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Thanks! -- Arnie Perlstein, Portland, OR

Monday, February 6, 2012

Plus ca change....

http://chronicle.com/article/Grand-Applications/130648/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

The above is a link to a fabulous article that just appeared in the online edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, which was passed to me by a friend, and which I enjoyed so much I thought I'd share it with all of you.

It is a great example of the timelessness and universality of Jane Austen's profound insights into human nature--she was arguably one of the greatest psychologists (or as she would have put it 2 centuries ago) "studiers of character" that the literary world has ever known.

Exhibit A is the linked essay by Rachel Herrmann in which she adeptly and humorfully draws uncanny parallels between the modern world of academic grant applications and Jane Austen's world of the marriage (i.e., meat) market.

It shows that money always has, and always will, have the insidious power to infiltrate every aspect of human existence, no matter how lofty, as Auden recognized that Austen recognized, when he wrote that next to Austen, Joyce was as innocent as grass.

No need for further explanation, just read Herrmann's article and enjoy the Austenesque stylings!

Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter

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