Virginia Woolf was not mistaken when she said, "of all great writers she [Austen] is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness." Because Austen makes it seem so easy. When you read Austen, you think you're so smart, witty and funny. All the while she is also making fun of you and how much you think you know. That's whynreading her is also so fun, because it's delightful every time you see the genius she's laid downand you missed the last few times.

I've never heard of the term Free Indirect Speech before, but it sounds like one of those linguistic concepts that we intuitively understand but can't explain. It makes perfect sense that Jane Austen would excel at this since, as far as I understand it, Free Indirect Speech is like when a friend is telling you a funny story about another person, jumping back and forth from the events as your friend observed them, and explaining the imagined interior thoughts and motivations of the third character

@procrastinator99

2 ай бұрын

Yes, or the friend's story is older, and they're describing thoughts and feelings they had at the time, but no longer do- weaving between their present-position and their at-the-time position.

@HeatherOrdover-CraftLit

2 ай бұрын

@@procrastinator99 “deweaving” is a word I want to use a lot more. 🤓 I’ll be giving you credit. Thank you!

@legendarygary2744

2 ай бұрын

I love discovering things that we know almost instinctively (be it in literature, culture, etc), but have never been asked to explain. This is one reason you learn so much you already knew when you spend time with children, immigrants, or someone learning something brand new: they ask questions you’ve always known, but have never been asked to explain it.

One of my favorite moments with regards to books, was when I finally got my husband to read Pride and Prejudice. Like so many people he hadn't read it because it was 'just' a romance so when our son was a baby we would take turns reading out loud to him at bed time while the other person did dishes and listened to the story through the baby monitor. Among many others we read P&P. It was so much fun to hear him read the words and laugh or comment on the plot or how snarky Austen was in her writing, how he identified with some characters and saw other people in his life in others. He's never been one to read books in that manner. It completely changed his view on Austen's work and it was so much fun to watch him experience it.

@AmaraJordanMusic

2 ай бұрын

That’s adorable and I may need to steal it for when my husband and I have a little one!

@AllTheArtsy

Ай бұрын

free indirect speech is in full force at the ball where Mr Darcy is introduced. when the attitude of the people start to see him so harshly, we're actually inside Mrs Bennet's mind (as far as i can tell) and it is her who dislikes Darcy, likely because he is so unimpressed by her

in the oxford world's classics edition of pride and prejudice there's a bit of the introduction dedicated to this which is very good and very accessible too

@rith6505

Ай бұрын

I love the Oxford's version.

For me it's Jane Austen accessibility that made me love her writing. The way she described everything felt so rich with personalities and it's just a pure joy to read. It also paint a clear picture of each character's intention, not just their action. Many called it simplistic, but it's easier said than done.

Always elevates my day when a new Nerdwriter essay drops. Always has. Especially those touching on topics not approached nearly often enough, or with nearly as much care, on this platform. -DB

@samfilmkid

2 ай бұрын

I remember a time when his videos regularly got millions of views. Back when engaging and thoughtful videos dominated KZread instead of some guy rage-ranting into a microphone for twenty minutes with footage and still images thrown together very quickly on iMovie.

@_thk

2 ай бұрын

Danny Boyd himself!

I can’t believe I’ve never heard this concept directly explained 😭 I didn’t even know what it was called or how exactly to spot it!! Soooo good

Her stories have so many layers starting from personal level to big societal projections. all her characters have imperfections which is beautiful 💞 The way the standard protagonist traits are to her second leads shows her uniqueness of writing

It's about time Nerdwriter1 talked about Miss Austen! Love to hear more about one of the greatest, the wittiest novelists of all time. Having read all of her works, I can say that her books have changed my perspective on what great fiction truly is. It's an experience I want to revisit again and again.

Austen wove complex character driven stories with suspense and humour - and made it look easy! I never thought about this "free indirect speech" but the moment it is pointed out I immediately see it. Her books written over 200 years ago can easily be read today - she was utterly singular! Thank you for this great little video.

Yess! I've missed this! One of my favourite lit KZreadrs comes back with Jane Austen at the perfect time!

It's been a *while* but one of the things I remember really appreciating about Pride and Prejudice was the little summaries at the end of each chapter: The character dynamics and how they interact with society, especially one whose intricacies you don't know, get quite involved and the addition of a sarcastic shit of a Dad doesn't make it better. She was able to seamlessly, and without seeming patronizing, summarize what had happened in the chapter at the end for the people who had missed some details.

I think Austen’s genius lies in her showing us how little things have changed as to what people feel is romantic, funny and suspenseful. She wrote classics.

Good take! Thank you. Can I say, I enjoy the slight toning down of the trademark Nerdwriter ...cadence. Maybe it's because of the prevalence of other people's texts quoted in this one but yeah, just wanted to leave this here: I found it easier to follow with the more subtle breaks and pauses. Anyway, great stuff, thank you.

it's been years since i last seen nerdwriter's video, still as good as i remembered

Always a pleasure to see you, Nerdwriter

Great explanation of Free Indirect Speech. It was a literary technique pioneered by 18th century novelists Henry Fielding and Frances Burney. Burney, being one of Austen's prime influencer.

