One of the delights of my job is the opportunity to teach Pride and Prejudice every year. I love the story, the wordcraft, and the overall quality that Jane Austen infuses into her "little darling". Because of a purchase by a coteacher many years ago, I teach from The Annotated Pride and Prejudice, which is an absolute joy. Every page of the story is offset by a page of notes, explaining different phrases, analyses of the story and characters, and the differences between our culture and theirs. In some ways, it feels more remote from our age than Shakespeare's does, but that could be because the idea of "proper etiquette" (as understood in the Regency era) is quite different from our bawdy, earthy sensibilities now--sensibilities that fall in line with a great deal of Shakespeare's writings.
However it's diced, Pride and Prejudice is a fun little book. That's part of what I enjoy about it: We can crank through it in a little under two weeks, which, after the months long ordeal of Les Miserables, feels like a refreshing change of pace. Add in the reminiscing I indulge in from the time I visited Austen's home in Chawton, Hampshire, and it has all the pieces of a perfect unit.
I mean, it's the end of January, beginning of February--essentially, the worst time of the year to do anything except miss the sun and binge on streaming TV whilst curled up on the couch with endless hot cocoa. So having an upbeat, happy book to chew on during this time of the year is a great way to traverse the difficulties of the season. Plus, it's close (-ish) to Valentine's Day, and you've a recipe for a great experience.
What's interesting, though, is despite the fact that I like Pride and Prejudice so much, I've yet to read the other novels by Jane Austen. I saw one film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, but I haven't read anything else. I don't feel it's a hypocrisy, because I love what I've read of Austen, but it is one of my guilty confessions. While her other books are on my list of stuff to read eventually, it isn't high on there. I don't have anything on my 2017 reading list, for example.
I don't know what it is about the other pieces that I read every year--I get excited about different aspects of each writer--but I almost always feel sad when I finish Hamlet or Paradise Lost. Yet, when I finish Pride and Prejudice, I'm simply happy. It's not because of the endings that I'm sad about the other pieces; it's the fact that I'm done talking about them for a year. With Austen's little darling, I'm just as happy to see it go as I was to see it come, this warm little winter read.
For whatever that's worth.
However it's diced, Pride and Prejudice is a fun little book. That's part of what I enjoy about it: We can crank through it in a little under two weeks, which, after the months long ordeal of Les Miserables, feels like a refreshing change of pace. Add in the reminiscing I indulge in from the time I visited Austen's home in Chawton, Hampshire, and it has all the pieces of a perfect unit.
I mean, it's the end of January, beginning of February--essentially, the worst time of the year to do anything except miss the sun and binge on streaming TV whilst curled up on the couch with endless hot cocoa. So having an upbeat, happy book to chew on during this time of the year is a great way to traverse the difficulties of the season. Plus, it's close (-ish) to Valentine's Day, and you've a recipe for a great experience.
What's interesting, though, is despite the fact that I like Pride and Prejudice so much, I've yet to read the other novels by Jane Austen. I saw one film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, but I haven't read anything else. I don't feel it's a hypocrisy, because I love what I've read of Austen, but it is one of my guilty confessions. While her other books are on my list of stuff to read eventually, it isn't high on there. I don't have anything on my 2017 reading list, for example.
I don't know what it is about the other pieces that I read every year--I get excited about different aspects of each writer--but I almost always feel sad when I finish Hamlet or Paradise Lost. Yet, when I finish Pride and Prejudice, I'm simply happy. It's not because of the endings that I'm sad about the other pieces; it's the fact that I'm done talking about them for a year. With Austen's little darling, I'm just as happy to see it go as I was to see it come, this warm little winter read.
For whatever that's worth.