Saturday, September 23, 2006

Geraldine Brooks

So if Ms. Brooks were to imagine a novel told from the point of view of one of the male characters, whose story would you be most interested to hear: Willoughby, Brandon or Edward?
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10 comments:

kc said...

That's a great flippin' question, George! I'll have to say Col. Brandon. (but I gotta catch the paper, so I'll explain later)

1:27 AM, September 23, 2006
george said...

I'd pick the colonel, too. Austen made him intriguing in that he was first rather drab, but ended up having a lot of depth. And there would be a lot to his story, going back to his former love and his relationship with her daughter, his friendship with Middleton and how he ended up winning over Marianne.

9:26 PM, September 23, 2006
Erin said...

Yeah, great question, G! I think I would pick Col. Brandon, too. I would have liked to know his thoughts a little better throughout the novel. It would've ruined the mystery, of course, but I was pretty unclear about his motivations throughout. Everyone kept saying that he was in love with Marianne, but I wasn't completely convinced. I had left open the possibility of Brandon and Elinor winding up together.

10:14 PM, September 23, 2006
kc said...

Yeah, Brandon seems like someone with an interesting past, and he has broad understanding of the world.

Willoughby's story would probably be a rake's progress — one dissipation after another — but it could be interesting. If Chuck Palahniuk were telling it, he'd enumerate with glee every STD that Willoughby passed on to his new rich, pretty wife. And, of course her fate would be presented as a just rebuke for not being Marianne.

Edward — I'll have to agree with Marianne's initial impression — is sort of boring. He is so bound by the convention of his day that he is effectively paralyzed; he is willing, for "honor's sake," to commit himself to someone he does not love — someone who, in fact, repulses him — and does not deserve him, and to make Elinor miserable in the process. He's like the hero in Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence," who gives up the great love of his life, his reason for finding life interesting, in order to bow to an outmoded code of "honor." And there IS a certain honor in it. They're both very principled men, and their self-discipline in their sacrifice either bespeaks unimpeachable honor OR a passion that, alas, was really not that overwhelming. So I was going to say that Edward's story would not be interesting, but then it occurs to me that he is exactly the type of man Edith Wharton was working with, and the story she told was riveting.

10:35 AM, September 24, 2006
kc said...

Did you guys catch near the end where Elinor and Edward are discussing how they will manage financially, and the narrator observes: "they were neither of them quite enough in love to think that three hundred and fifty pounds a year would supply them with the comforts of life."

I think Austen there is poking fun at the Romantics who thought love conquered all, but I think she also was making a pointed remark about the nature of their attachment; it was not one of overwhelming passion — they would have been sad to not get together in the end, but had they not, they would have coped calmy and rationally, and their emotions would never rise to the surface for anyone to see.

10:44 AM, September 24, 2006
george said...

Yeah, that was a good line -- sort of how love can make you stupid, but it wasn't going to get in the way of Elinor's sensibilities.

12:35 PM, September 24, 2006
kc said...

Elinor's sense, you mean. Hehe

1:48 PM, September 24, 2006
cl said...

I disagree with all of you. I think the colonel would tell a dull tale, nice man that he is.

Since Edward got himself into such a mess, it would be fun to hear the story from his point of view. Wouldn't it be great to read the awkward Edward-Lucy-Elinor parlor perspective from the man in the middle? Would he recognize Lucy's manipulative ministrations for what they were?

It also would be fun for him to narrate Marianne's behavior from a male point of view. And I think he could have accurately assessed each sister's character. He also might have acquainted us better with Mrs. Ferrars.

1:51 PM, September 28, 2006
kc said...

Good points, cl, about his perspective on things.

4:36 PM, September 28, 2006
Erin said...

Yeah, Edward would be interesting, you're right. I would love it if Edward had a secret cauldron of passion, bubbling away just below the surface. A model of pent-up emotion and sexual energy.

And I'm sure he would've seen right through Lucy.

4:43 PM, September 28, 2006

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