Apart from the tired/tiring but still weirdly fascinating view of romance novel as bad social/ moral influence, I think one of the quotes from Feder's book that puzzles me most is:
“The [Darcy myth is the] fantasy that the person who at first seems arrogant and insulting will in fact become your soulmate once you put in the work, and might in fact ultimately be more of a catch because you had to convince them.”
This to me reads more like a description of Lizzie Bennett than Darcy - he had to work a lot harder to convince her (and the family members whose opinions, outside the Gardiners, really mattered to her) than vice versa! Rather than being rake-adjacent, a case might equally be made for Darcy being a prototypical Nice Guy whose Good Works for his Beloved ought to be rewarded (by the girl saying yes, obvs). And that doesn't fit either, since Darcy does the work believing it will remain secret and expecting nothing in return.
Hm. I'm neither a Janeite nor a Darcy apologist, but apparently I had some thoughts about this :) Thanks for the chance to share them!
Read this on slate and had to come and immediately subscribe to your substack, only to realize I already follow you on TikTok!
Slightly unrelated, are you still doing the historical romance book club with the discord server?
xx
That last paragraph kicks ass. You continue to be both insightful and very funny.
Fantastic per usual Chels!
This was fantastic!
Great essay!
Apart from the tired/tiring but still weirdly fascinating view of romance novel as bad social/ moral influence, I think one of the quotes from Feder's book that puzzles me most is:
“The [Darcy myth is the] fantasy that the person who at first seems arrogant and insulting will in fact become your soulmate once you put in the work, and might in fact ultimately be more of a catch because you had to convince them.”
This to me reads more like a description of Lizzie Bennett than Darcy - he had to work a lot harder to convince her (and the family members whose opinions, outside the Gardiners, really mattered to her) than vice versa! Rather than being rake-adjacent, a case might equally be made for Darcy being a prototypical Nice Guy whose Good Works for his Beloved ought to be rewarded (by the girl saying yes, obvs). And that doesn't fit either, since Darcy does the work believing it will remain secret and expecting nothing in return.
Hm. I'm neither a Janeite nor a Darcy apologist, but apparently I had some thoughts about this :) Thanks for the chance to share them!
I’m sure you’ve heard this…
https://youtu.be/R6WGTHihQqg?si=pCdppxOjCgrXwZdK