“You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.” —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)
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https://www.themarysue.com/jane-austen-delightful-insults/
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on Early Bird Books and A Love So True, and is reposted here with permission.
When people hear “Jane Austen,” what tends to come to mind is balls, tea tables, marriage, and Colin Firth in a wet shirt. I don’t want to discount Austen’s many talents, which certainly include skillfully composing page-turning courtship narratives (albeit ones in which her heroes stay fully clothed and dry). But I take issue with the way those unfamiliar with Austen’s actual writing seem to think that’s all she does, portraying her as the literary equivalent of Laura Ashley wallpaper: excessively feminine, flowery, and a little embarrassing. Because if there’s a stereotypically feminine quality I associate most closely with Austen, it is certainly not sentimentality or romance—it’s bitchiness. And I mean that as a compliment.
In celebration of one of the coolest women in literature, here are Jane Austen’s 12 most delightful insults, from her fiction to her personal acquaintances, even to the King of England himself.
Focus Features
“I give you joy of our new nephew, and hope he ever comes to be hanged it will not be til we are too old to care about it.” —Jane Austen in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, on April 25, 1811
“Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well-informed mind, is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. A woman especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it was well as she can.” —Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1817)
“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” —Jane Austen in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, on December 24, 1798
RELATED: Which Jane Austen Character Are You, Based on Your Zodiac Sign?
Columbia Pictures
“The whole of Lucy’s behaviour in the affair, and the prosperity which crowned it, therefore, may be held forth as a most encouraging instance of what an earnest, an unceasing attention to self-interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience.” —Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility(1811)
“I cannot say much for this monarch’s sense. Nor would I if I could, for he was a Lancastrian. I suppose you know all about the wars between him and the duke of York, who was of the right side; if you do not, you had better read some other history, for I shall not be very diffuse in this, meaning by it only to vent my spleen against, and show my hatred to, all those people whose parties or principles do not suit with mine, and not to give information. This king married Margaret of Anjou, a woman whose distresses and misfortunes were so great as almost to make me, who hates her, pity her.” —Jane Austen, The History of England…By a Partial, Prejudiced, & Ignorant Historian (1791)
“Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character; vanity of person and of situation…Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did.” —Jane Austen, Persuasion (1817)
“Upon the whole, I commend my own conduct in this affair extremely, and regard it as a very happy instance of circumspection and tenderness. Some mothers would have insisted on their daughter’s accepting so good an offer on the first overture; but I could not reconcile it to myself to force Frederica into a marriage from which her heart revolted, and instead of adopting so harsh a measure merely propose to make it her own choice, by rendering her thoroughly uncomfortable till she does accept him—but enough of this tiresome girl.” —Jane Austen, Lady Susan (1793-1794)
RELATED: 11 Must-Read Books for Jane Austen Fans
Amazon Studios
“She was very plain and her name was Bridget…Nothing therefore could be expected from her…She was nothingmore than a mere good-tempered, civil and obliging young woman; as such we could scarcely dislike here—she was only an object of contempt.” —Jane Austen, Love and Friendship (1970)
“She was of course only too good for him, but as nobody minds having what is too good for them, he was very steadily ernest in the pursuit of the blessing.” —Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1816)
“Mrs. Hall, of Sherborne, was brought to bed yesterday of a dead child, some weeks before she expected, owing to a fright. I suppose she happened unawares to look at her husband.” —Jane Austen in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, on October 27, 1798
“It was a delightful visit—perfect in being much too short.” —Jane Austen, Emma (1815)
(featured image: Ross McDonnell/Amazon Studios)
Cailey Hall is an English Ph.D. candidate at UCLA, where she is working on a dissertation about Romantic-era literature and the alimentary.
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
September 5, 2017
https://www.themarysue.com/jane-austen-delightful-insults/
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on Early Bird Books and A Love So True, and is reposted here with permission.
When people hear “Jane Austen,” what tends to come to mind is balls, tea tables, marriage, and Colin Firth in a wet shirt. I don’t want to discount Austen’s many talents, which certainly include skillfully composing page-turning courtship narratives (albeit ones in which her heroes stay fully clothed and dry). But I take issue with the way those unfamiliar with Austen’s actual writing seem to think that’s all she does, portraying her as the literary equivalent of Laura Ashley wallpaper: excessively feminine, flowery, and a little embarrassing. Because if there’s a stereotypically feminine quality I associate most closely with Austen, it is certainly not sentimentality or romance—it’s bitchiness. And I mean that as a compliment.
