I'm a 45-year old male Texan who just today completed my first reading of Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility. It would an understatement to say I am hooked. Austen made me laugh, she sent me back to revisit long conversations, and she easily remained on the forefront of my mind between readings. Few writers, either classic or modern, can achieve as much for a reader. Thanks for your work here on the channel. I'm a long-time viewer but first time commenter, and I appreciate the appetite you excite in others for art that truly nourishes. Thanks again.
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice bored me when I read it first, and I found it too slow-paced, but when I read it again, I was mesmerised by her language and style. I loved reading Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. I personally feel like her characters seem to exist beyond her control, beyond her observations, as organic, real-life people who reflect the lives of people around us, across the barriers of times and space. She doesn't lead the characters, but observes them along with the readers and demands them to form opinions and interpretations about these characters and by extension, the society around the readers. Thank you for the great video!
Wow, what a beautiful comment. Thank you so much, Ree. I would be so curious to hear what you think of Persuasion, especially as you've read almost every one of her other works. Persuasion absolutely broke my heart - especially towards the end, in the last 50 pages. I really love what you put here about Austen's characters being "beyond her control" and "organic". I completely agree - she is one of the few writers (along with Tolstoy and Shakespeare) who write like nature, with even minor characters having definitive voices :)
I first read Jane Austen in my early teens, and was blown away by the brilliance of her characterisation - it felt like the characters were alive! I think she's the best psychologist of all the great novelists. Then a year or two later it was announced in my class that we would be reading Pride and Prejudice, and the class erupted in outrage that Austen should be foisted on us, which seemed very bizarre to me, as I'd already read it and thought it was fantastic, but virtually all the other children had been conditioned to hate Austen without even having read a word of her! I'm male, and didn't consider Pride and Prejudice to be a "girly" book - Austen is above such categorisation.
I'm a guy, and it took me quite a long time to get into austen. I am a big fan of the Brontës, and Daphne du Maurier, Anna K. But slowing down to appreciate all the complexities of Austen's novels has really paid off and I now hold her books in a very high regard.
I'm exactly the same. I *almost* chose Wuthering Heights instead of Persuasion. What a riveting story that is! We'll still do it, but I really wanted to share something that is not my natural choice. I've also long loved Daphne du Maurier. Oh, 'The Birds' and 'Rebecca' are just tremendous. Glad to hear you managed to unlock Austen, Pierce! That's a rewarding accomplishment :)
I'm not fond. Pride and prejudice was just so annoying. Any one you recommend? Also I love anna k and all the brontes for their depth but can't get into Austen because her characters seem to lack emotion (at least in the one I read). I'm also super frustrated by frivolous gossiping people in my own life so the idea of sitting down to reas about it feels like torture. Lol rant over.
I'd recommend Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, My cousin Rachel, or Jamaica Inn, if you haven't read those already. Wide sargasso sea by Jean Rhys. More modern but still great 'Trumpet' by Jackie Kay.
I have read all of Jane Austen’s books - Persuasion is my favorite followed by Pride and Prejudice. I have read both of them a few times and plan to read them again. It’s like visiting old friends that you miss.
That's the perfect way of describing the novels of Jane Austen - visiting old friends that you miss! I pick up Pride and Prejudice frequently, and I'm right at home again :)
The first Austen I read was Persuasion and it was very enjoyable. As a 25 year old guy her books are relatable. The women in her books are very much still around today 🤣
I loved this video! As a 16-year-old with just the right amount of stupidity and blissful ignorance still within me, I find it very freeing to be able to enjoy almost all aspects of English literature. As someone who grew up with Dutch as her mother tongue, I always devoured any and everything thrown my way in English, because the fluency and musicality of the language, in whatever form, spoke to me like Dutch never did. This does leave me with an odd taste in books, with my favourite authors ranging from Irvine Welsh, Brett Easton Ellis and Hemingway to Atwood, Austen, Shelly, Wilde,...I'm sure my older self will find ways to bring down these 'masculine' novels and extract some joy from them for they might be somewhat of a representation of the things I hope to rid the world of somehow, but I honestly love books because there are no rules and one can enjoy any novel, take what they get from it and leave what they find unnecessary. I'm secretly quite happy that I'm still at an age where I'm able to love A Farewell To Arms and Skagboys as much as The Picture of Dorian Grey and even books like The Secret History. I completely agree with everything you said in this video, and your channel is certainly one of my go-to's lately :D
I'm a guy and I love Austen. What bothers me the most about her novels is how underappreciated Mansfield Park is. I think most people read it after her more popular books and are disappointed because it's so different. They don't like Fanny, but I think she is one of Austen's best characters. Mansfield is one of her latter novels and I think it is her most mature novel and addresses some more mature themes.
My experience with Austen has been just Pride and Prejudice (read it quite a bit in school, at university, and later for fun), now I'm tackling Sense and Sensibility. I'm trying to see it as a small window into the private lives of these ladies, a spilling of the tea!
