Thank you for this insightful piece. I found myself wanting to highlight many parts, but this one had special resonance for me: “I've found in my reading life that I have to be in the right place to read a book. Like a true love, a great book will wait for you to be ready.”
I could not agree more. Since I was a latecomer to so many works that have become important to me, much of what I write riffs on the concept that it’s never too late to fall in love with a great author.
Further, as you demonstrate, I’ve often found that my thoughts about a particular work have evolved over the years as I have. In my books I write imaginary and sometimes real letters to the men and women writers who mark me. It doesn’t matter if they are technically still here. They are always with me.
With respect to Austen, I was glad to have read William Deresiewicz’s book, A Jane Austen Education, which shows the appeal of Austen to men as well as women. Maybe you know it? Like him, I was a late appreciator of Austen, and I am so grateful to finally be in her company.
Do you know Rachel Cohen’s “Austen Years: A Memoir in Five Novels”? In my Letters to Men and Women of Letters I wrote to thank her for writing a phrase that I am never going to forget:
“Grief runs through the whole of life and leaves nothing untouched.”
But under what category do I file this? I am tempted to add it to “Condolences,” a part of my Notes to which I have had to refer with increasing frequency. This is what happens when you’re lucky to have made it this far, and when you write a book that has put you in intense touch with your own past and uncertain future.
I will continue to think about where I might place that so-true and so-elegantly expressed observation about grief.
But for now, I am thanking Rachel Cohen for writing it. And I’m thanking you, David, for reminding me of Jane Austen’s power.
When is the right time in life to read a classic like Austen? Any time!
Thanks, Diane! I'm glad you found this insightful. Thank you for the recommendations for further reading. Now that I've read all her novels, I'm searching for good secondary sources. I will check out Rachel Cohen and William Deresiewicz. I like that quote on grief. Any time is a good time for Austen!
I remember starting Pride and Prejudice when I was maybe 15 and, inspired by my English teacher, wanting to read the renowned classic novels. In today’s language, I wanted to be a book Nerd. I did not finish Pride and Prejudice. With no teacher guiding me, my lack of life and romance experiences and my undeveloped skill at understanding more than plot were no match for Austen’s sometimes intricate language, layers of characterization, and social commentary.
This past year I picked it up again because my high school granddaughter was reading it in school. I’m 73 now, a long way from 15, with a library of life and reading experiences. That library plus using an annotated edition with sidebars of historical cultural information gave me an entirely different experience and a good conversation with my granddaughter. It was a right time for this book. Now your insights here make me want to read it again plus at least some of Austen’s other work.
Hi, David,
Thank you for this insightful piece. I found myself wanting to highlight many parts, but this one had special resonance for me: “I've found in my reading life that I have to be in the right place to read a book. Like a true love, a great book will wait for you to be ready.”
I could not agree more. Since I was a latecomer to so many works that have become important to me, much of what I write riffs on the concept that it’s never too late to fall in love with a great author.
Further, as you demonstrate, I’ve often found that my thoughts about a particular work have evolved over the years as I have. In my books I write imaginary and sometimes real letters to the men and women writers who mark me. It doesn’t matter if they are technically still here. They are always with me.
With respect to Austen, I was glad to have read William Deresiewicz’s book, A Jane Austen Education, which shows the appeal of Austen to men as well as women. Maybe you know it? Like him, I was a late appreciator of Austen, and I am so grateful to finally be in her company.
Do you know Rachel Cohen’s “Austen Years: A Memoir in Five Novels”? In my Letters to Men and Women of Letters I wrote to thank her for writing a phrase that I am never going to forget:
“Grief runs through the whole of life and leaves nothing untouched.”
But under what category do I file this? I am tempted to add it to “Condolences,” a part of my Notes to which I have had to refer with increasing frequency. This is what happens when you’re lucky to have made it this far, and when you write a book that has put you in intense touch with your own past and uncertain future.
I will continue to think about where I might place that so-true and so-elegantly expressed observation about grief.
But for now, I am thanking Rachel Cohen for writing it. And I’m thanking you, David, for reminding me of Jane Austen’s power.
When is the right time in life to read a classic like Austen? Any time!
Thanks, Diane! I'm glad you found this insightful. Thank you for the recommendations for further reading. Now that I've read all her novels, I'm searching for good secondary sources. I will check out Rachel Cohen and William Deresiewicz. I like that quote on grief. Any time is a good time for Austen!
I remember starting Pride and Prejudice when I was maybe 15 and, inspired by my English teacher, wanting to read the renowned classic novels. In today’s language, I wanted to be a book Nerd. I did not finish Pride and Prejudice. With no teacher guiding me, my lack of life and romance experiences and my undeveloped skill at understanding more than plot were no match for Austen’s sometimes intricate language, layers of characterization, and social commentary.
This past year I picked it up again because my high school granddaughter was reading it in school. I’m 73 now, a long way from 15, with a library of life and reading experiences. That library plus using an annotated edition with sidebars of historical cultural information gave me an entirely different experience and a good conversation with my granddaughter. It was a right time for this book. Now your insights here make me want to read it again plus at least some of Austen’s other work.