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Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters.Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imagination and perceptions often lead her astray.… (more)
kara.shamy: In some ways the heroines in these two novels are alike, but they are very different in other respects, and more strikingly, their respective journeys to the altar/married life go in diametrically opposite ways, in a sense! Both are true classics in my estimation; reading these two novels exposes the reader to two of the greatest English-language novelists of all time in the height of their respective powers. While all readers and critics do not and will not share this superlative view, few would dispute these are two early female masters of the form and are well worth a read on that humbler basis ;) Enjoy!… (more)
Sarasamsara: Like Austen's novels, The Makioka Sisters traces the daily lives and romances of an upper-class family-- the only difference is that this is pre-war Japan, not Regency England. Like in one of Austen's works, when you close the novel you feel like you are closing the door on someone's life.… (more)
nessreader: Both Emma and Miss M are about ambitious, capable upper class women who can only express themselves as social hostesses. Both heroines are managing and bossy - Miss M, a generation younger, is played more for laughs, but there is a strong parallel. And both end in utter satisfaction for heroine and reader alike.… (more)
Better than I expected. Of course the usual focus on who loves who and who's going to marry who, but a few twists and turns, and considerable humor in the last half. ( )
An amiable book - virtually every character is described as “amiable” so I guess it must be. Listened to the audiobook, and kept remembering a movie version I had seen. After I finished, I realized the 2020 film of Emma was the very last movie-in-a-movie-theater I went to when the pandemic started last March, and I haven’t been to a theater since.
I think my favorite part was when Emma dissed the tedious Mrs Bates and then felt terrible about it afterwards.
I also just found out my book club will be reading Sense and Sensibility next month, so it’s more Austen for me soon. Maybe the amiability will rub off on me. ( )
Never would have expected this coming in, but I don't know if I've ever related to a book character as much as Emma. The constant paranoia, both of internal morals and how you present yourself to others. The nights spent awake pacing around, stressing and fretting and reliving the embarrassing or unpleasant moments in the day. The desire - no, the desperate, clinging, need - to be accepted and to be loved. The constant nagging feeling that deep down you're not a good person and that others don't like you for a reason. It's all there, and each character and situation is so strikingly real. I loved this book for many reasons, and by no means is it ABOUT Emma's obsessions and fears and depressions, but they spoke to me in a way that few other books have. ( )
I get how peeps could not dig Jane Austen - slogging through daily life and modest romances. But I enjoy tales of women in other time periods. Sure, the individuals who loudly defied the expectations of their age are interesting but so is a portrayal of those who mostly conformed to their societies (the vast majority of humans throughout history).
The audacity of Emma, damn. 'Clueless' is a super fun adaptation but it does not do credit to the damage inflicted. More like 'Cruel Intentions' except she wasn't aware of her cruelty until the end. Good intention-ed cruelty is my favorite reason for the suffering of humanity. Poor fucking Harriet. Cheers to her life without Emma. ( )
The institution of marriage, like the novel itself, has changed greatly since Austen’s time; but as long as human beings long for this kind of mutual recognition and understanding, “Emma” will live.
“Perhaps the key to Emma’s perfection, however, is that it is a comic novel, written in a mode that rarely gets much respect. It’s exquisitely ironic.”
“The presiding message of the novel is that we must forgive Emma for her shortcomings just as she can and does learn to excuse the sometimes vexing people around her. There is, I believe, more wisdom in that than in many, many more portentous and ambitious novels. Emma is flawed, but ‘Emma’ is flawless."
It’s a small but striking and instructive demonstration, the careful way Emma appraises the character of the various men who jockey for her attentions and those of the women around her. We could all learn from her example.
"In January 1814, Jane Austen sat down to write a revolutionary novel. Emma, the book she composed over the next year, was to change the shape of what is possible in fiction."
"The novel’s stylistic innovations allow it to explore not just a character’s feelings, but, comically, her deep ignorance of her own feelings. "
"Those who condemn the novel by saying that its heroine is a snob miss the point. Of course she is. But Austen, with a refusal of moralism worthy of Flaubert, abandons her protagonist to her snobbery and confidently risks inciting foolish readers to think that the author must be a snob too"
To His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, this work is, by His Royal Highness's permission, most respectfully dedicated, by His Royal Highness's dutiful and obedient humble servant, the author.
First words
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.
Quotations
Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.
"I thank you; but I assure you, you are quite mistaken. Mr. Elton and I are very good friends, and nothing more, and she walked on, amusing herself in the consideration of the blunders which often arise from a partial knowledge of circumstances, of the mistakes which people of high pretensions to judgment are for every falling into..." (Emma)
"I always deserve the best treatment because I never put up with any other."
Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure.
I have seen a great many lists of her drawing up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through--and very good books they were--very well chosen and very neatly arranged--sometimes alphabetically and sometimes by some other rule.
How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation? (Frank Weston Churchill)
Oh! The blessing of a female correspondent when one is really interested in the absent! (Frank Weston Churchill)
"I cannot make speeches, Emma...If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." (Mr. Knightley)
It will be natural for me...to speak my opinion aloud as I read. (Mr. Knightley)
These matters are always a secret till it is found out that everybody knows them. (Mr. Weston)
One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.
[...] a sanguine temper, though for ever expecting more good than occurs, does not always pay for its hopes by any proportionate depression. it soon flies over the present failure, and begins to hope again.
Last words
But, in spite of these deficiencies, the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union.
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters.Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imagination and perceptions often lead her astray.
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Haiku summary
Mix-match my neighbors Cutest narcissist am I Don't listen to me (city girl)
Bossy know-it-all Privileged and doted on Meddles. Learns lessons. (pickupsticks)
She can do no wrong Matchmaking busybody Knightley sets things right. (pickupsticks)
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Discussion Thread: Emma
Wikipedia in English (1)
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