In celebration of one of the coolest women in literature, here are Jane Austen’s 12 most delightful insults, from her fiction to her personal acquaintances, even to the King of England himself.
Focus Features
“You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.” —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)
“I give you joy of our new nephew, and hope he ever comes to be hanged it will not be til we are too old to care about it.” —Jane Austen in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, on April 25, 1811
“Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well-informed mind, is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. A woman especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it was well as she can.” —Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1817)
“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” —Jane Austen in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, on December 24, 1798
RELATED: Which Jane Austen Character Are You, Based on Your Zodiac Sign?
Columbia Pictures
“The whole of Lucy’s behaviour in the affair, and the prosperity which crowned it, therefore, may be held forth as a most encouraging instance of what an earnest, an unceasing attention to self-interest, however its progress may be apparently obstructed, will do in securing every advantage of fortune, with no other sacrifice than that of time and conscience.” —Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility(1811)
“I cannot say much for this monarch’s sense. Nor would I if I could, for he was a Lancastrian. I suppose you know all about the wars between him and the duke of York, who was of the right side; if you do not, you had better read some other history, for I shall not be very diffuse in this, meaning by it only to vent my spleen against, and show my hatred to, all those people whose parties or principles do not suit with mine, and not to give information. This king married Margaret of Anjou, a woman whose distresses and misfortunes were so great as almost to make me, who hates her, pity her.” —Jane Austen, The History of England…By a Partial, Prejudiced, & Ignorant Historian (1791)
“Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character; vanity of person and of situation…Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did.” —Jane Austen, Persuasion (1817)
“Upon the whole, I commend my own conduct in this affair extremely, and regard it as a very happy instance of circumspection and tenderness. Some mothers would have insisted on their daughter’s accepting so good an offer on the first overture; but I could not reconcile it to myself to force Frederica into a marriage from which her heart revolted, and instead of adopting so harsh a measure merely propose to make it her own choice, by rendering her thoroughly uncomfortable till she does accept him—but enough of this tiresome girl.” —Jane Austen, Lady Susan (1793-1794)
RELATED: 11 Must-Read Books for Jane Austen Fans
Amazon Studios
“She was very plain and her name was Bridget…Nothing therefore could be expected from her…She was nothingmore than a mere good-tempered, civil and obliging young woman; as such we could scarcely dislike here—she was only an object of contempt.” —Jane Austen, Love and Friendship (1970)
“She was of course only too good for him, but as nobody minds having what is too good for them, he was very steadily ernest in the pursuit of the blessing.” —Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1816)
“Mrs. Hall, of Sherborne, was brought to bed yesterday of a dead child, some weeks before she expected, owing to a fright. I suppose she happened unawares to look at her husband.” —Jane Austen in a letter to her sister, Cassandra, on October 27, 1798
“It was a delightful visit—perfect in being much too short.” —Jane Austen, Emma (1815)
(featured image: Ross McDonnell/Amazon Studios)
Cailey Hall is an English Ph.D. candidate at UCLA, where she is working on a dissertation about Romantic-era literature and the alimentary.
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
September 5, 2017
https://www.geek.com/science/this-google-scientist-learned-how-to-teach-neural-networks-how-to-work-together-1714707/?source
Artificial intelligence is as trippy as it gets when it comes to thinking about how machines “think.” But what about when you consider how machines teach and learn from each other? That’s something […]
The post This Google Scientist Learned an Interesting Way to Teach Neural Networks appeared first on Geek.com.
September 4, 2017
https://www.themarysue.com/tws-stranger-things-posters/
It’s not quite time for Stranger Things season 2 just yet, but with the arrival of September 1, we’re all feeling a bit spookier, so let’s revel in these eerie throwback poster homages to some of our old school favorites. They’re all-too-fitting for a series that, itself, drew so heavily on movie influences from our childhoods, and you can check the rest of them out on The Playlist.
- Hey, remember when we had a president who wasn’t an international embarrassment? What about a president who had better communication skills than unending, typo-ridden tweetstorms? Get nostalgic for those days by reading the letter President Obama wrote to the man who would enter the White House after him. Maybe someone on Fox News can read it aloud to Donald Trump.
- Or, if you’d like a simpler reminder of those better times, here’s Michelle Obama dressed up as Beyoncé for her birthday.
- Neither Shia LeBeouf or his character, Mutt Williams, will be in the next Indiana Jones movie.
- A climate science denier has been selected to lead NASA, by the way. We look forward to all the science he would rather not do.
That’s all for this holiday Monday! We’ll be back with more tomorrow. What did you see out there today?
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
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