Mrs. Jordan's Profession, Claire Tomalin


Excavating remarkable women from the margins of history is a noble goal. Too often, the former fairer sex existed, if at all, exclusively as an addendum to their father and/or husband. She held value as a tribute to a man, both as his helpmate and adornment. However, while the tale of Mrs. Jordan is enjoyable, she is perhaps not the feminist heroine ClaireTomalin works so tirelessly to anoint in Mrs. Jordan’s Profession.

Mrs. Jordan, nee Dorthea Bland (1761-1816), is know for her long career in the English theater as well as for her extensive production of illegitimate children on behalf of the future King William IV. Tomalin has an impressive grasp of the subject and provides interesting descriptions of the lifestyle of the period’s transient acting companies, both socially and economically.  The era’s otherness is aptly summarized without sentimentality in crisp sentences such as, when describing the protagonist’s son, “Henry reappeared at last in July too, after fourteen months in the Baltic, a hardened twelve-year-old.”  Stylistically, there are sprinklings of wit, but mostly chunky paragraphs which are easily read but less easily loved.

As Mrs. Jordan’s pretense of domestic bliss with the William breaks down when the deficiency of his older brothers’ fertility necessitated a shift in domestic alliance the story loses its charm. Cast out of her fancy estate by her erstwhile partner, this faded star dies in poverty in France, hiding from debts purportedly accumulated by others in in her name. Here Tomalin swerves a bit from impartial recorder of facts and devotes the last part of the tome attempting to shield Mrs. Jordan from harsh judgement. Tomalin rages against said treatment, calling Mrs. Jordan’s ex-paramour’s behavior that of a monster. Unkind? Yes. Unmodern? Yes. Unexpected? Probably not.

Though not published until 1813, Pride and Prejudice was written during the years Mrs. Jordan was undertaking her brood building with a Royal lover. British society, as Austen’s fiction makes clear, had strict standards for women during that time, and the threat of ostracism as a remedy to undesirable  behavior was ever present. Mrs. Jordan flouted gender expectations in favor of financial rewards.  The fact she was on occasion treated cruelly by society and then significantly trimmed from the official records of his majesty is regrettable but hardly shocking.

Tomalin is more successful as a purveyor of history than as Mrs. Jordan’s posthumous public relations representative. I still recommend this narrative as a fun read, but with a cautionary, more to biographers than readers. It makes sense to write about individuals one respects, but as this author demonstrates, the slide from serious academic to mawkish cheerleader is never makes for a good book.

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