Georgette Heyer: what Austen left out

It has often been observed that there are certain things Jane Austen excludes from her books, most notably conversations between men at which no women are present, and the Napoleonic wars. Georgette Heyer comprehensively and systematically includes what Austen omits. Regency Buck, the first of Heyer’s regency romances, pointedly highlights a number of things that Austen keeps silent on: the Prince Regent and the Pavilion, duels, snuff, men’s clothes and pastimes, men’s conversation, Beau Brummell, curricle racing, cockfighting, boxing, and the manners of men to non-ladies. The heroine’s brother, Peregrine, takes sparring lessons at Jackson’s Saloon, shoots at Manton’s Galleries, fences at Angelo’s, and drinks Blue Ruin in Cribb’s Parlour, and we even overhear an all-male conversation. Above all, Heyer focuses on the Napoleonic Wars, which for her men are the preservative from foppishness and folly; essentially, they have a choice between fighting for Wellington or growing to be like Prinny or Byron. This chapter will examine her representation of the wars, with particular attention to the ways in which the language and imagery of warfare spills over into domestic situations.