Emma's Reading List

[Zuzana]

Mr. Knightley discussing Emma’s faults with Mrs. Weston:

“Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was twelve years old. I have seen a great many lists of her drawing up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through–and very good lists they were–very well chosen and very neatly arranged–sometimes alphabetically and sometimes by some other rule. The list she drew up when only fourteen–I remember thinking it did her judgement so much credit that I preserved it some time; and I dare say she may have made out a very good list now. But I have done with expecting any course of steady reading from Emma. She will never submit to anything requiring industry and patience and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding.”

Emma, Volume 1, Chapter 5


I wonder what had Emma selected to be on her latest reading list. She created it for Harriet's benefit and planned to buddyread those books with her.

I'd love to create a challenge around this quote from Emma. Any ideas for books that would both fit the bill and be palatable for modern readers?

[Zuzana]

LIST - work in progress:


Plays
William Shakespeare's plays
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's plays: The School for Scandal, The Rivals
The Beggar's Opera by John Gay
She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith

Poetry
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Walter Scott
William Cowper
George Byron
Shakespeare's Sonnets

Novels
Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. by Jonathan Swift
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith (By Harriet's report Robert Martin read this novel.)
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
Fanny Burney's books: Evelina
Maria Edgeworth's books: Belinda
perhaps some gothic fiction to keep Harriet entertained?: Anne Radcliffe's books, The Castle of Otranto, The Old English Baron, Nightmare Abbey

Non-fiction
Samuel Johnson: Selected Essays from the "Rambler," "Adventurer," and "Idler"

[Laurie B]

Fun idea!

[Zuzana]

I wonder how much of the Ancient classic literature women read back then. They weren't encouraged to learn Ancient Greek or Latin (usually reserved for men) so it would have been translations.

So Homer, Ovid, Virgil, Euripides, Sophocles?
Plato, Aristoteles?

[Zuzana]

Anyway, I have this list printed and folded on my bookshelf. It's been lying there for years. These are the books Jane Austen referenced in her letters or novels. Allusions to Books and Authors in Jane Austen's writings: https://pemberley.com/janeinfo/litall...

If you're lookinf for a lighter reading, this is a Book Riot article WHO JANE READ, WHO READ JANE: AUSTEN’S READERS AND FAVORITE BOOKS: https://bookriot.com/who-jane-read-wh...
They have a list of books that Jane possibly read:
1752 – Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennon
1753 – The History of Sir Charles Grandison by Samuel Richardson
1778 – Evelina by Frances Burney
1782 – Cecilia; Memoirs of an Heiress by Frances Burney
1783 – Adelaide and Theodore, or Letters on Education by Madame de Genlis
1785 – The Task: A Poem, in Six Books by William Cowper
1791 – The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe
1794 – The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
1796 – Camilla: A Picture of Youth by Frances Burney
1796 – The Monk by Mathew Lewis
1798 – A Practical Education by Maria Edgeworth
1800 – Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
1801 – Belinda by Maria Edgeworth
1801 – The Children of the Abbey, a Tale by Regina Maria Roche
1806 – Letters from The Mountains by Anne Grant
1808 – Cœlebs in Search of a Wife by Hannah More
1808 – Marmion (poem) by Sir Walter Scott
1809 – Woman; or, Ida of Athens by Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan
1810 – The Lady of the Lake (poem) by Sir Walter Scott
1811 – Self Control by Mary Brunton*
1813 – The Heroine; or, Adventures of a Fair Romance Reader by Eaton Stannard Barrett
1814 – The Corsair by Lord Byron
1814 – Alicia De Lacy, an Historical Romance by Jane West
1814 – Patronage by Maria Edgeworth
1814 – The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties by Frances Burney
1814 – Waverly by Sir Walter Scott
1815 – The Works of the Right Hon. Lord Byron
1816 – The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott
1816 – A Narrative of the Events… by Helen Maria Williams

I guess most of these would have been acceptable for Emma's reading list perhaps with the exception of The Monk - very scandalous for its time. A favorite of John Thorpe in Northanger Abbey though. :D