Reginald is never easy unless we are by ourselves, and when the weather is tolerable, we pace the shrubbery for hours together. I like him on the whole very well; he is clever and has a good deal to say, but he is sometimes impertinent and troublesome. There is a sort of ridiculous delicacy about him which requires the fullest explanation of whatever he may have heard to my disadvantage, and is never satisfied till he thinks he has ascertained the beginning and end of everything. This is one sort of love, but I confess it does not particularly recommend itself to me. I infinitely prefer the tender and liberal spirit of Mainwaring, which, impressed with the deepest conviction of my merit, is satisfied that whatever I do must be right; and look with a degree of contempt on the inquisitive and doubtful fancies of that heart which seems always debating on the reasonableness of its emotions.Lady Susan is a short epistolary novel (the letter format common in the 18th Century) by Jane Austen, which is quite different from the six novels published by her (the last two posthumously via her brother). It is an amusing affair about a 30-something scheming recent widow to get her Fanny Price-like daughter married off while finding amusement of her own. It starts with her running away from trouble (arising from an affair she was having while keeping his sister from getting a man LS wants for her own daughter, though said daughter wants no part of it). The plot gets a bit intricate, especially given trying to keep everyone in order in the letter format (we read letters from various characters, which is interesting). I found drawing up a character family tree of sorts helpful. Austen ends things with a regular non-letter conclusion, which might have been tacked on later.
-- Lady Susan
The letter format is a bit tedious (especially later on when lengthy letters are required to fully express what happened) but the scheming (letters to a friend* providing a means to show her true thoughts) is fun. A current day revisionist attempt [Lady Vernon and Her Daughter] to explain that LS is actually a good person sounds like a ruining the fun sort of deal. The shortness of the novel, the somewhat creaky technique and the unAusten-like morals of the lead suggests why Jane Austen never had it published. It was included in a later biography by a relative. Such slightly wicked charm is left to supporting characters in her novels, but this early effort underlines Austen's abilities. One almost wishes she could have wrote a full length book with such a lead.
The novel, as with many other works in the public domain, can be found online. Project Gutenberg in fact has an audio version with different people doing each role. It is a quite good effort though again I found the longer letters hard going. It paid to have the text available to skim over stuff that I didn't quite get the first time. Austen is often re-read anyway and listening (especially while doing something) only makes a first read that much more productive.
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* Of a similar sentiment, as shown by this excerpt:
What could I do! Facts are such horrid things! All is by this time known to De Courcy, who is now alone with Mr. Johnson. Do not accuse me; indeed, it was impossible to prevent it. Mr. Johnson has for some time suspected De Courcy of intending to marry you, and would speak with him alone as soon as he knew him to be in the house. That detestable Mrs. Mainwaring, who, for your comfort, has fretted herself thinner and uglier than ever, is still here, and they have been all closeted together. What can be done? At any rate, I hope he will plague his wife more than ever.Some characters in her novels are bitchy, but this has some bite!