"Persuasion"
by Jane Austen.
I chose to review a Jane Austen novel as historically I haven't been a fan. It would do me good. One of the classics.
Culture.
Even in 1968, I must have blagged my English literature O level.
I should have been quicker and reviewed Mansfield Park. The residents of our Mansfield domain called ourselves ‘The Courtiers.’
We have delusions of grandeur.
That title might have made me more interested in the storyline.
As it was, I struggled to get very far reading this novel.
The written language was detailed, decadent, languorous even.
The plot, predictable, privileged, poncey.
A romantic protagonist, Anne Elliott, living in a misogynist society, our Anne wanted to assert herself - but did she?
Anne did ’persuade’ me to consider the world Jane Austen lived in, her own circumstances and the role of women in that society.
Have we come five steps forward? In this country, maybe - but how many steps back? Isn’t society even more divided?
I made a mistake. I watched a 2022 film on Netflix which appears to have been quite true to the text.
A stylized modern interpretation.
I had the story; lost love, Anne loved Wentworth, a man with no prospects. He was rejected by her aged 19 on the advice of her confidant Mrs Russell, a lady who acted as protector and surrogate parent to Anne after her mother died.
A fop of a father and two ridiculous sisters. Just how did Anne escape sufficiently to have more than two brain cells? Fast forward to complicate the issue.
The family enter into penury, although letting a mansion and moving into society in Bath does not constitute destitution in my eyes.
Anne is persona no grata and superfluous to the family needs so is left behind to sort things out.
My, my my.
Just how the other half lives.
While she is staying with her sister, low and behold, Wentworth arrives back on the scene, where the two lovebirds ignore each other.
Add in another infatuated female until Anne and Wentworth realised they were made for each other.
End of story.
I went back and tried to read Jane Austen's prose. It was hard, hard work, only getting interesting when she introduced some sparky sarcastic dialogue.
Her characters were well defined but mostly unengaging.
I'm still not a fan of Jane Austen.
Mills and Boon learnt some excellent lessons.
Cath
November 2025.
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