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Fa-So-La-La

In January I decided to read through Jane Austen again. So now, here I am, three months later, sitting on my branch, with one pot of honey left-- Emma. Anyway, I just finished Persuasion and I thought I would post my thoughts on rereading it for ths first time in two years.

Persuasion is such a wise and graceful book-- it is Jane's guidebook to the world, I think. She wrote this at the end of her life (if I remember correctly she knew she was dying when she finished it), and so it almost strikes me as her 'conclusion of the whole matter.' And in it, she expresses, through Anne, her opinions on a wide range of subjects.

It is telling that of all Jane's heroines, Anne Elliot is the one most praised-- many times we are told of her sweetness and elegance and grace. She is the only heroine in whom we see no definite flaw. She is held up by the author and by the characters in the book as a model of what women should be.

I think it is also telling that she and Fanny Price are the only two whose books are told almost exclusively from their viewpoint-- in Persuasion and Mansfield Park, unlike the others, we seldom hear anyone's thoughts but Anne's and Fanny's. Throughout Persuasion we are constantly hearing Anne's, and almost only Anne's, meditations and comment on what is passing. And they are so wonderful-- wise, realistic, kind, honorable, loving. Anne's opinion on everything is exactly what it should be, and it is always delightful to watch the grace, love and charity with which she deals with the people around her. She is discerning but not overly judgmental, has good taste but is free of superciliousness, elegant but kind. She feels deeply but is still patient and charitable-- she is everything she should be. And so are her opinions-- read the chapter where she and Captain Harville discuss the nature of attachments. It, like the rest of the book, is wise and deep.

There are, of course, less profound pleasures in this book-- I always love reading about Admiral and Mrs. Croft and their delightful marriage. And Persuasion also has the greatest proposal of all time. I could just read that chapter over and over. . . .

Persuasion, wonderful as it is, still does not surpass Mansfield Park, which is one of the best written books in the English language. I have expressed my views on this before, so there is no need to get started on it, but I just want to say again that Mansfield Park has a delicacy of irony that is unsurpassed by anything I have read, and the charecters are more complete, well-drawn, and consistant than those of Persuasion. But I think to a large degree that is the focus of Mansfield Park-- the ironies and intricasies of people. It is Jane's assessment of what people are. Persuasion has a different focus-- it is Jane's assessment of what people should be, in mind, manners and affections. Read it-- you will find great wisdom, correct opinions, and much food for thought.