Posted by Laraine on July 22, 1997 at 17:14:35:
In reply to Re: Parallels between Jane Austen and Emma Woodhouse posted by Kathy F. on July 22, 1997 at 11:11:53
]...JA perhaps wanted to say things like Emma said, and get away with it, but thought that no one would like her (JA), so she didn't. (Why did her sister Cassandra burn many of her letters if there was nothing wrong with them?) I've known a lot of people who are so tired of being looked at as supposed to be perfect, that they rebel against all that, and try to be bad. Perhaps this was JA's way of rebelling.
] Kathy
Some of her letters that survive are much more arch than anything that comes out of Emma's mouth! I can remember a few that I laughed at, but was positively ashamed of myself for having laughed, and then laughed all the more.
I think you're absolutely right that Emma shows us something of the non-Fanny-Price side of JA. She's fun to know.
Laraine