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"But what has always ammused me most has got to be "Fitz" I mean If you take what it means to have fitz in your name. "
"Fitz" generally implies that you come from an old Norman family - it is the French equilvalent of "Mac," "son" or "O'" in a surname.
Even its later use for bastard sons of kings is still a matter of honour - better to be acknowledged as having royal blood, even with no right to the throne, than to be a mere commoner.
Maybe its use here implies a snobbish claim to gentility.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rachel
Interesting question – I would tire of Collins far more quickly than even Mr. Bennet does, as I would Mrs. Bennet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightshade
I was being rather harsh because they are not grotesque in the way Dickens’ caricatures are. I meant that they are exaggerated to the point of making you want to slap them in the face with a wet fish (or even a dry one). A good example would be Mr. Collins or Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mrs. Bennet comes close, as well. I certainly don’t think all or even most of her characters are caricatures.
I admire Mr. Bennet's character. I enjoyed his witty style a lot.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Unnamable
~ "Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves."
"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least."
WOA! Slow down people. Lets remember that Night Stalker is new to Austen. He/She has no clue who palmer or Lady Middleton are.
Stalker, I would say, start with P&P. I love all of austen's novels, in fact I own ATLEAST 5 copies of each of her major works and atleast one copy of everything she wrote minus some letters. that said, everytime I try to hook a friend on Austen I have best success with Pride and Prejudice. Emma is the longest and new readers not used to her style of writing tend to get bogged down in the dialogue. Northanger Abbey is a spoof, harder to enjoy with out more background into what she was spoofing. S&S, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park all are much heavier on the drama. Whoever just mentioned that JA was at her best when she was being sarcastic hit the nail straight on the head and drove it in. So, again, start with Pride and Prejudice and then move to S&S or Emma, depending on whether you enjoy the drama or the wit more in P&P.
If you're looking for something easy to read, I would start with Northanger Abbey. I found it the easiest to read out of the published novels, and I have read them all. NA satirizes the Gothic novels that were popular at the time she was writing. As long as you keep that in mind, even without a lot of background on the stories she is satirizing and the time period, it is easy to see the humor in the situations she presents.
If you would like to read a good biography of Jane Austen for background information, try Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin. It is written in a style not unlike Austen's and is very enjoyable.
Northanger Abbey is the first Austen I ever read and it is a good read. Pride and Prejudice is an essential one of course, but one of the other good reads for a beginner I think is Sense and Sensibility.
I'm just in the process of building a new website called Austen for Beginners. It's still in the early stages, and only P&P and S&S are covered in detail so far, but it might be worth you having a look at!
www.austen-beginners.com
Julia
I agree that, for me at least, Emma was good, but a very slow read. Pride and Prejudice is much better. I haven't read Mansfield Park, but at some point I plan to.
yep i found northanger abbey the easiest to read as well. its very funny for jane austen teases the canonic elements of gothic novels and makes you really understand how she wants to write about real life, so she makes fun of what is definitely "novel-like"Quote:
Originally Posted by Scheherazade
.....though P&P is the best.....i really loved it ive read it 1000 times! i liked persuasion too but i think that its a bit heavy cause anne elliot at the beginning is quite annoying (she's too meek!!) but eventually u get to know why she's like so and you appreciate her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whifflingpin
this fitz-thing puzzles me excedeengly....how is it? mrs anne darcy slept with the king??? :confused: :confused: im just kidding but its very very very hard for me to understand (nightshad tried to explain it to me:p) i understood the matter of the bastard sons and of the descendents of norman families but i just cant understand which one is mr darcy's case!!!!! :banana: am as clever as a banana!!!!
I know this was posted a long time ago, but in case it can be of any use to anyone in the same situation, here’s what I’d recommend: start with Pride and Prejudice. This book is not too heavy on that great Austen analysis that later on you’ll learn to adore, and its plot is so captivating that you’ll get hooked on her style before you even realise it. If after reading it, you’re still not too crazy about her witty remarks and deep analysis, but liked the story, read S&S before you engage into something deeper, and probably denser like Emma.
Anyway, good luck with your choice, although, in my opinion you can never go wrong with Austen, her every book is not just a masterpiece, but incredibly entertaining!
I'd suggest either Mansfield Park or Northanger Abbey. Northanger Abbey doesn't need quite so much digesting and I find it stands out a bit from the other books Austen has written. The protagonist, Catherine Morland, appears to be much more of a 'challenge for contemporary society' than some of Austen's other female protagonists ;) lol. Mansfield Park I'd recommend strictly because I love the story to pieces :D. I'll agree with some previous posts on here and say that Pride and Prejudice (the slightly more obvious choice) might be good to start off with as it IS the most commonly known book by Jane Austen but if you're looking for something that doesn't need quite so much dissecting then I'd suggest Northanger Abbey, it's what I'd generally recommend to new-comers of Austen.
Try Sense & Sensibity it's my personal favorite!:) :) :)
I too would say start with Northanger Abbey. It's the easiest to get into I think, certainly the least complex. It gives a good start into what she's about i.e. just evaluation of human conduct, and humour.
Pride and Prejudice. Hands down. I've read all of Jane Austen's novels and it is by FAR the best. The others are of course, brilliant, but Pride and Prejudice has become "the" Jane Austen classic for a reason. I highly recommend that one! Enjoy and let me know what you think!!:thumbs_up