A few weeks ago, I was musing on whether there was such a condition as reader’s block and whether it afflicts as many readers as I assumed. A few passed-up books and empty sentences later, I looked it up and found that indeed such a condition exists! Who knew? I can be a little outdated at times.
So I found this site that somehow enlightened me on my predicament and there was one point that stood out among the rest – one that I am bound to do should I find myself in this dreadful state again – and it was this – read an old favorite.
Of course, favorite doesn’t just mean favorite book alone although resorting to Pride and Prejudice is greatly enticing. No, I’m afraid it was too soon to be exploring Pemberley again (I had only visited it shortly before Christmas). So I thought, why not explore another Austen abode that is slightly less visited? Brilliant idea. I had recently bought an Oxford edition of Northanger Abbey with the surprising additions of Austen’s lesser known works, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon, so what better way to dodge this block than by being entertained by dear Jane herself?
It’s never a bad time for Austen.
It had been a few years since I first and last read Northanger Abbey, so reading it again seemed a bit like reading it for the first time. There were moments in the story that I don’t remember from my first reading (Henry Tilney having himself introduced to Catherine through the Master of Ceremonies) and there were moments that I dreaded coming upon because of what they would entail (Catherine’s insistence on exploring the late Mrs. Tilney’s bedroom). On this second perusal, I found that I hadn’t really thought of Catherine as a heroine as I ought. I must have unconsciously set up Elizabeth Bennet as the ultimate standard which other Austen heroines failed to live up to. I remember dismissing Fanny Price like this when after some deliberation, I realized that she wasn’t so bad after all. And so it is with Catherine Morland. Indeed, my seventeen-year-old self would have related more to her than my twenty-year-old self (or even my present twenty-seven-year-old self!) would have to Elizabeth.
Anyway, I intended to write more about her other works so on to them.
Lady Susan is a short novel written as a series of correspondence among the main characters. Used to Austen’s lively protagonists, I expected Lady Susan to be the same. Er … Well, she is lively in her own right but completely different than what we expect of her usual heroines. I was personally scandalized by her behavior all throughout the novel and I was in disbelief at Reginald de Courcy’s complete gullibility despite his initial prejudices. Oh the things that beauty could do. I was reminded by a passage from Agnes Grey:
“We are naturally disposed to love what gives us pleasure, and what more pleasing than a beautiful face – when we know no harm of the possessor at least?”
The Watsons, on the other hand, was treading on familiar ground. It’s about an impoverished family figuring out how to rise above their poverty. Our main heroine is Emma Watson, pretty, compassionate, who apparently has caught the eye of some of her neighborhood’s eligible men. I was starting to really like her but – alas – Austen didn’t think it good enough to finish. So I, along with her countless fans throughout the ages, am left wondering what could have happened.
The same goes for Sanditon. I was a little confused at first as to who the main character really was and just when I was introduced to a really interesting character, it just had to end abruptly.
Sad, really. Plenty of times I wish Jane Austen didn’t have to die so young. Think of all the stories that might have continued to entertain us today. Of the fanbase she has unknowingly created with her six most popular novels, just think of how delighted that fanbase would even be if Emma Watson and Charlotte Heywood joined the ranks of Elizabeth Bennett, Catherine Morland, Anne Elliot, and the rest.
Life with Literature 