Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen

by

Fay Weldon

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Enid is Fay’s sister and Alice’s mother. Little is known about her life, except that she stayed with her mother when the sisters’ parents separated. Enid is married to Edward and is worried about their daughter, Alice, whom she feels does not take school seriously. Enid holds a grudge against Fay for encouraging Alice’s rebelliousness and also for writing in one of her novels about the fact that Enid makes bread rolls for Edward, although Fay insists that the character who makes the bread rolls is not based on Enid. Despite the conflict between them, Enid seems to be interested in reconciling with Fay and invites her to tea at the end of the book.

Enid Quotes in Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen

The Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen quotes below are all either spoken by Enid or refer to Enid. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Purpose of Fiction Theme Icon
).
Letter 6 Quotes

You are not the model for Chloe in Female Friends. Too many of my friends claim that role, in any case, for you to be able to do so sensibly. Any woman who waits upon her husband as a servant upon a master—and they are legion—all too easily sees herself in Chloe. But I made her up. I promise.

Related Characters: Aunt Fay (speaker), Enid, Edward
Related Symbols: Bread Rolls
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Letter 8 Quotes

As if it were decreed that your mother Enid should put bread rolls to rise every night for your father Edward’s breakfast, in order that a certain paragraph in a certain novel should be written. As if the City of Invention, little by little, using a chapter here, a paragraph there, is waking from its slumber and will eventually be more real than life itself, and we its servants, its outrunners.

Related Characters: Aunt Fay (speaker), Alice, Enid, Edward
Related Symbols: The City of Invention, Bread Rolls
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
Letter 11 Quotes

Journalists, in particular, who work so cleverly from the real world, understand description, but not invention. It is not surprising. They lose their jobs if they do invent—novelists get sued if they don’t invent. So I, Grace, D’Albier, must go round the world, stared at as a victim of paternal and maternal incest: and though my parents still speak to me, they do so in a rather stiff way. They can comprehend that I made it up, but their friends can’t.

Related Characters: Grace D’Albier (speaker), Aunt Fay, Enid
Related Symbols: The City of Invention, Bread Rolls
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis:
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Enid Quotes in Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen

The Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen quotes below are all either spoken by Enid or refer to Enid. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Purpose of Fiction Theme Icon
).
Letter 6 Quotes

You are not the model for Chloe in Female Friends. Too many of my friends claim that role, in any case, for you to be able to do so sensibly. Any woman who waits upon her husband as a servant upon a master—and they are legion—all too easily sees herself in Chloe. But I made her up. I promise.

Related Characters: Aunt Fay (speaker), Enid, Edward
Related Symbols: Bread Rolls
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Letter 8 Quotes

As if it were decreed that your mother Enid should put bread rolls to rise every night for your father Edward’s breakfast, in order that a certain paragraph in a certain novel should be written. As if the City of Invention, little by little, using a chapter here, a paragraph there, is waking from its slumber and will eventually be more real than life itself, and we its servants, its outrunners.

Related Characters: Aunt Fay (speaker), Alice, Enid, Edward
Related Symbols: The City of Invention, Bread Rolls
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:
Letter 11 Quotes

Journalists, in particular, who work so cleverly from the real world, understand description, but not invention. It is not surprising. They lose their jobs if they do invent—novelists get sued if they don’t invent. So I, Grace, D’Albier, must go round the world, stared at as a victim of paternal and maternal incest: and though my parents still speak to me, they do so in a rather stiff way. They can comprehend that I made it up, but their friends can’t.

Related Characters: Grace D’Albier (speaker), Aunt Fay, Enid
Related Symbols: The City of Invention, Bread Rolls
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis: