In which one of the 1980 Iranian hostages explains why “War and Peace” meant so much to him at the time.
Tag Archives: Jane Austen
An Iranian Hostage Recalls Tolstoy
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Emma, George Eliot, Homer, Iliad, Iranian hostage crisis, Leo Tolstoy, Life and Fate, Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Vasily Grossman, War and Peace Comments closed
Austen: Romance without Words
Jane Austen never directly reports a protagonist saying “yes” to a marriage proposal. For Valentine’s Day, I explore why.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Emma, love, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Valentine's Day Comments closed
Our Round of Austen-Like Visitations
Julia and I spent the last week in a series of visits such as one encounters in Jane Austen novels.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Emma, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, tea drinking Comments closed
Burns on December (and Austen on Burns)
In “Thou Gloomy December,” Burns mourns a sad parting. While I enjoy Burns, I also enjoy Austen’s satiric takedown of the poet in “Sanditon.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Thou Gloomy December", December, Robert Burns, Sanditon Comments closed
Austen’s Revolutionary Style
Austen may have innovated a way to blend satire with romance as a way to protect us from heartbreak.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Emma, Emma Bovary, free indirect style, Geoffrey Chaucer, Gustave Flaubert, Henry Fielding, Horace, ironic romance, Sense and Sensibility, Tom Jones Comments closed
History’s Arc Bends Towards Kafka
The late Kundera has fascinating insights into how the novel has intersected with history.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Art of the Novel, authoritarianism, Castle, Don Quixote, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, Honoré de Balzac, Madame Bovary, Miguel de Cervantes, Milan Kundera, sexuality, Slowness, Trial Comments closed
Libby Changes the Way We Read
Listening to Libby books on my cellphone has opened up a new dimension of engaging with novels.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged books on disk, David Lodge, John Galsworthy, Libby, Northanger Abbey, To Let, Trading Places Comments closed
Good Company, Rich Conversations
As we visit with old friends in Slovenia, I think of how Jane Austen’s Anne Elliot values “good company.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism, friends, Persuasion, Slovenia Comments closed
