Scan barcode
A review by couldbestephen
The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love by Rachel Feder
1.0
I wanted to rate this at least 2 stars. Reexamining Austen’s work through a “Gothic lens?” Cool, sign me up! Written in very accessible language even general Austen fans can understand and enjoy? Amazing! And then the author goes on to horribly misinterpret and misrepresent Pride and Prejudice.
Spoiler, trying to call P&P a “gothic horror” and force it into the gothic tropes as we understand them makes you take some astounding leaps in logic. It doesn’t work.
Right off the bat, Feder calls Darcy a literary monster we need to deconstruct and provides no textual proof for her claims. A few times she dances dangerously close to ruining her own interpretation of the character by referencing the text that goes against what she says, but she just brushes it off. It seems as though Feder is trying to deconstruct the Byronic Hero but understands that general audiences may not know what that is exactly. People do know Darcy and Lizzie though.
Listen, is Mr Darcy perfect? No! Looking back with modern eyes, are some of the actions he took, particularly with Lydia, problematic? Yup. But to brush off the historical context and demand we only look at Darcy as modern people is disingenuous and leads to poorly reasoned books like this.
An interesting read that tackles a straw man of the author’s own creation. 1/5 stars.
Spoiler, trying to call P&P a “gothic horror” and force it into the gothic tropes as we understand them makes you take some astounding leaps in logic. It doesn’t work.
Right off the bat, Feder calls Darcy a literary monster we need to deconstruct and provides no textual proof for her claims. A few times she dances dangerously close to ruining her own interpretation of the character by referencing the text that goes against what she says, but she just brushes it off. It seems as though Feder is trying to deconstruct the Byronic Hero but understands that general audiences may not know what that is exactly. People do know Darcy and Lizzie though.
Listen, is Mr Darcy perfect? No! Looking back with modern eyes, are some of the actions he took, particularly with Lydia, problematic? Yup. But to brush off the historical context and demand we only look at Darcy as modern people is disingenuous and leads to poorly reasoned books like this.
An interesting read that tackles a straw man of the author’s own creation. 1/5 stars.