In the winter months, for whatever reason, AZ and I turn to older books. The comfort of a musty tome on a chilly evening, even if we don't own any brandy snifters.

Some Trollope in recent years, or (in AZ's case) often older novels like Richardson's Clarissa. This week has been taken up by Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice, having been reminded by the recent film adaptation what a great yarn it is. And it truly is wonderful, full of ups and downs and internal discovery. What I didn't expect was the impact the book would have on my dream state. Austen's long sentences and referral based exposition (better to show the impact of the action than the action itself) has made my dreams both wordier and more elusive, and this appears to have carried over into some of my daytime broodings as well. I should do a word count on my outbound emails to see if this is leaking further.

I wonder, if I were to take up Hemingway would my subconscious become punchier and brisker?

Two more Austen notes: I see that there is a recovering and rebranding campaign underway, which feels needless to me. And I took a look at several pages of Berdoll's Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues this weekend. Not to be bought, unless you like the bodice-ripper format

Update: curiously, Rael appears to have Austen on the mind also.

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Posted by esinclai at January 19, 2006 06:51 AM |