Sample Sunday: The Classic Selection
This week candidates for Sample Saturday are novels that were on my Classics Club list but never got read. I think I acquired them more than ten years ago when they were on a supplementary reading list for a course I was taking on the nineteenth century novel. I no longer need them for academic reasons so the question is whether they would still hold my interest or is it time to let them go.
Evelina by Fanny Burney
Evelina or to give the book its full title The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World, was published anonymously in 1778 as a satire on Georgian society. It’s meant to be a notable significant precursor to the work of Jane Austen and Maria Edgeworth.
Told in epistolary style, it traces the experiences of an unacknowledged but legitimate daughter of a dissipated English aristocrat. At the age of 17 she gets to leave her secluded country home to take a holiday in London. The visit opens her eyes to the delights and dangers of society.
I’m thinking No. I’ve tried epistolary novels from this period (and earlier) previously and never found them very entertaining.
The Verdict: Abandon
Belinda by Maria Edgeworth
Belinda is an 1801 novel that forms part of a tradition of society novels where bright young women are in search of a good marriage. Belinda was rather different however because it features an inter-racial marriage.
In the first two editions of the book, Edgeworth has an African servant on a Jamaican plantation who marries an English farm-girl and a potential marriage between the eponymous heroine and a rich West Indian Creole. By the third edition, published in 1810 both plot lines have been toned down. The servant character is omitted and Belinda only esteems the Creole and never agrees to marry him. One theory is that Edgeworth’s father insisted on the changes.
I don’t much care for the early society novels – they can be rather tedious. But the inter-racial dimension makes this one more interesting.
The Verdict: Keep
The Egoist by George Meredith
A tragicomic novel published in 1879 about the marriage intentions of a self-absorbed knight who can’t understand why any woman wouldn’t jump at the chance to be his wife. One of the women in his sights is strong-willed however and has no interest in getting hitched to this vain man.
There’s a theme in the book about the difficulty of being a woman in Victorian society, treated as an object to be traded between fathers and potential husbands. That would encourage me to read the book but it’s the description of a comic narrative that sets alarm bells ringing. My sense of humour isn’t on the same level as the original readers of the book so I have a feeling I’d find it silly or irritating
The Verdict: Let Go
Unless you strongly disagree and tell me I’m making a big mistake with Burney and Meredith, my TBR is now lighter by two books. The idea of Sample Saturday isn’t to get rid of books but to make sure my shelves have only books I do want to read. What do you think of the decisions I’ve reached – if you’ve read any of these books I’d love to hear from you.
I read and enjoyed Evelina a couple of years ago. The letters are not at all intrusive and the story is interesting and well told. I like the sound of the other two and will chase them up.
Interesting to hear this Bill. I haven’t given Evelina away yet (the charity shops are all stuffed to the brim) so I shall take another look at it …
I’ve been a bit behind in blogging stuff of late. I hadn’t realised that Sample Saturday was about the possibility of letting some books go from ones TBR pile – what a wonderful idea!
I’ve been doing a similar, very occasional thing, called Shelf Life, with some of the books I read a long time ago but will never read again. We have a move coming up and I simply cannot bear the idea of packing up all my books!!
I may now have to tackle my TBR pile with the same mission!
With my love of classics, I’d say keep all three – epistolary, society and tragi-comic all sound great to me….but I guess that’s why my TBR pile is the way it is *shrug*
I got the idea from Kate at https://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.com/. She does it slightly differently because she looks only at the samples of ebooks that she’s downloaded whereas I look at physical and ebooks. Doing the post each week (well almost each week) forces me to look at books lurking in the deeper recesses of the shelves and decide whether I REALLy want them. For the classics, I reckon it is easy to get them from the library if I change my mind in the future.
Good point about the classics.
We are completely, 100% on the same page in your decisions here. Looking forward to hearing what you think of Belinda!
It will be quite some time before I read it I suspect
I haven’t heard of any of these.
Are you finding the process of reading a sample liberating?
Evelina and Belinda are the best known but only if you are a student of the early novel (they show up on course syllabi a lot). I love the process of sampling – so glad you came up with the idea
never heard about any here!
You’re not alone – plenty of readers would have a similar comment
I hang my head in shame and say that I’ve not read any of them. I do read classics but these have never appealed. I think I did once own a copy of The Egoist but clearly I reached the same conclusion you have.
TBH, I’d possibly hold on to all of them because I feel you can never have too many classics… But if you feel they’re books you’re never going to pick up I guess you’ve done the right thing!
Personally, from your synopses, I’d be drawn by Belinda too so have to applaud your decisions! Hope you’ve got the modern version one of the earlier editions then.