Jane Austen News - Issue 114

It's rare, if not unheard of, that you come across a book which everyone likes. One person's favourite novel might well be another's idea of a hellish read. Of course, the reader might also be an author themselves, which is the case in an article published by Bustle this week, which has a surprising list of author's most-disliked authors. Featured critiques were Virginia Woolf's thoughts on James Joyce's Ulysses (she compared his writing to "a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples," and said that, "one hopes he’ll grow out of it; but as Joyce is 40 this scarcely seems likely. . ."), and Truman Capote's opinion of Jack Kerouac's On The Road ("None of these people [in the Beat Generation] have anything interesting to say, and none of them can write, not even Mr. Kerouac. It's not writing, it's typing.") No we come to the critique which sits rather closer to home. You might have heard before that Charlotte Bronte wasn't a big fan of Jane Austen, but if you wondered exactly what it was about Jane that she didn't like you might like to read it in her own words:

I have likewise read one of Miss Austen’s works — Emma — read it with interest and with just the right degree of admiration which the Miss Austen herself would have thought sensible and suitable. Anything like warmth or enthusiasm—anything energetic, poignant, heartfelt, is utterly out of place in commending these works... Jane Austen was a complete and most sensible lady, but a very incomplete, and rather insensible (not senseless) woman. If this is heresy, I cannot help it.

We know Emma isn't everyone's cup of tea, but this does seem rather harsh!

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This Week's Book Recommendation It's often true that a Jane Austen fan has an interest in the Regency and Georgian periods in general. If this is true of you then you might like to know about a new book by Australian author Michelle Scott Tucker, called Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life at the Edge of the World. The book tells the story of the first ‘gentlewoman’ to set foot in the colony of New South Wales in Australia. Elizabeth was a well-educated woman who lived in Bridgerule (South West UK) in the 18th century. She was born in 1766 and married army officer John Macarthur in 1788. In 1789 she made the six-month journey to New South Wales, Australia, after her husband joined the New South Wales Corps, and it was here that she and her husband went on to be renowned for their management of Merino sheep, and for the huge production and exportation of wool. If you like stories of Regency women overcoming tough conditions and prospering in difficult circumstances then you'll probably enjoy this read.