Emma

I'm reading what is considered by some as Austen's masterpiece, with its heroine that Austen said no one but herself would like very much. It's a Dover Thrift Edition that was free from the Jane Austen Society of Louisiana--thank you! I'm enjoying it more than I did the first time around. It's funnier than I remember, with such gems as: "What is passable in youth is detestable in later age," said by the self-assured Emma to her friend Harriet. I agree with her there. Just looking out the window from a store in Boystown I see plenty of Peter Pan Gays.
And I really like Austen's joke about female writing, said again by Emma: "[the writing] is not the style of a woman; no, certainly, it is too strong and concise; not diffuse enough for a woman," which is what people said of Austen's novels before they knew she was a woman. Clueless, indeed.
But it's taking me a lot longer to read than with her other novels. I'm not sure why. I read bits at work, but it's hard to pay attention and there are other things I have to do, but also I'm not making time. I spend my free time sleeping, lunching, and watching Orange is the New Black. But enough with excuses! Gonna do better this week.

Austenland

Elise and I saw the poster for the new movie Austenland when we went to see Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha. The poster looked totally corny, but we decided to watch the trailer. I was prepared to think the best part of the experience would be the deodorant commercial beforehand, but as soon as Jennifer Coolidge appeared on the the screen we were like: "Ooo! Let's see it." Glad that there's a pop Austen movie this summer. Good timing.

Check out the trailer below. What do you think?

(And as a non-Austen sidenote: France Ha was wonderful. Go see it!)

The lost sex scenes of Jane Austen

It's been awhile since I posted anything substantial, but I am working on a few things, they just aren't "there yet." I had a lot of time to read on our family vacation, and I've finished both Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey. Right now I'm reading Amy Elizabeth Smith's All Roads Lead to Austen: a memoir about her travels in South America, hosting Austen book groups and looking for the "Austens" of Latin America. Sort of despite myself I've gotten sucked in and I am really enjoying it. More on that later.

I really wanted to post about my enthusiasm for Pride and Promiscuity, which Smith mentioned a few pages back. The lost sex scenes of Jane Austen? That sounds hilarious. I want! And as if just THAT weren't enough, I read this stuffy review by "Jennie," whose blog is called "The Bennett Sisters," that made me want it more:

"What is an amusing tribute to Jane Austen’s work in a fresh, quirky way, quickly becomes a one-part-pornography-one-part-erotic-fiction disaster that leaves you feeling a little nauseous.  Indeed, I put the challenge to anyone to read it without blushing. "

Without blushing? My god, who is this woman? I think the joke sailed her right by, bye bye. But then she comes out with things like "the language is just one step too far down trash-lane" and "The author's husband is an ex-gigolo," (like that has anything to do with it). I detect a hint of slut-shaming disapproval, do you? The reviewer also identifies the most with Emma of all Austen characters. I'm just going to leave it there.

Here is a much more favorable review by Elsa Solender, and with considerable more insight.

Has anyone read or seen this collection? What do you think? I can't wait to get my hands on a copy.

1. People can change

Ok, so I went into Mansfield Park knowing nothing. I was surprised by the differences in heroine (poor; physically weak; shy) and the severity of her surrounding friends and relations (cruel, or at the least negligent; crude; condescending; and cynical towards tradition and religion). Coming off of P&P, where the initially unlikeable character turns out to be one of the best people around, I pretty much expected that the immoral characters would redeem themselves. I didn't necessarily want this to happen, but I expected it to.

But I was surprised that the characters who were charming and morally bankrupt stayed that way, and subsequently lived out the consequences of their choices. The Crawfords surprised and fascinated me, as they are meant to. When I read Deresiewicz's chapter on MP, I was happy to see him link Mary C with Elizabeth Bennet, because I struggled with their similarities. Early on in MP, I thought that but for a slight difference, Mary Crawford could be the heroine of the novel. She was lively, charming, and clever--like Elizabeth Bennet. It's difficult not to like her. She's much more fun than Fanny. But she lacked Elizabeth's sincerity. Like I wrote a few weeks ago; Elizabeth said she hoped never to laugh at what was wise and good. Mary Crawford, on the other hand, does just that, mocking the Navy, the church, and her male relations, which was risque.

