Well, having caught up on Christmas stuff, just a few presents left to wrap

when the kids are asleep, I spent this afternoon reading Northanger Abbey.

Not prime Jane: I agree with the common opinion that all the

mock-affectionate references to the pop fiction of Jane’s own time (which of

course nobody has read for 150 yrs) get a bit tedious. I thought the sudden

appearance of Eleanor’s lover on the last page but one was also a bit much;

and the General’s change of temper — from

kind-and-worldly-if-slightly-formidable to

suspicious-calculating-gullible-and-resentful — was unconvincing to me.

Still, all one’s favorite Janeisms are there. I especially like the way

Jane deals with people who are decent and honest but silly or dim — the

kind of people the world is full of.

“Mrs. Allen was one of that numerous class of females, whose society can

raise no other emotion than surprise at there being any men in the world who

could like them well enough to marry them. She had neither beauty, genius,

accomplishment, nor manner. The airt of a gentlewoman, a great deal of

quiet, inactive good temper, and a trifling turn of mind, were all that

could account for her being the choice of a sensible, intelligent man like

Mr. Allen.”

I have met Mrs. Allen many times. We all have. That’s the pleasure of

reading Jane.