Enjoying Slow Read of P&P with Susan Allen Ford
This Slow Read of Pride and Prejudice with Susan Allen Ford has helped highlight some things I had previously encountered. Especially delightful is when someone casts a new light on something or gets me to look at a character in a new way. Was Charlotte Lucas always right? Do ridiculous characters (LCdB) sometimes say things that are insightful or true? The hour speeds by and I find that I am glad if I clicked on a reference posted in the chat so I can keep the conversation going a bit longer. This week, there was a link to a talk John Mullan gave at Jane Austen's House about Contradictions. It is a delightful talk. I want to highlight the end of the introduction by Lizzy Dunford, Director of Jane Austen's House who says, "And now I will exit" and almost under her breath she says, "not pursued by a bear." This made me laugh out loud. I did not pipe up in the meeting with the part about wondering, when Elizabeth Bennet meets George Wickham after her visit to Rosings, if he saw more clearly than she could yet see, that EB and FD would end up together and there and then began plotting another way to get Darcy's money. It also included the passage which I excerpted in midst of pandemic: "It was not in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them... to fret over avoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety was no part of her disposition."
Here is the link to that talk: https://youtu.be/lz-2aifHZQE?si=iRCf8ZsO0L8QGzKA