Persuasions #9, 1987 Page 46
Competition 1988 She spoke then, on being so
entreated. – What did she say? – Just what she ought, of course. A lady always does. (Emma, III, 13, p, 431) In Anthony Trollope’s copy of Emma, one of the many treasures in
the Taylor Collection in Princeton which many of us visited after the New York
conference, appears this comment, in Trollope’s own handwriting: “I cannot but
notice Miss Austen’s timidity in dealing with the most touching scenes which
come her way, and in avoiding the narration of those details which a bolder
artist would eagerly have seized. In
the first scene between Emma and her lover, – when the conversation has become
almost pathetic, – she breaks away from the spoken dialogue and simply tells us
of her hero’s success. This is a cowardice
which robs the reader of much of the charm which he has promised himself. (August 17, 1864).” Trollope has not been the only reader to be
disappointed, and this year’s competition gives you the chance to satisfy such
people. You are invited to respond to
the question, What did Emma say?
|