Columnist Jonathan Yardley: His Personal Pride, Prejudice & Perfection, Are My Passion

Gentle Readers: I will confess all right up front. Being a bibliophile, I have more than a passing fancy for Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley. Having followed his career and read his column for years, I do not think you could find any booklover more smitten. He is my Mr. Chips and Mr. Darcy all rolled up into one monumental book Adonis. *swoon* 

For forty-five years he has been writing about books, the last twenty-eight with The Washington Post. As a book critic, he is brilliant. He knows just how to get to the heart of the matter, unflinchingly cutting through a book’s faults or occasionally praising it to the skies. First and foremost, I trust him implicitly. I am not alone. His deft perception and barbed humor have cultivated a loyal following. His popular column “Second Readings: An occasional series in which The Post’s book critic reconsiders notable and/or neglected books from the past.” is especially rewarding as he reveals if certain classics that he read previously still warrant his same regard today. In 2004 he garnered national attention for his highly critical look at The Catcher in the Rye, and again for his praise of The Great Gatsby in 2007. While I have worshiped silently from afar, others think he is quite brilliant also, awarding him the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism in 1981. Like Walter Cronkite, they just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. 

Occasionally, when Jupiter aligns with Mars, or we “known the pleasure and triumph of a lucky guess,”  fate hands us an incredible gift. Imagine my surprise when my favorite book critic chose to dedicate an entire column to my favorite author Jane Austen. Two favorites in one breath was almost too much happiness to bear. In Pride. Pejudice. Prefection., he shares how his mother’s private admiration of Jane Austen influenced her, and in turn his literary life. Feeling like the “happiest creature in the world”, I had to share my excitement and comment on some of the highlights in his column that he dedicated to his mother. 

“Truth be told, there probably is nothing new to be said about “Pride and Prejudice” or its author — the endless exertions of the academic dissertation machine notwithstanding — and certainly there is nothing new to be said by me.” 

Too true! So much has been written and very little said by academics that registered with me. I am, however, astounded at such modesty in a book critic who has spent his entire career analyzing the written word. Is he trying to soften us with humility? It’s working! 

“Read if you must these exegeses, but spare my old gray brain. There’s nothing quite like the combination of academics and ideology to drain the wit and subtlety right out of Austen’s sublime novels, and few of the insights these pieces offer into her work are worth the immense, draining labor of reading the clanking prose in which they are written.” 

A collective *sigh* is heard across the Janeite universe. Personally, I thank you for absolving me of all my angst and guilt on that score. 

“Precisely how or why Austen’s work has resisted all these attempts at modernization is something of a mystery, though while rereading “Pride and Prejudice” for the first time in many years I kept thinking that its very modernity has much to do with the explanation.” 

Jane is modern. Her themes are universal to human nature. She has never gone out of style or lost touch with her readers. Never will. The modern film adaptations or spinoff books of her works are in a whole other ballpark that some enjoy playing in. They are not all unworthy, though the field has become quite muddied as of late. 

“She is now an industry, and devotees of her work often refer to themselves as “Janeites,” conducting their conversations on the Internet, in book clubs and societies, whenever two or more are gathered together.” 

*throws up hands* Guilty as charged. 

“Being neither a joiner nor a cultist, I have resisted all temptations to wave the Janeite banner, preferring to enjoy her books — like those of the many other writers whose work I treasure — in private. This seems to me especially appropriate in her case, for despite all the chatting and blogging they inspire, they are intensely private books,” 

As a Janeite, I respect your choice to worship in silence. I did it for years. 

“[I]f you want Jane Austen, you’ve got to read Jane Austen. What a joy it is to do so.” 

No argument with that statement, ever. 

He continues by explaining the plot and characters until he comes to the axis of the novel, “Later, visiting his magnificent estate called Pemberley, she muses about what her life might be like had she accepted.” 

A critical turning point in the novel, Elizabeth questions her first impressions with a bit of regret, though she later jokes about her change of heart owing to the size of Pemberley, Mr. Darcy’s grand estate. Austen could not pass up the opportunity of a bit of ironic humor. 

“That, though, is only the beginning, for one of the novel’s central themes is that first impressions are not to be trusted, that learning the truth about another person often requires much time and an open mind.” 

After close to 200 years Austen is still teaching us, if you are paying attention, about the disservice that prejudice brings – about love, loss and redemption.  No academics needed on that one either, thank you. 

“The novel’s important matters resolve themselves in a satisfactory way — Austen did like happy endings…as untold millions of happy readers have discovered over nearly two centuries. That my mother was one of these throughout her adult life gave her immeasurable pleasure, and the memory of that gives the same to me.” 

We all have our own personal Austen. Some of us share more openly than others. Mr. Yardley’s is in remembrance of his mother, her appreciation of reading, and an author that gave her so much enjoyment. No author could hope for a finer complement. 

The consummate critic, in 2004 when asked how being awarded the Pulitzer Prize had changed his life or career, he responded, “I’m proud and grateful to have it, of course, but distressed that Pulitzers have gone to so many undeserving people while so many deserving ones have been passed over. It’s a crapshoot.” 

Yes Mr. Yardley, life is a crapshoot, but your book reviews rarely are. Thank you for years of teaching me how to appreciate good books, for making me laugh at your witty remarks, and for writing so eloquently about my favorite author. 

Cheers, Laurel Ann