Jane Austen discussion

Time to get the discussion started. Give us your general impressions of the story, the writing style, whatever. Be sure to alert the group to spoilers, because we are all at different points in the read.

The first thing that struck me was how much the opening paragraphs of Udolpho reminded me of the beginning of Northanger Abbey. In particular, I could hear the woman narrator from the current film!

Okay, I've read 3 chapters now. Has anyone else started? Lots of description of scenery.....

--part 1, no spoilers--

I just finished chapter 8 of volume 1, and the plot is beginning to thicken! For those of you who are bogged down at the beginning of the book, hang in there. The author is slowly and carefully setting up the elements of the plot.

--part 2, spoilers--

Emily is a lot like Marianne Dashwood. They both love music and have a passion for nature. They are both strongly attached to their family. They both have the tendency toward excessive sensibility which gets them into trouble at times. Emily has already fainted several times, which seemed silly to me. I don't remember ever seeing anyone faint. But then I remembered that when my daughter was about 12, she hyperventilated 3 times within a few months. If someone hadn't helped her regulate her breathing, she may have fainted. So maybe Emily's fainting isn't as unrealistic as I thought at first. The scene where Valancourt is wounded and Emily faints reminds me of the scene in Persuasion when Louisa Musgrove is injured and Mary's reaction makes the situation more difficult for those who are trying to care for Louisa.

I am wondering what is written on the papers that Emily has been instructed to burn without reading. Will we ever find out what they are? Emily has sworn to obey her father's dying request, and so far she seems to be not only a very obedient daughter, but a person of integrity who would honor her promise.

Jeannette wrote: "Okay, I've read 3 chapters now. Has anyone else started? Lots of description of scenery....."

I've started - barely. I'm having a hard time getting "hooked" by the story. Scenery, landscapes ... more landscapes ... lol

I am reading, but will check in maybe even in the morning as to where I am -- I skipped over Alicia's post because I don't believe I am that far. Wordy, yes, but I am enjoying it in a way! More later!

Now that I know I have company I will soldier on. Chapter 2 is very short, and in spite of all the scenery, quite a bit has happened to set up the story.

Okay, more scenery, and then something happens.

This is the same way I experienced reading The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. It took forever to get to anything even remotely shocking.

The Mysteries of Udolpho was the Twilight of Jane Austen's time--wildly popular, loved by teenage girls, romantic, emotionally charged, and eerie. And some people considered it unwholesome and inappropriate for young minds.

I'm just impressed that they had to soldier on through so many chapters to get to the unwholesome parts. Do you know if this was published in volumes, or just as one big book?

It must have been four volumes, according to my Oxford version. That would make sense with a gothic mystery, right? Readers would get absorbed in all these details -- possibly reread it several times -- because the next volume wouldn't come out for a while.

Alicia, I know you have already posted some details in this thread, but if you wouldn't mind, I will start a Vol One-Spoilers thread. We don't have to discuss it exclusively this way, but this is my thinking--

We may just leave this discussion going for a while and even those of us reading it now may take a while to complete it. So I think it wouldn't hurt to have Vol 1-4 threads, due to this size of this thing. We can always add threads about other points we want to bring up.

no spoilers--
I tried to read The Mysteries of Udolpho after seeing the movie The Jane Austen Book Club, in which one of the characters reads the book. But I wasn't able to get beyond the first couple of chapters. This time, with the hope of being able to discuss the book with others, I have been able to get farther into the book, and it's become interesting. I think it's helped that I'm listening to the book rather than actually reading it. I listen while I fold laundry, cut up vegetables, etc. I have to admit that during the long descriptions of scenery I let my mind wander. People must have appreciated those descriptions more back then. Do you think it's because they didn't have movies or even photographs to show them what other places looked like, and they had to rely on drawings and descriptions?

Starting a thread for Volume 1 is a good idea. I've got some things I want to discuss about it. I'm well into Volume 2 now. Some of the events that Catherine Moreland talks about in Northanger Abbey have happened.

I have to admit I have started to "skim" read, and that may be the only thing that will keep me going until I get to the good bits. I can read a lot of a book in a shorter space of time this way!

Hey Alicia, that is an interesting thought about the long descriptions. It was not a multi-media society then as now, so we probably have a different view of what is too much description. Wow, think about how society has changed. That is always interesting about classic works. I have the book in hand (or onscreen!) and I read without always thinking of how things were when someone FIRST picked up this book. Think of where and how that person may have lived, what he/she wore, what their worldview was. So different!

Jeannette even skimming this one can take some time, huh? I skimmed some a first, but then last night and basically went back and reread the first part. So that may be my method if I start floundering.