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  • A great intro to Austen

  • While this text is the latest of hers that were published (it was released posthumously) and may not completely reflect on the style or quality of her earlier works, I found this particular novel to actually be a fairly interesting read. I initially picked it up for my Brit Lit from 1798 class, and ... Continue

    While this text is the latest of hers that were published (it was released posthumously) and may not completely reflect on the style or quality of her earlier works, I found this particular novel to actually be a fairly interesting read. I initially picked it up for my Brit Lit from 1798 class, and though hesitant (I have avoided reading Austen in the past for fear that I would be bored to death), I found myself really enjoying Austen's often-comical use of free indirect discourse in her narration and her commentary on the behaviors of women and men, both interpersonally and educationally (examine the reading habits and discussions of the characters for more on that). A pleasant surprise of a novel.

    

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• ― Chezmerelda said on Oct 31, 2007 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

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  • After watching Mansfield Park on DVD last night, I had the whim to read this novel. I have the movie on DVD (actually two versions) but oddly enough, had yet to read the book. I thought that it was quite lovely. Its not my favorite Austen novel (Mansfield Park is my favorite), but it is close. I thi ... Continue

    After watching Mansfield Park on DVD last night, I had the whim to read this novel. I have the movie on DVD (actually two versions) but oddly enough, had yet to read the book. I thought that it was quite lovely. Its not my favorite Austen novel (Mansfield Park is my favorite), but it is close. I think the story could take place today and it would have the same meaning. That is what is great about many of Austen’s novels. They have meaning for us in our lives today.

    

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• ― cjspock said on Jul 27, 2007 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

Called a 'perfect novel' by Harold Bloom, Persuasion was written while Jane Austen was in failing health. She died soon after its completion, and it was published in an edition with Northanger Abbey in 1818.

In the novel, Anne Elliot, the heroine Austen called 'almost too good for me,' has let herself be persuaded not to marry Frederick Wentworth, a fine and attractive man without means. Eight years later, Captain Wentworth returns from the Napoleonic Wars with a triumphant naval career behind him, a substantial fortune to his name, and an eagerness to wed. Austen explores the complexities of human relationships as they change over time. 'She is a prose Shakespeare,' Thomas Macaulay wrote of Austen in 1842. 'She has given us a multitude of characters, all, in a certain sense, commonplace. Yet they are all as perfectly discriminated from each other as if they were the most eccentric of human beings.'

Persuasion is the last work of one of the greatest of novelists, the end of a quiet career pursued in anonymity in rural England that produced novels which continue to give pleasure to millions of readers throughout the world.

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