A post that is more or less about Emma, by Jane Austen

What is there to say about Emma which has not already been said? I hardly think that I can add anything to the world's discussion, except to document some of my experiences in re-reading this classic.

For starters, I have to tell you that I found this Jane Austen collection at our local used bookstore which I snatched up instantly. I already owned the works of Jane Austen but my previous copies were not 6x4"! I've scoured Google and Amazon and can't find the collection listed anywhere (even the website on the back of my book is no longer valid) but I did find the ISBN number for it on Amazon and I've linked to that. (It's remarkably cheap and incredibly cute.) I think it fitting to read Austen from tiny Austen-sized books! The cover art that you see here, is not of Emma but it is the only picture from the series of books that I could find online. As the Amazon reviewer mentions, the font in the book is small but, still, it adds to the experience. I quite liked reading this smaller edition. It also received compliments wherever I took it.

Mostly, my pint-sized edition received compliments from Emergency Room nurses who watched me read it during one extremely annoying Saturday morning wherein I spent 4 hours in the ER (for myself). (I'm fine. No worries. I made incredible progress with my book.) All of the nurses coo-ed over it. Then I was wheeled back for a CT scan (again, really...no worries) I had the following conversation with the male attendant:

MA: What are you reading?
Me: Emma.
MA: Oh. Huh. Any good?
Me: (With an inward sigh of despair.) Yes.
MA: Have you ever read _________ (insert someone whose name I've forgotten but who writes modern thrillers)?

When a reader walks into the ER with a classic work of literature, you can actually add more pain to their experience by declaring that you'd never heard of it before. (Sigh.) At any rate, I made it through the ER experience just fine (I'm all good now! Really!) and also made it halfway through Emma before I finally got to go home.

I was charmed completely by this read through. I must have read it last at the beginning of my college experience. As it happens quite frequently, time and space cause me to forget the details of the story so although I'm familiar with the storyline, many aspects of it are brand new (all over again). I guess that's the beauty of a bad memory. (Although I've come to realize lately that my memory isn't exactly bad. If I experienced a traumatic event, I remember it in great detail. If I'm perfectly happy with something, I only think on it pleasantly and have forgotten the greater details. Wrong? I think yes.)

My favorite passage this time is as follows:

It may be possible to do without dancing entirely. Instances have been known of young people passing many, many months successively, without being at any ball of any description, and no material injury to body or mind; - but when a beginning is made - when the felicities of rapid motion have once been, though slightly, felt - it must be a very heavy set that does not ask for more. (Chapter Twenty-four)

I think that is a very true statement. If you have never danced, you simply do not know what you are missing. If you have danced and enjoyed it, and haven't had the pleasure of a waltz most recently, you miss it something fierce. The moment your knees bend and the 'felicities of rapid motion' have begun, the spirit starts to soar a bit. (I realize she was making fun, in part, of the desire to dance - but still.)

The following quote is just, well, me when I was "just friends" with Jonathan and wished to remain so in exactly the way we were. (I wouldn't have minded it if we were more than friends at the time, mind you. But my lips were sealed tight on that subject. It was up to him to say something, after all! So long as we could continue on as friends. . . )

Could she be secure of that, indeed, of his never marrying at all, she believed she should be perfectly satisfied. - Let him but continue the same Mr. Knightly to her and her father, the same Mr. Knightly to all the world; let Donwell and Hartfield never lose none of their precious intercourse of friendship and confidence, and her peace would be fully secured. (Chapter 48)

Emma ends up being just as glad as I that her Mr. Knightly spoke in favor of marriage. (Whew!)

I also recently got together with my in-town friend to watch the 2009 BBC Version of Emma and we both loved it thoroughly. The only big variation it takes is in the opening scenes. In the BBC version it starts with Emma, Frank and Jane Fairfax as children. Otherwise, it follows the book closely and as it is a four part mini series, it also covers the story very well. I believe actress Romola Garai did justice to the role of Emma and it was a thorough delight. I heartily recommend it!



Watching the movie is definitely an experience which is made far richer by reading the book again. I felt I could appreciate it more fully and with greater understanding. Either which way (book or movie) I enjoyed my re-reading experience.

And now I shall stop rambling.