snugglekitty

I have just finished reading, for the first time, Pride and Prejudice.

Somehow I managed to graduate from Smith College with a degree in English literature without having read any Jane Austen novels. (I think it may have to do with my having taken a seminar in the 20th-century novel.) All my friends in that era complained all the time about how much they disliked being forced to read her. And now, having read her myself, I am completely puzzled. I think she's hilarious, and it's suddenly very clear to me who is responsible for the "comedy of manners" tradition that I have so enjoyed in fantasy and sci fi. (A few examples of the inheritance: Sorcery and Cecilia, by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, and anything by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. More on these last two in my next post.)

In a way, though, I'm glad I never read her in college, because I would have had to read a whole bunch of her books all at once rather than savoring them slowly over time, as I now intend to do. Also, my thanks to