I make a lot of noise about that damn Ted Hughes and that sillyass Sylvia Plath, and then in comments Aaron White coolly deflates me:
Tom, this is like the third or forth time I’ve noticed you expressing a desire to hit someone for the crime of annoying you. Just pointing it out…
Yeah, well … okay. Yeah, I do that. And there’ll be more to come. A guy’s got to do something and I don’t want any situations where I might get hurt. So there’ll be more imaginary violence.
In my defense I can point to a man far more clever than me who also wanted to smash. Mark Twain once said he could never properly criticize Jane Austen. Why not? Because he kept being distracted:
Everytime I read ‘Pride and Prejudice’ I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.
Yes. I’ve known so many smart people who love books and love Jane Austen, and so many decent writers who look up to her, and she is so dreadful, such a ninny-prinny, self-serving, shallow travesty of what a decent social observer should be. She has the greatest subject on earth, that of people talking to each other, and all she can do is remind herself over and over of how silly they are. That’s some sense of humor! Well, Jane Austen, you’re silly, okay?
Okay, those are fighting words. Jane Austen is about my favorite novelist ever. I’ve read Pride and Prejudice over and over and over, and every time I find something new to love. Northanger Abbey may be even better.
If you don’t think Austen has affection for her characters…well, I just have to disagree with you. She is acid too…but I’d think you’d surely appreciate that. And there’s a lot of sympathy and sadness in her work as well. Persuasion breaks my heart.
Mark Twain’s great too…though better in the short stretches, I think. He never wrote a novel as good as Austen’s best.
Just out of curiosity…is there any romance you like, Tom?
“…never wrote a novel as good as Austen’s best.” This is hardly damning criticism.
Actually, I should take that back about Mark Twain and novels; Puddin’head Wilson is an amazing book. Not better than Pride and Prejudice necessarily, but not worse either.
It’s funny that Puddinhead was an accident of sorts. It took two books Twain was working on and couldn’t get any further with and (without much effort at integration) smashed them together. It worked out great though…It’s a favorite of mine too.
I don’t know if I’d count that as an accident, just part of the working process. George Eliot did the same thing with Middlemarch.
So, anyway, the mystery resurfaces. I state the obvious — that Jane Austen is dreadful — and two more witnesses step forward to testify how much they like her. Maybe someday it’ll click and I’ll get what she’s about.
Noah, have I come out against any other romances? I’m kind of surprised I give that impression, since I liked the Spidey/Mary Jane series, at least what I read of it, and I’m sure I’ve enjoyed romcoms that have sent vulnerable feminist viewers into spasms. I love sitcom and a lot of that is boy-meets-girl. What else … Bechdel’s Dykes series, again a lot about finding love partners.
To tell the truth, it never occurred to me Austen wrote romances. Mentally, I refer to her category as social comedy. Not really familiar with lit categories, so that term may actually apply to some other sort of work. But anyway, no, it’s not the romance I object to in Austen’s works.
And I don’t deny that Austen might like some of her characters. That doesn’t matter to me. Mary McCarthy and Angus Wilson seem disgusted by a lot of their characters. Evelyn Waugh, the same thing. That’s all right. Those writers are funny and interesting and get at emotions and situations I care about. Jane Austen just puts a finger to her lips and goes tee-hee — as far as I can tell. For some reason, a long list of people seem convinced more is going on. But I could swear she was just a smug, shallow twit.
(Obvious answer: it’s funny when Mark Twain says it.)
anonymous,
but even funnier i imagine, when mark trail says it.
(Obvious answer: it’s funny when Mark Twain says it.)
Obvious answer to what? You’re not communicating.
No offense meant.
You better apologize, Aaron. You have ignited the Irrepressibly idiomatic ire of Tom “Two-Fisted” Crippen!
Yeah, what’s that, Aaron? I couldn’t hear you. Maybe you want to repeat that.
I said “So’s yer old man!”
Wait a second, I just realized Anonymous was insulting me. But I don’t have the guts to call him/her out.
At least I’ve got Aaron White to kick around. I’ll get back to you, Aaron.
Well, not necessarily insulting you so much as pointing out one of the obvious responses one could come up with. Also, I think we can agree that implying one is less funny than Mark Twain is hardly an insult.
Well, it might depend on context, I guess.
“Obvious answer”: to what? to my surprise that people like Jane Austen?
I guess your premise is that I expected to talk people into thinking Jane Austen was bad. No. For me the mystery is how people can stand her at all. I don’t expect my Internet post to factor into the business.
I really didn’t expect this to get so complicated.
When responding, it’s always good to be clear in your mind as to what you’re responding to. It takes a bit longer but saves you confusion.