Emma: The Book

       The Story

“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.” (Opening sentence)

She lives quietly alone with her father. Her older sister lives in London with a family of her own. Emma does not wish to find her true love – she intends never to marry, and expects never to be in love – but she delights in finding other people’s potential spouses for them. Her governess that has been with her for seventeen years, Miss Taylor, marries an amiable widower, and Emma claims to have made the match herself. Now she looks to match her new friend Harriet Smith – a girl of seventeen whose parents are unknown, and Mr. Knightley, a family friend Emma has known all her life, advises her against it. He always tries to keep her in line by advising and scolding her, as no one else will. She soon finds that assuming things and meddling in other people’s romances brings pain and embarrassment to everyone involved (including herself), but she still had more lessons to learn.

Her former governess’ husband Mr. Weston expects his son Frank to visit, and Mr. and Mrs. Weston entertain hopes of Emma and Frank forming an attachment. Emma cannot understand why Mr. Knightley –who, with all her faults, has always been particularly fond of Emma since she was young – should be critical and suspicious of Frank, even before his arrival.

After many mix-ups, misunderstandings and mistakes, Emma learns about her own heart, but not until she feels herself in danger of losing her dearest hope, which she was previously unaware of.

My Sentiments

Jane Austen said she was going to create a heroine ‘whom no one but herself would much like’ (and an author, I might add, should always like her heroines), but she was quite wrong. Emma can be annoying and has a tendency to see everything as the way she wants it to be, but nevertheless she is a likeable character, especially by the end. I’m not sure if that is because she improves – she does become wiser and less selfish, to be sure – but maybe one gets to understand her better as the story goes on, and grow to like her for who she is, as her friends do. In any case, the character development is brilliant. One does not grow as fond of perfect heroes and heroines, anyhow, I think.

Speaking of heroes, Mr. Knightley is one who most people (including myself) are very fond of. I read that out of all Jane Austen’s heroes, Mr. Knightley was her favorite. Hmm…I might just have to do a post all about Mr. Knightley…what do you think?

Emma is probably my second favorite Jane Austen story. Sense and Sensibility is very close, but there is a certain lighter feeling I got when reading Emma, rather like Pride and Prejudice, my top favorite.

All of Jane Austen’s stories are different, and I notice that they are all written differently as well. For instance, to me, Pride and Prejudice excels partially for its clever and amusing conversation. In Emma, as I read along, something jumps out at me and makes me unexpectedly burst out laughing. I’ll include some of the spots when I do my quotes post.

In short, I enjoyed the book as much as I expected to from watching the movies. A very clever story, indeed. And the end of books always explain so much more than the movies do! It’s lovely to have questions answered so explicitly.

Published in late 1815, Emma was the last of Jane Austen’s novels that she saw in print.

P.S. I love chapter 49.

Poll Results

The poll for best Gaskell heroes ended today. And the winner is:

John Thornton from North and South
 with 15 votes!

                       
                            

                            Second place:

Roger Hamley, from Wives and Daughters
with 2 votes.

Now wish Mr Thornton luck in the Hero Tournament at Elegance of Fashion!
Thank you to everyone who voted! I think that the 17 votes broke the record for the amount of people voting on any of my polls previously.


Another poll that ended some time ago was "Which is your second favorite movie version of Pride and Prejudice?"
1st place with 4 votes: 1980 mini-series with Elizabeth Garvie
2nd place with 2 votes each: a tie between the 1995 mini-series with Jennifer Ehle
      and the 2005 movie with Kiera Knightley
3rd place with 1 vote: 1940 movie with Greer Garson


Favorite, by the way, has always ended up the being 1995 version by at least 75%, from what I've seen.

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James was a happy find for me. I accidentally came across it at the library, and of course the name “Jane Austen” projected on the beautiful cover caught my eye.

The story is mainly about the man who Cassandra (Jane’s sister) referred to as “the only man Jane ever truly loved”. As has been passed on, this nameless gentleman and Jane met at the seaside, they were planning to see each other again, but then she received news of his death. Well, this story does not follow the latter part - he stays quite alive in this novel. (And it is quite the heart-wrenching story.)

