I pay very little regard...to what any young person says on the subject of marriage. If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person.
Jane AustenRead
Books--oh! no. I am sure we never read the same, or not with the same feelings." "I am sorry you think so; but if that be the case, there can at least be no want of subject. We may compare our different opinions.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the subjective nature of reading and individual interpretation.
In this quote, Jane Austen highlights how reading is an inherently personal experience that varies from person to person. Even when individuals read the same book, their emotions and perspectives shape their understanding differently, creating a rich ground for discussion and comparison of opinions. This underscores the value of diverse interpretations in literature and the depth it can provide to mutual understanding.
In practice
During a book club meeting to discuss character motivations.
I pay very little regard...to what any young person says on the subject of marriage. If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person.
Nobody could catch cold by the sea; nobody wanted appetite by the sea; nobody wanted spirits; nobody wanted strength. Sea air was healing, softening, relaxing - fortifying and bracing - seemingly just as was wanted - sometimes one, sometimes the other. If the sea breeze failed, the seabath was the certain corrective; and where bathing disagreed, the sea air alone was evidently designed by nature for the cure.
He certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.
A person who is knowingly bent on bad behavior, gets upset when better behavior is expected of them.
You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.
She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time; but alas! Alas! She must confess to herself that she was not wise yet.
No writer must be measured by a word or paragraph. He is to be measured by his work - by the tendency, not of one line, but by the tendency of all.
It was a joy! Words weren't dull, words were things that could make your mind hum. If you read them and let yourself feel the magic, you could live without pain, with hope, no matter what happened to you.
That the question of likability even exists in literary conversations is odd. It implies that we are engaging in a courtship. When characters are unlikable, they don’t meet our mutable, varying standards. Certainly we can find kinship in fiction, but literary merit shouldn’t be dictated by whether we want to be friends or lovers with those about whom we read.
It is the nobility of their style which will make our writers of 1840 unreadable forty years from now.
I think that when memoir goes wrong, it goes wrong from too much memory, too much detail. It's about clearing all that away and just getting to the story.
I am trying to make clear through my writing something which I believe: that biography- history in general- can be literature in the deepest and highest sense of that term.
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