Concerning Jane Austen (including some unusual topics) Part 1

   Scythrop Glowry on Jan 2 20:09:08

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I am not so presumptuous as to imagine that any of you will be unfamiliar with Jane Austen, or even the list of her books published during the regency era. However, in case you are at all unfamiliar with this list, I will display it bellow with the aditional information of when each was published:

• Sense and Sensibility 1811
• Pride and Predjudiced 1813
• Mansfield Park 1814
• Emma 1815
• Northanger Abbey, Persuasion 1818

Now to speak of more interesting subjects, I will rank them according to how well I liked them, starting with my favorite and ending with my least favorite:

• Pride and Predjudiced
• Sense and Sensibility
• Emma
• Persuasion
• Northanger Abbey
• Mansfield Park

Why do I think of them in this order? Well Pride and Predjudiced is surely the best, though I think I enjoyed Sense and Sensibility better...but the latter may be because I read Pride and Predjudiced first and I was much better used to old literature and Jane Austen's style by the time I got to Sense and Sensibility. Pride and Predjudiced is witty, eventually highly engaging, and full of sparkling characters. Very importantly, one likes it's good characters and hates it's bad characters. That last thought was just what was wrong with Sense and Sensibility. I didn't like Eleanor and did like a certain person who I won't disclose on account of spoiler controll. Eleanor was too unemotional without ever being recognized by Austen as such (as far as I could tell). When she got jealous I was like, "Oh so now you show sign of feeling towards him. I can't believe you." And she was always telling little white lies. Sorry, don't let me ruin the book for you...don't be deceived, I'm not saying it's not a good book. I'm just showing that it does have some faults, a fact which most Austen fans never admit to in public. Plus, one never sees either of the Dashwood sisters' proposals. As for Emma, it's very good but slow, and after tons and tons of wearying talk from Mrs. Bates, she won't say in just what words Emma responds to her proposal. Persuasion is quite good, especially in its unpredictable plot, but it's slow and doesn't have such an interesting heroin. Northanger Abbey is fun between its long gaps of dullness so bad that I nearly put it down (as in stopped reading it for the rest if that year), and I like the fact that its herion is just a normal girl. Mansfield Park is barely worth reading, but if you are an "Austenite" or even just an Austen lover it might be worth it...depends on your toleration of slogging chapters and a herion whose almost as perfect as those she satirizes.

Thethethethat's all for now folks! I'll adress her Juvenelia in Part 2.

Tags: literature Jane Austen

#1

Carl Milsted, Jr on Feb 16, 2023 9:04 PM
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heroine

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#2

Scythrop Glowry on Feb 16, 2023 9:16 PM
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in response to comment_8_1

Thank you for the important reminder. 😏😁

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#3

Leah Charles on May 8, 2023 9:11 PM
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I have yet to read any Austen books other than Pride and Prejudice. However, I am getting a collection of the Austen books sometime over the summer after my friend's wedding.

As far as Pride and Prejudice goes, I am hoping to get to see the movie sometime over the summer. I've heard it's actually one of those movies that tries to the follow the book better. So once I've seen the movie I want to compare it to the book.

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#4

Scythrop Glowry on May 21, 2023 9:28 PM
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in response to comment_8_3

Oh, I didn't like the movie at all. I don't recommend it. So many things wrong...I often go on and on about it. I found a great deal of fun in criticizing it, but I can't picture the characters properly after watching it.

The only Jane Austen movie I like is one recent Persuasion movie with disregard to race in casting...it is just so utterly different from the book that you just laugh and don't mind. And doesn't give you the impression that they're mocking the book...like one modernized play I saw did. It's a thing of itself...and I actually think it has more dignity than that awful Pride and Prejudice movie. But whatever you do, don't watch any movie of Persuasion before reading the book, since the suspenseful plot is its strong point.

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