"Yes, novels; for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel–writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances, to the number of which they are themselves adding.... There seems almost a general wish of decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labour of the novelist, and of slighting the performances which have only genius, wit, and taste to recommend them. “I am no novel–reader — I seldom look into novels — Do not imagine that I often read novels — It is really very well for a novel.” Such is the common cant. “And what are you reading, Miss — ?”

“Oh! It is only a novel!” replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. “It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda”; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best–chosen language." --Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Chapter 5

Sunday, July 6, 2014

A Pride and Prejudice relationship chart

My husband read my book. He kept telling me he was going to read it, but I really didn't think he would, because he never reads fiction. He reads--he reads lots of books; just not fiction. However, I was wrong! He did read it, once we got a hard copy.

Now, my husband is familiar with Pride and Prejudice in a general way. He's watched at least parts of various movie versions, and I will sometimes talk to him about the characters and what I'm writing about. However, he is not so familiar as to remember exactly who everybody is, and a few chapters into UA, he was asking me a lot of questions about how different people were related. To help him, I made him the following set of family trees, and I thought I would post it here too.





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2 comments:

  1. Shannon KJuly 7, 2014 at 11:13 AM

    Nice, especially the inclusion of locations and estate names! Thanks for posting.

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  2. Jack AthertonMay 7, 2022 at 6:32 AM

    Dear Lara,
    Forgive the impertinence but my wife and I feel you are a friend. Unequal Affections not only delights us but also has prompted us to reflect on the nature of our own love and marriage.
    At first I resisted your premise. Jane's Lizzy, and ours, never would have accepted Darcy. You perhaps felt that way too, and therefore began your book just after his insulting proposal. You also delayed discussion of Darcy's interference with Charles, and his reasons for cutting Wickham.
    Yet we came to realize that the brilliance of your premise allows readers to explore Darcy's character, and his coming to character, far for profoundly than Austen does in having him admit, "I have been a selfish being all my life". This is of course not a criticism of Jane, but your prismatic variation on the book is a revelation, in its way a very Christian revelation.
    We also feel that, without being pedantic, you've educated us about Pride and Prejudice. For instance, we never noted the essential similarity between the proposals of Darcy and Mr Collins.
    Thank you so much, Lara. We began your book as Janeites. Now we are also Ormistonians!
    Jack Atherton

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