Jane the Yenta
The Telegraph has a review of Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating by Lauren Henderson.
Undeterred by potential drawbacks - Austen’s books tell us nothing about sex, are set in an age whose social mores bear scarcely more relation to downtown Manhattan’s than they do to downtown Kabul’s, and are novels rather than self-help manuals - Henderson has discovered, at the heart of the oeuvre, 10 key principles of dating.
As she puts it: “I think the books are coded instruction manuals - but they can be novels, too. They are about the best way to find someone who’s going to be a life partner for you.
“What Austen is about is the continual process of observing the behaviour of people around you. And whether you’re country dancing or grinding your bum into someone at a hip-hop club, it comes down to the same fundamental things.”
There’s also a sidebar article with a rundown of “Austen’s Men.”
The article contains the interesting note that the book has been optioned for film. (We hasten to add that optioning a book for film doesn’t mean that a film will be made.)
January 31st, 2005 at 11:00 pm
I am quite pleased that the sidebar item about “Austen’s Men” was most complimentary towards Henry Tilney. Obviously the author is a person of both taste and discretion.