There’s
something about the letter format of Lady
Susan that makes it a bit more awkward to read than the other books. I’m
glad Jane Austen decided not to carry on writing Sense and Sensibility that way. As for the story Lady Susan, I liked it, but not as much
as The Watsons. It reminded me a lot
of the sort of outrageous over-the-top plots and characters of the juvenilia,
which was probably written around the same time, or not too much earlier? I
really noticed the difference between Jane Austen’s earlier writing and her
later work, in the way that the behavior of the characters seems much more
subtle in the later writing, and more developed – maybe it’s just that the
earlier works are shorter and so they have to get the point across in a more
immediate way. I prefer the later writing though, because it gives you much
more to think about. Lady Susan herself is just such a caricature, and so bad,
it’s too hard to believe in her, but she’s a great villainess! I kept thinking
of a Christmas pantomime when I was reading this.
The Watsons is much more like a real novel,
one that I would want to read. It reminded me of Northanger Abbey in the beginning, but almost the direct opposite.
When Emma Watson goes to her first ball - unlike Northanger Abbey, where no whisper goes around the room at
Catherine’s appearance - people do notice, and admire, and whisper about Emma. Then
there was some Pride and Prejudice in
it too – the whole dislike of Tom Musgrave, right from the start, and
overhearing him at the ball saying something derogatory about Emma’s sisters
and Emma herself - ‘If she is like her sisters, she will only want to be
listened to”(125). And then it also reminded me of Mansfield Park, with the girl returning to her own poor family home
and finding that she may not really be a good fit anymore. I thought Tom
Musgrave had a bit of Henry Crawford about him, too. He was that charming,
confident guy who flirts with all the girls but seems to be taking a shine to
the aloof one that doesn’t want him. Was Mansfield
Park the next book that Jane Austen wrote after this? It might have given
her some ideas for the characters. I was glad that Cassandra was able to tell
us what would have happened with these characters, and I’d love to know what Jane
Austen would have had them go through before finally giving us a happy couple. This is one that I would really love to
have been able to read.
Sandition doesn’t seem quite as engaging
a story line, to me. It has a different sort of an atmosphere, and seems at
first to be more about the town, and the new sort of enterprising people who
move in – sort of a new community vs. old community. One of the characters,
Mrs. Parker says, while looking back over her shoulder at their old house, as
they drive on to Sandition “but you know, one loves to look at an old friend.
At a place where one has been happy”(170). It seems a bit drab compared with
the rest of the books and pieces we’ve read by Jane Austen, but there is a sort
of a funny letter describing all the health concerns of one of the character’s
sisters, that seems just to get more ridiculous as it goes along
(175/176). I wonder if this was
inspired by her hypochondriac mother. It’s the kind of thing I could imagine
Jane Austen mocking her mother for, but in a nice funny way. She also includes an almost
stereotypically heroine-like character, in Miss Brereton, but she acknowledges
the stereotype too. I really feel Jane Austen’s own presence in this story. It
feels like she’s airing her thoughts on old traditional living versus progress
and modernity. Whether we get a clear winner one way or the other, I don’t
know, but she seems to be using this story to explore the idea. Then her remark
that generally speaking, women feeling natural compassion for other women (167)
– I think that’s come up before in some of her other writings. All the talk of
sickness, and hypochondriac family members is not a million miles away from her
own experience either. I didn’t really get into this story as much as others,
but it was still a really interesting read, and more so because of the
circumstances, and the fact that it was not finished. I have to say, I will
really miss reading Jane Austen, and will definitely be returning to some of
these books again in the future.
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