Comments

1
Thank you so much for this, David.
2
Wow. I had tears in my eyes when she was talking about how a book should be read, as opposed to how it's taught books should be read. Thank god I learned to read before grade school, otherwise, I would probably be more like my peers, who see reading as pointless and boring, because they don't let themselves fall into the world of the book and can't escape their own heads long enough to do so.

**This is also why I cannot for the life of me enjoy horror.**
3
Fran is a breath of fresh air that cuts through the BS-too NY, too anti-establishment (and probably too old for most young people to care to pay attention to) to catch on with the mainstream.

If she could break out of her writers block and transmit these profound thoughts of hers into written form, she'd have a few more books in addition to Social Studies by now.
4
I loved to hear Lebowitz speak of Austin's intelligence, differentiated from her skill. Austin's books are dense in the kind of minutia that is not necessary to a wonderful novel, but can lend so much richness, and can pull the reader not just through the door, but make them forget that there was ever a door to go through, she makes her.
5
Fran, what are the "right reasons" for being popular that we who read like adolescents are too shallow to discern? Wait, don't tell us; we would recoil in horror at the powerful wisdom that Austen imparts only to superior minds. That would spoil "the worst kind of girlishness" for us. And all this time we thought we liked Austen because she provides the kind of immersive reading experience you describe later.
6
@2,

I learned to read in grade school, and I have no idea what you're talking about. If people can't immerse themselves in a book and let imagination take flight, they either haven't found the type of storytelling that speaks to them or they lack imagination.
7
@5, a person addressing a Slog comment to Fran Lebowitz is the most funny/sad thing I've seen today. Thank you!
8
She's fabulous. But Schmader, can you fix the blog to spell her name right?
9
8: Oh dear god, sorry, thanks, fixed.
10
@5: When people talk about a certain depth and wisdom in books that you yourself can't see, instead of getting defensive, why don't you get curious? Maybe if you set your ego and your snark aside, you'll display less of that "wrong kind of girlishness" Lebowitz just described. (e.g.: "That Fran Lebowitz! She thinks she's sooo smart!")
11
I learned to read before grade school, too, and living in a small town had our old library as my point of embarcation for voyages through time and geography. The idea of immersive reading may also be related to whether a person was brought up to cede imaginative control to visual story telling or to allow him/herself to fall into a story like Alice. I love Austen because she's funny at the expense of her characters, even her heroines, but rarely mean about it -- her satire is no less powerful because it's muted, and she had an acute eye for her surroundings. I remember in seventh grade one of my classmates fell in love with Pride and Prejudice and spent weeks copying it out in longhand on ruled notebook paper. I thought that was a jaw-dropping misunderstanding of the fundamental point of the book. The wonderful thing I find about reading Austen is that every year. as I get older and slightly wiser, I find more depth in her characters and situations, as though my optometrist were refining my prescription over time. But I've never understood how anyone could read her strictly as a writer of romances.
12
@10: The point isn't that FL thinks she's sooo smart. She is smart. It's that she thinks other readers are sooo dumb. She suggests that the masses of Austen readers who constitute her current popularity read the books like adolescents and enjoy them only because of their most superficial qualities -- or because they somehow miscategorize the books into more popular genres. That seems kind of patronizing and deserving of a bit of snark.

I like the other stuff she said, though.

Is "ego and snark" what you think she meant by "wrong kind of girlishness"? She is not clear so I suppose it's open to any interpretation you want.
13
@6 oh, I agree that there are people without the kind of imagination that allows one to get lost in a book, I'm just saying that the book reports we all had to write discouraged that sort of reading. It got worse as I got older, and I hated AP Literature for that reason. "Really, Mrs. English Teacher? You know exactly what Dead Author was thinking when he wrote this? Why won't you accept other reasonable answers to that innane question?"

There's a reason I chose Biology as my major (actually a lot of imagination involved) and took only creative writing workshops to feed my muse, and absolutely no literary analysis classes. Important for someone to do, I'm sure. Just not me.
14
@12: From the Jane Austen Fan Club on Facebook:

Description:

For those of us who:
~ Admire the women of Jane Austen's books for their modesty and courage
~ Find it impossible to see the movies too many times
~ Love the charm and simple sincerity of the Jane Austen gentlemen
~ Think Jane Austen is a love story genius

A random comment: "The best thing about her novels, I find that is that the basic stories can be translated to any rom com or romantic drama. There is the hate at first site (P&P), the best friend you've been in love but never knew it (Emma, MP), young girl coming of age and discovering herself (NA), second chance at love (Persuasion) an...d the immediate attraction to someone but there are borders, the person you should be with in standing right in front you, but your swayed by the handsome/pretty face (S&S)."

Also see:

http://littleyuzu.livejournal.com/tag/ja…
http://janeaustenfan.blogspot.com/
http://www.austenfans.com/


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