Essay on Jane Austen included in new Bayley collection
Oxford professor John Bayley, perhaps best known as the author of Elegy for Iris, has published a new collection of essays, including one on Jane Austen. The collection is called The Power of Delight: A Lifetime of Literature.
The professionalization of academic life has meant that professors tend more and more to write for each other, not for us. John Bayley is one of a dwindling band of holdouts: a man whose passion for literature is matched by the gracefulness of his style.
Bayley has a few sharp words for the new barbarisms that congregate under rubrics like structuralism, deconstruction, and post-colonialism. But mostly what he offers are commendations and connections: how George Eliot illuminates Henry James who illuminates Proust who has something to say about Pushkin.
March 31st, 2005 at 12:46 am
Ah, old-school English criticism. Very difficult to find nowadays! I look forward to getting my hands on this volume.
I do especially love the bit of the review you’ve quoted, “The professionalization of academic life has meant that professors tend more and more to write for each other, not for us.” Too true.
March 31st, 2005 at 9:06 am
I concur heartily with COrdelia. In addition, I’m thrilled that Professor Bayley disagrees with postcolonialism and deconstructionism. A few interesting notes. I recently read an essay by Jesse Wolfe entitled “Jane Austen and the sin of Pride” which was based on the works of Iris Bayley (I didn’t like the essay too much, but it said some true things). In the first linked article, the reviewer compared Professor Bayley to Edmund Wilson. I hope he doesn’t make the mistake Wilson did (not only in dismissing the Lord of the Rings) in saying that Emma is “infatuated with other women.” However, despite these minor misgivings, it sounds as if this is a book worth keeping in mind.
March 31st, 2005 at 9:46 am
I’m sure Professor Bayley would be thrilled with your approval, ibmiller. I believe the reviewer was referring to style, not so much to substance.
March 31st, 2005 at 8:20 pm
If your remark was sarcastic, then I have no response. If not, I wasn’t trying to denigrate or approve of Professor Bayley’s work unread, merely to add what I know from external sources.
March 31st, 2005 at 8:40 pm
With me, you can usually assume sarcasm. I live to snark.
(Not unlike Jane Austen, some might say.) You were so serious, I couldn’t resist. Sorry!