My first impression was that, in this mature work, Austen's sentences are denser and generally longer. The length of that first sentence! I'm very much enjoying Austen's long descriptions, her dense detail. These are weighty paragraphs.
I was surprised, then, how quickly Austen dispatched with the severed engagement. It's given a scant two pages at the beginning of Chapter 4, and the romance is mostly conveyed in a single sentence: "They were gradually acquainted, and when acquainted, rapidly and deeply in love." We've learned more about other characters' taste in clothing than we've learned about this relationship.
Then, upon their meeting again eight years later, there's simply this: "Her eye half met Captain Wentworth's, a bow, a curtsey passed; she heard his voice."
Will Austen change course and let us linger with Anne and Wentworth? Or is the relationship itself not as important as the recriminations?
I like having my expectations upended -- expecting a book to be one thing and being rewarded by all the other things it turns out to be. I'm just very surprised that in all these long sentences, Austen trips quickly across a central relationship. (At least in the first quarter of the novel!)
It's fascinating, isn't it! I feel the reticence about their relationship reflects how internal the whole book is - we're so often inside Anne's experience - so maybe she's intentionally brushing quickly over possibly painful memories . . .
I really like the weighty and dense sentences too Alan. In his accompanying video, Henry Elliot has an interesting take on what he describes as the “staccato like” sentences Austen uses for the Anne/Wentworth reunion. From my understanding these shorter, sharper sentences contrast with the longer more leisurely pace up to that point because of the intensity and breathlessness of the moment.
I agree the description of them falling in love was brief. But it was in the past, so I can see why she doesn't go on and on about it. Similarly her courtship by Charles Musgrove is dealt with in a sentence (though obviously less important but no contrast was drawn between the two suitors). I've just done a semi-critical reread of the 1970 novel Love Story (and posted about it) and was fascinated to see how few words are devoted to the main characters, Oliver and Jenny, falling in love. Oliver pretty much just tells us so and we believe it. I kind of admire the efficiency.
I read a really interesting idea about short sentences in another Substack today, suggesting that their effect can be like holding your breath. That seems to me to be what's going on with those tight, tiny sentences when Anne and Wentworth first share a space in the early part of this novel. It's as though Anne can hardly breathe, let alone utter her thoughts - an effect enhanced by Austen's use of the free indirect style.
This is a valuable insight -- particularly because I often feel I'm having the opposite reaction. Anne may be hardly breathing in those short sentences, but I feel like I'm holding my breath through the long sentences! (which I love)
Linda, I just read your terrific piece about Love Story! It's not only great that you gave thoughtful consideration to what was always intended to be a big popular novel but that you chose as your subject a novel that has ultimately been eclipsed by the film. The novels Love Story, The Godfather, Jaws, etc. were huge -- and then the movies came out. I wonder if those novels get read by anyone anymore. Thank you for taking the not-very-serious Love Story seriously -- you're going where other people don't go.
I last read 'Persuasion' in the 1970s, so I remember very little about it - although I don't think i enjoyed it (it was an O level or A level text, so not the best introduction).
I'm a little surprised how direct Austen is: "Mary was not so repulsive and unsisterly" - don't hold back, Jane, tell us what your really think.
The other thing I noticed was the amount of punctuation - she scatters exclamation marks like confetti. It made me think that she would have been an early adopter of emoji.
Like Henry, I'm fascinated by how we see the story from Anne's point of view, but we don't get a lot of direct speech from her. And we're definitely rooting for her.
Ha! Great point Bren - she is incredibly direct - although I think in that case ‘repulsive’ meant something more like ‘repulsing’ at the time. I completely agree about the punctuation marks!
“A lady without a family, was the very best preserver of furniture in the world.” 🤯🤯 I am re reading Persuasion thanks to this read along. Henry thank you for talking about the style in which Jane Austen writes because sometimes I would read something and wonder “but surely she can’t believe that?” Like the line I quoted above. Doubly poignant because she herself didn’t have what she calls “family” and there is this oblique reference ( or maybe I am reading too much into this) that these women are treated like furniture. Anne has accepted her invisibility in her family and in society like a mantle ( she is furniture at this point). So upsetting so stark. What a clever way of talking about the times Jane Austen inhabited.
I thought the "lady without family" comment was simply one more thing that Mr. Shepherd and all of them were seizing on to persuade Mr. Eliot to let the house already. Interesting nuance you picked up.
