EMMA - Book review

 EMMA

 

Jane Austen’s longest novel was completed in 1815 and thanks to the self-willed and very self-satisfied character of Emma Woodhouse, it is a firm favourite.

Austen’s characters are indeed fascinating, whether that’s the loquacious Miss Bates (‘I am rather a talker’ [p274]), the insufferable Augusta Elton, Emma’s hypochondriac father, the secretive rich Frank Churchill, the poorly done-by Jane Fairfax and the long-suffering Mr Knightley.

Emma began match-making, finding a suitable husband for her governess Miss Taylor, and felt so satisfied with this happy outcome she determined to seek a suitor for her new friend, docile pliable Harriet. However, it all goes embarrassingly wrong, with confusion piling upon misunderstanding.

Austen’s wit and humour shines through, even after all these years. Her phrase: ‘She could fancy such a man’ (p253) could have sprung from countless modern novels, even.

On beginning Emma, she declared: ‘I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.’  At the outset it appears Emma is conceited, self-opinionated, even snobbish and quite bossy; however, she is also beautiful, intelligent, quite lively, strong-willed (‘Emma denied none of it aloud, and agreed to none of it in private’ [p279]), dutiful to her father. And she hides most of the time her sensitivity. A complex character.

My edition (1969) has an introduction and notes by Arthur Calder-Marshall.

Minor editorial comments:

From a modern standpoint, stylistically, there’s an over-emphasis of exclamation marks and em-dashes, but this may be typical of the period.

Many paragraphs are far too long.

I’d hope that later editions of mine have corrected the typo on p355 – ‘… and return it into the purple and gold ridicule by her side…’ when ‘ridicule’ should have been ‘reticule’.