Maybe she didn't have a serious problem with the church or the taboo against premarital sex; but her instinct is to mock. Edmund sort of defends her by saying her mind isn't evil, but her words are. Mary doesn't examine her actions, but relies on what fashionable society has taught her to think. This inability to use her sharp intellect to examine her own mind is what stunts her love life, and therefore her destiny. When I heard one of my favorite satirical songs about wealth, fame, and society's flashy ideas of success the other day, it reminded me of Mary Crawford:

 "I don't know what's right and what's real anymore. I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore."

 In The Madwoman in the Attic, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar argue that Mary is an example of a woman trying to use her creativity to live life on her terms, and is punished by the patriarchy for her attempt. I don't have my own grasp on their take on Austen, though I'm sure it is very intelligent and well-thought out. Some of their interpretations of Austen's heroines are troubling to me, but I need to think more about it. But right off the bat, I don't agree that Mary's flaw is her inability to be passive; I think it's her insincerity.

And that about MP really surprised me: when the Crawfords appeared to be changing for the better, it turned out they were only faking it. They were playing a part, and Austen had been showing us throughout the entire novel how adept they were at acting and seducing. Really, we had no reason to expect anything better from them, except for our own hopefulness and the way we've been indoctrinated that characters can undergo a miraculous transformation from rakes to upright citizens.

And Fanny saw this, and stuck to her guns. She could call a spade a spade, and even when I expected her to accept the Crawford Charm in the end, she never did. She held out for her ideal and was rewarded in the end. She didn't give into the pressure from the patriarchy or even the awareness of her own unstable situation. That's pretty strong.

MP was harsher than I expected, and I appreciated it more for that.

the end of Mansfield Park

After another day of dusting and re-organizing dildos at the Toy Gallery, I came home with a six pack of PBR and the desire only to pee and then sit outside and read. I didn't move until I had finished MP. Up until the last chapter I expected things to turn around. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so I won't go into details. But let me just say: I was surprised. I think I may eventually have to go into some "spoilers" because there are a lot of expectations that Austen overturned for me in this novel. Well, really, three. But three big ones:

1. People can change and improve

2. Even unlikeable characters will end up happy and loved

3. Men/wealthier/more worldly people generally know what's better for women/the less fortunate/innocent people

I should clarify, that though I may not agree with the above statements, I sort of expected that they would hold true in MP. That's what I mean when I say my expectations were overturned.

Mansfield Park for the first time

MP is the last Austen novel I will read for the first time.* My memories of Persuasion and S&S are pretty foggy--I read them eons ago, back when I was a dewy-eyed child (slash in high school)--but I know the major parts will come back as I read them. In a way they will be new to me, because I have changed: I am a different reader than I was in high school. Still, I won't be experiencing them for the first time. As much as I enjoy the pleasures of rereading, I am conscious while reading MP that I will never meet and get to know these characters in this way again. 

As inevitable as MP may seem to someone who knows Austen's novels inside and out, for me it is still excitingly new and unexpected. Like--Fanny visits her family?! I read Vol. III, chapters 7 to 12 last night and I couldn't put it down. Here was Austen writing about poor(er) people and SERVANTS! Way to surprise me, Jane. 

I don't know how MP will turn out. I know it will wrap up the way they all do--everyone will be married happily, more or less. At least comfortable. I have a feeling I know who will end up with whom, but really, I don't know. She could surprise me. Ah! The charm--the suspense! of the first reading. What a lark! What a plunge!

*I still haven't read most of her juvenalia or unfinished works, like The Watsons and Sanditon, so there isn't cause for despair yet. 

Ann-Margret and Elvis star in a saucy adaptation of Mansfield Park!

This song is so apt for where I am in MP. Also, I have discovered a love for Ann-Margret I haven't felt since watching Bye Bye Birdie repeatedly as a child.