I think she understood this kind of woman’s place in the family and certainly in society at large, this may have been her experience. However, this is her last fully written novel, JA had already published four of her books, though anonymously, not anonymous to her family, and she seems to have been highly esteemed and protected by her family members.
Very much enjoying this, especially the sly humour - Charles, rather than spending time with his wife Mary, prefers to go out and shoot things. Two other things occur to me: there's not as much overt discussion of the financial implications of marriage as in other Austen novels - while it's important, there are no clear monetary values put on people. Marriage feels less of an economic transaction in Persuasion, and much more a means to social progression. The other thing, which you alluded to, is the relative absence of a moral centre. We are shown these awful characters, and therefore assume Anne is 'better' (whatever that means) and are sympathetic to her situation, but for all we know at the moment, Captain Wentworth might be just as awful. Jane Austen is asking us to take a lot on trust, I think - an act of persuasion by her?
I agree! Great points Andrew - we do take a lot on trust - especially as Austen takes her 'free indirect speech' technique to such a subtle level here that it's often hard to know whose perspective we're reading, even in the apparently objective third-person paragraphs.
re: de-emphasizing the $$$ of marriage, I remember reading that Persuasion is the only Austen novel where the reward for the heroine’s matrimonial triumph isn’t a house, and that made me stop and think. Anne marries Wentworth but she doesn’t get a house out of it, she will never be mistress of a great house, and there does seem to be something significant about that choice.
Something freeing, I think – the Crofts model a form of marriage that involves travel and adventure – something rare at the time, and attractive for Anne, I suspect!
So interesting! Austen bothers to tell us that married Anne gets a carriage — which fits with the idea of living a freer life than on an estate, and also mirrors the Crofts, as Henry says below, who buy a new gig when they move to Kellynch. They’re not living static lives like Sir Walter and Elizabeth.
Thank you for these observations, Andrew -- emphasizing that we need to read each Austen work on its own terms. I'll admit I have sometimes read them through the same lens -- "a Jane Austen novel," as if they're all part of one giant brilliant book. I'll take these insights with me as I keep reading.
I recently finished Pride and Prejudice and feel the same about the voice of the author having quite a different ring to it. I wasn't particularly taken in by the story either--I was as bored with it as Anne is with her family. It has picked up since the trip to the sea, and it's subtlety is growing on me.
Yes! Persuasion feels like a master craftsperson deconstructed Pride and Prejudice, painted darker shades onto many of the light colors, and rebuilt it. The all-important color of Persuasion is entirely different.
I love this analogy! It's worth remembering that Austen began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was 18 - and she began writing Persuasion when she was 39 – they come from very different times in her life.
This is my first reread of Persuasion in quite a while. I'm bringing a different set of experiences to it. Instead of seeing Walter Eliot as simply silly in those scenes where they all have to tiptoe around and manipulate him to do what needs to be done, I'm seeing a man, admittedly vain and self centred, but with incipient dementia who lacks the ability to understand facts and has lost social filters. I think in the past I read him as if he just had a terrible personality, but now that I've had to try to jolly along someone with dementia with a combination of reassurance and white lies, I can see it on the page. It would not be out of character for my 89 year old mother to insist she wouldn't rent her house, if she had one, to someone unattractive at this point. Only she'd say 'ugly' and insist it was their own fault. Exhausting.
Am new to this Substack. I found you, Henry very easy to watch live - and that isn’t always the case with others. Your enthusiasm is infectious and makes me want to rush out and buy this book. I will share this post with someone who writes beautifully, but only as a hobby. Good luck with your Substack 🫶🏻✨
I have never read any Austen prior to this. More accurately, I never read much. I tried Pride and Prejudice but for some reason never got past the first few pages.
I like this, though, and I find it very readable. It moved along in ways that P&P didn't. It's straightforward, unlike P&P where I had to dig deep to form any impression of the characters. Here, I had a grasp of some of the major players from the first chapter, and Anne herself drew me in. Or maybe it was Austen who drew me in since as others have discussed, we don't hear a lot from Anne's own point of view.
Admiral and Mrs. Croft are charming without having any kind of artificial charisma (they lack the rizz) and they put up with Sir Walter's ridiculousness with great skill. I feel like they will be my comfort characters, and I hope we see much more of them throughout the novel.
I have less fond feelings for Lady Russell, who I think prides herself on skills in judgment that she doesn't really possess, even though she's right in that Anne is the best of the Elliott sisters.
