Roger Gard (1936–2000)

Rating a book like this is somewhat difficult, because it depends in part upon audience. This is a book that defends ordinary readers of Jane Austen, but I would not say that it is a book for them. Given the subtitle: "The Art of Clarity," the cover, a detail of a painting by Turner, seemed ironic. The painting is a somewhat crudely painted room inhabited by vaguely human-shaped blobs of paint. Whatever one may think of Turner, "clarity" is not an adjective I would use for the illustration. (Oddly enough, the illustration looks better in the little reproduction in LibraryThing than it does in person. Apparently, one needs to stand back from Turner's painting.)

Gard's writing is not a model of clarity either: his sentences are often convoluted, extremely long, include untranslated French passages, and forced me to seek a dictionary a number of times. One also needs to have read more 18th & 19th century literature than I have, since Gard is forever attempting to make a point by comparing Austen to some other work that I haven't read and that isn't sufficiently explained. I have read Madame Bovary, but I don't remember anything about her greyhound, so the comparison to Pug in Mansfield Park eludes me. That said, perhaps this is the sort of thing that professionals in literary criticism expect; indeed, I've read a lot worse, so perhaps I should only say that I don't recommend it to most people.

Gard does have a very worthwhile overall point, though. He argues that, contrary to what literary historians may argue, it is not necessary to do extensive research into Austen's life and times to understand her works. They are clear as they stand. I personally have read a number of the types of books that he mentions, like Alison Sulloway's Jane Austen and the Province of Womanhood, which I liked and Gard doesn't. I would agree with him that such reading is not necessary to understand Austen's work, although it can be interesting. I have an interest in the period beyond my enjoyment of Jane Austen, so I found it fascinating, but I don't think that I suddenly understand the books much better. I thank Gard for his confidence in common readers.… (more)