning, and then let the visitors figure it out for themselves, ‘How is the author’s imagination?’”
Morgan’s 2008 “Women’s Witness” exhibition shows most of the library’s own Austin collection, but “Like Mind” pairs Morgan’s trove with Morgan’s debris with material borrowed from external organizations to further illuminate Austin’s afterlife in the United States, a department of Austin scholarships that has historically been underrated. “We want to tell a complete story about the American readers of Austin, which Morgan’s collection cannot tell itself,” Stinchcomb said.
Wells in particular was pleased to showcase four of the six surviving copies of Philadelphia in 1816 Emma reprint. “Each of these four copies has something special and unique,” she said. Wells illuminates these versions because there is no international copyright law, but there is no doubt that it is likely to be distributed in North America without Austin’s knowledge.
Perhaps the greatest oddity is that Jane Austen has never received her job in her life, never received public recognition, nor was it money. Austin receives only £110 copyright Pride and prejudiceher best-selling title, also does not have the income of this book. At least SusanAustin’s first work was accepted for publication, and she received only £10. Publisher Crosby & Co. Northanger Abbey. Since then, Austin’s legacy has grown to match her tremendous talent, but through “lively thoughts” the author has new stories to tell. Even if you don’t like your Janeite right now, you may change your mind after visiting.
“Lively mind: Jane Austen 250”As of September 14, 2025, located in the Morgan Library and Museum.
