When conversations become awkward...

I've always enjoyed the interchange between Laura and Sophia in Letter 13, when everything Laura says (or does) somehow reminds Sophia of her husband, Augustus! Have you ever experienced a similar situation, when you're trying to comfort somebody and always seem to say the wrong thing?

Victuals and Drink

Letter the Seventh -- Edward to Augusta: “Support! What Support will Laura want which she can receive from him?"

"Only those very insignificant ones of Victuals and Drink," (answered she).

"Victuals and Drink! (replied my Husband in a most nobly contemptuous Manner) and dost thou then imagine that there is no other support for an exalted Mind (such as is my Laura's) than the mean and indelicate employment of Eating and Drinking?"

"None that I know of, so efficacious," (returned Augusta).”

Even in Jane Austen’s juvenilia, financial “support” rears its ugly and ubiquitous head! Can you think of any examples in her later works that also contrast romance with finance? Charlotte Lucas comes to mind in Pride and Prejudice…

Why just the one?

Why do you think only one letter (the first one, from Isabel) is written by someone other than Laura? I mean, for a novel in letters, one would expect multiple letter writers! Was this supposed to be a commentary on Laura's self-centeredness? It's all about me! Or just an admission that her silly letters admitted of no reply?

A safe age - 50s and over

Letter the First

Isabel to Laura: “You are this day 55. If a woman may ever be said to be in safety from the determined Perseverance of disagreeable Lovers and the cruel Persecutions of obstinate Fathers, surely it must be at such a time of Life.”

I love this! What do you think it says about age, especially women’s age, in Regency England?

Christy's pick for December: "Steps through the Mist"

This collection of short stories that weave into one is by an author I've heard good things about, Zoran Zivkovic. Here's a description of "Steps Through The Mist" from Publishers Weekly:

"Serbian speculative fictionist Zivkovic's latest novel to be released in the U.S. (after 2006's Seven Touches of Music) isn't so much a literary work to be read as it is one to be reveled in. Like a great work of abstract art, this surrealistic novel—about five women who contend with fate in very different ways—is layered with subtle symbolism and nuance, and should be savored slowly so that the profound, and sometimes disturbing, existential underpinnings can be duly discerned. Featuring story lines about a schoolgirl who can see into other people's dreams, an institutionalized woman with the ability to know the future, a world-weary fortune teller who stumbles across true divination, a skier who's offered unconventional wisdom on a mountaintop and an elderly woman who loses her will to live when her alarm clock breaks, this montage of stories is as enlightening as it is entrancing."

Hope this sounds good for a few dark winter nights!

"I long to know who it is"

Shanxi mentioned laughing aloud in many places. I thought Letter 5, the door conversation, was seriously awesome — as a portrait of how people who are used to having servants become completely flummoxed when faced with a simple task like opening a door. It's so witty and delivers that JA specialty: making merciless fun of people while also finding real pleasure in their very human antics.

She's such a lovely observer of human nature. She must have deeply empathized with every single character she wrote about to be able to make her portraits so convincing.

So this isn't a question, except maybe to ask what scenes made you guys laugh.

The "perfect" heroine

Letter the Third:

"But lovely as I was, the Graces of my Person were the least of my Perfections. Of every accomplishment accustomary to my sex, I was Mistress. When in the Convent, my progress had always exceeded my instructions, my Acquirements had been wonderfull for my age, and I had shortly surpassed my Masters.

In my Mind, every Virtue that could adorn it was centered; it was the Rendez-vous of every good Quality and of every noble sentiment.”

What struck me most about this passage was how much novelists’ portrayals of heroes and heroines have changed! Today every protagonist is rarely if ever self-described, and they never have it so good. Although Austen is obviously parodying the heroines of her time, she raises an interesting point – people often saw the main characters of a novel to be just about perfect, or at least highly skilled and moral. Samuel Richardson's earlier novel, "Pamela," published in 1740, comes to mind.

What are the pros/cons of this approach? Conversely, what are the pros/cons of today’s protagonists? Which do you prefer, and why?

What is love?

Hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did! I confess that I laughed aloud when reading, to the consternation of those in the room who were not in on the joke. :)

Even though it's not a particularly (ahem) serious work, I thought we could treat it as such to get the conversation started...

Letter 7th - "A short Conversation between Augusta and her Brother, which I accidentally overheard, encreased my dislike to her, and convinced me that her Heart was no more formed for the soft ties of Love than for the endearing intercourse of Freindship."

This signals an interesting question, which I've swiped and adapted from The Victorian Web. The question originally referred to Pride and Prejudice, but it could equally apply to Love and Friendship:

"What is Austen's version of love? ... With how much sarcasm does Austen frequently use the phrase "violently in love?" Does love mean happiness to Austen?"

Subsequently, how does love compare and contrast to friendship?