Jane Austen endorses Rand's theory of comedy


caroljane

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"..amusement [too often raised ] at the expense of her judgment, when it was raised by pleasantry on subjects on people or subjects which she wished to be respected".

- Fanny in Mansfield Park, 1814.

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I read P&P of course and then Northanger Abbey. Not one I know. Sorry. But, then, I would be indeed the very one to pay attention to a country girl like you. Care to dance, Daunce?

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I read P&P of course and then Northanger Abbey. Not one I know. Sorry. But, then, I would be indeed the very one to pay attention to a country girl like you. Care to dance, Daunce?

You honour me, sir. MP is actually about ethics and conscience. the balance of what is due oneself and what is due society, plus the usual quest for love and the pressing necessity for women to marry -- sounds dull, no? As if. \I am reading it for about the tenth time with the usual enchantment,

\\\my favourite is actually Persuasion which contains my favourite of the heroines and the best of her heroes, Wentworth, much more real and attractive than Darcy.

If you enjoyed the two you read I urge you to try these too,, MP also contains Austen's best villain, the evil Mrs \Norris.

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Jane Austen and Rand, huh?

This reminds me of a recent visit from my sister and her husband, (I don't think I'll use their actual names, so how about Lillian and Balph?) who were here before attending their annual pilgrimage from Wisconsin (currently suffering under the oppressive administration of Governor Walker, Paul Ryan, and Senator Nelson [all "to the right of Attila the Hun," according to her retired Milwaukee TV news journalist husband, Balph) to the National Association of Broadcasters conference in D.C..

Generally, discussing political issues with them can be inflammatory, so I try to avoid it. But knowing of my past interest in Ayn Rand, my sister blurted out, "Oh, Jerry nobody reads Ayn Rand anymore! That was over over fifty years' ago! Really, no one cares! Just you! (Apparently forgetting that their hero, Barack, indicated in a widely circulated interview in Rolling Stone, that he had read Rand) " Knowing of their well-established participation in the Milwaukee well-to-do liberal elite intelligentsia, I was taken aback by her remark. Really? How do you know that? "Well my none of my friends ever mention her, so I would know! She was an old-style conservative..." She was not a conservative. Maybe you should read her. "I read The Fountainhead many years ago." So what does she stand for? "Rule by Big Business and the Super-rich." I see. Where does she advocate that? "All over!" Have you ever read any conservative or libertarian political philosophy? Knowing that they attended the best Ivy League schools, I asked, Ever read Hayek? "Selma Hayek?" No, F. A. Hayek's The Road To Serfdom? "Never heard of him." Robert Nozick? "Never heard of him." How about conservatives? "Well, I've seen William F. Buckley.and I didn't like him" How about Leo Strauus? No. This went on for a while., the answer always was "No"

.

So I said, can you name one conservative political philosopher? Brief silence,..searching memory banks... "Hobbes?"

Perhaps you should take a look at Ayn Rand Nation, by Joe Weiss, He's a liberal journalist and is clearly alarmed about how pervasive Ayn Rand's influence is, and... " (impatiently interrupting) I don't care. I don't need to read it.f" Well, did you see the article about Ayn Rand in The New Yorker, a few years back (To a liberal, if it's not in The New Yorker, then it probably doesn't matter.)?" "I read every issue of The New Yorker, cover to cover, and I didn't see anything about her! You need to get off this kick - nobody cares, except you!" I could see I was getting nowhere. Like the Borg, they (think) know everything, and "Resistence is futile!"

Oh, sorry. Back to Jane Austen. Lillian, I mean sis, is an expert on Jane Austen. She's read all her novels, attends Jane Austen Society meetings ang gives lectures,, goes on tours of Austen haunts in England, writes a blog about everything, Jane Austen, and has written aboutfive or 6 romance novels set in Austenian England.

I would mention to her, the references here, by OL members about Austen, but you see, you don't really exist.

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I am glad you did not name names because I read a lot of Austen continuations, imitations and \regency knockoffs. A few are delightful and excellent, a lot are infuriatingly dull, plodding dreck. Lucky neither I nor your sister's books exist so |I will never have to judge!

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Of the excellent, the best I have read is the completion of \austen's \T|he Watsons by John Coates. It contains this gem of advice from an older lady to a younger: "Remember my dear, that nothing will cool a gemtleman's ardour sooner than wit\'

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