Spent the last year looking for moral seriousness. Reading not for big ideas, but for small ones, and for people--the point of the character novel. Eliot, Austen, and even Galsworthy. David Brooks. William Deresiewicz's "A Jane Austen Education." William James of course. Anthony Trollope.
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"[Austen's] genius began with the recognition that such lives as hers were very eventful indeed--that every life is eventful, if only you know how to look at it She did not think that her existence was quiet or trivial or boring; she thought it was delightful and enthralling, and she wanted us to see that our own are, too. She understood that what fills our days should fill our hearts, and what fills our hearts should fill our novels." (Deresiewicz 27)
"To pay attention to "minute particulars" is to notice your life as it passes, before it passes." (31)
"...novels--which, after all, are training grounds for responding to the world, imaginative sanctuaries in which to hone and test our ethical judgments and choices." (99)
"But [Mansfield Park's] most important word of all was "useful." "It is not in fine preaching only," Edmund told Mary, "that a good clergyman will be useful in his parish." Henry had sense enough to put "usefulness" next to "heroism" (the "glory" of usefulness, no less) in his admiration of William Price. Lady Bertram...it was the worst thing that Austen could say about her--"never thought of being useful to anybody."....Usefulness--seeing what people need and helping them get it--is support and compassion....Love, I saw, is a verb, not just a noun--an effort, not just another precious feeling." (157-58)
"Duty, exertion, resignation, and ultimately, happiness..." (160) Austen's ideals
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