What a wonderful phrase to unpack - and it's a fascinating insight into Austen's bold technical innovation, repeating that sentence into the next chapter. Brilliant discussion.
"Emma could not forgive her" really has some ironic punch at the end of that paragraph. Jane Fairfax is such an intriguing character, and the more so because of the reticence and mystery surrounding her. It takes a lot of skill to create an intriguing character we want to know more about, but who is hardly on stage at all.
Related to it all being internal drama: someone just shared a screenshot of an old 1-star review of P&P: "It's nothing but people visiting each other's houses." I suppose that has made the rounds in Janeite circles a few times. And that's in a novel featuring an elopement!
Need we mention that Emma's 'empathy' (or, more likely, sympathy) is conditioned by her vanity.
Great insight into the subtleties and power of narrative!
As for Jane Eyre, she would have called out Miss Woodhouse, and taken full advantage of her unforunate surname. The degree to which she would gain reader empathy, however, would be questionable. Bronte has passion, but not always elegance.
Another great insight about the switch in narrative perspective with “Emma could not forgive her.” I do wonder if Austen herself thought of it that way - it’s very skillful, almost like code switching. Meanwhile, I do find myself bogging down with all the house visiting and kibbitzing about Frank Churchill. I agree with Larry that Jane Fairfax is an intriguing character - much more so than Frank. Emma, of course, does not see the pride and uncertainty vying in Jane, but Austen conveys that without giving us access to Jane’s thoughts or over-explaining.
I agree: we want to get to know Jane, and we respect her, though it is unclear why--perhaps because Knightley thinks so highly of her? As annoying as he is, he does seem to be a good judge of character. Frank, on the other hand, is so obviously artful, so obviously up to something.
Jane Fairfax as Brontë character! That's so good.
The noise from behind the tapestry would probably just be Miss Bates....
That literally made me laugh out loud!
What a wonderful phrase to unpack - and it's a fascinating insight into Austen's bold technical innovation, repeating that sentence into the next chapter. Brilliant discussion.
"Emma could not forgive her" really has some ironic punch at the end of that paragraph. Jane Fairfax is such an intriguing character, and the more so because of the reticence and mystery surrounding her. It takes a lot of skill to create an intriguing character we want to know more about, but who is hardly on stage at all.
Related to it all being internal drama: someone just shared a screenshot of an old 1-star review of P&P: "It's nothing but people visiting each other's houses." I suppose that has made the rounds in Janeite circles a few times. And that's in a novel featuring an elopement!
Ha! I want to respond: would you prefer that they all stay at home?!
Need we mention that Emma's 'empathy' (or, more likely, sympathy) is conditioned by her vanity.
Great insight into the subtleties and power of narrative!
As for Jane Eyre, she would have called out Miss Woodhouse, and taken full advantage of her unforunate surname. The degree to which she would gain reader empathy, however, would be questionable. Bronte has passion, but not always elegance.
Another great insight about the switch in narrative perspective with “Emma could not forgive her.” I do wonder if Austen herself thought of it that way - it’s very skillful, almost like code switching. Meanwhile, I do find myself bogging down with all the house visiting and kibbitzing about Frank Churchill. I agree with Larry that Jane Fairfax is an intriguing character - much more so than Frank. Emma, of course, does not see the pride and uncertainty vying in Jane, but Austen conveys that without giving us access to Jane’s thoughts or over-explaining.
I agree: we want to get to know Jane, and we respect her, though it is unclear why--perhaps because Knightley thinks so highly of her? As annoying as he is, he does seem to be a good judge of character. Frank, on the other hand, is so obviously artful, so obviously up to something.