Thank you Henry for this dive into the ocean of Austen. As we all know the world is on fire and here in the US you can smell the smoke of a burning democracy. Reading Austen right now is a salve for the soul. I too think Mary is a hoot although there are times I want to slap her and shout “snap out of it”; she is her father’s daughter to be sure. “Too much of the Elliot pride”-she is never too unwell to scarf down a plate of cold meat however or go for a walk to the Great House to let everyone know just how unwell she truly is. Anne’s quiet strength and constancy of character highlighted in a novel entitled Persuasion might be a bit tongue in cheek.
The contrast between Mary and Anne is wonderful. And I love how Mary is so very unwell - and so up for any diversion - and food - at the same time. It cracks me up.
“Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character; vanity of person and of situation. “
“Anne, with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character, which must have placed her high with any people of real understanding, was nobody with either father or sister; her word had no weight, her convenience was always to give way--she was only Anne.” (Amanda Root plays “haggard” Anne to perfection in my favorite film adaptation of Persuasion - the 1995 BBC version)
What an introduction to one of the least attractive and then one of the most beautiful characters in Austen’s world .
Thanks Henry for selecting this work for a read along and for your video on the first chapters. I especially liked your description of how Austen describes Anne’s seeing Captain Wentworth for the first time in 7 years. What an electric moment.
Btw I have the Folio Society edition - such an amazing book deserves to be in a such a beautiful format.
Thank you for highlighting that great phrase "She was only Anne." What a slyly engaging way for a writer to introduce a main character. You know she's not going to be "only" something, and you're eager to find out what.
Exactly - she was “only Anne” from their superficial perspective which therefore (“slyly” as you put it so well) automatically and ironically elevates her in our eyes
Ahh the interiority of this book is one of its biggest draws for me! Also why it's hard to adapt probably. Thank you for hosting this readalong! Your enthusiasm just bleeds through the screen
I am a long-time Austen fan but haven’t read Persuasion recently (last in 2013 if my Goodreads account can be trusted). Poor Anne certainly seems like a fish out of water in her family. Small wonder her inner life is so well developed—she has no one else to relate to when the well-meaning, if sometimes misguided, Lady Russell isn’t around.
When I saw this I jumped at the chance to revisit this as I remember it being one I enjoyed greatly although it's been many years now since I read it and I really only remember one part of it. I feel everyone who has read it, remembers one part of it!
This is my second Jane Austen novel reading. Thank you Henry for adding this one to the list. I’m enjoying Austen’s prose and I can't wait to see how Anne will navigate the challenge of meeting her “ex”.
I haven’t read Persuasion before. I studied Northanger Abbey as a teenager many years ago and found it a struggle. I wanted to try Austen again, and your enthusiasm and introduction has set me off well. Thanks Henry. Looking forward to the next section now and wondering how it unfolds.
I caught a trailer for 'Miss Austen' on TV - I doubt I'll get round to watching it, but never mind - and it got me thinking. In the same way that Verdi seems particularly good on writing father / daughter relationships, and Sondheim is pretty strong on mother / child relationships, Austen absolutely excels when writing about sisters.
We have the Bennetts and the Dashwoods, and here we have Anne, Elizabeth and Mary. I think what's particularly good is that she shows how families - and, maybe, sisters especially - can both love one another and drive each other up the wall. She brilliantly centre stages those relationships.
For the avoidance of doubt: I'm not saying that she's limited to writing about sisters, just that she seems to write the better than many other authors. (And, yes, many other authors are male, so we may see a contributory factor right there.)
Not knowing the details of the plot, I skipped the Gillian Beer introduction but after you said how brilliant it is I went back today and read it. So glad that I did. Makes the reading so much richer. What an amazing analysis. The vocabulary/word choice Beer uses to nail her insights stopped me in my tracks: “The condensation into one word of such diverse impulses and outcomes allows the reader to meditate with full intelligence. The timbre of mind, rather than the autumnal scenery or mood, is what makes Persuasion remembered as a serious, even a profound, novel despite its comparative lightness of narrative texture.”
Finding insight/writing like that is why I savor literary criticism as much as fiction itself. Long live the incredible lightness of being.
My first impression was that, in this mature work, Austen's sentences are denser and generally longer. The length of that first sentence! I'm very much enjoying Austen's long descriptions, her dense detail. These are weighty paragraphs.
I was surprised, then, how quickly Austen dispatched with the severed engagement. It's given a scant two pages at the beginning of Chapter 4, and the romance is mostly conveyed in a single sentence: "They were gradually acquainted, and when acquainted, rapidly and deeply in love." We've learned more about other characters' taste in clothing than we've learned about this relationship.
