Gearing up for *Emma*

Our next Reading Challenge starts June 12th!

Greetings, PCFers! I hope that you are all looking forward to our next reading challenge. If you have never read Jane Austen's Emma, then I envy your chance to experience it for the first time. If you are a repeat reader, then you know how great it is.

Emma reads almost like a mystery novel without a dead body. (I didn't come up with that comparison, but for the life of me, I can't remember who did.) For this reason, the first read-through of the novel is different from every subsequent reading. So while I generally don't care much about "spoilers," in this case, I will do my best to avoid them for the sake of first-time readers.

How it will work

Starting Wednesday, June 12, all subscribers will receive the first weekly essay on the novel, which will be related to that week's chapters. Most of these will be by me, but we will also have a couple of guest pieces, which you will not want to miss.

Starting Friday, June 14th, premium subscribers will receive the first weekly chapter-by-chapter analysis, along with additional discussion questions.

Starting Sunday, June 9th, all subscribers will receive the first weekly installment of the Schubert Listening Challenge, which will provide some great music to accompany your reading, along with commentary on Schubert and his music.

And that's it! Just read along, enjoy, and join the conversation in the comments.

Editions of Emma

Any edition of the novel that you have will do. For citation purposes, I will be using the Norton Critical Edition (4th ed. pictured above), edited by George Justice. I like this edition because it has a number of contextual readings along with some excellent literary criticism and a useful bibliography. But you don't need to go out and buy this edition if you already have another.

Reading Schedule

Each week, we will be discussing specific chapters:

• June 12th: Volume one, chapters 1-9

• June 19th: Volume one, chapters 10-18

• June 26th: Volume two, chapters 1-9 (or 19-27 in some editions)

• July 3rd: Volume two, chapters 10-18 (or 28-36)

• July 10th: Volume three, chapters 1-9 (or 37-45)

• July 17th: Volume three, chapters 10-19 (or 46-55)

• July 24th: Wrap-up

I hope that you will join us! Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

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Thanks for reading, from my fancy internet vellum notebook to yours.

A page from Jane Austen’s Lady Susan, housed in the Morgan Library, New York.