I loved the idea of the two different readers! It spoke to one of my most formative experiences, in reading and life. From a child, I was always a voracious reader. I would read anything I could find, hoping for a story. I loved getting to know all these new people and finding out “what happened” to them. I was obsessed with characters and gobbled up plots. But whether it was storytelling at its finest or its most formulaic, for me these were pretty much variations on gossipy tea-cupping, indeed! Then at about 15 or 16 years old, I started to read Pride and Prejudice. I was only on about page 4 in a book that happily seemed to jump right in to both character and plot, when, after a couple of minute pauses with bare hints of attendant puzzlement, I finally recognized what I was reading. I felt my brow briefly crease one last time. Then my eyes widened as, very suddenly and dramatically, my understanding of what language can do expanded about three- or fourfold. I recall it as a physical feeling, blooming in my mind and chest, as I perceived-first with disbelief and then increasingly with sheer delight-another meaning under the meaning of the words. And so a new world unfolded, introducing me to what turned out to be a part of myself I’d not yet known. What a glorious introduction to ironic humour! What a glorious loss of “innocence”! As for the characters: even at 15, I personally knew a real-life version of every single one in the novel. I saw them in my high school, in my family, in my neighbourhood, in myself. Ouch! How laid open we were by the delicate but unerring verbal scalpel of Austen’s irony! But at a time of life when expanding awareness of human fallibility often disillusions and makes cynics of teens, Austen taught me to aspire instead to both clear eyes and compassion; to be uncompromising in discernment but gentle in judgment of others-and (therefore) of myself too. Now, at 60, I think that may have been one of the greatest gifts…
Thanks for this terrific video Benjamin. I love Austen and marvel at the way she was able to subtly poke fun and/or make comment upon the social moires of her day. A really smart cookie.
Thank you, Sharon! She certainly was a really smart cookie :) I'm currently rereading Emma, having come to the end of my third reread of P&P this year, and Austen's social commentaries and ironies, and the way she simply gets people, is making me very happy :)
I'm a guy and I decided I loved Jane Austen's work even after just a quarter way into Northanger Abbey (the first one of her books that I've read). Her portrayal of characters and social observations are amazing.
Wonderful analysis. I first read Persuasion and I love Anne. I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and I am simply blown away by her genius. She is one of the best authors- be it male or female. I love her characterization and plot which are so tightly woven and also the clarity in her writing. Can't wait to read Emma, I have an inkling that I would love it too.
Your videos are so helpful! I’ve been so threatened by classics that I strayed away from reading much but your tips make me excited to appreciate them and their authors. 9:12 this part especially made me so excited to try lol I’ve had pride and prejudice on my shelf for forever but I think I’ll finally read it after I’m done with my current book, thanks for the motivation :) pls keep making content !
Thank you, Gianna :) I really appreciate that! I think many can relate to feeling threatened by the classics, and I personally strayed away for many years. But befriending them again was thoroughly rewarding. Putting oneself in the position of the first reader is such a great way to connect with these books. Let me know what you think of Pride and Prejudice!
Being a straight male, I myself was practically nauseated when I began reading Pride and Prejudice. But when i started reading it again a few days ago with an open mind, I couldn't believe how enjoyable, relatable, insightful, funny, quickly paced, and, perhaps most amazingly, modern the book is. I totally get the hype now. I'm halfway through now, lets see where this takes me.
My wife and I are reading Pride and Prejudice together and are both first time Austen readers. I’m also reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and find the differences in craft between the two writers fascinating. What an immensely important century for the development of the novel form. I’d love to see you do a video like this for Hardy someday, if he’s ever on the book club schedule.
I just finished Persuasion and enjoyed it. You are correct in that, as a woman, I love Jane Austen, and don't care for Hemingway. American Psycho, the book and movie, were unsettling. I recently watched Persuasion on Netflix and was greatly disappointed in it. The critics were brutal in their analysis and I agree. Seems Netflix has let politics interfere with the quality of their productions.
I must say that I couldn't persevere with the latest Netflix adaptation of Persuasion either. The only one I've been pleased with is the 1971 BBC miniseries, which I like to revisit regularly :)
Jane Austen was indeed a brilliant and wise author, who, if read at the right age, can help to understand a lot of important things. She is well known, but I think she is still extremely underrated. But Solzhenitsyn, I think, is a bad example (10:39). If one wants to understand the soviet war generation, then Alexander Fadeyev and Mikhail Sholokhov are the best. If one wants to read about Stalin's repressions, then there is Varlam Shalamov (books full of suffering, resentment, anger and nothing else) or Yury Dombrovsky (a bit lighter because there is at least hope). I don't understand why some well-read westerners like to mention Solzhenitsyn. Maybe he had really good translation into English. But in Russian he is clumsy and pretentious, clearly tryes to be new Dostoyevski, but lacks his skill and honesty.
