Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 4:33PM | by Otter 
Calls 'em like she sees 'em: See Jane Write. Write, Jane, Write.I just finished reading Mansfield Park to my mother... I think that the aggressive spate of Austen films lately has been sort of interesting: it's difficult to say whether we're interested in Austen's judgments about people or not. I hope so. A clear eye is useful in any age.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 7:37AM | by Otter 
Brain-Goddess Goes Berserk and Hurls Prose Lightening BoltI love Jane Austen as much as the next reader. But now and again she goes off the rails. I just read this sentence to mom and couldn't stop laughing.
His mind, now disengaged from the cares which had pressed on him at first, was at leisure to find the Grants and their young inmates really worth visiting; and though infinitely above scheming or contriving for any the most advantageous matrimonial establishment that could be among the apparent possibilities of any one most dear to him, and disdaining even as a littleness the being quick-sighted on such points, he could not avoid perceiving, in a grand and careless way, that Mr. Crawford was somewhat distinguishing his niece—nor perhaps refrain (though unconsciously) from giving a more willing assent to invitations on that account.
Mansfield Park, Chapter XXV (or Volume II Chapter VII, depending on your edition).
I know some of you Austen Commandos will say this is as clear as day, but all I can say is your neurons are hitched differently to mine. For me this is the prose equivalent of riding a tilt-a-whirl with an octopus.
Jane Austen, Prose in Arts & Reviews Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 5:41AM | by Otter 
Towards the sunset of your life, you or someone you love will be in the hospital. All over the ward, bored people will be watching television.
Raise your children and yourself in such a way that instead you ring a little bell by the bedside table, and someone wakes up, wraps himself in a blanket, and reads you Mansfield Park.
Cancer, Jane Austen, Television in Cancer, Literature 
