influential beats
3musesmerge.substack.com
LoveLetterist pulls a barely cracked copy of Pride and Prejudice from the shelf.
Cal raises her brows as she recalls the micro-dent they made in the novel several years ago. “Romance?”
“We’re NOT reading it for the romance!” Nia clarifies.
“Well maybe a lihhht-tal for the rohhhh-manz,” Tal taps her heart, “Romance engenders hope! Fihc-shun is a fantastic change agent! Ahhhnd — that special forces guy gave us a nudge.”
There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened by the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.
~Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice
A note from LoveLetterist:
Several years ago, after hearing a trusted connection gush about her admiration for Pride and Prejudice, I purchased a copy.
I made it several pages in, decided "Not for me!", and parked it on a shelf.
Isn't LIFE funny?
Yesterday I saw a clip of a special forces military guy.
In it he said he and his wife agreed to choose books and read them simultaneously. The only rule is that the book has to be a classic. His wife chose Pride and Prejudice.
He was on a deployment. He felt sheepish about the book in his pack. AND... he came away from the novel with a recognition that Elizabth Bennet is one of the strongest female characters he's experienced. She could put an aristocrat into his place and make it look like child's play.
He said... Jane Austen is brilliant!
And that's why I am now reading Pride and Prejudice... so that I might learn from Elizabeth.
What is something you have changed your mind about?
What, or who, cracked you open?
I don't know if I've tried Pride and Prejudice, Gail, but I've given up on Moby Dick a couple of times as an adult. Recently, I got sucked into the Netflix series Bridgerton, then the PBS series Downton Abbey. In both, I was struck by the strong, assertive female characters. Maybe this is my nudge to try Pride and Prejudice. Or maybe I'll wait to see how far you get...