Janeite: The Role Playing Game
Alert Janeite Marie sent us a link to a post at Shannon Hale’s blog, where she explains the line in Austenland that we snarked about a while back. First, the line:
Sure, Jane had first read Pride and Prejudice when she was sixteen, read it a dozen times since, and read all the other Austen novels at least twice, except Northanger Abbey (of course).
Now, the defense:
So why that line in austenland? Because if you were to take a broad poll of non-scholarly readers of Austen, those who read her for fun, the one book that most of them won’t have read or else won’t have enjoyed as much as the others is Northanger Abbey. (Quite often I find they will have started it but never bothered to finish.)
After we read the book we thought it might have been a bit of an inside joke, since the main character is a bit Catherine Morlandish in taking Firth!P&P a little too seriously, but decided that was a trifle subtle for this book.
July 18th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Um! I would like to see such a poll. As I do not believe what she says and do not understand the reasoning either. Does she mean, people are not into reading short, funny books or what? *scratches head*
July 18th, 2007 at 11:24 am
That’s strange. The one I haven’t bothered to finish is “Lady Susan.”
July 18th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Oh, Rob, you have to finish it. Lady Susan is quite brilliant. A bit Les liaisons dangereuses, perhaps, but brilliant.
I didn’t find the line especially amusing because I felt like it reinforced the stereotype that P&P is the only book that matters, which annoys me to no end. I’m sure the crowd that think being a Janeite is all WetShirt!Colin found it hilarious. If the author had made it more clear why it was a joke it might have worked better, and her intended audience (the aforementioned WetShirt!Colin crowd) might have learned something.
July 18th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Okay, I’ll put “Lady Susan” back on my list. For the record, “Persuasion” is the only one of the novels I’ve read more than twice (shocking, I know, but there are so many novels out there begging to be read). “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility” are the only two I’ve read only once. Dare to be different.
July 18th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Isn’t that what most NA2-likers said?
-they hadn’t read the book
-they couldn’t finish the book
-they didn’t like the book
-they couldn’t remember the story as it was a long time ago when they first read it
July 18th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I attended one of Shannon Hale’s book signings last month. It was a fun and friendly event with tea, scones, and lots of WetShirt!Colin gushing — very much a girls’ night out. Shannon is a lively, charismatic speaker and made several little joking asides during her presentation. Most were cute, but one, maybe two, fell flat. No big deal; it happens to everybody. I mention it only because I think the NA comment in Austenland is like that. After hearing the author’s speaking style, I could tell how the comment was intended; perhaps if she’d added an emoticon, more people would have understood it was supposed to be a joke. But I agree with Mags: the comment read like willful ignorance, so I began Austenland with a less-than-favorable impression of the heroine.
While we were waiting for our books to be signed, somebody brought up the new ITV films and NA was mentioned briefly. Most hadn’t read NA or had read it once, long ago, and it wasn’t a favorite. I don’t doubt that most people Shannon knows or has heard from aren’t well acquainted with NA, because that’s what I was overhearing that evening from her fans.
And from personal experience:
“I am such a big Jane Austen fan! Couldn’t you just watch P&P over and over again? What’s your favorite book?”
Me: “I like them all, but especially Northanger Abbey.”
Pause.
“Oh. I don’t really know that one.”
If I had a quarter for every time I have this conversation, I’d have tickets for the NA play in Salisbury this fall.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:36 am
And I still can not imagine - and I’m fully aware that’s my personal problem - how someone can not finish NA, once he/she has started it. To stay away from it, for whatever reasons, yes, but to put it down?
July 19th, 2007 at 10:37 am
That’s me above.