It is written in first person, past tense - because it is, in fact, supposed to be something Jane Austen actually wrote (hence the title.) In the book we imagine that it was found in a trunk hidden in Chawton Cottage, Jane Austen’s residence during her last and most productive years.

In the book the authoress imagines that Jane Austen took ideas from her own experiences and put them in her books; people, and occurrences. Some things you will recognize as similarities to Pride and Prejudice (one of them being a Mr. Collins character), and more occurences that will remind you of Sense and Sensibility (which she was writing at the time this story was supposed to take place.) Personally, I like to think that all of Jane Austen’s ideas came straight from her imagination, but it's fun to read anyways.

The authoress did extensive research about Jane Austen and the time era, and it shows in the book. I do not think it sounds like Jane Austen’s writing, but I doubt anybody could achieve that. One inconsistent thing is that, I never notice Miss Austen describing what people are wearing, and it occurs several times in this book. Syrie James also describes people’s looks, which Jane Austen did only occasionally (like with Harriet Smith). I like to get a picture of how people appear, though. Now, compared to the narrative in Just Jane, I’d say this book sounds a lot like Jane Austen. ;-)

There were some things in there which I doubt Jane Austen would say/do, but nothing so drastic as to make me very mad. ;-)

There’s plenty of interesting and useful information in the back, and Jane Austen quotes (which I always like quite well.) It was an enjoyable book, and I would recommend it to other people who like Jane Austen.

Hero Tournament and Little Things about Jane Austen People Get Wrong

Hello everybody! Elegance of Fashion will be hosting a Period Drama Hero Tournament, after the marked success of the Heroine Tournament! I am looking forward to it.

Speaking of which, there's a Elizabeth Gaskell hero poll on my sidebar.

There are a couple things I notice again and again that have to do with Jane Austen that people are a little mistaken about. Just little things that are of small matter. For instance, it is:

Lizzy Bennet
-not-
Lizzie Bennett
It is Lizzy with a ‘y’, and there is one ‘t’ in Bennet. This is a mistake people often make; I used to spell it Lizzie too, until I read the book.

The BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice mini-series with Jennifer Ehle is NOT 6 hours long. Many people say it is 6 hours long, it is not. It has 6 episodes. It is 5 hours long. ;-) It says the run-time is 300 minutes, right? 300 divided by 60 is 5. I’ve even timed myself watching it before, and it’s 5 hours. Hehe.

A pet peeve I have is when people spell the author’s name Jane Austin. It is with an ‘e’. And I’m glad because I like the way Austen looks better than the way Austin looks.

One more thing - often on the back covers of Jane Austen books or movies, they refer to “18^th century”. But it is not the 18^th century, it is the 19^th century! They probably say it because it’s early in the 1800s, but it still is not the 1700s. ;-)

Very odd post, I know.

My China Collection

Ever since I can remember, I've loved old-fashioned things. I liked going to tea parties as a little girl, and it is still fun to send nice invitations, put on an old-fashioned dress, and have an elegant tea party (with real tea now). I think pretty tea things increase the enjoyment and atmosphere. In Regency and Victorian England tea was popular, as we all know. When I watch old-fashioned movies, I love looking at the tea sets and table settings. Teacups and teapots are so fun to collect, and admire at antique or second-hand stores. In this interval between Jane Austen stories, I thought I'd show my readers my collection of china. =) "I have not seen such table settings even in the granduers of Harley Street," one of my friends quoted from North and South after one of my parties. Hope you enjoy it, too!

I'll start out with my teapot. My mom gave it

to me two Christmases ago.

I'm putting two at a time so hopefully the post

won't be too long. =)

The one on the right is probably my favorite. in fact...

Here is a picture all its own, so you can see

the little details better. =) This is from my brother,

and I got it the same Christmas as my teapot.

The one on the right I got from a tea party

when I was about 6.

My mom also has a lovely collection,

and here are two of my favorites from hers.

This doesn't really have to do with tea,

but here is a cute pitcher one of my

sisters gave me for a gift once.

What do you like to collect? Do you like having tea with friends, too?