Jane Austen: Persuasion
Thursday, April 05, 2007
I have the old Penguin English Library version of 'Persuasion'. The spins was that peculiar orange that threatened to turn salmon pink in the wrong light and the front cover featured a painting of 'Cobb Gate, Lyme Regis'. It cost 50p in 1974 and I bought it because I had to: it was a set text for my 'A' Level English course. At the time I was interested in Joyce and Beckett - Lawrence at a pinch - so Austen was not an author I found an exciting prospect.
In the end I fell out so much with my English teacher over the syllabus that I refused to write any essays on 'Persuasion' and was suspended from college. Needless to say, I have come to appreciate Austen rather more since those days. This book, though, reminds me of a time that I made a lot of bad decisions and received very little guidance from those who should have been on hand to help me. No doubt I made their job very difficult but that is the nature of teaching: it has to be more than simply repeating only the information necessary to get the best students through their exams.
Not exactly 'Jane Austen ruined my life' but certainly a case of 'I was introduced to Jane Austen in the wrong way'. The 400 pages of my copy, combined with the classic Penguin paperback format of the time, make it almost the perfect dimension for a paperback book. Never mind the text, feel the weight!
I miss the Penguin formats of that time: the black Classics, the red/orange English Library, and the pale almost washed-out green of the Modern Classics.
In the end I fell out so much with my English teacher over the syllabus that I refused to write any essays on 'Persuasion' and was suspended from college. Needless to say, I have come to appreciate Austen rather more since those days. This book, though, reminds me of a time that I made a lot of bad decisions and received very little guidance from those who should have been on hand to help me. No doubt I made their job very difficult but that is the nature of teaching: it has to be more than simply repeating only the information necessary to get the best students through their exams.
Not exactly 'Jane Austen ruined my life' but certainly a case of 'I was introduced to Jane Austen in the wrong way'. The 400 pages of my copy, combined with the classic Penguin paperback format of the time, make it almost the perfect dimension for a paperback book. Never mind the text, feel the weight!
I miss the Penguin formats of that time: the black Classics, the red/orange English Library, and the pale almost washed-out green of the Modern Classics.
Labels: Jane Austen
