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Speaking of Jane Austen
George has returned from Ontario, and as usual brings prezzies from the used book stores. Three Jane Austen books! Not the novels, but critiques, essays and the like. These three are all inscribed with the name Dorothy Burwash. One says “New York March 1948″, the second “London 1964″, and the last “Washington, May 1968″. I don’t know if this is where Dorothy lived at the time, or perhaps it is where she purchased the book. I can tell from the different pens, and the subtle change in the loop of her Ds that this was not some one-day frenzy of cataloguing, but something she did over time, likely her entire library is a witness to cities and years.
The first I’m digging in to is the earliest, titled “Speaking of Jane Austen” and I’m capital-D-elighted with the co-authors, their style, their thoughts and sentiments. Not into the heavy stuff yet, still reading their introductions, but so much fun I have to share:
Here G.B.Stern is praising Austen’s books’ detachment from the grungy parts of life, and how much that is appreciated in the crazy world of 1944:
“It has been repeated so often that I need not enlarge on it now, how modern science has developed to the destruction of all individual peace; how motor-cars, aeroplanes, submarines, newspapers, telephones and (most of all) the wireless set have shattered what was the mellow normality of existence for the English countryside between 1775 and 1817″
And for those of us who can also remember the first time they read each of the books, G.B. relates her initiation, bed-ridden, recovering from an illness:
“Except for my father and the pleasant Devonshire maid who brought up my meals (not lentils, even though we were in the third year of the last war) I hardly saw anyone…You can forget a war when you are reading Jane Austen for the first time, the second time, the hundredth time; you can forget strain and sorrow and perplexity, injustice and fear. It is the loveliest of all worlds, and I have enjoyed remembering how I stepped into it. Now there is a war again, and we may not escape long or forget for long, but still…”
I know the intro is informal and I can’t expect that the insides won’t get at least a little textbook-y, but I am so looking forward to reading more.
Do you remember where you were when you first read Pride and Prejudice, or Persuasion? Can you still see the copy in your hands? Remember being delighted by the language and the personalities? Dorothy Burwash and I can.
One Response to “Speaking of Jane Austen”
Glad to hear Geo’s presents so tickled your fancy. This on top of Verlander’s award must make you very happy even if your beloved Tigers didn’t roar to the World Series.