Lovely, perceptive, insightful comment as always, my friend. Well known and yet still extremely underrated - yes, absolutely agree. Like Shakespeare, funnily enough. Thank you for recommending some alternative's to Solzhenitsyn. Anyone interested in soviet war history should take note and follow this rabbit hole! I also thought Solzhenitsyn was almost a poor man's Dostoyevsky - and I believe he was influenced by him. As for why he's more read in the West than Russia, I think I have a few ideas.. Perhaps, in addition to his Nobel win and the fact that he was exiled from Russia, his popularity in the West is likely due to Jordan Peterson. He spoke of Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky, and Nietzsche A LOT. And people bought these books and gobbled them up. Maybe he speaks to a need or concern in Western countries? Having spoken to a translator of Chinese the other day, he said that Orwell's Animal Farm is popular across China. How you feel about Solzhenitsyn is quite close to how I feel about Orwell. I don't believe Orwell is Great Literature, unfortunately, but he said some things that were worth taking notice of. Thanks for the thought-provoking comment :)
Hi…superb video…thank you for the nice words on Austen..she deserves all of it…I finished reading Emma just yesterday…and I feel I loved and connected with Emma more than the two other Austen heroines I have read about -Miss Bennet & Miss Morland…I think one need not be a first reader to identify with her characters…Loved Mr Knightley’s decision to stay at Emma’s residence after marriage ☺️…her characters may appear frivolous but are really strong ones…living life with zest n making most of it…Austen’s understanding of people and their minds is exceptional…And to portray it with such wit n irony in that language is extraordinary…I think I have renewed my interest in Austen after Emma…🤗
For me a great novel is an experience. Putting oneself into the time period of the 'first reader' is key to appreciating older literature. I loved your comments about the limited experience of that hypothetical reader, and how a journey described in a novel would put them in thrall. I found a (kindle) collection of novels by Ann Radcliffe and others of the genre referred to in Northanger Abbey. I can't recall which novel offhand (probably Mysteries of Udolpho), but the description of travel was so lush and detailed I could feel the crisp air of the mountains. I'm also fascinated by descriptions of actual places that no longer exist. I have done a deep dive into the novels of the Brontes, and was stunned by the accuracy with which alcoholism is described in Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Wuthering Heights is a novel I read over and over again; I am under no illusion, however, that it is a romantic love story. I have not read all of Austen, but have seen the dramatizations; Persuasion is my favorite to read. I'd be curious to know what you think of the original novel version of Dangerous Liaisons, and Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther.
Though new to literature, i find your videos very informative, interesting and beautiful as well as the comments. Thanks a lot for such useful and nice videos. I hope i find more about short stories among your podcasts.
I think if you read the wrong Austen for them it colors your opinion of her. An old friend tried to get into Austen, but being a man prone to depression, Pride and Prejudice was completely the wrong foot to start off with. I recommended Persuasion and it worked so much better. I think people have to be guided to the correct Austen for them as their first experience.
The first Austen i read was Pride and prejudice and I do think i read it essentially for the dialogues, character of darcy and the tea cup drama😂 But it was never my fav. I always liked Emma a lot more- there is just so much more to it, the humour and the comedy- emma herself. Persuasion itself is my second favourite. Though i think I wd like to read them again...looking out for other things. Though some of her characters are without doubt really well written❤
Emma is my favourite Jane Austen novel. What I like about Emma is that she makes mistakes but as the story goes on she grows as a character and becomes more mature as she falls in love with Mr Knightley. Mr Woodhouse makes me laugh with all his fussing over wedding cake and illnesses. I've met people who remind me of Miss Bates with their non stop chattering! I enjoy Jane's wit and style of writing.
I used to get very bored by Austen. It wasn't until after I started reading Dostoevsky that I suddenly understood Austen. Both authors dissect human nature into individual characters, and that is where the fine line between Dostoevsky's psychological analysis and Austen's satire and irony come in. I've really enjoyed her works ever since. I started to see what Jane the woman was trying to say through her characters, rather than just another love story. There are so many books that in the past I've thought, as a story, I just don't like it. But as a work of art, when you take into account the author and their purpose, they just come to life with meaning! An example would be Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground. If I just wanted a nice story, I would not read that. But to read it as a work of art, understanding the author and their purpose, it's beautiful!
That's really interesting that Dostoyevsky unlocked Austen for you. Funnily enough, dark and nihilistic though Dostoyevsky is, there is no Fyodor without Jane. Absolutely - the "love story" is the surface, and so much lies beneath. I was struck recently by one of Austen's letters around the time she was writing Persuasion. She writes: "Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor - which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony." THAT'S the Jane we love simmering below the surface of her stories (often not simmering at all, but outright screaming it). You're so right as well in regards to the work of art approach. I don't know anyone who reads Dostoyevsky for a nice story - but there's no doubt that he gives us something. Thank you for such an insightful comment :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I love that. I love that there would be no Fyodor without Jane. That really solidifies her for me. I feel a bit sheepish that for decades Austen was just a "fluffy romance novelist" to me. I love that Tolstoy and Dostoevsky would have read Austen, and learned from her. She truly was a pioneer in great literature.
@@NechaMD Absolutely! And, although some might argue she's reading Trollope, I'm almost completely convinced that the book Anna is reading on the train in AK is an Austen volume :)
Wise counsel, Ben. In the vernacular "bang on!" I was cheering. Austen is Shakespearean and must be slowed down for. She is ironical and satirical and she rewards. The over-the-top merchandise and fan club side lets her down. Thank you for your honesty and integrity. Merchandise and tourism have a place, within bounds those are good however, beyond that,...alas, no.💐
Thank you for the great channel! _____ 'Sense and sensibility' I've been reading it lately. I've been drawn to the title for a long time. And also "Pride and prejudice" is a favorite. Fresh and modern sounding. These wonderful relationships, love - between the two sisters, their mother, their father, and between their father and mother. Later, another outstanding person appears and marries the little sister. Tender, sensitive, emotional, exceptional, as well as the love between them. Despite the mistakes - nobody is perfect. But the pains of love almost destroy the little sister and cause suffering, at times greater than anything else, for the older one. _ Eleanor has a hard time sharing because she feels compassionate for her beloved to the extreme; lest she should harm him with something. How wonderful love also could be between the little sister and Willoughby, if he if he hadn't failed it. And many other good things in this book.
Thank you for this. I am thrilled that you broached the subject of "boy" authors (eg. Hemingway) and "girl" authors (eg. Austen). This has set me thinking about the veracity of the claim that certain authors appeal to either a masculine or a feminine sensibility. Have you explored this topic in any of your videos? I'm a new subscriber to your channel and find all the videos I've watched so far to be excellent.
