This is my first experience with a Jane Austen novel, and I'm actually quite surprised. She's hilarious. From the first sentence on, when she dubs her character a "heroine" (1), the entire novel is just a large satirical joke. As I said in the title, at least it's a good one. I had assumptions about Jane Austen coming in: I thought that she would be a good writer, but probably write on fairly pithy subjects. I read a huge amount of novels that would rank low on a traditionally literary scale - Austen, admirably, acknowledges that her own novel ranks such when compared to the books held vaunted by the literary ivory tower - and so while I had no problem with the idea of reading another novel, I was quick to assume that I could find another novel on my own that would fit my personal tastes more than Austen would.
But, I'm surprised to say, I'm glad to be reading this book. We've all heard satirical fun poked endlessly at overly genteel natures and excessive nobility, but I've never seen it done as masterfully as in this book. Austen's been making the same points about all of her characters - that Catherine is naive and silly, and it's quite funny to call her a hero; that everyone tells Catherine how lovely a man John Thorpe would be for her, and she feels compelled to believe them, even though he's "quite disagreeable" (43); that Isabella's love is shallow and fickle; as well as others among the preposterously extensive ironies that exist in this book - for eleven chapters now, and I'm still laughing. Considering that she not only managed to overcome my pre-attained bias and continues to make me laugh while harping on an age old joke, I'm quite impressed with the author and her skill.
Thinking a little bit more about what tone and point of view meant to the last two books it is nice to have a book written from the third person. At the same time I feel like the satirical tone of the book and definite presence of Jane Austen (such as in her monologue about novels on page 29) will still force us to consider an outside-looking-in perspective; at least we certainly won't be able to read the book simply at face value, considering only the action and interaction of the characters.
ReplyDeleteThe satirical tone of the book in many ways reinforces the complete irony of the book itself. Austen makes a snarky argument about books on page 29, saying that there is nothing wrong with reading novels that are not classics; at the time she is supporting her own less than classic writing. Yet her novel has in some senses come to be viewed as valuable literature (we're reading it in an English class) however. Somewhat ironic.
I guess this sort of brings up the question (once again) of what makes literature stand the test of time. Love seems to be an enduring theme, but in that case will Twilight work its way into the list of great literature? Doubtful. I think books that leave an impression through themes and ideas that are developed or personified, rather than just presented at face value will be the most likely to become regarded as "classic" by pushing us intellectually.