Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Jane Austen (yes, again)


I'm spending this week reading Jane Austen's novels. Yes, again. I've read them all several times before, but, since I'm doing my dissertation on her novels, I need them all fresh in my mind as I actually begin to write. Another reason I'm rereading is that, now that I've settled on the theme of each of my chapters, I want to approach the novels as a whole with those lenses in place, to see what I can discover, to gather ideas. That's something that always amazes me about great literature--the layers and complexities that you can see if you take the time and put forth the effort to look.

So, Monday was Sense & Sensibility. Yesterday I began Pride & Prejudice, and so it goes . . .

I thought you might enjoy one of Connie Ogle’s posts on her blog Between the Covers for The Miami Herald. It’s titled "In Praise of Pride and Prejudice (yes, again).” It also talks about another of my favorite books, Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran.
You can read it HERE.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a full weekend! I just finished The Last Lecture. I read it in one setting. It's very short and an easy read, but profound message. Have you read it yet? Great book!

Steve said...

It looks like you're going to have a great week. As an 18 year-old male, I'm not your typical Austen enthusiast. My novels teacher last year convinced me to read Pride and Prejudice, and I was surprised to find that I absolutely loved it. I read Sense and Sensibility not long after, and I just started Northanger Abbey yesterday.

Which Austen Novel is your favorite?

Stephanie said...

I think Persuasion is my favorite, but maybe that's because it's the first Austen novel I ever read. Sense & Sensibility comes next, then Pride & Prejudice, I think. But they are all wonderful in different ways.