Then, upon their meeting again eight years later, there's simply this: "Her eye half met Captain Wentworth's, a bow, a curtsey passed; she heard his voice."
Will Austen change course and let us linger with Anne and Wentworth? Or is the relationship itself not as important as the recriminations?
I like having my expectations upended -- expecting a book to be one thing and being rewarded by all the other things it turns out to be. I'm just very surprised that in all these long sentences, Austen trips quickly across a central relationship. (At least in the first quarter of the novel!)
It's fascinating, isn't it! I feel the reticence about their relationship reflects how internal the whole book is - we're so often inside Anne's experience - so maybe she's intentionally brushing quickly over possibly painful memories . . .
I really like the weighty and dense sentences too Alan. In his accompanying video, Henry Elliot has an interesting take on what he describes as the “staccato like” sentences Austen uses for the Anne/Wentworth reunion. From my understanding these shorter, sharper sentences contrast with the longer more leisurely pace up to that point because of the intensity and breathlessness of the moment.
I agree the description of them falling in love was brief. But it was in the past, so I can see why she doesn't go on and on about it. Similarly her courtship by Charles Musgrove is dealt with in a sentence (though obviously less important but no contrast was drawn between the two suitors). I've just done a semi-critical reread of the 1970 novel Love Story (and posted about it) and was fascinated to see how few words are devoted to the main characters, Oliver and Jenny, falling in love. Oliver pretty much just tells us so and we believe it. I kind of admire the efficiency.
I read a really interesting idea about short sentences in another Substack today, suggesting that their effect can be like holding your breath. That seems to me to be what's going on with those tight, tiny sentences when Anne and Wentworth first share a space in the early part of this novel. It's as though Anne can hardly breathe, let alone utter her thoughts - an effect enhanced by Austen's use of the free indirect style.
This is a valuable insight -- particularly because I often feel I'm having the opposite reaction. Anne may be hardly breathing in those short sentences, but I feel like I'm holding my breath through the long sentences! (which I love)
Great observation! That makes a lot of sense . . .
Linda, I just read your terrific piece about Love Story! It's not only great that you gave thoughtful consideration to what was always intended to be a big popular novel but that you chose as your subject a novel that has ultimately been eclipsed by the film. The novels Love Story, The Godfather, Jaws, etc. were huge -- and then the movies came out. I wonder if those novels get read by anyone anymore. Thank you for taking the not-very-serious Love Story seriously -- you're going where other people don't go.
I last read 'Persuasion' in the 1970s, so I remember very little about it - although I don't think i enjoyed it (it was an O level or A level text, so not the best introduction).
I'm a little surprised how direct Austen is: "Mary was not so repulsive and unsisterly" - don't hold back, Jane, tell us what your really think.
The other thing I noticed was the amount of punctuation - she scatters exclamation marks like confetti. It made me think that she would have been an early adopter of emoji.
Like Henry, I'm fascinated by how we see the story from Anne's point of view, but we don't get a lot of direct speech from her. And we're definitely rooting for her.
Ha! Great point Bren - she is incredibly direct - although I think in that case ‘repulsive’ meant something more like ‘repulsing’ at the time. I completely agree about the punctuation marks!
It's still difficult to try and frame it as a compliment...
True!
“A lady without a family, was the very best preserver of furniture in the world.” 🤯🤯 I am re reading Persuasion thanks to this read along. Henry thank you for talking about the style in which Jane Austen writes because sometimes I would read something and wonder “but surely she can’t believe that?” Like the line I quoted above. Doubly poignant because she herself didn’t have what she calls “family” and there is this oblique reference ( or maybe I am reading too much into this) that these women are treated like furniture. Anne has accepted her invisibility in her family and in society like a mantle ( she is furniture at this point). So upsetting so stark. What a clever way of talking about the times Jane Austen inhabited.
Fascinating interpretation! I like it!
I thought the "lady without family" comment was simply one more thing that Mr. Shepherd and all of them were seizing on to persuade Mr. Eliot to let the house already. Interesting nuance you picked up.
I think she understood this kind of woman’s place in the family and certainly in society at large, this may have been her experience. However, this is her last fully written novel, JA had already published four of her books, though anonymously, not anonymous to her family, and she seems to have been highly esteemed and protected by her family members.
