You Thought It Was Going to Be Something with Place?
Posted by Ken on November 05, 1997 at 14:35:39:
In response to I like that "YHOS"...! More on Lewis:, written by Stolzi on November 05, 1997 at 13:22:36
] The book was from the library and I've lost my xerox of the Lewis essay. It's a brief piece whose main theme is the deception and un-deception of so many people in Austen: from the tragic mistakes made by Marianne in S&S, to the merely comical illusions nourished by Catherine in NA. (Of course you see the pattern with Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennet as well).
Yes, you could do a tidy little piece of work along those lines. One wonders what improved communications would do for JA characters; however, having survived too many i-net flame wars, I suspect the outcomes would be unchanged or else more humorous (-: Yeah, Lady Susan as an emailistolary novel!
]Fanny Price, on the other hand, has the cross of seeing clearly where so many others around her are deceived. His opinion of Fanny is interesting; he acquits her of being a prig, but does think she is a bit too milk-and-water: with everyone in her world (almost) thinking that she is insignificant, there's a risk that the reader may think so as well :) [And I believe we are about to see a broadside delivered against poor Fanny here as well?
I think of her analogously to Cassandra, not so much that no one listens to her (although, excepting for Edmund, hardly anyone does), as that both are equally helpless to affect events. At least Fanny isn't cursed by the Gods, though (-:
We aren't much used to real goodness anymore, IMHO, and it's become fashionable to blame victims for their own victimization; all this puts Fanny at a further remove from modern sensibilities. Now, I'm as responsive to beauty & sexiness as the next man--odd, that; I'm the only one in the office today as we move--but darn it, I can't conceive of taking a woman into my life & entering into hers without a good heart on both sides. I'm not interested in 2 or 3 years of fun, 2 or 3 more of indifference, then a no-fault divorce--if it doesn't look like it's got a shot for a lifetime, I'd just as soon not bother with it. (Granted, a lifetime isn't what it used to be, for me, a couple of decades ago, but I like to think that it's still early days as yet (-: )
As for an anti-Fannyiad, I'd relish it. Most of the archives I've skimmed are in 2 clear camps. We'd be as 3 instead: those buying place-settings, those hurling the dishes against the wall, and those eating out (-:
] Of Henry and Fanny, he says "such men never make such marriages." But I did not adopt his opinion without thinking for myself, and as I say, Miss Austen has failed to convince me (and you too, it appears) on this point.
Well, Tilde has failed to convince me. But it's her turn for a rebuttal, so who knows? (-: All the more reason to find this essay, it appears.
BTW, I don't want to mislead anyone. I can't really spend as much time on here as I have the past 2 weeks. Our office move has entirely disrupted the work flow, leaving me literally with nothing to do & no possibility of doing anything in any case (-: Besides, the @#!$@*! LAN is down--rather the ATM backbone is gescrozzlt. Next week, when this discussion gets really ripe, I'll probably have to bail, flinging Parthian shots behind, but I'll see what I can do to make it interesting for the rest of you (-;
YHOS,
Snarkhunter
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
