A Book Review on the novel Persuasion by Jane Austen

Abstract

This paper is to review the classic novel “Persuasion”, an Oxford Bookworms edition retold by Clare West. The author, Jane Austen, was born in the romantic period in England in the early nineteenth century and is considered as the first and greatest female novelist. (Duong, 2014,October, in class lecture) According to Wikipedia, Jane Austen wrote this magnificent work in her later years of life, and it was also her last novel before her untimely death. Therefore, Persuasion is even greater still, for it is the remnant of the gifted British author who gave the world such pleasure and delight by her fascinating creations and descriptions. Similar to other of Jane Austen’s celebrated works, the theme in Persuasion focuses itself on marriage, love, remembrance, rank and money. The complex and sinister connections between the characters and themselves are also an interesting part which I shall analyze in the paper; the awkward situations and hardships are so alike to our real life and written in such a vivid way that it is impossible not to be addicted to this excellent novel. The story is about Anne Elliot, who was born in a high class society. However, she loved a man who had not enough money or rank to convince her arrogant and silly father to let her marry him. Hence from then on she was never truly happy. After eight years, a chance stuck Anne again and it is up to her whether she is able to stay her position and triumph over all the persuasions and marry the love of her life. Hopefully, this paper will give clear demonstrations on the settings, major themes and characters, proving the value of this intriguing novel.

本文是一篇書評寫作，書名為《勸導》(Persuasion)。此書評參照的版本是由Clare West來重述Jane Austen的經典名作。作者珍•奧斯汀(Jane Austen)出生於十九世紀初期的浪漫主義時期，她更是被視為最偉大的首位英國女性作家。(董崇選，2014十月，課堂演講內容)根據維基百科，此書是奧斯汀在晚年所完成的最後一本長篇小說。奧斯汀精彩的創作以及細膩的描繪給予了後世世人許多快樂和感動，而當《勸導》成了英國史上偉大的珍•奧斯汀的遺作，此書的價值更為之大幅提升。如同於奧斯汀的其他著作，《勸導》一書的主題圍繞在婚姻、愛情、回憶、階級和財富。除此之外，我也將在本文章中分析故事中角色之間錯綜複雜的關係；那些艱難的處境和問題與我們真實中生活如此的貼切，描述的手法更是刻骨銘心，令人難以不被這本精彩的小說著迷。故事是關於一名出生在高層社會階級的女子，Anne Elliot。她愛上了一名低於她當時社會階級也沒什麼財富的男子，因此Anne無法說服她傲慢又愚蠢的父親讓她嫁給她所愛的人，從那之後她便無法再真正快樂起來。八年之後，命運再度給了Anne一個機會；一切就在於她是否能夠堅持她的立場和信念，戰勝那些滔滔不絕的意見來和自己的真愛結婚。我由衷的希望能夠透過本文展現書中的背景、主旨以及角色，藉此來證實這本經典著作的價值與魅力。