Thank you, Andrew :) I'm not sure I've explored this too much, actually. Might be a fun one to do :) I did a podcast on Nietzsche and the differences between men and women, but aside from that don't believe I've really focused on it. And thank you for watching!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thanks and I will definitely check out your podcasts. I see you're a jazz fan too with Dave Brubeck and Jelly Roll Morton (?) on your shelf. Cheers!
Austen’s use of irony is so incredible but I do think the enjoyment of teacup drama is inextricably related to it, so I don’t see these two reasons to enjoy Austen as all that different ultimately. One enjoys the ironic treatment of the characters and their little disputes.
One good entry point into reading Austen is watching some of the movie or video adaptations. Then go read, and as far as I am concerned, Just read! don't try to analize. Worked for me! and, btw, it's TurGHeniev, not TurJeniev!
My first Jane Austen book was Pride and Prejudice. It was rather boring when I first started reading but when it started getting very interesting. I read Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park. Honestly, I didn’t like Mansfield Park as I couldn’t really get anything. Like I understood everything but just couldn’t really get it. Emma is entertaining but I must admit I like it for it’s drama. Maybe a bit of both for Pride and Prejudice. When you said that you should try to find a way to remember the names in Anna Karenina, I did that for the Austen books. As they go both by surnames and first names, it’s rather hard to read. Also because that they might have same names. Which is frustrating. In Pride and Prejudice, I struggled but now it’s much better. When you said Austen was not a “female, girl writer”, I really agree as the Austen books not really a feminist book compared to Jane Eyre or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Wow. Thank you for sharing :) I've found looking up family trees for the characters can be quite helpful. I like to look at pictures/illustrations for each character too. Absolutely - it's great that Austen can be read through a feminist lens (and makes sense), but, to me, she's always eminently a humanist through and through.
I really struggle with Austen. I try to remember that I probably just don't understand her writing style. I have all of her books but was a little disappointed with pride and prejudice. I just felt like I couldn't relate to any of the characters, except maybe Darcy at the end. I really should give her a shot. Thank you for sharing.
That makes sense - I struggled too. But you might find you like her more at another time in your life. I hated P&P, but now I have the book on my bedside and it makes me smile :) I also relate to Darcy 😂
@@BenjaminMcEvoy thank you for this video. I'm going to try her out again sometime soon. She's easy to read so I may make it a weekend project and keep some of your thoughts in mind.
Could anybody explain to me what Darcy meant when he said "We neither of us perform to strangers"? I have my interpretations, but would like to confront them with others.
Shakespeare and Austen are my favorite writers and I consider them teh two most brilliant English writers and very sympatico. I have taught both for 20 years and find even my male athletes enjoying Pride And Prejudice. I completely agree there are two types of Austen readers, and I have no hesitance in labeling the "right type" and the "wrong type." The wrong type loves melodrama and romance. The right type delve deeply and laugh throughout. If you're not laughing, you don't get it.
So there’s loads of irony in the Netflix Persuasion film every time that Anne would look up at the camera she was like saying see what I mean about my father and Elizabeth and Mary. I totally got the irony in the Persuasion film. I tried reading the book but it was too slow, confusing and hard to understand also she didn’t know how to write because her sentences were like paragraph long for just one sentence. It felt like there was so much extra information in the book and I didn’t know what was the main point of the story.
I am reading Emma currently. I find the sentences unnecessarily long and confusing. At one point a character is described as “more unreserved”. Why not just say “less reserved”? In addition, there are too many pronouns used and not enough proper names. It can be confusing knowing who “she” or “himself” is referring to sometimes. There are also two characters named Mr. Knightley and often I am unsure which one the novel is referring to. Why not use the character’s first names more? You could say the point is a critique of how people in her day spoke in an overly complex and roundabout way. The Remains of the Day has a first person narrator who talks sometimes in a roundabout way. Yet, Emma's issues with confusing sentences occur even with the third person narrator.
I'm a woman who hates Austen. Ok, that's a bit harsh and I know I'm gonna try again some day, but... You know, I really tried to enjoy Pride and Prejudice, but just couldn't stand not the writing itself, but mainly the society and women's roll in society as it was portrayed in that book. It was honestly unbearable to me, embodying everything I hate about the so called femininity. I couldn't ignore it and if I'm going to try reading Austen again it will take me a while to start again with a fresh look.
Just reading Austen and its because of you i had zero interest of Jane Austen just gonna state the obvious because im a guy 😅 i dont connect with these type of books reading dickens since before preteen age
I'm a 45-year old male Texan who just today completed my first reading of Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility. It would an understatement to say I am hooked. Austen made me laugh, she sent me back to revisit long conversations, and she easily remained on the forefront of my mind between readings. Few writers, either classic or modern, can achieve as much for a reader. Thanks for your work here on the channel. I'm a long-time viewer but first time commenter, and I appreciate the appetite you excite in others for art that truly nourishes. Thanks again.
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice bored me when I read it first, and I found it too slow-paced, but when I read it again, I was mesmerised by her language and style. I loved reading Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. I personally feel like her characters seem to exist beyond her control, beyond her observations, as organic, real-life people who reflect the lives of people around us, across the barriers of times and space. She doesn't lead the characters, but observes them along with the readers and demands them to form opinions and interpretations about these characters and by extension, the society around the readers. Thank you for the great video!
