Message-ID: <22809950.1075846767921.JavaMail.evans@thyme>
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 10:36:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: susan.scott@enron.com
To: benjamin.freeman@enron.com
Subject: Re: How can you not be a fan?
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I could let the fluff comment fly if you were referring to a woman that had=
=20
written such works in present day, but given that Austen was dealing with a=
=20
completely different world with decidedly different expectations for the=20
women in it  I cannot.  The fact that she was able to challenge those limit=
ed=20
expectations and never allow her heroines to sell themselves short or=20
compromise their character should not be taken for granted.  Yes, there is =
a=20
definite romantic bent to her works, but in addition their is amazing insig=
ht=20
into people, their motives, their struggles and their capacity to surprise=
=20
even themselves.  And in the end, what conquers in her novels is the union =
of=20
two individuals who have the utmost respect and appreciation for each other=
's=20
minds and characters not the unequal and servile relationships that=20
constituted the norm for that time.


---------------------- Forwarded by Susan M Scott/HOU/ECT on 05/11/2000 05:=
23=20
PM ---------------------------
From: Benjamin Freeman@ENRON on 05/11/2000 05:16 PM
To: Susan M Scott/HOU/ECT@ECT
cc: =20
Subject: Re: How can you not be a fan? =20

I can see the attraction of Jane Austen's characters. Their complicated=20
characters are intriguing and laughable. Yet I still prefer other genres -=
=20
things that I can more concretely apply to my daily life. It is obvious tha=
t=20
the same words speak differently for different people.=20

And thank you for keeping my literary brain cells alive with your sporadic=
=20
injections of Austen-type-fluff. (Despite the fact that the Little Woodrow'=
s=20
nighttime activities are killing other brain cells.)

=20



Susan M Scott@ECT
05/11/2000 11:55 AM
To: Benjamin Freeman/Corp/Enron@ENRON
cc: =20

Subject: How can you not be a fan?

Today we remember Jane Austen, the British writer born on this date in 1775=
.=20
Austen depreciated herself as a "miniaturist" and a domestic novelist of=20
restricted scope, but her literary legacy is large. She was also able to la=
y=20
self-deprecation aside, however, and in Northanger Abbey she declared that=
=20
novels -- her chosen genre -- are works in which "the greatest powers of th=
e=20
mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, t=
he=20
happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and=
=20
humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language."=01(

Austen's work brims with general statements that are contradicted by the=20
people in her stories. For instance, Pride and Prejudice opens by noting th=
at=20
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of=
 a=20
good fortune, must be in want of a wife." The book then describes Mrs.=20
Bennett, mother of a household full of marriageable daughters as "a woman o=
f=20
mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper." As Austen=20
acquaints us with the tale of each daughter's engagements, she=20
wonders,                    "For what do we live, but to make sport for our=
=20
neighbors and  laugh at them in our turn?"As Austen acquaints us with the=
=20
tale of each daughter's engagements, she wonders, "For what do we live, but=
=20
to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?"