My Friend Elizabeth

"I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
~E.M. Forster

My experience with Jane Austen is a bit shameful for an English major student who grew up with an English Lit teacher for a mother. It wasn't for lack of trying on my mom's part, you can be sure. She started quietly recommending Pride and Prejudice when I was in middle school, and then pointedly insisting that we would read it together in the summer when we both finished up for the year. (We never quiet got around to this, because we would both be exhausted and just collapse for a few weeks, and forget our plans altogether). She would laugh loudly through the beginning of the book and then ask if I wanted to read her spare copy as she prepared to teach it to her new class in the fall.

My friend Rachael sighed in delight over it when she read it in high school and made me watch the famous BBC mini series with Colin Firth with her. With all that, I only just actually read Pride and Prejudice this past semester for my British Lit class.

It felt a bit like spending the weekend with a cousin that you've visited once a year for as long as you can remember, who's very smart and all-around wonderful according to everyone, but you don't really have a personal opinion on her because you've never really talked to her since she's so much older than you, though you've seen her from afar a lot. Then suddenly, you're both in your twenties, and the age difference doesn't seem so bad now, so you talk and just click. She definitely lives up to the hype, once she becomes a personal friend, and you have woven her into your smallish group of friends.

That is far too insane and personification-y of a metaphor to drag out for so long, but really, that book is such fun, and I quite loved it. I tend to be intimidated by classic literature, which is something I am working at changing. Talking to Janelle the other day, I compared Classics with my parents' friends, who I was very polite, very shy and a bit afraid during interactions with them, but who I'm more confident but still shy around. They are older, more talented, and more respected than me, and that makes me nervous even though I know I can learn from them.

The point is, it was wonderful experiencing the quiet, warm shift into making this Classic, so often placed on so high a pedestal, an approachable personal favorite. It took a while, but I hope it won't be a unique experience.