Very much enjoying this, especially the sly humour - Charles, rather than spending time with his wife Mary, prefers to go out and shoot things. Two other things occur to me: there's not as much overt discussion of the financial implications of marriage as in other Austen novels - while it's important, there are no clear monetary values put on people. Marriage feels less of an economic transaction in Persuasion, and much more a means to social progression. The other thing, which you alluded to, is the relative absence of a moral centre. We are shown these awful characters, and therefore assume Anne is 'better' (whatever that means) and are sympathetic to her situation, but for all we know at the moment, Captain Wentworth might be just as awful. Jane Austen is asking us to take a lot on trust, I think - an act of persuasion by her?
I agree! Great points Andrew - we do take a lot on trust - especially as Austen takes her 'free indirect speech' technique to such a subtle level here that it's often hard to know whose perspective we're reading, even in the apparently objective third-person paragraphs.
re: de-emphasizing the $$$ of marriage, I remember reading that Persuasion is the only Austen novel where the reward for the heroine’s matrimonial triumph isn’t a house, and that made me stop and think. Anne marries Wentworth but she doesn’t get a house out of it, she will never be mistress of a great house, and there does seem to be something significant about that choice.
Something freeing, I think – the Crofts model a form of marriage that involves travel and adventure – something rare at the time, and attractive for Anne, I suspect!
So interesting! Austen bothers to tell us that married Anne gets a carriage — which fits with the idea of living a freer life than on an estate, and also mirrors the Crofts, as Henry says below, who buy a new gig when they move to Kellynch. They’re not living static lives like Sir Walter and Elizabeth.
Thank you for these observations, Andrew -- emphasizing that we need to read each Austen work on its own terms. I'll admit I have sometimes read them through the same lens -- "a Jane Austen novel," as if they're all part of one giant brilliant book. I'll take these insights with me as I keep reading.
Reading Pride and Prejudice at the same time is so interesting. It’s as if I am reading two distinct authors.
I recently finished Pride and Prejudice and feel the same about the voice of the author having quite a different ring to it. I wasn't particularly taken in by the story either--I was as bored with it as Anne is with her family. It has picked up since the trip to the sea, and it's subtlety is growing on me.
Yes! Persuasion feels like a master craftsperson deconstructed Pride and Prejudice, painted darker shades onto many of the light colors, and rebuilt it. The all-important color of Persuasion is entirely different.
I love this analogy! It's worth remembering that Austen began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was 18 - and she began writing Persuasion when she was 39 – they come from very different times in her life.
This is my first reread of Persuasion in quite a while. I'm bringing a different set of experiences to it. Instead of seeing Walter Eliot as simply silly in those scenes where they all have to tiptoe around and manipulate him to do what needs to be done, I'm seeing a man, admittedly vain and self centred, but with incipient dementia who lacks the ability to understand facts and has lost social filters. I think in the past I read him as if he just had a terrible personality, but now that I've had to try to jolly along someone with dementia with a combination of reassurance and white lies, I can see it on the page. It would not be out of character for my 89 year old mother to insist she wouldn't rent her house, if she had one, to someone unattractive at this point. Only she'd say 'ugly' and insist it was their own fault. Exhausting.
Interesting take on Walter Elliot I never gave him a chance to think of him like that - that’s how off putting he was to me 😂
Would never have though that but find it spot on after dealing with an family member with dementia.
Am new to this Substack. I found you, Henry very easy to watch live - and that isn’t always the case with others. Your enthusiasm is infectious and makes me want to rush out and buy this book. I will share this post with someone who writes beautifully, but only as a hobby. Good luck with your Substack 🫶🏻✨
Thank you Bea! I really appreciate it.
"I found you, Henry very easy to watch live" -- I love some good Substack flirting! (or am I reading too much Jane Austen?)
Ha!
I have never read any Austen prior to this. More accurately, I never read much. I tried Pride and Prejudice but for some reason never got past the first few pages.
I like this, though, and I find it very readable. It moved along in ways that P&P didn't. It's straightforward, unlike P&P where I had to dig deep to form any impression of the characters. Here, I had a grasp of some of the major players from the first chapter, and Anne herself drew me in. Or maybe it was Austen who drew me in since as others have discussed, we don't hear a lot from Anne's own point of view.
Admiral and Mrs. Croft are charming without having any kind of artificial charisma (they lack the rizz) and they put up with Sir Walter's ridiculousness with great skill. I feel like they will be my comfort characters, and I hope we see much more of them throughout the novel.
I have less fond feelings for Lady Russell, who I think prides herself on skills in judgment that she doesn't really possess, even though she's right in that Anne is the best of the Elliott sisters.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it Susan. And I absolutely agree about the Crofts – and Lady Russell!
