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siria's review
2.0
Part of the spoils of this year's Trinity Second-Hand Book Sale. I got it for only 50c; which, considering that it's hardback and a first edition, makes it rather undervalued, I think. It's a collection of essays about Jane Austen's six main novels, written by Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, who were quite popular novelists in their day.
It was written in 1943, which shows both in references in the text, and in the way they analyse the novels. That it's old-fashioned is not necessarily a bad thing - though there is an awful lot I would disagree with and find wrong, particularly with regards to Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and the Vexed Question of Colonel Brandon - because it's interesting to see how opinions of Austen's works have changed over time. Interesting to see how other things have changed, too; I was vastly amused at one section, wherein G.B. Stern (who came from an upper-class English background) declared that Lady Catherine de Bourgh's character was a failure because it was impossible to imagine that any great lady of the aristocracy could ever be so rude. I both boggled and laughed at that, because I go to school with quite a few offspring of that particular social class, both English and Irish, and no. Just no. Being a countess doesn't absolve you from being an ass. Lady Catherine is terrifyingly realistic to me.
It was written in 1943, which shows both in references in the text, and in the way they analyse the novels. That it's old-fashioned is not necessarily a bad thing - though there is an awful lot I would disagree with and find wrong, particularly with regards to Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and the Vexed Question of Colonel Brandon - because it's interesting to see how opinions of Austen's works have changed over time. Interesting to see how other things have changed, too; I was vastly amused at one section, wherein G.B. Stern (who came from an upper-class English background) declared that Lady Catherine de Bourgh's character was a failure because it was impossible to imagine that any great lady of the aristocracy could ever be so rude. I both boggled and laughed at that, because I go to school with quite a few offspring of that particular social class, both English and Irish, and no. Just no. Being a countess doesn't absolve you from being an ass. Lady Catherine is terrifyingly realistic to me.
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