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RE: MY FIRST CLASSIC: JANE EYRE!

in Hive Book Club3 years ago

I read the first 495 pages many years ago. There were 500 pages. I couldn't quite see my way to finishing it. I did not think the last five pages would make it better, but there were aspects of the story I enjoyed.

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Oooooo. Well, I'm getting down to it. I'm really slow because of the complexity of their grammar and style but I'm learning new words daily.

What I find with older books is that it is not necessarily the complexity, but rather that the language has changed. Also, our vocabulary has shrunk considerably over the past century. It is strange and sometimes amusing to see the ways in which the language has changed. Example: In Jane Austen's Emma, a man "ejaculates" in Emma's ear. I had to read that passage twice because I had never seen the use of the word "ejaculate" to mean "make an exclamation." I have seen it many times since.

Oh wow... Okay. I realised that too. I claim to like English Language but not literate in it