The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës
August 22, 2022
Critic Looser (The Making of Jane Austen) covers in this mostly solid survey the life and work of two “forgotten” literary sisters, Jane Porter (1776–1850) and Anna Maria Porter (1780–1832). Jane Austen’s contemporaries, the two were bestselling authors in their time, publishing 30 books between them. Looser positions them as pioneers of the historical novel (a genre usually said to be created by Sir Walter Scott), shows them freely mixing in London’s artistic and theatrical circles, and describes how later, burdened by their brothers’ debts, Jane, Anna Maria, and their mother lived in increasing poverty. History hasn’t been kind to the sisters, Looser writes: “As the nineteenth century turned to the twentieth, and the fame of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters grew, Jane and Maria Porter’s names gradually faded out of literary histories.” The author draws on their voluminous correspondence, which she calls perhaps “their greatest masterpiece,” and offers plenty of insights into late-18th- and 19th-century social history. Though she’s a strong writer, Looser can sometimes get caught up in the details, slowing the pace. Even so, fans of the era’s literature will appreciate the light Looser shines on these lesser-known figures. Agent: Stacey Glick; Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
October 1, 2022
Before Jane Austen and the Bront� sisters came Jane and Anna Maria Porter. Despite their considerable literary output and renown (Anna Maria's first book was published in 1793, when she was only 14), this pair of siblings, friends of Sir Walter Scott, abruptly lost favor and were soon forgotten, relegated to the shadows of history. Guggenheim fellow Looser earnestly attempts to revive interest in them with this robust portrait of the Porters and the milieu in which they lived and wrote. The sisters came from a hardscrabble family and turned to writing to make a living. Both sisters were witty and winsome, found and lost love, and remained single. They were prolific, producing 26 books between them, and achieved international readership and fame. But the wealth they earned was spent freeing their brothers from debt, and the productive sisters died destitute. They were among the first historical novelists, while the romanticism of their stories was inspired by their world. Looser plunges into the Porter sisters' letters and excavates their lives to pull them out of obscurity and restore their legacy.
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Starred review from August 1, 2022
Buried for 200 years, the story of the indomitable Porter sisters comes to light. Household names in their time, these forgotten Regency novelists have gained an effective champion in Jane Austen biographer and scholar Looser, who points out that Jane and Anna Maria's "real-life adventures read like funhouse-mirror versions of Austen's famous characters and plots." The author sets a tale of talent, relentless hard work, and a profound sisterly bond against grueling physical privation, financial insecurity, disappointments in love, and betrayals by family. While one sister sat scribbling at home to produce the every-other-year novels that allowed them to barely support themselves and their mother, the other would cobble together a string of houseguest opportunities with friends of the family. Their brother, Robert, was a successful historical painter and married into the Russian royal family, but he was such a spendthrift that Jane spent most of her life and much of her income dealing with his debts. Though Looser doesn't claim that the sisters' oeuvre would interest modern readers, she argues that they pioneered the historical novel and that their achievement was pirated by their childhood friend Sir Walter Scott. Jane stewed about this for years, ultimately speaking out via a sharp parody. Anna Maria's temperament was more placid. "To be happy, not celebrated, is my aim," she wrote to Jane, "whether I become so by making a pudding or making a Book, it is all one to me." Looser has ferreted out many wonderful lines from the vast correspondence between the sisters, which was lost to history for a century when purchased by a "literary hoard[er]" shortly after Jane's death, an act that "had the effect of shutting up the sisters' larger-than-life stories in a dusty castle, like a Gothic novel's captive heroines." From the 1950s to the '70s, the manuscripts were exhumed, divided into lots and sold around the world. Looser puts it all together at last. A triumph of literary detective work and storytelling, this is a must-read for the Austen and Bront� crowd.
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