Jane Austen, on the money | Hacker News Reader

Jane Austen, on the money

the-tls.co.uk

49 pointspepys14 comments

Austen's portrait and a quote from P&P is on the new £10 here in the UK. I guess that's why articles about her are popping up a lot at the moment. The quotation on the note is a really bad one;

"I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!"

On the face of it there's nothing wrong, but the character who says it is actually sarcastically saying she doesn't like reading and would rather be doing anything else, all the while trying to make another character put his book down and talk to her. Whoever chose it is obviously not a fan.

I don't think Northanger Abbey is a good recommendation for getting into Jane Austen. Not because it's bad, but because about halfway through it takes a David Lodge-style detour into gothic pastiche. Indeed the entire novel is a love letter to the gothic novel (many of the classic tropes occur, but transported to a specifically English context). Great book, but definitely falls on the literary side of the fence along with Emma.

The best introduction, in my opinion, is Pride and Prejudice. Reading it as a purely romantic novel is, in my opinion, a mistake. It has a huge amount to say about class (which is pretty common for Austen) and is paced like a thriller.

The thing with Austen is that the context matters: the Bennet sisters are looking at penury. The mother is determined to avoid it, but going about it the wrong way, and the father is just plain disengaged.

There's also a very strong counter-culture thread through all the books where wisdom and gentility are harder to find the further up the social hierarchy you go. The individuals that everyone admires are _awful_.

Oh yes, and when reading Mansfield Park, bear in mind that "the spice trade" was a contemporary euphemism for slavery.

“Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.” - Mark Twain

“Any library is a good library that does not contain a volume by Jane Austen. Even if it contains no other book,” and lamented that “it seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death.” - Mark Twain

Of the former quotation, I at first thought, "How terrifically jejune." Then, naturally, I wondered how reading P&P became a recurring annoyance for him. Was it simply for self-indulgent infuriation? In the end, I am left simply to lament: all those readings, and he never learned to appreciate satire.

I've enjoyed reading Jane Austen, but saying that Mark Twain "never learned to appreciate satire", well, I can only suggest you read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Or, really, almost any of his works.

It's a bit heavy handed and preachy in comparison to Austen though. (Which isn't to say I don't like it.)

With irony in vogue but subtlety out of fashion, absurdity treads a fine line. A line no wider, even, than the itsy-bitsy Mississippi.

What could "the appalling paperback editions" possibly mean?

Either there were bad versions (typos, cropping, etc) of the work printed in paperback or it's talking about the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; and Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters.

I'd think that they mean "appalling paperback editions" purely in contrast to "fine uniform and collector’s editions".

> Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I own this. It is so delightfully well executed that I cannot help but be impressed. And yet it is somewhat appalling in that I cannot bring myself to read more than a few chapters.

Just as the settings and context of Jane Austen novels can be compelling, the settings and context of Pride Prejudice and Zombies can be simply unbearable.

I actually read Pride & Prejudice because I heard about Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, and thought it sounded hilarious, but wanted to understand the background and changes, rather than go in blind.

It took me over a year to get through P&P but it's now a favourite that I've enjoyed in many other mediums (The Lizzie Bennett Diaries[1] being the highlight).

P&P&Z, on the other hand, I found heartily disappointing, and impossibly tiring to read. I ended up listening to the audiobook instead, which made it a bit more palatable. There were a few good sections, but overall I wasn't much of a fan. That said, the movie is far worse, doing away with the little that was good about the book.

[1](https://www.youtube.com/user/LizzieBennet)

I've got a copy of P,P&Z, and to be honest I like it more as an aesthetic piece to go in the book collection than a serious read of any sort. It's got a nice hardcover, looks nice in the collection, and it's not too bad as a conversation piece.

Agree, it's hard to read through. But I don't regret buying it for it's own silliness.

A friend who read it described it as "okay, but too much Pride & Prejudice and not enough zombies."

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