Musings on children's and YA literature, the academy, and the relationship between them, from an English professor and mother.

Friday, March 16, 2007

So you think you know Jane Austen?

Is apparently the title of a new book by John Sutherland and Deirdre LeFaye. Here are some questions from it. I had a little trouble with question #3, the answer to which proves Mrs. Gould (11th grade English) wrong in her claim that the French Revolution & Napoleonic Wars had nothing to do with Jane Austen. (Bitter, me? Still? Perish the thought.)

I'm not sure yet if I want to read The Annotated Pride and Prejudice. I usually insist on scholarly editions of texts when I teach Victorian literature, and I find the notes in Penguin, Broadview, or Oxford Classics editions useful. Norton Criticals usually get a little too interpretive for me, and I fear--based on the article--that this new Pride and Prejudice would as well.

By the way, the Times writer who thinks Dickens doesn't attract the same cultish devotion as Austen has never been to a Dickens Universe. As a grad student there I was amazed by the folks we called "the postilion people" whose every question was about various modes of transportation, distances between coaching inns, etc. Just as obsessive as the Jane-ites, believe me.

No comments:

Post a Comment