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In her final novel, as in her earlier ones, Jane Austen uses a love story to explore and gently satirize social pretensions and emotional confusion. Persuasion follows the romance of Anne Elliot and naval officer Frederick Wentworth. They were happily engaged until Anne's friend, Lady Russell, persuaded her that Frederick was "unworthy." Now, eight years later, Frederick returns, a wealthy captain in the navy, while Anne's family teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. They still love each other, but their past mistakes threaten to keep them apart. Austen may seem to paint on a small canvas, but her characters contain the full range of human passion and moral complexity, and the author's generous spirit renders them all with understanding, compassion, and humor.… (more)
Shuffy2: In addition to North and South by Gaskell, Wives and Daughters is another great read for people who love Austen's Persusion and Sense and Sensibility!
allisongryski: This is by no means an obvious recommendation. However, the quality of writing and something of the heroines' characters is similar. The heroines of these two books are both under-appreciated members of their families, who are thought beyond any chance of marriage. They are both forced by circumstance to find courage that they didn't know they possessed and they are rewarded with eventual happiness.… (more)
mzackin: This is the story of persuasion told from the other side. It is very well written and stays true to the story, even quoting lines from Austen.
spygirl: Helen Fielding's first novel Bridget Jones's Diary was a remake of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is a remake of Austen's Persuasion.
In this novel Jane Austen uses some real caricatures to contrast with the goodness of Anne Elliot, I think this novel is the closest to the style adopted by Charles Dickens because of this. ( )
Whilst Persuasion is a wonderful story, I love Jane’s other women more. I also felt that some of the other characters in Persuasion were a tad unlikeable. Still, I really enjoyed the intelligence and humour that are present in all of Jane Austen’s novels. ( )
I took this photo when I visited Bath in 2010, when I had still not been persuaded to read Persuasion. I was not to read it till this year, and can see now as to why. Those people in the upper echelons of society had too much time on their hands.
With no screens, cars and in a time of peace, novels were full of talk of the minutiae of daily life, and the weather.
I remember my own first lover tearing to small pieces his copy of Pride and Prejudice, in utter disgust, and though I rank Jan5e Austen novel amongst my favorites, I can now, all those years later, see his point.
Like Anne Elliot, I left my young lover, only to spend much of the rest of my life regretting it. But at least I had the good sense, and lack of talent not to write about it.
Persuasion is much ado about nothing. Every facial nuance, every step, every jaunt into town is described in such meandering detail. I do not want to offend lovers of Ms Austen, but really….
It has been decades since my Mr Wentworth tore up Pride and Prejudice in fury at what he saw at a Mills and Boon romance. He was wrong but so was I
Not your normal review. But neither was Mr Wentworth’s letter. Mr Wentworth would have been better off had Snapchat been available. And I? Well it took me decades to get around to reading Persuasion, and I have to think I’d have been better off not reading it.
Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch-hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs, changed naturally into pity and contempt.
On 8 August 1815, English newspapers took note of the departure for Saint Helena of HMS Northumberland and, with it, a prisoner. (Introduction)
Quotations
She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.
Anne hoped she had outlived the age of blushing; but the age of emotion she certainly had not
I hate to hear you talking so like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days
A man does not recover from such a devotion of the heart to such a woman! He ought not; he does not.
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. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago. Dare not say that a man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.
Last words
She gloried in being a sailor's wife, but she must pay the tax of quick alarm for belonging to that profession which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than in its national importance.
In her final novel, as in her earlier ones, Jane Austen uses a love story to explore and gently satirize social pretensions and emotional confusion. Persuasion follows the romance of Anne Elliot and naval officer Frederick Wentworth. They were happily engaged until Anne's friend, Lady Russell, persuaded her that Frederick was "unworthy." Now, eight years later, Frederick returns, a wealthy captain in the navy, while Anne's family teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. They still love each other, but their past mistakes threaten to keep them apart. Austen may seem to paint on a small canvas, but her characters contain the full range of human passion and moral complexity, and the author's generous spirit renders them all with understanding, compassion, and humor.
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Book description
Anne Elliott, bullied or ignored by her father and sisters, relinquished her hopes of love when she was forced to reject Captain Wentworth. Now, years later, they meet again: he, prosperous and eligible, scarcely recognises the faded pretty woman. And she stays quietly in the background as he courts the lively and affectionate Louisa Musgrove. So why, when she joins her family in Bath, does Anne hesitate over the eminently suitable addresses paid to her by a distant cousin? And why does Captian Wentworth appear there too? While Jane Austen is here as quick as ever to ridicule self-importance, self-interest and cold-heartedness, while she tellingly contrasts the icy snobbery of the Elliots with the openness and warmth of Wentworth's naval friends, this novel has a tenderness and gravity which makes it unique among her works.
Anne Elliot, beauté fanée et effacée de vingt-sept ans, est la seconde fille de Sir Walter Elliot, un baronnet veuf et vaniteux. Sa mère, une femme intelligente, est morte quatorze ans auparavant, en 180027 ; sa sœur aînée, Elizabeth, tient de son père la vanité de sa position. Sa plus jeune sœur, Mary, encline à se plaindre sans cesse, a épousé Charles Musgrove de Uppercross Hall, l'héritier d'un riche propriétaire des environs. Encore célibataire, sans personne dans son entourage qui soit digne de son esprit raffiné, Anne est en passe de devenir une vieille fille sans avenir ...Persuasion est le dernier roman de la romancière anglaise Jane Austen, publié posthumément en décembre 1817 mais daté de 1818. En France, il a paru pour la première fois en 1821 sous le titre : La Famille Elliot, ou L'ancienne inclination1.Le roman est regroupé en un volume double avec Northanger Abbey, le premier des grands romans de Jane Austen, écrit en 1803 mais resté non publié jusque-là. D'un ton plus grave que les œuvres précédentes de la romancière, il raconte les retrouvailles d'Anne Elliot avec Frederick Wentworth, dont elle a repoussé la demande en mariage huit ans auparavant, persuadée par son amie Lady Russell des risques de cette union avec un jeune officier de marine en début de carrière, pauvre et à l'avenir incertain. Mais alors que la guerre avec la France s'achève, le capitaine Wentworth revient, fortune faite, avec le désir de se marier pour fonder un foyer. Il a conservé du refus d'Anne Elliot la conviction que la jeune fille manquait de caractère et se laissait trop aisément persuader.Outre le thème de la persuasion, le roman évoque d'autres sujets, tels que la Royal Navy, dont l'importance ici rappelle que deux des frères de Jane Austen y servaient, pour parvenir plus tard au rang d'amiral. Comme dans Northanger Abbey, la vie mondaine et superficielle de Bath – bien connue de Jane Austen – est longuement dépeinte, et sert d'arrière-plan à tout le second volume. Enfin, Persuasion marque une nette rupture avec les ouvrages précédents, par la chaleureuse attitude des personnages positifs qu'il met en scène, en fort contraste avec les héros souvent ternes, hautains ou peu cordiaux rencontrés auparavant, et dont le Mr Darcy de Orgueil et Préjugés est l'exemple extrême.L'Edition 2020 comprend ;- biographie de l'auteure
Snowplum85 | Mar 18, 2023 | 
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