Lady Susan - Jane Austen

[troisoiseaux]

Read Lady Susan by Jane Austen, which I guess I'd always assumed was an unfinished novel, but it turns out is actually a completed novella! It also turns out to be a very fun read, as an epistolary novella in the form of letters from different people all complaining about each other. The titular Lady Susan is a sort of genteel Becky Sharp, just an absolute scheming menace out to get hers at the cost of other people's hearts, engagements, and happiness— although Becky, a scrappy outsider trying to scam her way up the social ladder, makes a more sympathetic anti-heroine than Lady Susan, who spends most of the book trying to force her daughter into a marriage against her will.

As a fun little side note, I picked this up because of one of those Tumblr "spin the wheel and vote about your result" polls: Who's your Jane Austen roommate? I got Reginald de Courcy and was like, who?, and so I ended up reading Lady Susan through a lens perhaps unique in the history of people reading this book, namely, "Reginald de Courcy: good roommate?" My conclusion is that, if considering the question based entirely on personality and not on logistical considerations of, e.g., introducing a wealthy Regency man to the concept of a chore wheel, he's rather annoyingly spineless and easily led but I could probably live with him. Definitely not the worst option, at any rate— the person whose reblog brought the game to my attention had gotten Lady Catherine de Bourgh!

Comments

[regshoe]

I read this years ago but still remember it being so much fun—the sharper side of Austen just given full evil-scheming free rein. I must re-read at some point.

What a great way of approaching Austen novels, I love it XD *goes to spin wheel*

...I got Colonel Fitzwilliam! I think he would probably make a fairly decent housemate, as things go.

[troisoiseaux]

I got Colonel Fitzwilliam! I think he would probably make a fairly decent housemate, as things go.

Honestly, as a military man, he's probably one of the top three Austen men most likely to grasp concepts such as "sharing a living space," "folding his own laundry," and "doing dishes"! (I'm also tremendously fond of Fitzwilliam as a result of amarguerite's absolutely brilliant "An Ever-Fixed Mark", although I suppose non-canonical interpretations shouldn't count for this exercise.)

[sartorias]

Lady Catherine! Worst Roommate Ever!

[troisoiseaux]

Pro(?): presumably free rent to live at Rosings
Con: ...you'd have to live at Rosings

[sartorias]

SO TRUE.

"You will breakfast at 5:30 because I breakfast at 5:30 which is the most convenient time and healthiest for my constitution, therefore it's best for any gentlewoman's constitution. And oh yes, your underwear drawer must be reorganized. My maid will instruct you in the method with the most efficacy. Now, we will gather in the salon, so that I may predict tomorrow's weather..."

[lunabee34]

Dies laughing

I think you should write this for Yuletide. *snort*

[sartorias]

Heh! Great idea!

[lunabee34]

<3

[oursin]

There's a pretty good movie of Lady Susan, confusingly retitled Love and Friendship.

[troisoiseaux]

I think this is why I'd assumed Lady Susan was an unfinished work, because I'd confused this movie with the Sanditon miniseries...? Maybe??

[asakiyume]

Lady Catherine de Bourgh would definitely be a trial; I'd petition for a roommate change.

[troisoiseaux]

I did not picture this scenario as being "roommates in a college dorm" but the idea of Lady de Bourgh being exposed to that concept is.......... hilarious, actually. (As long as it's not a scenario I'm personally involved in, that is!)

[asakiyume]

Oh right! Of course one can have roommates in non college situations; in fact, I have! D'oh! Well, assumptions assumptions...

[sovay]

Read Lady Susan by Jane Austen, which I guess I'd always assumed was an unfinished novel, but it turns out is actually a completed novella!

I never wrote it up and at some fictional point in the future when I have tons of spare time and energy should, but I loved the recent-ish film adaptation, Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship (2016).

The wheel gave me Miss Bates. Obviously I would need not to be as rude to her as Emma, but I would die.

[troisoiseaux]

Oof.

Of my IRL friends I've sent this to, the best result anyone's gotten is Henry Tilney— and of course it was the one person in the group chat who hasn't read Northanger Abbey. I swear, this wheel runs on irony!

[thistleingrey]

I "cheated" and spun twice because my first response was Mr. Price, Fanny's father (oh dear, oh dear). The second, I might learn something from, though I'm not sure how comfortable it'd be--Lady Russell, in Persuasion. Like, I may be middle-aged, but it hasn't made me very exacting in my housework or my perspective on others!

[troisoiseaux]

Oof. Maybe third time's the charm?

[pameladean]

I've got a rather nice set of facsimile Jane Austen novels, and most of them are quite readable. But Lady Susan has no paragraphing. I mean, many letters would not either, but my EYES.

