I had quite a literary visit yesterday with my neighbor The Professor. I have mentioned him before...he is in his eighties, is a retired university professor of philosophy, has a house full of books (even though he has sold his 'libraries' twice), and is always seen in a freshly pressed Oxford cloth shirt and tie. I am sometimes the grateful recipient of his well-thumbed
New York Times Book Review and American Scholar journals.
He is most erudite and is very likely my smartest acquaintance.
It was an abnormally cool August day. I was sitting on my front porch in the late afternoon engrossed in So Big by Edna Ferber when I was greeted by The Professor's cheery hello. He was standing at my gate - he was on his way back from the barbershop - and was in good spirits as usual. I invited him up and we visited for 45 minutes.
In addition to a rousing report on a recent dinner party he attended with a few of his former university colleagues, our conversation ran along these lines:
Jane Austen; the Jane Austen Festival; A Jane Austen Education (which we have both read) and Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things (which neither of us has read) ; book clubs; Edna Ferber; Dr. Samuel Johnson's dislike of music (with supporting quotes); The Magic Mountain; Arthur, a mutual friend, long dead, who for years ran one of the first local bookstores; Vanity Fair; P.G. Wodehouse; a surviving independent bookstore and one that has gone away; Florence, Italy; and, the Harvard Classics.
The Professor is like ten book blogs rolled into one! A fine ending to a fine day, wouldn't you say?
I can't tell you how helpful and entertaining A Jane Austen Education (2012) was. Author William Deresiewicz mixes memoir, biographical and historical information about Ms. Austen, and recounts how reading her novels helped change him from a brash, self-absorbed, know-it-all to, at least, a much less brash, self-absorbed, know-it-all. And I say that in the kindest way.
I learned a lot, along with the author, about what Ms. Austen's novels were about: friendship, family, romance, love, making mistakes, wisdom vs. wit, character, feelings, making choices, change, learning, new experiences, boredom, loyalty, inner riches, reading, being useful, community, intimacy, and thinking.
Wow! I had no idea. And all that in just six novels written before her death in 1817 at the age of forty-one.
Really, this was a fascinating book and one I highly recommend. It won't matter if, like me, you have only read one of Ms. Austen's novels, the education is here. I highlighted many, many passages. I must say that sharing Mr. D's insights and experiences with the characters - Elizabeth Bennet, Emma, Anne Elliot, Catherine Morland, sisters Marianne and Elinor, and Fanny Price - has inspired me to give Our Jane another try.
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| Our Jane |
I am not really sure why, but I just don't 'get' Jane Austen. It took me forever to read Pride and Prejudice all the way through. Actually I had to watch the movie before I could try for the third of fourth time to read it. Somehow hearing her words spoken aloud helped me wade through her sentences.
I have lovely hardcover editions of all her books and yet...they sit on the shelf unopened. Well, I did start to read Persuasion. I gave up and rented the TV adaption with Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones. I didn't much like the heroine, Anne Elliot.
I rented the movie The Jane Austen Book Club hoping for some insight but none was forthcoming. Because I hadn't read the books, I couldn't nod in agreement with the women's comments and I had no clue as to how the modern day relationships
paralleled the ones in Ms. Austen's books.
And yet, I have not given up in my pursuit of Ms. Austen. Yesterday I checked out A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter. The author, William Deresiewicz, takes a look at how his life was affected by reading Emma and what lessons he learned from that book and the five other novels written by Ms. Austen.
So you can see that I am trying!
All this has come to the fore because this weekend a Jane Austen Festival is happening at Locust Grove historic home not 10 minutes from my house. It is the sixth festival put on by the local Jane Austen Society.
There will be tea and scones, Regency fashions, a panel discussion with Pride and Prejudice sequel authors, a duel between gentlemen, and a cricket match. What, ho?
It looks to be great fun and if the temperature is not in the 100s I just might attend if for no other reason than to participate in the P&P reading marathon that will take place on the veranda. I hope they will be serving (iced) tea.
