Brilliant concept, flawed execution
3 stars
"What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" is a collection of facts that would have been common knowledge to 19th century novel audiences, but which may elude modern readers. It covers common forms of transport, games, fox hunts and shooting, education, ranks of the nobility and gentry, the structure of the Church of England, food items, clothing, and many other topics that frequently come up in the well-known novels of that century.
I'd love to see a whole series of books like this, for readers of novels from different eras and countries. Even if you're the sort who picks things up well from context, it's nice to have the confirmation, and there are many opportunities for misunderstandings as words evolve in meaning that a book like this can clear up.
In terms of the topics covered, this book is great. It doesn't get into the nitty-gritty and thus remains …
"What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" is a collection of facts that would have been common knowledge to 19th century novel audiences, but which may elude modern readers. It covers common forms of transport, games, fox hunts and shooting, education, ranks of the nobility and gentry, the structure of the Church of England, food items, clothing, and many other topics that frequently come up in the well-known novels of that century.
I'd love to see a whole series of books like this, for readers of novels from different eras and countries. Even if you're the sort who picks things up well from context, it's nice to have the confirmation, and there are many opportunities for misunderstandings as words evolve in meaning that a book like this can clear up.
In terms of the topics covered, this book is great. It doesn't get into the nitty-gritty and thus remains easy to read even when covering subjects one may be less interested in, but it covers enough. Where it falls short, however, is in lacking clear citations and being vague with dates. The 19th century was a time of rapid change, and "early 19th century" or "mid-century" just doesn't cut it when talking about, for example, fashion or business structure. I imagine the author left out dates to avoid overwhelming readers, but it makes the facts presented less useful. "A mid-century observer" is also about as good as the citations get for quotes from non-fiction, and most information has no inline citations at all. There is a bibliography, but with so many disparate topics discussed, it's hard to use without some form of citations in the text.
I suspect that for its intended audience - modern readers of Regency and Victorian novels, particularly those who don't also read non-fiction from the time - this is a great companion, especially with how easy it is to look up notes on specific topics (though the lack of pointers from its glossary to the relevant discussion chapters is a little disappointing). For artists and writers working with the Victorian era, it is useful, but it could be much more so if it were just a touch more rigorous.