Wow, what a beautiful comment. Thank you so much, Ree. I would be so curious to hear what you think of Persuasion, especially as you've read almost every one of her other works. Persuasion absolutely broke my heart - especially towards the end, in the last 50 pages. I really love what you put here about Austen's characters being "beyond her control" and "organic". I completely agree - she is one of the few writers (along with Tolstoy and Shakespeare) who write like nature, with even minor characters having definitive voices :)
Well-said!
I first read Jane Austen in my early teens, and was blown away by the brilliance of her characterisation - it felt like the characters were alive! I think she's the best psychologist of all the great novelists. Then a year or two later it was announced in my class that we would be reading Pride and Prejudice, and the class erupted in outrage that Austen should be foisted on us, which seemed very bizarre to me, as I'd already read it and thought it was fantastic, but virtually all the other children had been conditioned to hate Austen without even having read a word of her! I'm male, and didn't consider Pride and Prejudice to be a "girly" book - Austen is above such categorisation.
Great comment
I'm a guy, and it took me quite a long time to get into austen. I am a big fan of the Brontës, and Daphne du Maurier, Anna K. But slowing down to appreciate all the complexities of Austen's novels has really paid off and I now hold her books in a very high regard.
I'm exactly the same. I *almost* chose Wuthering Heights instead of Persuasion. What a riveting story that is! We'll still do it, but I really wanted to share something that is not my natural choice. I've also long loved Daphne du Maurier. Oh, 'The Birds' and 'Rebecca' are just tremendous. Glad to hear you managed to unlock Austen, Pierce! That's a rewarding accomplishment :)
I'm not fond. Pride and prejudice was just so annoying. Any one you recommend?
Also I love anna k and all the brontes for their depth but can't get into Austen because her characters seem to lack emotion (at least in the one I read). I'm also super frustrated by frivolous gossiping people in my own life so the idea of sitting down to reas about it feels like torture. Lol rant over.
I'd recommend Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, My cousin Rachel, or Jamaica Inn, if you haven't read those already. Wide sargasso sea by Jean Rhys. More modern but still great 'Trumpet' by Jackie Kay.
My first impression of Jane Austen is that she was HILARIOUS. I laughed and cried through all her novels.
I have read all of Jane Austen’s books - Persuasion is my favorite followed by Pride and Prejudice. I have read both of them a few times and plan to read them again. It’s like visiting old friends that you miss.
That's the perfect way of describing the novels of Jane Austen - visiting old friends that you miss! I pick up Pride and Prejudice frequently, and I'm right at home again :)
The first Austen I read was Persuasion and it was very enjoyable. As a 25 year old guy her books are relatable. The women in her books are very much still around today 🤣
Oh, absolutely - I know a few Mrs Bennets personally, for example... :)
I loved this video! As a 16-year-old with just the right amount of stupidity and blissful ignorance still within me, I find it very freeing to be able to enjoy almost all aspects of English literature. As someone who grew up with Dutch as her mother tongue, I always devoured any and everything thrown my way in English, because the fluency and musicality of the language, in whatever form, spoke to me like Dutch never did. This does leave me with an odd taste in books, with my favourite authors ranging from Irvine Welsh, Brett Easton Ellis and Hemingway to Atwood, Austen, Shelly, Wilde,...I'm sure my older self will find ways to bring down these 'masculine' novels and extract some joy from them for they might be somewhat of a representation of the things I hope to rid the world of somehow, but I honestly love books because there are no rules and one can enjoy any novel, take what they get from it and leave what they find unnecessary. I'm secretly quite happy that I'm still at an age where I'm able to love A Farewell To Arms and Skagboys as much as The Picture of Dorian Grey and even books like The Secret History. I completely agree with everything you said in this video, and your channel is certainly one of my go-to's lately :D
I'm a guy and I love Austen. What bothers me the most about her novels is how underappreciated Mansfield Park is. I think most people read it after her more popular books and are disappointed because it's so different. They don't like Fanny, but I think she is one of Austen's best characters. Mansfield is one of her latter novels and I think it is her most mature novel and addresses some more mature themes.
My experience with Austen has been just Pride and Prejudice (read it quite a bit in school, at university, and later for fun), now I'm tackling Sense and Sensibility. I'm trying to see it as a small window into the private lives of these ladies, a spilling of the tea!
I loved the idea of the two different readers! It spoke to one of my most formative experiences, in reading and life. From a child, I was always a voracious reader. I would read anything I could find, hoping for a story. I loved getting to know all these new people and finding out “what happened” to them. I was obsessed with characters and gobbled up plots. But whether it was storytelling at its finest or its most formulaic, for me these were pretty much variations on gossipy tea-cupping, indeed!
Then at about 15 or 16 years old, I started to read Pride and Prejudice. I was only on about page 4 in a book that happily seemed to jump right in to both character and plot, when, after a couple of minute pauses with bare hints of attendant puzzlement, I finally recognized what I was reading. I felt my brow briefly crease one last time. Then my eyes widened as, very suddenly and dramatically, my understanding of what language can do expanded about three- or fourfold. I recall it as a physical feeling, blooming in my mind and chest, as I perceived-first with disbelief and then increasingly with sheer delight-another meaning under the meaning of the words. And so a new world unfolded, introducing me to what turned out to be a part of myself I’d not yet known. What a glorious introduction to ironic humour! What a glorious loss of “innocence”!
