Men and Jane Austen

I might have listed this under "the Problem with Jane Austen" but it seemed to deserve its own heading. The problem is that the most likely to resist Jane Austen (or similar literature) in the classroom are the young men. Some aren't into it; some are against it altogether. Some claim they don't like the characters, etc, etc, etc...

I think it's common to have men reluctant to read real literature. Our society doesn't exactly go out of its way to promote literature as something "manly" after all, and the breakdown of males vs females in the academic literature classroom isn't in favour of boys at all. But literature isn't of itself a feminine pursuit; it's a human pursuit, as human as dreaming. If anything our culture is a bit out of sync, and is experiencing a pretty word reverse-sexist thing where men avoid letters (esp. here in Alberta!) whereas a century ago it would have been men who in many ways dominated letters. Solutions? Hug your children! Other than that or the occasional rant, I don't know.

But Jane Austen, by God, is something worth reading. Aside from some of the patriotic stuff I pushed a few days ago there's the sheer humanity of it. Love! Passion! And the male characters! Gentlemen, if you've read the book, read it again and pay close attention to Mr. Darcy. A manlier man there is none. Even his faults are simply manly virtues misperceived through the haze of prejudice started by Wickham. Chesterton (who?) thought that Austen understoon men better than some men he knew. And if you look at the men in the book, this is true. Wickham, Bingley, Darcy and Mr. Collins are all types of men we see around us (well, maybe not Collins) and the mistakes they make are related to their respective characters.

Yes, the unaccustomed mind doesn't immediately see all of this in the reading. But that's what practise is about. If you read carefully (slowly enough as if you meant to -gasp- enjoy the book) you'll find sarcasm, dry wit, genuine warmth and a sense of romance that is not at all restricted to women. God help us all if only the women in the world oare capable of that!

Gentlemen, read the books. If nothing else, you don't want to turn yourself into the sort of man who genuinely doesn't understand women nor care for their pleasures, their dreams, or the kind who genuinely thinks that the sorts of things a woman values are weak. You want to be that guy? Good luck getting married.