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Austen
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28-07-2009 11:05pm#1
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Thoughts on her books? Far far too many right at this moment!Recently, I have picked up my Jane Austen books again, and now can't put it down. Pride and Prejudice being my favourite.
What are your thoughts on her books, and what are your favourites?
Am currently writing a thesis on her and although she has forever been my favourite author I'm not so sure that our friendship will survive the torture she's currently putting me through!
Ah no but seriously she is great. Pride and Prejudice is my favourite, closely followed by Persuasion <-- amazing amazing book 0 -
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emeraldstar wrote: »First person I've ever heard to say that
I know, he's supposed to be this english gentleman type but I don't find him attractive. Mr Darcy (in my mind) was always more rogueish and a little rough? Maybe I'm thinking of Sean Bean...0 -
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I was in Chapters yesterday and saw "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" on sale - was tempted, but was already buying 4 books so decided to leave it. I'd read a review in the AV Club a while back and couldn't remember if it was good or not. Just checked there, and they gave it an A.
Anyone here read it? Although I'm a heterosexual male, I accidently* read all Jane Austen's novels as a teenager, and I was thinking that reading this would rebalance my macho-ness.
* I was stuck in a foreign country with only the Jane Austen collection as reading matter. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
It's Jane Austen, you don't need an excuse!
Actually I have Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on my bookshelf waiting to be read - it was given to me. Not sure what I'll make of it... probably not much. Ya can't improve on Austen.0 -
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Jane Austen's consistent popularity over the last 200 years is really the measure of her greatness
I don't know if her novels would have been dismissed by critics since they received so little attention during her own lifetime!
Poor Jane
I love how, in her novels, you can really see her own changing ideas about the world. Northanger Abbey remains one of my favourites because it is so exuberant and is all about a young girl trying to figure out how she is supposed to "read" her world and the people in it. I read it at a time when I was at a similar stage I think Then I also love Persuasion because it deals with people who are at a later stage in life and have been wounded in the past. I find it so measured and mature.
Love them, love them, love them all!
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I don't think it can be compared to "chick lit" for many reasons.
For starters, at the time Jane Austen's books were written, not everyone was literate, so it's not like there was an audience for "chick lit".
Also her books create entire worlds, not just characters and scenarios. I'm re-reading Emma at the moment, and it's just wonderful. I can imagine Highbury as she describes it, and all the characters going about their daily lives, and it's almost as if I'm reading an account of something real, not just a made up story. Plus the love stories in Austens books are so believable and you can't help but root for the characters and all this without the use of smutty Mills and Boon type stuffI have been trying to convince my OH to read some Austen just to appreciate why I'm such a devotee. No chance of that so far - however, he has watched the adaptation of Persuasion by the BBC (Ciarán Hinds as Wentworth) and really enjoyed it !!! So perhaps its a good start. I know its not the exact same as appreciating her writing and narrative but it allows a man to get a glimpse of the material which is ultimately very timeless and engaging.. Not at all chick lit!
That's probably the best you can hope for from most men I'm afraid. It's better than nothing though. The BBC are doing a new adaption of Emma this Autumn, which I'm very very excited about. Make sure your OH watches that 0 -
TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »
The BBC are doing a new adaption of Emma this Autumn, which I'm very very excited about. Make sure your OH watches that
Yes! I can't wait to see it - I think the BBC are the most faithful to the books0 -
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Roisinbunny wrote: »Yes! I can't wait to see it - I think the BBC are the most faithful to the books
Yay!!!
I'm very excited about this. ITV did an adaption back in '96 or there abouts, and they had Kate Beckinsale, brown haired and all as Emma. I could be wrong but I'm sure she's supposed to be blonde.
Don't get me started on Paltrow in the "hollywood" film version. :mad:
Romola Garai will be Emma in this new one. I am a big fan of hers and think she is the perfect Emma. Having seen a short trailer for it I think most of the characters seem perfectly cast. It all looks like it should be rather good.0 -
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First off, wow, there's lot to think about it this one and I'm reading it over and over. I'll try to do your post justice in my response.
