From Wilkie Collins to Jane Austen . . .

This week, I've been rereading Austen's Persuasion (for another book-related project) and what a wonderful indulgence it has proven to be! My favourite Austen novel!

It occurred to me while reading that the cadence of 19th century expression -- not to mention the depth -- the less harried approach, would make our manner of conversing seem to them (perhaps) to be a bit hasty, if not hysterical at times. I love the length and depth of the sentences. The way meaning is deliberate, careful . . . assumed, in fact.

A snippet from Persuasion (I've just reached this point in the novel, the Lady Russell recipe for the ideal in 'agreeable and estimable' men . . . personified, so she thinks, in the reformed Mr. Elliot):

Everything united in him; good understanding, correct opinions, knowledge of the world, and a warm heart. He had strong feelings of family attachment and family honour, without pride or weakness; he lived with the liberality of a man of fortune, without display; he judged for himself in everything essential, without defying public opinion in any point of worldly decorum. He was steady, observant, moderate, candid; never run away with by spirits or by selfishness, which fancied itself strong feeling; and yet, with a sensibility to what was amiable and lovely, and a value for all the felicities of domestic life, which characters of fancied enthusiasm and violent agitation seldom really possess.

Indeed. For all that, though, Captain Wentworth always has my vote, of course. Though he has a bit of selfishness about him, and does have a penchant for a bit of public-defying every now and again. All of Austen's men, in fact, have amiable defects . . . which is just as it should be, really.