As for the characters: even at 15, I personally knew a real-life version of every single one in the novel. I saw them in my high school, in my family, in my neighbourhood, in myself. Ouch! How laid open we were by the delicate but unerring verbal scalpel of Austen’s irony! But at a time of life when expanding awareness of human fallibility often disillusions and makes cynics of teens, Austen taught me to aspire instead to both clear eyes and compassion; to be uncompromising in discernment but gentle in judgment of others-and (therefore) of myself too. Now, at 60, I think that may have been one of the greatest gifts…
Thanks for this terrific video Benjamin. I love Austen and marvel at the way she was able to subtly poke fun and/or make comment upon the social moires of her day. A really smart cookie.
Thank you, Sharon! She certainly was a really smart cookie :) I'm currently rereading Emma, having come to the end of my third reread of P&P this year, and Austen's social commentaries and ironies, and the way she simply gets people, is making me very happy :)
I'm a guy and I decided I loved Jane Austen's work even after just a quarter way into Northanger Abbey (the first one of her books that I've read). Her portrayal of characters and social observations are amazing.
Northanger Abbey is superb :)
Wonderful analysis. I first read Persuasion and I love Anne. I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and I am simply blown away by her genius. She is one of the best authors- be it male or female. I love her characterization and plot which are so tightly woven and also the clarity in her writing. Can't wait to read Emma, I have an inkling that I would love it too.
Your videos are so helpful! I’ve been so threatened by classics that I strayed away from reading much but your tips make me excited to appreciate them and their authors. 9:12 this part especially made me so excited to try lol I’ve had pride and prejudice on my shelf for forever but I think I’ll finally read it after I’m done with my current book, thanks for the motivation :) pls keep making content !
Thank you, Gianna :) I really appreciate that! I think many can relate to feeling threatened by the classics, and I personally strayed away for many years. But befriending them again was thoroughly rewarding. Putting oneself in the position of the first reader is such a great way to connect with these books. Let me know what you think of Pride and Prejudice!
Austen didn't publish under a male pseudonym. It was anonymous, but it stated "By a Lady". Loving the discussion here!
Being a straight male, I myself was practically nauseated when I began reading Pride and Prejudice. But when i started reading it again a few days ago with an open mind, I couldn't believe how enjoyable, relatable, insightful, funny, quickly paced, and, perhaps most amazingly, modern the book is. I totally get the hype now. I'm halfway through now, lets see where this takes me.
My wife and I are reading Pride and Prejudice together and are both first time Austen readers. I’m also reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and find the differences in craft between the two writers fascinating. What an immensely important century for the development of the novel form. I’d love to see you do a video like this for Hardy someday, if he’s ever on the book club schedule.
I just finished Persuasion and enjoyed it. You are correct in that, as a woman, I love Jane Austen, and don't care for Hemingway. American Psycho, the book and movie, were unsettling. I recently watched Persuasion on Netflix and was greatly disappointed in it. The critics were brutal in their analysis and I agree. Seems Netflix has let politics interfere with the quality of their productions.
I must say that I couldn't persevere with the latest Netflix adaptation of Persuasion either. The only one I've been pleased with is the 1971 BBC miniseries, which I like to revisit regularly :)
Jane Austen was indeed a brilliant and wise author, who, if read at the right age, can help to understand a lot of important things. She is well known, but I think she is still extremely underrated.
But Solzhenitsyn, I think, is a bad example (10:39). If one wants to understand the soviet war generation, then Alexander Fadeyev and Mikhail Sholokhov are the best. If one wants to read about Stalin's repressions, then there is Varlam Shalamov (books full of suffering, resentment, anger and nothing else) or Yury Dombrovsky (a bit lighter because there is at least hope).
I don't understand why some well-read westerners like to mention Solzhenitsyn. Maybe he had really good translation into English. But in Russian he is clumsy and pretentious, clearly tryes to be new Dostoyevski, but lacks his skill and honesty.
Lovely, perceptive, insightful comment as always, my friend. Well known and yet still extremely underrated - yes, absolutely agree. Like Shakespeare, funnily enough. Thank you for recommending some alternative's to Solzhenitsyn. Anyone interested in soviet war history should take note and follow this rabbit hole! I also thought Solzhenitsyn was almost a poor man's Dostoyevsky - and I believe he was influenced by him. As for why he's more read in the West than Russia, I think I have a few ideas.. Perhaps, in addition to his Nobel win and the fact that he was exiled from Russia, his popularity in the West is likely due to Jordan Peterson. He spoke of Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky, and Nietzsche A LOT. And people bought these books and gobbled them up. Maybe he speaks to a need or concern in Western countries? Having spoken to a translator of Chinese the other day, he said that Orwell's Animal Farm is popular across China. How you feel about Solzhenitsyn is quite close to how I feel about Orwell. I don't believe Orwell is Great Literature, unfortunately, but he said some things that were worth taking notice of. Thanks for the thought-provoking comment :)
Hi…superb video…thank you for the nice words on Austen..she deserves all of it…I finished reading Emma just yesterday…and I feel I loved and connected with Emma more than the two other Austen heroines I have read about -Miss Bennet & Miss Morland…I think one need not be a first reader to identify with her characters…Loved Mr Knightley’s decision to stay at Emma’s residence after marriage ☺️…her characters may appear frivolous but are really strong ones…living life with zest n making most of it…Austen’s understanding of people and their minds is exceptional…And to portray it with such wit n irony in that language is extraordinary…I think I have renewed my interest in Austen after Emma…🤗
For me a great novel is an experience. Putting oneself into the time period of the 'first reader' is key to appreciating older literature. I loved your comments about the limited experience of that hypothetical reader, and how a journey described in a novel would put them in thrall. I found a (kindle) collection of novels by Ann Radcliffe and others of the genre referred to in Northanger Abbey. I can't recall which novel offhand (probably Mysteries of Udolpho), but the description of travel was so lush and detailed I could feel the crisp air of the mountains. I'm also fascinated by descriptions of actual places that no longer exist. I have done a deep dive into the novels of the Brontes, and was stunned by the accuracy with which alcoholism is described in Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Wuthering Heights is a novel I read over and over again; I am under no illusion, however, that it is a romantic love story. I have not read all of Austen, but have seen the dramatizations; Persuasion is my favorite to read. I'd be curious to know what you think of the original novel version of Dangerous Liaisons, and Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther.
