Emma

An English Detour: Emma by Jane Austen

For once, we're crossing the Channel! This month the circle sets aside the great French authors to dive into Emma (1815), the novel Jane Austen considered her most daring.

The book Handsome, clever and rich, Emma Woodhouse has rarely had a care in the world. Convinced she knows better than anyone what will make others happy, she appoints herself matchmaker of the little village of Highbury, with results as disastrous as they are delicious. Austen said she had created a heroine whom no one but herself would much like. Two centuries later, readers are still arguing about her.

Beneath its surface as a comedy of manners, Emma is a masterpiece of irony and construction. Austen pushes free indirect style remarkably far, letting us see the world through her heroine's illusions so completely that we're fooled right along with her. Flaubert would take the same technique to new heights a few decades later, which should make for a lively discussion.