Brother Jon,
I finally picked up Austen’s Sense and Sensibility last week after watching the new BBC version of it with Kiersten on PBS. I really liked the film, and I liked the other film (the one with Emma Thompson) as well, so I figured it was time to read the book, knowing that the book would be better than either.
I’m almost through, and of course I’m loving it. Miss Austen presents such wonderful characters, good and bad. Who could help but admire Elinor Dashwood? And so I find myself thankful once again for Jane Austen, because I know that the excellence of my own wife has less to do with my own leadership and more to do with her sincere desire to be more like Elinor and less like Marianne (or Fanny, or Mrs. Jennings, or any of the other silly women who make the heroines of Austen’s books shine all the more brightly.)
You’ve got an Elinor, too, and neither one of us deserve them.
Anyway, I was thinking about how I have encountered many more Mariannes than Elinors in the young women I have known…and then I was also thinking that just because a man is snubbed by a “Marianne” doesn’t mean that he is a “Colonel Brandon”, either. I expect you get my point.
I remember feeling so disappointed when my Ethics students complained about reading Pride and Prejudice a few years ago. I remain convinced that one does not criticize Austen as much as one is criticized by Austen.
So, climb into your barouche and have your footman accompany you to your local library to get this book! Da-da-da!
Sensibly,
Sean
3 responses so far ↓
Melian // June 4, 2008 at 3:09 pm |
Just so you know, I’m stalking this blog. I also think you should know (though it will undoubtedly lower your opinion of me) that when I first tried to read Pride & Prejudice, I hated it. I’d like to blame that at least partly on the ridiculous literature class that assigned the reading, and the other workload that I had in other subjects. (I admit that I let P&P slide for the sake of passing Honors Electromagnetic Physics!) But, it might also have to do with the fact that I was a silly 16 year old girl, with a very different worldview than the one you have been so influential in helping me to develop. When I read it on your recommendation a few years later, I loved it! I hope to read more Austen, and to watch some of these movies. If ladies like yours are learning from them, I can’t do better! (Except maybe to learn from your ladies themselves!)
Sean Brandt // June 8, 2008 at 1:55 am |
Well said. I was very resistant to Austen. I assumed that her books were just emotional pornography, and that’s how some folks read them still.
But then I read Alasdair MacIntyre and Peter Leithart, and knew better.
sodbusters // June 27, 2008 at 6:19 pm |
David, who loves, Louis L Amour, The Broken Arrow, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Master and Commander series, All manly books, still draws to Austen (and Gaskell). They had a way about writting about women but drawing men. David loves Elinor. Sense and Sensibility is his favorite Austen movie. My mother (you know her… ) dubbed Sense and Sensibility a Cinderella story for guys (Col. Brandon and all).
I do admit that I tend to like Col. Brandon more than Edward but admire him so well.
Austen knew how to write. It always pleases me to hear that men have good taste when they mention how much they enjoy Austen.
Rambling preggo woman has now signed out.