Hi glad to see guys read Jane Austen as well ,not just women ,thanks for sharing ,
Though new to literature, i find your videos very informative, interesting and beautiful as well as the comments. Thanks a lot for such useful and nice videos. I hope i find more about short stories among your podcasts.
Thank you :) I really appreciate that! We'll definitely have some more content on short stories coming soon!
I think if you read the wrong Austen for them it colors your opinion of her. An old friend tried to get into Austen, but being a man prone to depression, Pride and Prejudice was completely the wrong foot to start off with. I recommended Persuasion and it worked so much better.
I think people have to be guided to the correct Austen for them as their first experience.
Just out of curiosity, what about Pride and Prejudice makes it the wrong start for a man prone to depression?
The first Austen i read was Pride and prejudice and I do think i read it essentially for the dialogues, character of darcy and the tea cup drama😂
But it was never my fav. I always liked Emma a lot more- there is just so much more to it, the humour and the comedy- emma herself. Persuasion itself is my second favourite. Though i think I wd like to read them again...looking out for other things. Though some of her characters are without doubt really well written❤
Emma is my favourite Jane Austen novel. What I like about Emma is that she makes mistakes but as the story goes on she grows as a character and becomes more mature as she falls in love with Mr Knightley. Mr Woodhouse makes me laugh with all his fussing over wedding cake and illnesses. I've met people who remind me of Miss Bates with their non stop chattering! I enjoy Jane's wit and style of writing.
Starting Persuasion today…exciting. I appreciate your insight!
Yay :) Let me know what you think!
I used to get very bored by Austen. It wasn't until after I started reading Dostoevsky that I suddenly understood Austen. Both authors dissect human nature into individual characters, and that is where the fine line between Dostoevsky's psychological analysis and Austen's satire and irony come in. I've really enjoyed her works ever since. I started to see what Jane the woman was trying to say through her characters, rather than just another love story.
There are so many books that in the past I've thought, as a story, I just don't like it. But as a work of art, when you take into account the author and their purpose, they just come to life with meaning! An example would be Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground. If I just wanted a nice story, I would not read that. But to read it as a work of art, understanding the author and their purpose, it's beautiful!
That's really interesting that Dostoyevsky unlocked Austen for you. Funnily enough, dark and nihilistic though Dostoyevsky is, there is no Fyodor without Jane. Absolutely - the "love story" is the surface, and so much lies beneath. I was struck recently by one of Austen's letters around the time she was writing Persuasion. She writes: "Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor - which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony." THAT'S the Jane we love simmering below the surface of her stories (often not simmering at all, but outright screaming it). You're so right as well in regards to the work of art approach. I don't know anyone who reads Dostoyevsky for a nice story - but there's no doubt that he gives us something. Thank you for such an insightful comment :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I love that. I love that there would be no Fyodor without Jane. That really solidifies her for me. I feel a bit sheepish that for decades Austen was just a "fluffy romance novelist" to me. I love that Tolstoy and Dostoevsky would have read Austen, and learned from her. She truly was a pioneer in great literature.
@@NechaMD Absolutely! And, although some might argue she's reading Trollope, I'm almost completely convinced that the book Anna is reading on the train in AK is an Austen volume :)
Wise counsel, Ben. In the vernacular "bang on!" I was cheering. Austen is Shakespearean and must be slowed down for. She is ironical and satirical and she rewards. The over-the-top merchandise and fan club side lets her down. Thank you for your honesty and integrity. Merchandise and tourism have a place, within bounds those are good however, beyond that,...alas, no.💐
Thank you for the great channel!
_____
'Sense and sensibility'
I've been reading it lately.
I've been drawn to the title for a long time. And also "Pride and prejudice" is a favorite.
Fresh and modern sounding.
These wonderful relationships, love - between the two sisters, their mother, their father, and between their father and mother. Later, another outstanding person appears and marries the little sister.
Tender, sensitive, emotional, exceptional, as well as the love between them. Despite the mistakes - nobody is perfect.
But the pains of love almost destroy the little sister and cause suffering, at times greater than anything else, for the older one.
_
Eleanor has a hard time sharing because she feels compassionate for her beloved to the extreme;
lest she should harm him with something.
How wonderful love also could be between the little sister and Willoughby, if he if he hadn't failed it.
And many other good things in this book.
Thank you for this. I am thrilled that you broached the subject of "boy" authors (eg. Hemingway) and "girl" authors (eg. Austen). This has set me thinking about the veracity of the claim that certain authors appeal to either a masculine or a feminine sensibility. Have you explored this topic in any of your videos? I'm a new subscriber to your channel and find all the videos I've watched so far to be excellent.
Thank you, Andrew :) I'm not sure I've explored this too much, actually. Might be a fun one to do :) I did a podcast on Nietzsche and the differences between men and women, but aside from that don't believe I've really focused on it. And thank you for watching!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thanks and I will definitely check out your podcasts. I see you're a jazz fan too with Dave Brubeck and Jelly Roll Morton (?) on your shelf. Cheers!
