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A review by savage_book_review
Sandition, Lady Susan, and the History of England by Jane Austen
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
Another book I was inspired to read after listening to The History Chicks podcast and their Jane Austen episodes. It was the fact that they had mentioned a work I'd not heard of before, 'The History of England', that piqued my interest and, as it was supposedly funny, I thought I'd give it a try.
My library service only had this book available which included it, and even though I've never been a huge fan of classic literature, I wanted to try and be good and read the whole thing. However, it quickly became evident that I was never going to get through it. I struggled through the first few stories to get to The History of England and just couldn't bear it any more.
This collection is apparently printed in approximate chronological order, with the works Jane wrote as a young teenager first. And boy can you tell. They are completely nonsensical, over the top melodramatics, devoid of any depth, characterisation and plot structure. I can only compare it to a young child writing a one page story that makes perfect sense in their own head, but is gibberish to everyone else. I can appreciate that this is a young person trying to hone her craft, and that her experiences are far removed from my own, but ultimately being so far removed from the author just makes that confusion even more pronounced.
As for The History of England... Well, the upside is I know enough about that subject that I could follow it more easily. For that alone, it now stands as my favourite Jane austen work. However, while I can see that it probably is meant to be funny, lighthearted and a mickey-take (and can even appreciate some of the jokes!), it's a very odd little piece. In some ways, this is the type of overview you want of the rulers of England; short, snappy and along the lines of 'I couldn't tell you what dates they were around if you paid me, but they were brilliant/bad/boring while they did it!'. There's an undying love for Mary Queen of Scots and a hatred of Elizabeth I which I'm not entirely sure isn't sincere, and some rather random illustrations provided by Jane's sister Cassandra which bear no resemblance to known portraits. But equally it seems like a pretty pointless exercise - it's neither serious nor satire, and definitely not what I was expecting.
I've always struggled with Jane's writing anyway, so I knew that, even if I continued, I would derive no real pleasure from reading the rest. I tried but, even with the lowest of expectations, feel incredibly disappointed.
My library service only had this book available which included it, and even though I've never been a huge fan of classic literature, I wanted to try and be good and read the whole thing. However, it quickly became evident that I was never going to get through it. I struggled through the first few stories to get to The History of England and just couldn't bear it any more.
This collection is apparently printed in approximate chronological order, with the works Jane wrote as a young teenager first. And boy can you tell. They are completely nonsensical, over the top melodramatics, devoid of any depth, characterisation and plot structure. I can only compare it to a young child writing a one page story that makes perfect sense in their own head, but is gibberish to everyone else. I can appreciate that this is a young person trying to hone her craft, and that her experiences are far removed from my own, but ultimately being so far removed from the author just makes that confusion even more pronounced.
As for The History of England... Well, the upside is I know enough about that subject that I could follow it more easily. For that alone, it now stands as my favourite Jane austen work. However, while I can see that it probably is meant to be funny, lighthearted and a mickey-take (and can even appreciate some of the jokes!), it's a very odd little piece. In some ways, this is the type of overview you want of the rulers of England; short, snappy and along the lines of 'I couldn't tell you what dates they were around if you paid me, but they were brilliant/bad/boring while they did it!'. There's an undying love for Mary Queen of Scots and a hatred of Elizabeth I which I'm not entirely sure isn't sincere, and some rather random illustrations provided by Jane's sister Cassandra which bear no resemblance to known portraits. But equally it seems like a pretty pointless exercise - it's neither serious nor satire, and definitely not what I was expecting.
I've always struggled with Jane's writing anyway, so I knew that, even if I continued, I would derive no real pleasure from reading the rest. I tried but, even with the lowest of expectations, feel incredibly disappointed.