Posted by The Mysterious H.C. on September 14, 1997 at 21:15:13:
In reply to JA -- a romantic writer? posted by kathleen (elder) on September 14, 1997 at 17:24:37
] I have never considered JA as a romanitc writer. I do appreciate, however, the romantic quality of the endings, with each of the heroines married to a man with whom she shares a deep love. ] For me there is so much more in JA's novels than the romance, that I consider the romantic aspects to be secondary (or even tertiary !) to the main theme(s) of the books. Perhaps this difference in reader responses explains some of the differences in reader satisfaction levels with the endings of MP and/or S&S.
] Nora said:
] A real romantic author should desire at least satisfaction once a reader is finished, instead of shock and disbelief of what happened in the last forty pages.
[emphasis mine]
________
Kathleen -- for Jane Austen the words "romance" and "romantic" (like "heroism" and "heroic") were kind of ambiguous, in fact more often representing something negative (or at least laughable) than positive.
Click here to do a search on the words "romantic" and "romance" in Jane Austen's novels.
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