In which I share a talk I will be giving on the thematic significance of card playing in Jane Austen’s novels.
Tag Archives: Jane Austen
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
Alas, Poor Twitter–I Knew Him, Ho-Ratio
Literary allusions have been flying, many with a sense of doom, since Elon Musk purchased Twitter.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Elon Musk, Hamlet, Henry VI Part 2, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Samuel Beckett, Sense and Sensibility, twitter, Waiting for Godot, William Shakespeare Comments closed
On Men and Novel Reading
Thoughts on the differences between women and men reading novels.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Melodrama, men reading, Northanger Abbey Comments closed
Austen on the Simple Country Life
In the strawberry picking scene in “Emma,” Austen wields her satiric pen to take apart social climber Mrs. Elton.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged class anxiety, Emma, Gustave Flaubert, indirect style, Madame Bovary Comments closed
