It's been a loooong year with this book! Kelly's ideas offer some real ups and downs- the undercurrent of violence and unrest in P&P, sure; but Northanger and the danger of pregnancy? Half siblings in Wickham and Darcy, Harriet Smith and Jane Fairfax? I have to laugh. The chapter on Persuasion is bland by comparison, framing the novel as commentary on the uncertainty and malleability of all things, from great empires to the human heart. 👇👇👇
Andrea313 But what I really appreciate about this book, in spite of (because of??) the moments that feel like a bizarre reach, is the fact that Kelly is working to show us "that Jane is an artist, that her work is carefully considered, structured, themed, that she uses her writing to examine the great issues of her day." This kind of treatment is applied to to male writers every damn day, so I love seeing Austen and her worlds taken very seriously ??? 3h
Andrea313 and mined for meaning, nuance, symbolism, and a sense that she had very real and important things to say about the time and place in which she lived. After all, what else keeps bringing us back to her work all these years later? #PemberLittens #JaneAustenThenAndNow 3h
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