"Janey, Don't You Lose Heart"

A shout out to my Bruce Buddy, Sara, for the title and inspiration of my latest blog. Both Bruce and Jane Austen "sing" about broken hearts, disappointment in love, and relationships gone awry. As I get to know Jane better and better through JASNA, I'm convinced that she also knew personally the vagaries of a broken heart. If not, she certainly wrote with great insight about how disappointment in love can cause even sensible girls like Jane Bennet to weep themselves to sleep.

But, both Bruce and Jane Austen know the comforting power of a friend when one is suffering a broken heart. As Bruce proclaims, "You got your book baby with all its fears/Let me honey and I'll catch your tears...." Lizzie caught Jane's tears as her sister read the news of the Bingley party's departing from Netherfield - or rather comforted Jane as well as she could, for Jane Bennet showed little of her inner anguish. Enduring a broken heart without a shoulder to cry on is the height of loneliness in both the genteel world of Jane and the bitter landscapes of Bruce.

Even though Lizzie Bennet tartly tells her sister, Jane, that "a girl likes to be crossed in love now and then" for it is something to think about, both Bruce and Jane Austen know the devastation of the heart when one is crossed in love, when one has "no new dreams to touch" (Springsteen). The dreams of love of young girls on the marriage market facing either a sordid relationship or certain spinsterhood are tinged with a sadness that Bruce, the troubadour, also ascertains. The emptiness of Janey and the cynicism of Lizzie are not surprising. Both emotions are the remnants of disappointment in love.

But, on a lighter note - both Jane Austen and Bruce know the restorative powers of dance: “To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love” is the main reason that the Bennet sisters clamor for Bingley to hold a ball at Netherfield. Because, "Dancing in the Dark" is the surest way to heal a broken heart.