Emma

So, after having been distracted by Kafka on The Shore, I was able to return to and finish Emma. Well, I'm not sure what to say about it; many have already told us that it's a probably a pretty good book. But I guess there are a few things that struck me, both personally and as someone who wishes he were a writer^[1].

I think I didn't really get a sense of the "country"-ness of the story and setting -- contemporary reviews described the setting as a middle-class town, but to my modern mind many of the main characters were quite wealthy - being able to live without working! Of course, this mostly applies only to certain women in the story, but so little attention is paid to the way people in this small town make ends meet that it seems everyone lives an absolute life of leisure.

Well, that's one of the things I find interesting about the story. I have definitely been on a historic fling recently, whether by historic fiction or historical fiction; I find it a more interesting way to learn about history than stuffy texts -- or at least a good way to become interested enough in a particular historical event or setting to inspire me to read for hours on Wikipedia.

But the other half of my interest in this book is about the style -- indeed, a rather outmoded style that I wouldn't find myself writing any significant amount in, but definitely an inspiration, and something I would love to try in smaller bits^[2]. Austen is really amazing - at first I thought the particular quality that I was impressed by was perhaps not uncommon for authors of her time, but those contemporary reviewers seem almost as impressed as I am. At first, I thought that the pretty language being used throughout the book was so much filler, but I have been convinced otherwise. She describes emotion with such subtlety and accuracy as to clearly indicate every nuance of the mind of a respectable lady in an awkward situation. I think it really shows great strength of logic on Austen's part, to be able to analyze and describe so comprehensively the emotions of her characters.

I've picked up Northanger Abbey, apparently her first work, to read next. I wanted to get a sense of her diversity, so that one seemed appropriate as it seems rather different from her other stories. I will probably get to it after I finish these twenty books on my stack.

1: I might as well give up on being an amateur writer and become an amateur critic. It's way easier.

2: I'm reminded of Steven Brust, whose stylistic diversity I find impressive. He has written a number of books in the seedy perspective of a crime-lord assassin, and I have read some of another book which was written in an awesome historic style reminiscent of Cervantes in the way it addresses the reader. I'm not sure what other experiments he has done, but I am happily working my way through his material to find them.