Thank you Henry for this dive into the ocean of Austen. As we all know the world is on fire and here in the US you can smell the smoke of a burning democracy. Reading Austen right now is a salve for the soul. I too think Mary is a hoot although there are times I want to slap her and shout “snap out of it”; she is her father’s daughter to be sure. “Too much of the Elliot pride”-she is never too unwell to scarf down a plate of cold meat however or go for a walk to the Great House to let everyone know just how unwell she truly is. Anne’s quiet strength and constancy of character highlighted in a novel entitled Persuasion might be a bit tongue in cheek.
The contrast between Mary and Anne is wonderful. And I love how Mary is so very unwell - and so up for any diversion - and food - at the same time. It cracks me up.
She’s hilarious!
“Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character; vanity of person and of situation. “
“Anne, with an elegance of mind and sweetness of character, which must have placed her high with any people of real understanding, was nobody with either father or sister; her word had no weight, her convenience was always to give way--she was only Anne.” (Amanda Root plays “haggard” Anne to perfection in my favorite film adaptation of Persuasion - the 1995 BBC version)
What an introduction to one of the least attractive and then one of the most beautiful characters in Austen’s world .
Thanks Henry for selecting this work for a read along and for your video on the first chapters. I especially liked your description of how Austen describes Anne’s seeing Captain Wentworth for the first time in 7 years. What an electric moment.
Btw I have the Folio Society edition - such an amazing book deserves to be in a such a beautiful format.
Thank you for highlighting that great phrase "She was only Anne." What a slyly engaging way for a writer to introduce a main character. You know she's not going to be "only" something, and you're eager to find out what.
Exactly - she was “only Anne” from their superficial perspective which therefore (“slyly” as you put it so well) automatically and ironically elevates her in our eyes
Ahh the interiority of this book is one of its biggest draws for me! Also why it's hard to adapt probably. Thank you for hosting this readalong! Your enthusiasm just bleeds through the screen
Thanks so much Lesley – I really appreciate it!
I am a long-time Austen fan but haven’t read Persuasion recently (last in 2013 if my Goodreads account can be trusted). Poor Anne certainly seems like a fish out of water in her family. Small wonder her inner life is so well developed—she has no one else to relate to when the well-meaning, if sometimes misguided, Lady Russell isn’t around.
We do spend an enormous amount of time in Anne’s head!
When I saw this I jumped at the chance to revisit this as I remember it being one I enjoyed greatly although it's been many years now since I read it and I really only remember one part of it. I feel everyone who has read it, remembers one part of it!
Really loving the re-read so far!
This is my second Jane Austen novel reading. Thank you Henry for adding this one to the list. I’m enjoying Austen’s prose and I can't wait to see how Anne will navigate the challenge of meeting her “ex”.
I haven’t read Persuasion before. I studied Northanger Abbey as a teenager many years ago and found it a struggle. I wanted to try Austen again, and your enthusiasm and introduction has set me off well. Thanks Henry. Looking forward to the next section now and wondering how it unfolds.
Wonderful! I'm so glad you're enjoying it.
I caught a trailer for 'Miss Austen' on TV - I doubt I'll get round to watching it, but never mind - and it got me thinking. In the same way that Verdi seems particularly good on writing father / daughter relationships, and Sondheim is pretty strong on mother / child relationships, Austen absolutely excels when writing about sisters.
We have the Bennetts and the Dashwoods, and here we have Anne, Elizabeth and Mary. I think what's particularly good is that she shows how families - and, maybe, sisters especially - can both love one another and drive each other up the wall. She brilliantly centre stages those relationships.
For the avoidance of doubt: I'm not saying that she's limited to writing about sisters, just that she seems to write the better than many other authors. (And, yes, many other authors are male, so we may see a contributory factor right there.)
I agree absolutely. Jane and Lizzy’s relationship in Pride and Prejudice feels particularly close to Cassandra and Jane’s.
Not knowing the details of the plot, I skipped the Gillian Beer introduction but after you said how brilliant it is I went back today and read it. So glad that I did. Makes the reading so much richer. What an amazing analysis. The vocabulary/word choice Beer uses to nail her insights stopped me in my tracks: “The condensation into one word of such diverse impulses and outcomes allows the reader to meditate with full intelligence. The timbre of mind, rather than the autumnal scenery or mood, is what makes Persuasion remembered as a serious, even a profound, novel despite its comparative lightness of narrative texture.”
Finding insight/writing like that is why I savor literary criticism as much as fiction itself. Long live the incredible lightness of being.
I’m so glad you liked it too!