I must be the only person who loathes

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i highly doubt you are the only person.
personally i love austen but thats because im a sucker for all that old worlde swishy romance stuff with petticoats and laced up boots.
you are not alone in the loathing my dear.
im quite certain of it.
 
Oh... I'd put all the Victorian novelists on that lists:
Charles Dickens
Charolette Bronte
Emily Bronte
Thomas Hardy
Jane Austen
etc.
 
I love Jane Eyre but I'm not that fond of the rest of Charlotte Bronte's books. As for Jane Austen I love Pride and Prejudice and I like Emma and Persuasion, but I didn't like Mansfield Park at all - I didn't even finish it.
 
Is there some particular reason why you don't like them ... Some of the Victorian Gothic novels explore some interesting feminist themes?
 
The thing about Pride and Prejudice is... that when the women get bored, they take a walk.. around the room! I'd prefer to watch the movie to escape the gobbedygook that Austen throws around. Mm, Lawrence Olivier. And yes, all those Victorian novels are about getting married, then end of story. You know those five minute synopsis website zoomanda once gave us? I bet a Bronte novel would go something like this

JANE EYRE: I am ugly
ROCHESTER: I lust after you anyway
JANE EYRE: I can't marry you! It would go against my principles

JANE EYRE runs away.

ROCHESTER: Jane! Jane
JANE EYRE: Here I am! (aside) Reader, I married him.


or something like that.

Speaking of Jane Eyre, I found her so self-righteous, it became annoying...

That's just me, though. For what it's worth, I thought Bronte described food really well; she made my mouth water.

foray
 
foray said:
And yes, all those Victorian novels are about getting married, then end of story.

Well, it's not like women had a whole lot of career choices back then! Considering the time they were written in, the books by the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen were radical feminist works.
 
I know. Have you heard the feminist theory on Bertha Mason? It's funny and maybe a bit far-fetched but I won't get into that.

Austen and Bronte just don't appeal to me. As a side note, I have noticed a pattern in my reading preferences with regards to the authors' genders: For classics, all of my favourites were written by men. For contemporary works (poetry in particular), I find female poetry more intriguing. Odd :)

foray
 
foray said:
I know. Have you heard the feminist theory on Bertha Mason? It's funny and maybe a bit far-fetched but I won't get into that.

Are you referring to "The Madwoman in the Attic"? If so, I agree - it is a bit far-fetched.
 
I'm reading George Eliot right now...a near contemporary, but nothing lightweight about it. Very rich and meaty with socio-political references and erudite allusions.

By the way...I agree about the petticoats and lace-up boots.

Besides, there's nothing sexier than encouraging a guy to wonder what might lie undiscovered beneath all that crinoline.

:kiss:
 
Okay, 'Pride and Prejudice' is one of my favourite EVER books. Although I can see why some people might not like them.

But hey, I'm sure all British people will understand me when I say that picturing Colin Firth as Darcy made me enjoy the book a whole lot more... Heh heh heh. *drools* Wet shirt scene, wet shirt scene...

Anyone who *has* seen the BBC adaptation of P+P, does Bingley, or does Bingley not bear a striking resemblance to a squirrel on Speed?

Also, 'Sense and Sensibility' is a really good book. I absolutely fell in love with the Colonel.

One thing as well; At the time, Jane Austen's books would have been considered radically feminist. I know people have already pointed this out, but I just had to drive home the point that when Jane Austen wrote P+P, she was not just writing a slushy romance, she was writing an ironic social commentary (eg. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.")

But, although I adore her books, I can quite understand how some people could find them boring. The whole "Falls in love, guy goes away, guy comes back, marriage" thing does get a little tedious after a couple of books' worth of it.
 
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