Fay Weldon
Paperback | Pages: 160 pages Rating: 3.39 | 949 Users | 131 Reviews
Be Specific About Books In Pursuance Of Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen
| Original Title: | Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen |
| ISBN: | 0786706880 (ISBN13: 9780786706884) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Ilustration In Favor Of Books Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen
“Truly Alice, books are wonderful things; to sit alone in a room and laugh and cry, because you are reading, and still be safe when you close the book; and having finished it, discover you are changed, yet unchanged! To be able to visit the City of Invention at will, depart at will – that is all, really, education is about, should be about.”Wow, just wow! Love this little book by Fay Weldon. It is a collection of short essays about Jane Austen, about Writing, about being a Writer written in the form of letters to a fictional niece, very much like Jane Austen herself had written to her niece Fanny Austen-Knight 200 years ago. It is also a very personal, I would say, almost intimate tribute to the wonderful Jane Austen.
I loved Fay W's metaphor about the great "City of Invention", where authors are presented as builders, creating houses in the different districts of genres (and where, yes, there are literary McDonald's, selling books with empty calories) and then how she goes on, unwrapping this metaphor about Literature/the Writing Process in general and then always returns to Jane Austen in particular. Recommended to all Jane Austen addicts and all readers interested in history of Literature in general.
"If it's approval you want, don't be a writer,"
“Sometimes you’ll find quite a shoddy building so well placed and painted that it quite takes the visitor in, and the critics as well – and all cluster round, crying, ‘Lo, a masterpiece!’ and award it prizes. But the passage of time, the peeling of paint, the very lack of concerned visitors, reveals it in the end for what it is: a house of no interest or significance.”
“The good builders, the really good builders, carry a vision out of the real world and transpose it into the City of Invention, and refresh and enlighten the visitor, so that on his, or her, return to reality, that reality is changed, however minutely. A book that has no base in an initial reality, written out of reason and not conviction, is a house built of – what shall we say? – bricks and no mortar? Walk into it, brush against a door frame, and the whole edifice falls down about your ears. Like the first little pig’s house of straw, when the big bad wolf huffed and puffed.”
Identify Regarding Books Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen
| Title | : | Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen |
| Author | : | Fay Weldon |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 160 pages |
| Published | : | November 9th 1999 by Basic Books (first published 1984) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Writing. Books About Books |
Rating Regarding Books Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen
Ratings: 3.39 From 949 Users | 131 ReviewsColumn Regarding Books Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austen
Ah. Compulsory school reading. Isn't it delightful?!I think it a slight flaw of the school system to make books that are as boring as hell compulsory (actually Hell would probably be a bit more exciting, all fiery and whatnot). Why? Do these people like torturing kids? Do they get a perverse pleasure out of turning our brains to goo?Answer: yes. Yes they do. This book can be summed up as so: - Coconuts fall from trees - Jane Austen is cool but radical - Midwifery is a hazardous occupation -Rating this one star as 0 stars is not an option
This epistolary novel is written from one perspective, which is limiting considering the point of the story. Fay is writing letters to her niece Alice about learning to appreciate Jane Austen and whether or not she should write a novel. Apparently this aunt has been estranged from Alice and her parents for a long time, and Fay decides to just insert herself in Alice's life. It's very odd, and it makes the tone of the novel sound deeply condescending. I thought the story would be different, but
I appreciated her blend of history, feminism, writing tips, and especially the information about the life of Jane Austen. Sometimes went on a bit and was a tad snarky, but overall I enjoyed this book. This was an 'accidental read' as I mistook a recommendation about 'letters, an aunt, and feminism' to be this instead of what was actually recommended: "Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions" which I highly recommend.A Happy accident and now I know more and appreciate more
A friend - thank you Dee - once sent me this book after a conversation about Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She mentioned it as a sort of introduction to Jane Austen and her world. Last month I finally decided to pick it up.The book is comprised of a number of letters that an aunt, who happens to be a published writer, sends to her niece, who is doing an English major at the University but doesn't want to read Jane Austen. So the letters starts by addressing Austen, her world, beliefs and
3.5 stars.
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