I had recently started reading Jane Austen. What a timely video

cool, I'm using your videos in my classes, thank you so much

Love seeing when you put out a new video!!! It makes my week!

Great to see another video

In your next video, you might indicate that across the Channel, Gustave Flaubert perfected the technique, known by critics as “le discours indirect libre,” or free indirect discourse. His novel “Madame Bovary” (1857) is the perfect example of this style. Austen, writing four decades earlier, came to his attention years after she had already brilliantly achieved this. Thank you for your superb video.

Very cool!! Great explanation of this and really shows the brilliance of Austen. Makes me want to pick up P&P again!

I've been a massive fan of both the Pride and Prejudice mini series and the film all my life, and this afternoon I finished reading the book for the first time. So even though I'm well acquainted with the story itself, it was the first time I formed any opinion on Jane Austin's writing style. I had a lot of thoughts and I was interested continue diving into them, so I pop on youtube and sure enough one of my favorite creators JUST NOW uploaded a video talking about exactly that!

Please, do more of this literature and prose videos. WE NEED THEM!!!

Another insightful video, Thanks Evan!

My favorite author! 😍 Thank you for analyzing!!!

I am planning to read persuasion, and out of no where this video came out. Nice explanation. Thank you

@kellwillsen

2 ай бұрын

Persuasion uses free indirect speech amazingly well. Anne's subjective view of things is presented so subtly, that it's easy to miss just how subjective it really is. The narrative voice makes for an effective contrast, but you have to be looking for it. It's a story about self-persuasion as much as it is about social pressure.

@ItsMe-sx9ck

2 ай бұрын

@kellwillsen Thanks, my friend

Loved this analysis and video

This was very informative, thank you.

I recently read your book. I enjoyed it very much.

Always look forward to your videos. Huge fan of Jane Austen. Thank you!

You excel at literature! I would love more essays on poetry and literary works.

Brilliant, very clear explanation!

I never noticed that until now.

This commentator appreciates your analyses of just about anything, but is particularly grateful for your respect for Jane Austen. Yes, this was a highly gratifying video indeed, and how lovely it is that you have returned on the scene 🙂 Thank you!

I'm so glad to see this video. Been waiting for Nerdwriter1 to expand to Novel for a long long time

Excellent. Here's an idea I would love to see you run with: Lydia is very underestimated character in P&P. Yes, we understand that she is a naughty girl who nearly ruins everything for her sisters, but if you overlook all that for a moment and just look at things from her perspective you see a strong willed young woman who goes after what she wants and never regrets it for a second. She is not one of the seduced young women. She isn't even high minded Like Marianne, she's more of a Mary Vetsera. And we are given to understand that her mother was very similar. To my mind this is very much like the way Austen gives her leads their happily-ever-after while also showing the reality of married life with the supporting characters.

I’ve missed this kind of short KZread video, love it

Austen's ability to move between character and narrator is well established in this video. Each quote not only address the technique she is using, but the purpose of the technique, and the power Austen wields. She is pointing out prospects and the monetary transactions of inheritance, a powerful theme to which she often refers. She engages in the romance of the story to draw in her reader.

Pleeeease do more of these. So fun

especially from a reader's standpoint, austen makes you both the narrator and the character, extending your sense of sympathy and still being able to distance yourself and make judgments and discernments. i think edith wharton is also a very similar writer, in that she takes the austenian approach and allows you to be both narrator and character, and even similar in that many critics discredit her work because of her so-called frivolity

Your channel is one of the only ones that make the internet worth visiting anymore.

If you ever want a follow up to this video I’d be interested to see you talk about Garcia Marquez doing it. He’s a great example of non English indirect speech and he blurs the lines with narration through his sentence structure seamlessly

Dang, I write that way! Can't say I was consciously mimicking any specific writer, but it's really cool to see where that style came from.

In French literature one of the first occurences of this is from a female writer as well ! In 1678 Madame de Lafayette published The Princess of Cleves (La Princesse de Clèves) which features deep psychological analysis of the character by the narrator and internal monologues.

Wow this is brilliant

Very fast paced video compared to your previous ones Interesting

Thanks!

I'm currently reading Middlemarch, and can definitely see how Austen influenced Eliot (Evans) with free indirect speech. I will dig deeper into Austen's work when I'm done.

Jane Austen l is a literary icon. What makes her so good is that she is one of those authors where every character from minor to major has their own unique voice- no two characters talk the same. Her writing is also just so enjoyable and funny!! Shes accessible and thats why she holds up today. She is so much more than a romance writer (though there is nothing wrong with romance as a subject of a story) She was a satirest who wrote about economics and class struggles first and foremost; romance and domestic subjects are just the means in which she does that. Virgina Woolf said it best when she said that of all of the great writers, Jane Austen is the hardest to catch in the act of greatness. John Mullen's talks on Austen are amazing, he really understands and is passionate about her.

Thank you.

Really fantastic script here!

Many thanks to Evan! ✍

So thrilled you made a video about this! I wish more people knew!

