Jane Austen’s Emma
John Knightley only was in mute astonishment. That a man who might have spent his evening quietly at home after a day of business in London should set off again, and walk half a mile to another man’s house for the sake of being in mixed company till bed-time, of finishing his day in the efforts of civility and the noise of numbers, was a circumstance to strike him deeply. A man who had been in motion since eight o’clock in the morning, and might now have been still–who had been long talking, and might have been silent–who had been in more than one crowd, and might have been alone!–Such a man to quit the tranquillity and independence of his own fireside, and on the evening of a cold sleety April day rush out again into the world!–Could he, by a touch of his finger, have instantly taken back his wife, there would have been a motive; but his coming would probably prolong rather than break up the party. John Knightley looked at him with amazement, then shrugged his shoulders, and said, ‘I could not have believed it, even of him.’ Emma
I just finished re-reading Jane Austen’s Emma, #5 in my book challenge for the year. It was a joy; the nearly 500 pages flew by. I laughed out loud at passages like the one above, because I found the book consistently funny. This was not the case the first time I read it, just over two years ago. I enjoyed it, but didn’t love it, and found it slow to read.
I’m not sure what made the difference. I’m reading at the same time of year, and with about the same level of parental fatigue. It could be that I read the book previously, and several other Austen books recently. I was reading for enjoyment, not to find out what happened. Since there are several plot points that are kept hidden till near the end, this allowed me to savor the careful hints that appear throughout the text. Reading the other Austen novels Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion, has made me more fluent in Austen’s prose style. As I find with Shakespeare, reading more is the best way to be able to read more because I learn the customs and rhythms of the language. In any case, I found Emma a delight, even though Austen acknowledges some of the inherent difficulties of her tale, like Frank Churchill’s behavior, Emma’s failed attempts to improve poor Harriet, and a grown man falling in love with a thirteen-year-old girl. I found a few other things bothered me in the book. The racism in a scene with gypsies, and the classism and snobbery that may not be tongue-in-cheek. Yet in the end I was happy because everyone was, whether they deserved to be or not. I’ll take my cue from Emma’s thoughts about Frank Churchill, and not be severe:
Though it was impossible not to feel that he had been wrong, yet he had been less wrong than she had supposed; and he had suffered and was very sorry; and he was so grateful….and so much in love…., and she was so happy herself, that there was no being severe Emma, Chapter LI