"... with Jane Austen what we have is Mills & Boon written by a genius."
From Talking about Detective Fiction by P.D. James.
P.S. You may well wonder on what grounds the blessed Jane is cited in a book on detective fiction. All will be revealed..... or perhaps you'd like to guess?
Is it a Romantic Novel or a novel that contains some aspects of romance? Remind me what that is exactly ...
Is it at all useful to classify novels by genre or is that primarily a way of marketing them? Does categorization lead to a narrow-minded approach to our appreciation of literature, or does it assist?
Some thoughts for today from Dark Puss
Posted by: Dark Puss | 10 January 2010 at 10:27 AM
Hmmm I have no idea why Jane would be mentioned in a detective novel... maybe its in comparison to another author? Intriguing.
I am green with envy you have this book. After reading Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks I have been desperate to get my mitts on this.
Posted by: Simon (Savidge Reads) | 10 January 2010 at 12:30 PM
Austen writes "mysteries without murder" and controls the information passed on to the reader. Who is courting whom appears to be a feature of her novels. All of this would lead James I think to refer to her in the book you quote from.
Posted by: Dark Puss | 10 January 2010 at 02:57 PM
Emma is my guess.
Posted by: Barbara | 10 January 2010 at 03:45 PM
I second Barbara's guess -- Emma. It's a mystery (who sent Jane Fairfax that piano?) with many clues buried in the text -- as often as not, in the seemingly endless prattle of Miss Bates, one of my favorite characters in literature.
Posted by: Karen | 10 January 2010 at 04:02 PM
Yes it has to be Emma, I agree. The secret of Frank Churchill & Jane Fairfax has many clues in the text, although I admit that on my 1st reading, I did not think to look for such clues and missed the whole jing bang!
Posted by: Sandy | 10 January 2010 at 09:03 PM
Just to let you know I've tagged you in a meme! Have a go if you think it looks fun, and let me know if you do... enjoy!
Info. here: http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com/2010/01/tag.html
Simon
Posted by: Simon T | 10 January 2010 at 11:29 PM