This reminds me of C S Forrester's books (especially Hornblower) which have a narrator who deeply agrees with the main character, even though it's in the third person. I didn't even realize this was happening (I thought Forrester genuinely believed what he was saying) until I read a book of his outside the Hornblower series (The General) and the narrator was quite different!

some cool sound design stuff in this video.

I still remember reading pride and prejudice for the first time in high school and liked reading it out loud because it felt like talking to my friends

Love your videos. As a writer (ahem) I try to use Free Indirect Speech whenever I can for the very purpose you describe. Elmore Leonard was the great master of this in popular fiction. You may be interested to know that I showed your video of Edvard Munch to a small art appreciation group I help run here in France. Provoked a lot of debate! Keep it up!

I remember being required to read three of her books in high school. as a teenage boy, I was bored out of my mind and didn't care about the grade, and just happy to not be in the class any more.

Damn, what a lesson! ❤

I love Austen. I feel that she is so smart and so profoundly sensitive but she’s talking to you the way an older sister retells her youth. There’s a reason women love her. She’s like our big, worldly, witty sister who doesn’t take fools seriously.

Why your audiobook isn't available in the UK Audible?

Agree with your last point. Saying Austen's works are just "lightweight marriage comedies" is a very surface level critique, and an easy one to make when you look back at them from a different time and culture. They're a response to the "sentimental" style novels that were popular at the time and offer very specific criticism and ironic parody of the late Georgian era English landed gentry class she was a part of.

I watched the pride and prejudice series when I was younger with my mom and sister. At first I thought it's just another romance, but the dialogue was quite clever.

This makes me want to reread the Discworld books and pay attention to how Terry Pratchett does this

This is a great video on a really under-valued technique.

It seems so intuitive when you read it, can't even point out the distinction easily.

Those interested in learning more about free indirect discourse should read James Wood's How Fiction Works. He goes into Flaubert's use of it. Very engaging book.

Truly a revolutionary writer.

I'm a simple man. The Nerdwriter makes a video on literature, I like and I rejoice.

Particularly relevant to get inside the male character’s heads, as Austen never (as far as I’m aware) had two male characters interacting directly without females/society at large present. This device is a way of hearing their voices as unobserved/unrestricted men. I’d love to know of a scene where she just has men in actual conversation.

This was way too short of a brilliant concept!

I would love to see your thoughts on Dune!!

Read four of the novels in the last couple years, just two more to go!

If you look beyond the romance part Austen’s writing is a satire of the society at the time. The way she describes characters like for example Sir Lucas in P&P is absolutely hilarious.

Yeah, it's crazy how belittled Jane Austen is despite being one of the greatest writers of all time in the English language. I remember taking an English class in college and the relief I felt when my 60 year old male professor introduced us to her as a genius and one of his favorite writers. It was the first time I had heard a man ever care about her writing or give her the respect it deserved. He even talked about how Jane Austen is belittled and looked down on because there is this sense that she's just a romance writer for silly, desperate women. Of course, what she actually wrote is some of the sharpest satire of all time. Those who actually know and study english literature have immense respect for her, but still she is trivialized in the popular imagination.

I haven’t heard of an analysis of Austin’s work like this. Definitely liked it and wondered what other works you might interesting. Dostoyevsky and his style would be worth a try!

Robin Hobb does this a load in the Magic Ship trilogy

Flaubert uses free indirect speech a lot too

Nice.

Are some of these b-shot clips from Open AI Sora?

Screen versions of Austen are almost exclusively shallow, sugary, rich-girl fantasies, made from just the bones of the plot, stripped of the layers of irony and implication that define the books, and aimed at Hollywood audiences, exceptions being the BBC Pride and Prejudice, Emma Thompson's Sense and Sensibility, and the (actually brilliant, fight me!) Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

I'm a big fan of authors doing stuff like that and then my writing or English teachers saying it's bad grammar when I do it lol

Douglas Adams?

Damn this was cool

I am fan of her spite , thx for more!

jane austen over here like; "bruh, i was just writing my version of modern day wattpad fiction" 😂

This one has got John McWhorter written all over it.

Crickey, "she considered" is not in the first person

It seems to me that she had an influence on Machado de Assis.

well hello there

@abruoon

2 ай бұрын

nice pfp

@staudd

2 ай бұрын

@@abruoon tyty

Jane walked so Tolkien could Run

Basically, she had been written a soliloquy.

Bruh, is nerdwriter still around? 💀

Jane Austin 🤝 Machado de Assis

During World War 1 English soldiers read Jane Austen to stay sane and Churchill read her every day during the Blitz. Yet many make the mistake of limiting her work to "chick" lit. I approached her with some skepticism myself recently but thoroughly enjoyed PRIDE AND PREJUDICE for.its humanity and absence of political agenda and moralizing.

Brilliant!!!?

Jane Austen is one of the most influential figures in the development of the novel, and I don’t take that statement lightly

I didn't really understand this but highly suggest everyone read pride and prejudice and subsequently little women. If you're not able to read it, tey the audiobooks on KZread. If you can't do that then the videos were on KZread as well!