I'd criticise the books on the basis that they are very light, pander to the reader, are unreal, and that the characters lack complexity and realism. When criticising the book, I'd not be making allowances for the times in which it was written.
You really do have to take into account the times in which a particular novel is written- when you say you're not making allowances it seems that you are saying that an Austen novel has to be compared with a novel of similar material published today. All literature is shaped by the author's universe in which they lived, the era they belonged to. Austen belonged to a Georgian era, women had a "place" in society but yet she gained a degree of respect from all sexes by writing witty, descriptive stories, popular with men and women alike so perhaps that in itself dispels the "chick lit". I can't agree with your opinion that they are unreal - they are very real in that they present a vivid social snapshot of the time she lived in, social etiquette and conformities. Every writer has a niche and I think Austen's was in brilliant social commentary.When you say they are light - perhaps there you may a point. But then her niche was not in Thomas Hardy's style or Dicken's snapshot of a dark Victorian England. Austen was 21 when she wrote Pride and Prejudice - and a lot was probably based on her observances of all the drama going on around her. At that age, priority number 1 was more than likely in finding a suitable husband. I'm not diminishing her, its just the way it was.Its the characterisation and plot I mainly take issue with.
The characters are very one dimensional. They are simple. Their minds are only in one state at a time. Their worldviews are limited and small
I think you may have missed her point here - many of her characters lacked depth inherently, they were shallow, snobby, with no humanity or benevolance but she relished in bringing them and their petty concerns to life in her books.Austens seems to view people not so much as autonomous, self governing agents, but instead as puppets of the social roles they inhabit. She's obsessed with social compliance and fitting into your place. Its all very structured, and artificial.
Again, that's the society of England at the time! It was about status, elevation and conforming to norms and etiquette. It was not Austen's doing - she was merely documenting the little bubble in which people lived.That's not how people are now, and not how the world works now, and it wasn't then either.
I'm afraid that is how the world worked at the time - most especially for women it was suffocatingly restrictive at the time. Austen herself was blessed to find a publisher who would take her seriously. The Bronte sisters had to publish their works under a masculine sounding name! Perhaps, that's why the books are more popular today with women? Because they show us the role women were forced into so different from the semi-equality we have today. Of course the world doesn't work exactly like that now - but we still box people the way they were boxed back then and there is still that social snobbery.Just to address one or two of the other points made: I wouldnt say popularity, even lasting popularity is a good measure of greatness.
I also wouldnt at all say the material is timeless. For example, if you gave it to most people (not rich people) at the time it was published, it would be very irrelevant to them; I'd say its concerned with society and specific social niceties that don't translate well across social classes or times
Perhaps I should clarify my statement in an earlier post - the material is timeless in that it themes of love, disappointment, friendship, marriage, family that run through the novels enable the stories to remain timeless. These are themes that our childrens childrens children will be contemplating when we are long in the grave! The novels themselves are really a painting of a time long gone - for me I get a huge amount of pleasure from reading them because it allows me briefly to feel immersed in an era that I will never belong to and as a history buff it's heaven. It's like when you stare at a painting in a museum - for a few minutes you are transported back to that moment in time when the artist was completing his masterpiece, you stare at the brush strokes and you feel part of it. Sounds fluffy I know, but that's how I feel when I read "classics". They are classics not only because people have related to their stories, which although may be light, allow us back to that time. It's why they have endured - people are innately fascinated with history and times long gone perhaps because we are trying to escape briefly from our even more superficial world of today. For me as a woman, I sometimes envy the ladies caged yet simple life when I think of the weight on our shoulders today.Anyway, don't lynch me, instead try explain to me why I'm mistaken :-)
No lynching at all will be necessary- your post was a very thought provoking one and I need a good strong cuppa after my reply because my brain cells are fried!
PS: If you are looking for something less light than you felt Austen was, please try Hardy's Victorian classics. Again universal themes but very dark, very tragic, fate chasing you down and all that. Be warned though when you read Hardy you'll need a good dose of Austen's charm and humour to cheer you up.:D;)0 -
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