What a fevered imagination you must have...

Any idea who uttered that line?

If you, like the rest of the gang from my LYS, are enjoying the Jane Austen mega-marathon that Masterpiece! (nee Masterpiece Theater) is putting on every Sunday, and you were listening closely tonight, you probably know the answer.

That was kind of an Austen-like sentence there. But nowhere near as delicate.

Each time I re-read or re-watch one of her works, I'm awed by her prowess. She elegantly, but pointedly, shows how precarious a single woman's position was in the early 19th century -- how easily a slip of the tongue, or a misjudgment, or familial bad behavior could jeopardize an entire future. And she's ruthless on families, defining dysfunction centuries before it comes into common usage. Who can't sympathize with Mr. Bennett, with all those daughters to marry off and that wife? Wouldn't you withdraw to your library and hope for the best? And those horrid Elliot sisters, and father, who take for granted all of Anne's contributions and sacrifices. And Mrs. Dashwood, forcing Elinor and Marianne to find a way to keep a roof over their heads, thanks to the actions of that selfish brother.

I'm also amused at the list of "rules" that a femme fatale has to remember (and juggle) to stay in the game in her novels:

• Try not to fall in love with a second son. It's always doomed.
• Be a skilled horsewoman.
• Look attractive when you're caught in a sudden downpour, and don't contract any serious illnesses after your bout with showers. (A sprained ankle, yes. Tuberculosis, bronchitis, penumonia, no.)
  
• There are more cads out there than you think. And they're all remarkably charming. And who you'd least suspect.
• Your sister is your greatest fan, and your dearest friend. Unless she's an ungrateful wretch with poor taste in men. Prepare accordingly.

Funny, wasn't it, to hear Catherine Morland called Cathy within her family. And then there's Cathy in Wuthering Heights. Do you think that nickname was popular for 50 years in the 19th century and then came into favor again a hundred years later in America?

The "fevered imagination" line was delivered to Miss Morland by the lovely Mr. Tilney earlier this evening. It was during the crucial quarrel that's a mainstay in Austen's work, in which the heroine realizes her personal folly and admits her love for the hero. In Austen, differences are overcome and the resolution is a happy union between partners. Another concept that didn't come to pass in great numbers until the late 20th century. How prescient was she? And how amazing that she envisioned this model, given how different it was from her own experience as a spinster, scribbling away in her family drawing room. And from the marriages most women endured in her time, where money was the most important factor and a union was rarely based on equality. But that's her genius, isn't it? To transcend the actual, and create an ideal that feels natural, real and achievable.

Mr. Tilney followed up the imagination line to Catherine by stating, "Perhaps it is possible after all to read too many novels." I say, not if they're written by Jane Austen!!