Evening star., 1933-01-07
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

! would have loved her wit, her well-hred
sarcasm, her descriptions, her conver-
sations. her story plots and actions, ir
short, her novels.
But, thank heaven, she is not a cult
as the Bronte sisters have become. She
is still. to most of us, good novel.
Her quiet, delightful pages, some say
are Mid Victorian" Usually they saw
that with sneer, as if it were a sort
Of modern crime to be "Mid-Victorian
When you hear some one say that
in relation to Jane Austen, know one
of two things: Either that the sneaker
| is not one born to read Emma" and
| Mansfield Park" or that he is irwin
| to excuse himself
The joke is that no excuse is neces.
sary
| There is another thing the writer
mere telicltates himself upon, and that
Is In having, for decade, written al
ways against the idea that one must
nave read, or at least pretend to have
read, all the great books"
Nothing could be farther from the
truth. No one has read all the great
books, nor should one. And there is
no use IN any one pretending that he
has. -4s
Above all, one should never feel that
the real boOkman is casting refections
upon him by asking if he has read
| so-and-so. N
JUST because some persons specialize
IN asking this question. in order IN
heap ridlcule upon another, is no rea-
son Tor fearing the question.
To all such persons, reply. "Oh of
course, II you will, but when the gen
ulne booklover asks it, feel sure thai he
Is not trying to get something on YOU "
IN a literary way, but simply asking
! because ne is interested. Mostly he will
want 10 direct your attention to some
thlng ne has discovered himself. The
chanceS are that he has missed 50
many great ones" that he is unwilling
having run onto something. to permit
a fellow to miss it, once he has
Sir Walter Scott said of Jane Aus+er
as quoted in E. V. Lucas article in ~ ~. tha
Encyclopedia Brittanica: '--'
That young lady had a talent for
describing the inducements feeIinos
and characters of ordinary life wbicb
Is 10 me the most wonderful I have
ever met with.
=, Inc Dig boW-wow I can do myself
IKE any one going but the exn,iisite
touch which renders connonnlace
things and characters interesting from
the truth of the descriptions and tha
sentiment Is denied to me" ~ ''-'
High praise that and lust
Mr.. Lucas (who, by the Wav was in
washington not long ago.. saws tbet
critics are generally agreed that Mis-
Austen has never been approached in
ner own domain" He points to her
lronlcal humor, the dramatic progress
sion OF her stories, and her f1owine
prose style. -""iiie
Macauley, he says, idolized her He
work. e'e"'e"'
The great Disraeli read pride and
Prejudice" II times. Mr.. Lucas feels
that Emma" is the best, a iudgment
IN which the present reader concurs
1t Is our hope that few more r,er-
sons, who at present DO not know thev
ike these novels, will find out that they
do, as the result Of reading the present
| article. The best minds are Extremely
easy to commune with, after all. All
one has to do is not to be afraid of
them "a
Miss Jane was best mind" because
She combined certain lightness and
| 6deitness with a certain solidity and
humanity She did what she set ont
70 DO, and she cid it well. What more
can any reader ask?