Saturday, October 31, 2009

Fully 5/6 An Authentic Janeite

True confession: though I've loved Jane Austen's work for a decade, and spoke and written of my love for her work far and wide, I've never really felt like a fully authentic Janeite.

Yes, I've read all six of her published novels. No, I've not read all her letters (though I have read some) and I've not read her "juvenalia" or her unfinished novel Sanditon. That last is a purposeful decision...I found myself feeling so sad that I had no more Austen novels to read, I just didn't want to read the very last one yet, even if it's incomplete.

When I say I've read all six of her novels, here's the caveat: four of them I have read repeatedly. They've turned into almost annual re-reads for me. I especially love reading Jane in autumn and winter, and these four novels have become real delights in my life. Ordering them into a list of favorites would be difficult, since I love them all and they've each probably been "my favorite" at one time or another. If forced to choose, I will probably order them this way: Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility.

Okay, my secret is out. I do not regularly re-read either Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park. How to justify this? Well, Northanger Abbey was the first Austen book I read after Pride and Prejudice, about a decade ago. I liked it, but I don't think I had yet fully learned to appreciate her work. I do think that Austen is an acquired taste. The complexity of her prose (especially dialogue) and the surprisingly and sometimes subtly humorous tone (which I'd never been prepared for) take a while to fully fall into. Or at least they did me. Once I fell, I fell completely, but I think it was a book or so past Northanger. In the meantime, I'd seen the A&E 1995 mini-series version of P&P, which I credit with training my ear to be able to "hear" Austen as I read the words on the page.

And I have no good reason for not returning to Mansfield Park. I know many people swear that it's the best of all her work, but the one time I read it, it somehow struck me as different in tone than the others. (Duh...different how? I don't yet know.) The characters didn't grab me by the scruff of the neck and demand to be remembered (or even ask me to dance).

I've read bits and pieces about both novels over the years, but I've not allowed myself to watch any film adaptations of either, not wanting to be prejudiced before I read them again. And I've not actually returned to reading either book again...until this past week.

This week I decided to re-read Northanger Abbey. I figured what better week to read Gothic satire than the week leading up to Halloween? But I confess I felt nervous as I took the book off my shelf. It felt too smooth, the binding too uncreased, the pages too new to be one of my beloved Austen books. And what if...perish the thought...my reading experience remained the same as the first time and I still didn't "fall into it completely"?

Silly me. If Jane is an acquired taste, then I have so long ago acquired it that reading her now feels like second nature. I should have realized that I've spent so much time with Jane in the intervening years that I would recognize her voice as soon as I began reading. I should have known that one can never really have the same reading experience twice, because wherever one is today is not where one was ten years ago (or five, or one, or possibly even last month).

So I picked it up and began: "No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be a heroine."

And oh, I fell! I fell!

What a delicious novel! Its pointed satire, witty dialogue, delightfully and sometimes painfully naive young heroine, hysterical send-ups of gothic literature (no wonder Bronte tut-tutted over Jane), and sometimes just downright snarky humor had me chuckling as I turned pages. And turned pages quickly, as I discovered, much to my joy, that reading it after the passage of so many years made it almost feel like a "new" Austen book, one I couldn't put down. Henry Tilney is a marvelous hero: funny and snarky himself at times, but almost unfailingly kind to Catherine and (thankfully) stable. And the looked-for-and-expected cad, John Thorpe, is not quite the devilish cad of later Austen novels -- he's mostly just a colossal bore who talks endlessly of the superiority of his horse and curricle (think of a contemporary man who drones on about his car, or for you Lovelace fans -- think Phil Brandish and his amazing red auto). The mis-communications between Thorpe and Catherine were enough to make me laugh into my pillow.

What a delight to re-read Northanger Abbey and love it so. I now consider myself almost completely an authentic Janeite, or at least 5/6 of one. Next up, sometime this autumn or winter, a re-read of Mansfield Park!

6 comments:

Erin said...

Ah... This reminds me how very overdue i am to read the rest of Miss Austen's novels! For alas, I'm still stuck as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Then again, the joy of discovery still stretches before me! Glad you're enjoying revisiting her!

Beth said...

Erin, I do envy you that "joy of discovery" but I'm finding the joy of re-discovery quite satisfying too! :-) Which book do you think you might try next? I'm torn in terms of recommending. I *love* Persuasion (I truly think it edges out all the rest for me to capture first place in my heart, by just a wee tiny bit) but Emma is soooo funny. And obviously I enjoyed Northanger a lot -- longer review forthcoming on Eps this week, I hope!

Erin said...

Mmmm, I'll have to think it over! I was leaning toward one of those two, I think. I'll let you know!

Eeyore said...

Beth, I so enjoyed reading your comments about Austen. I first read Pride and Prejudice in high school - it was assigned, and after trying to struggle through Lord Jim I wasn't expecting much. I loved P&P then and have re-read it several times since. I love the movie version of it - the BBC/A&E one - and have shared it with both my daughters, who also love reading Austen.

I never can decide whether that's my favorite or Sense and Sensibility. I like the others, but have only read them once. Guess I should give all of them another read. Emma, however, tends to irritate me. Not because of the writing, but just the character. I find myself wanting to shake her and tell her to stop, much as Knightley does, only sooner.

So many seem to like Persuasion, so I should give it another try, I suppose. It just didn't appeal to me the way the others did.

I do agree that re-discovering Austen is a treat. The stories are never stale and always amaze me at their relevance to our modern times. She was such an amazingly gifted writer.

Beth said...

Pat, unbelievably I never got Austen in high school, or even in college (which astounds me now, especially considering English Lit. was one of my majors!). I got the Brontes seemingly everywhere I turned, and while I like their work (Charlotte's Jane Eyre especially...it was one of my grandmother's favorites). I read P&P on my own for the first time about a decade or so ago. Then I saw the A&E/BBC mini-series and loved it so much I went back to P&P and then devoured every other novel within a span of about six months. Then I started regularly re-reading my favorites...

I love Sense & Sensibility too. Such a wonderful novel in so many ways, with Emma Thompson's lovely film adaptation being one of the best.

Persuasion took me a time or two through to fully "fall into" -- but once I did, I really did. It's a quieter, less funny novel than most of her books, isn't it? I've grown to love it for its autumnal tone, and also for the fact that it's the only book that deals with love's *recovery* (a reconciliation) rather than first love. Plus I am just very fond of Anne Elliot, the Austen heroine I think I probably most relate too (along with Elinor Dashwood).

I think Austen herself said somewhere that Emma (the character) was not supposed to be likable! So you're in good company! I do relate to some of her blindness about herself though...and oh, that Mr. Knightley. :-)

Beth said...

Hmm...went back over the last comment and realized I never finished my sentence about the Brontes! And blogger won't let me edit...

So, edited to add what I meant to say --
"while I liked their work...it's never spoken to me on the same heart level as Austen's."