@@andrewlim6326 Ah, yes - nice catch! That is indeed Jelly Roll Morton. Legend :)
Hands down Austen is a genius
Austen’s use of irony is so incredible but I do think the enjoyment of teacup drama is inextricably related to it, so I don’t see these two reasons to enjoy Austen as all that different ultimately. One enjoys the ironic treatment of the characters and their little disputes.
I found all of the books Jane wrote very enjoyable. I went to Bath and found where she lived while in Bath.
Bath is a wonderful trip for Austen lovers :) Wonderful city!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy extremely historic and very beautiful
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I do thoroughly enjoy your work, absolutely splendid!
One good entry point into reading Austen is watching some of the movie or video adaptations. Then go read, and as far as I am concerned, Just read! don't try to analize. Worked for me! and, btw, it's TurGHeniev, not TurJeniev!
My first Jane Austen book was Pride and Prejudice. It was rather boring when I first started reading but when it started getting very interesting. I read Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park. Honestly, I didn’t like Mansfield Park as I couldn’t really get anything. Like I understood everything but just couldn’t really get it. Emma is entertaining but I must admit I like it for it’s drama. Maybe a bit of both for Pride and Prejudice. When you said that you should try to find a way to remember the names in Anna Karenina, I did that for the Austen books. As they go both by surnames and first names, it’s rather hard to read. Also because that they might have same names. Which is frustrating. In Pride and Prejudice, I struggled but now it’s much better. When you said Austen was not a “female, girl writer”, I really agree as the Austen books not really a feminist book compared to Jane Eyre or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Wow. Thank you for sharing :) I've found looking up family trees for the characters can be quite helpful. I like to look at pictures/illustrations for each character too. Absolutely - it's great that Austen can be read through a feminist lens (and makes sense), but, to me, she's always eminently a humanist through and through.
Marvellous! Looking forward to watching this later 😆
Thank you, Arthur! 😆 Have fun rehearsing!
I really struggle with Austen. I try to remember that I probably just don't understand her writing style. I have all of her books but was a little disappointed with pride and prejudice. I just felt like I couldn't relate to any of the characters, except maybe Darcy at the end. I really should give her a shot. Thank you for sharing.
That makes sense - I struggled too. But you might find you like her more at another time in your life. I hated P&P, but now I have the book on my bedside and it makes me smile :) I also relate to Darcy 😂
@@BenjaminMcEvoy thank you for this video. I'm going to try her out again sometime soon. She's easy to read so I may make it a weekend project and keep some of your thoughts in mind.
Thank you for this
Thank you :)
Hi, please could you remind me of an Austen quote thatI remember as being ‘ The self-indulgence of morbid thoughts’?
Could anybody explain to me what Darcy meant when he said "We neither of us perform to strangers"? I have my interpretations, but would like to confront them with others.
Shakespeare and Austen are my favorite writers and I consider them teh two most brilliant English writers and very sympatico. I have taught both for 20 years and find even my male athletes enjoying Pride And Prejudice. I completely agree there are two types of Austen readers, and I have no hesitance in labeling the "right type" and the "wrong type." The wrong type loves melodrama and romance. The right type delve deeply and laugh throughout. If you're not laughing, you don't get it.
I watched this for at least 3 times 🌺
Do you have any plans to do a video on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead? Especially if you plan to do a Hamlet video
I was thinking of doing a "Play of the Month" - Stoppard would be a cool one to include :)
So there’s loads of irony in the Netflix Persuasion film every time that Anne would look up at the camera she was like saying see what I mean about my father and Elizabeth and Mary. I totally got the irony in the Persuasion film. I tried reading the book but it was too slow, confusing and hard to understand also she didn’t know how to write because her sentences were like paragraph long for just one sentence. It felt like there was so much extra information in the book and I didn’t know what was the main point of the story.
could you talk about some good underrated books sometime? i find it hard to stumble across interesting works nowadays
There’s a very nice book(at least in my opinion)by Anne Brontë called The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It’s similar to Jane Eyre but also different.
I am reading Emma currently. I find the sentences unnecessarily long and confusing. At one point a character is described as “more unreserved”. Why not just say “less reserved”? In addition, there are too many pronouns used and not enough proper names. It can be confusing knowing who “she” or “himself” is referring to sometimes. There are also two characters named Mr. Knightley and often I am unsure which one the novel is referring to. Why not use the character’s first names more?
You could say the point is a critique of how people in her day spoke in an overly complex and roundabout way. The Remains of the Day has a first person narrator who talks sometimes in a roundabout way. Yet, Emma's issues with confusing sentences occur even with the third person narrator.
I'm a woman who hates Austen. Ok, that's a bit harsh and I know I'm gonna try again some day, but... You know, I really tried to enjoy Pride and Prejudice, but just couldn't stand not the writing itself, but mainly the society and women's roll in society as it was portrayed in that book. It was honestly unbearable to me, embodying everything I hate about the so called femininity. I couldn't ignore it and if I'm going to try reading Austen again it will take me a while to start again with a fresh look.
❤
🌺🌺🌺
Just reading Austen and its because of you i had zero interest of Jane Austen just gonna state the obvious because im a guy 😅 i dont connect with these type of books reading dickens since before preteen age
It’s definitely a gender thing😂
Let Colin Firth read Austin, everyone listens then.
Lol. Well.. Yes :)