John Sutherland, an academic and editor of many classic books, plays literary detective in this book of short essays. It’s an interesting premise, although some of the puzzles he investigates are tediously pedantic. Who cares whether the pug belonging to Lady Bertram in Mansfield Park is male or female? Why do we need to know how many pianos Amelia Sedley of Vanity Fair has? I feel that all of the essays should have been equally interesting. The questions of whether Jane Eyre can be happy with the bigamist and Bluebeard-like Mr Rochester, or why Robinson Crusoe finds the single footprint, are more thought-provoking and wide-ranging.
Obviously to get any enjoyment out of this book, you need to know the classics to which Sutherland refers. Out of the 34 classics featured, I’d read 22. I skipped the essays about those I hadn’t read. I think this book would be a useful resource for literature tutors. The writing style is not as academic as some literary criticism is, as it’s intended for any classics fan. However, there were some words I’d not encountered before.
Not particularly recommended but if, like me, you find it in a charity shop, you could give it a go.
First published in 1997 by Oxford University Press. Revised edition in 2017 by Icon Books.
How interesting! I love charity shop bookshelves, you never know what you will find.
But what did you think, would Jane Eyre be happy with Mr Rochester or would she always be wondering when he would fall in love with someone else?
Surely Jane could not be totally happy being married to a deceiving bigamist but maybe she would consider his being blinded a fitting punishment and they can start over 😁
Ouch! You’re even harder-hearted than me!
I did study Jane Eyre so I’ve seen lots of perspectives on it!
I can imagine that anything published by Oxford University was originally expensive (?) sounds interesting. Can’t remember which classics I have read and which I haven’t
It may not have been that expensive, as it’s not exactly a textbook. I can’t always remember which classics I’ve read, so I keep a reading database ☺
I haven’t read many classics so I’d probably miss the fun of this book! Great review!
I think the premise of the book was more fun than the execution of it, but there were certainly some interesting discussion points. Thanks for checking my review out!