STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

sage · Dooney & Bourke

bluebirde, halleybird........

laken1 · Hermes

Agree, ditto - I'd love to have some questions in my mind as I am reading & to not have answers handy so I can think about it myself....also we need to decide how many chapters to read this week. I'm thinking 10 more? Tell me if you disagree, I can do more but I don't work so I don't want to overdo it for you ladies that have limited time...

sage · Dooney & Bourke

I could do 10 this week. Confession: I have already read ahead.

I am on vacation, and unlimited reading is one of the things I do. That and unlimited eating and drinking.

But, yes it would be great to have something constructive to think about.

blubirde · Chanel

10 chapters sounds great to me. I'll post some topics tomorrow to think of as we're reading along. Some common ones to keep in mind are:

1. The class/economic differences between all the characters. How does that come across socially?
* The Bing sisters are great characters to keep in mind for this. (As are the Lucas family and pretty much everyone actually.)

2. The concept of pride vs. prejudice. Which is which? Which character embodies which characteristic? Can you have one without the other? This topic always intrigues me in the book because it's the most obvious issue (hence the title) but one of the most difficult to understand and figure out. (So I admit this topic is a bit selfish for me because I'm also so interested in hearing what everyone thinks about it. I have this foolish notion that one day I'll be able to figure it out!

)

I'll read tomorrow and post some other thoughts.

But I think everyone should post thoughts on potential topics if it occurs to them, especially if you haven't read the book because new thoughts are sometimes the most intriguing.

Happy reading! (Gosh, Jane Austen would be so proud of us! And that, my friends, is a good thing.

)

halleybird · Hermes

Ahhh, I am sorry for being a slacker! blubirde made some awesome suggestions. I haven't read this book in years, but this is what I remember thinking about, and this is what the kids at my school discuss:

1. Where is Austen in this novel? Which character(s) do you think most mirror(s) her own thoughts & feelings? Is/are this/these character(s) male or female? Is that significant?

2. The original title for P&P was First Impressions. Do first impressions play a significant role in this book? Why or why not?

3. How does Austen use satire? Do you think her contemporaries understood her satirical references?

4. How do the women in the novel see marriage? What about the men? Do you think the characters see marriage as critical to happiness? How is that like and unlike people today?

Also, the most important tip I have ever learned in lit analysis is that nothing is random. Everything said & done points to some conclusion...you just have to find it. Have fun!

blubirde · Chanel

halleybird wrote:

3. How does Austen use satire? Do you think her contemporaries understood her satirical references?

What a wonderful topic! I read Voltaire's Candide in a class when I was reading P&P (for the umpteenth time) in another class and I couldn't help but notice some of the similarities. Of course Voltaire is extreme but the thing about him is that if you didn't know better... you might actually think he was buying into what he was saying, at least a little bit. You can just picture people reading Candide and nodding their heads, thinking they get what Voltaire was saying (as he was a male intellectual and all).

I wonder if it's the same for Austen? Did people read her books and nod along at the observations she draws thinking she's making them truthfully and acurately, without judgment? But then people back then read books differently than we do today. They didn't skim over things. The language used was almost as important as the story. So maybe they did know??

This is another topic I'm personally obsessed with - Austen's contemporaries and their opinion of her.

blubirde · Chanel

I also started noticing a lot of the word "vanity" thrown in last night while I was reading. Based on halleybird's discussion of vanity and pride in the book clubbers thread, I thought it might be interesting to discuss.

And don't call me nerdy, but I was also reading up on some of Jane Austen's letters to her sister Cassandra around the time she was writing First Impressions (P&P) and trying to find similarities between her real life and her book. (There are some!)

Okay, you can call me a nerd - I don't mind.

halleybird · Hermes

blubirde wrote:

halleybird wrote: 3. How does Austen use satire? Do you think her contemporaries understood her satirical references? What a wonderful topic! I read Voltaire's Candide in a class when I was reading P&P (for the umpteenth time) in another class and I couldn't help but notice some of the similarities. Of course Voltaire is extreme but the thing about him is that if you didn't know better... you might actually think he was buying into what he was saying, at least a little bit. You can just picture people reading Candide and nodding their heads, thinking they get what Voltaire was saying (as he was a male intellectual and all). I wonder if it's the same for Austen? Did people read her books and nod along at the observations she draws thinking she's making them truthfully and acurately, without judgment? But then people back then read books differently than we do today. They didn't skim over things. The language used was almost as important as the story. So maybe they did know?? This is another topic I'm personally obsessed with - Austen's contemporaries and their opinion of her.

How interesting! I always wonder that about the great writers of our time...maybe we think we "get" them, and yet we don't at all.

I also think about Shakespeare & how no one understood his subtleties either. And Chaucer, I think, had some great observations that went right over people's heads.