Reading Romance
In honor of St. Valentine’s Day – which I’m not a fan of, it’s a made-for-Hallmark holiday – I am reading a romance novel. This is unusual for me, as I often criticize books as being too romantic. I do have to qualify my claim by adding that it’s a literary romance by an author some call the originator of the modern novel. The book? Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
Like all of her books, it is a vivid and intricately detailed window into Austen’s time, emotionally profound while romantically subtle. There are layers of social, economic, class and morality commentary woven through the romantic storyline. It’s her last completed work, some say her most autobiographical and mournful in tone, and well worth the read.