I am sure there are paragraphed options out there, but it always seems easier to reread some different Austen novel.

I am pretty sure I would not want to share living space with any Jane Austen character at all. But then, I wouldn't with most other characters or people either.

P.

[troisoiseaux]

I read a public domain e-book version, which - on double-checking just now - does have occasional paragraph breaks, but so few of them that they weren't really noticeable in an e-reader format! At least it's a quick read.

Instinct suggests that the best Austen roommate would be Elizabeth or Jane Bennet, although I'm sure I could find flaws in that plan if I thought about it. (Maybe the inevitability of Lydia crashing on the couch?)

[pameladean]

I burst out laughing at the inevitability of Lydia's crashing out on the couch.

And I think that's going to be a problem with many seemingly reasonable characters. So many have unreasonable families.

P.

[muccamukk]

There's a really fun film version that is called, for reasons I'm not clear on, Love and Friendship.

I'm glad you liked it! I enjoy it more than several of the novels.

[troisoiseaux]

I'll have to check out the movie now!

[genarti]

I got Anne de Bourgh -- better than her mother, for sure! I have no idea if we'd get along or if this roommate situation would work out for long; I suspect her crossness would get a bit wearing, but I think being housemates with a couple of modern women would be a much better situation for her, especially if I get to introduce her to modern medicine as well. If I have to move into the de Bourgh household though... ooof. No thank you!

[genarti]

Oh, and fascinating -- I'd never heard of Lady Susan! She sounds like a moderately terrible person, but I do love an epistolary book where every letter is complaining about the rest, lol.

[troisoiseaux]

She sounds like a moderately terrible person, but I do love an epistolary book where every letter is complaining about the rest, lol.

She's basically a stereotypical wicked stepmother to her own biological daughter, but the dramatic irony of the contrasting POV letters is really fun!

[osprey_archer]

Perhaps moving away from Lady Catherine de Bourgh would fix a lot of Anne's crossness? Who among us WOULDN'T be cross if we had to live with Lady Catherine de Bourgh!

[troisoiseaux]

I feel like there's a Venn diagram here of "Austen women who would benefit from a modern roommate living situation over their canon circumstances" and "Austen characters I could live with as roommates" and the middle of that circle is, off the top of my head, Anne Elliot and Charlotte Lucas. Anne de Bourgh and Fanny Price definitely fall into the first category but the second is.... debatable.

[mme_n_b]

Seriously, I'd love to have Lady Catherine for a roommate. She'd pay for servants because she can't imagine living without servants, and not interact with me because I'm beneath her notice. It'd be perfect.

[troisoiseaux]

Silver linings, I guess??

[lunabee34]

I first read Lady Susan in 2018 despite having read all the other Austen novels multiple times starting many years ago. Here's what I said on Goodreads (which totally jives with your assessment):

Lady Susan I had never read before. Love the epistolary format; seeing the same event through Lady Susan's eyes and then through the eyes of her sister-in-law is really funny. I love how unrepentant and villainous Lady Susan is and that she isn't punished at all for her villainy (while her daughter gets to marry the one she actually loves and who deserves her).

[troisoiseaux]

It really is such a fun read!

[hunningham]

I loved Lady Susan Title character just so splendidly appalling and she does not get her come-uppance (wandering in via friends-of-friends)

[troisoiseaux]

Hello, friend-of-friends!

Title character just so splendidly appalling and she does not get her come-uppance

Right?? I feel like there's a graph to be made here with Lady Susan, Becky Sharp, and Moll Flanders in which the axes are "schemes" and "getting away with it."

[a_t_rain]

There's also The Beautifull Cassandra (Austen's first-ever heroine, created when she was twelve), although she doesn't exactly scheme so much as do random transgressive stuff.

[troisoiseaux]

This is the most "written by a 12-year-old" thing I've read in my life and I adore it.

[lirazel]

This was a fun post to read and also now I want to actually read Lady Susan!

[troisoiseaux]

It's a fun read!

[chestnut_pod]

Actual lol at your unique reading lens. This can be your grand contribution to the literary scene.

[troisoiseaux]

"Some critics have observed that Reginald de Courcy would not make the worst roommate in the Jane Austen canon." See troisoiseaux, Lady Susan - Jane Austen (Mar. 9, 2025) (citing to firawen, "Who's Your Jane Austen Roommate?", Tumblr (Mar. 4, 2025)).

(....this is almost certainly not the right citation format but OH WELL.)

[garonne]

I'd always assumed was an unfinished novel, but it turns out is actually a completed novella

Me too, and until now I had avoided reading it for that reason. So thanks for the info and the rec!

[troisoiseaux]

Hope you enjoy!