Who's Afraid of Jane Austen?

by Henry Hitchings

Ever wondered how some people seem to have an opinion on every book ever published? Henry Hitchings introduces the invaluable skill of literary bluffing in this survivor's guide to talking about books you haven't read.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Literature, How To

Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Henry Hitchings is the author of The Language Wars, The Secret Life of Words, Who’s Afraid of Jane Austen?, and Defining the World. He has contributed to many newspapers and magazines and is the theater critic for the London Evening Standard.

Reviews

[Manny]

The other day, I was being criticized by certain people for posting a frivolous review of Er ist wieder da despite not having read it. Well, I am the first to admit that my behavior is inexcusable, but I was a little surprised not to have been arrested earlier. Ladies and gentlement of the court, I have been doing this for years. I'm a serial offender. I'm just glad that I've finally had a chance to come clean.

Here are some other reviews I've posted of books I haven't read (I'm afraid this is a mere sample):

The Bradley Cooper Handbook: Everything You Need to Know about Bradley Cooper

Buildings of Spherical Type and Finite BN-Pairs

Chess Champion from China

La Comtesse des Connes

Creationism for Dummies

The Da Vinci Code

The Destruction of Dresden

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades Darker

Hamlet's Father

The Hunger Games

Killer Crabs

On Certainty

The Original of Laura

Pimp: The Story of my Life

Pleasuring the Pirate

Principia Mathematica

The Quran

Santa Lives! Five Conclusive Arguments for the Existence of Santa

Serena

An Uncommon Whore

All I can say is, I'm sorry, and I'll never do it again. Until next time.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the record, I didn't pick up this book to be able to pretend to have read books I actually haven't. When I haven't read a particular book, I'm going to admit it, I'm not going to try and bluff my way through. No, I thought it would be a fun way to learn more about the classics of literature and find out if I would enjoy reading them. And that's exactly what this book did for me. The author describes a myriad of 'difficult' books and writers (Don Quixote, poetry in general, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Ulysses, etc) in a lighthearted, yet informative way. Some parts made me really want to start reading the discussed books and other parts only reinforced my decision to steer clear of certain novels. This book also paints a vivid picture of the dreaded literary snob and how best to deal with such douchebags. A witty and enlightening read.

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro que no tiene cabida en una comunidad lectora como la de goodreads y aún menos traducido al castellano para lectores hispanohablantes.
Este ensayo es una justificación para no leer y pretende enseñar estrategias para poder salir airoso en conversaciones sobre literatura aunque nunca hayas abierto un libro. Llegó a mis manos porque el título me pareció atractivo y pensé que el autor se sacaría de la manga algún truco ingenioso pero como lectora debería haberlo sabido, no hay engaño posible, o lees o no lees. Lo que hace aquí Henry Hitchings es plantearse cuales son los autores y libros que pueden salir a colación en una típica conversión sobre literatura en Inglaterra y escribe un resumen de lo que cualquiera debería saber sobre ellos. Así se puede leer este manual o cualquier otro de los que pasaron por nuestras manos en el colegio o el instituto.
En un sitio como goodreads donde se gusta de leer, de hablar de libros, de compartir opiniones lectoras no tiene sentido un libro como este y su utilidad para hispanohablantes es nula. Por una parte porque la traducción es pésima, como hecha por un aficionado dónde se encuentra una frase mal construida detrás de otra, por otra porque trata de las lecturas imprescindibles para el inglés medio y estas difieren mucho de las del hispanohablante medio. Pero hay algo más, una tercera hiriente razón. Una de las pocas obras nombradas en castellano es El Quijote y este aparece como libro ilegible al que el autor tiene especial antipatía y que no duda criticar durante varias páginas.
Si alguien se pregunta después de lo dicho, que hacía leyendo este tratado, diré que me resultó interesante lo que contaba de los diferentes autores porque siempre se aprende algo. Ya se sabe, hasta un reloj roto da la hora bien dos veces al día. Pero tú no, tú no pierdas el tiempo con él, mejor repasa el libro de literatura de bachillerato si sientes que necesitas más conocimientos literarios.

[Al Bità · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fun read, if you like this sort of thing. The author deals briefly with Austen, Virgil, Homer, Joyce, Dante, Shakespeare, the Bible, the Qur'an, Proust, Tolstoy, Dostoevski, James, Cervantes, Murasaki, Aesop, Chaucer, the Arabian Nights, etc. It is full of tidbits reagarding and their work, all intended to provide the person knowing these things with the 'necesssary information' to impress others about books you haven't read... That, apparently, includes trying to fool College and University Interviewers in job applications...

The book suffers in that it tries to be too witty and clever for its own good (this is quite apart from the dubious matter which implies that, indeed, you do not have to read these books at all; you just need to know what other people (who presumably HAVE read them — although even that statement may be suspect) are saying about it.

This is purely about Trivia. Informed trivia; but trivia nonetheless. And to push the point, the author includes a Quiz at the end of 50 questions. The big mistake is that the author does not provide the answers! (At the top of the quiz, he tells us "The answers to most, but not all, of the questions are explicit in the text") There is not even an Index which might otherwise have helped... If Hitchings really believes that the type of person who would read this book would really go back and re-read the work with pen and paper in hand to identify and answer the questions, and perhaps then identify those questions which are NOT explicit in the text, then he needs to re-think!

[Luis Loyola · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mi me parecio muy entretenido, y a pesar del titulo, el autor habla con tanto entusiamos sobre algunos libros , da tantos datos y anecdotas divertidas que acaba incentivando la lectura de algunos titulos, eso si , el noventa por ciento de los autores y los libros sobre los que comenta son anglosajones.

[Sonia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quien se acerque a este libro esperando conseguir lo que promete el titulo se va a llevar una decepción, porque el autor pasa de puntillas por algunos (pocos) libros de los que la mayoría hemos oído hablar en numerosas ocasiones, sin añadir nada nuevo.
Si te acercas a él con la intención de que te convenzan para leer esos libros que son clásicos y crees que deberías leer pero temes que te van a aburrir, como es mi caso, tampoco se consigue el objetivo. Aunque a ratos el tono es ameno y el autor se toma el asunto como una broma compartida, sus comentarios sobre los libros son anecdóticos en el mejor de los casos.
Se centra demasiado en como salir airoso en una conversación sobre libros en ambientes ligeramente pedantes y condescendientes, pone ejemplos de situaciones vividas por él y posibles contestaciones a casos hipotéticos(por poner un ejemplo, como triunfar en una conversación con un filósofo...y ofrece un resumen de frase y media de varios filósofos imprescindibles...???).

Mención aparte a la traducción de Planeta, varios gazapos de traducción. No me lo esperaba de una editorial tan seria.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining read. Those who make knowledge accessible and entertaining are our saviours.

The book addresses some of the issues around the discussions of reading, for example the shame of not having read a book or finishing it. It made the 'classics' more accessible. Henry Hitchings both encouraged the reading of the literary canon but also dismissed the idea that they were for a certain few. Another great aspect is that he explores writings from religion, philosophy and science as well as literature. He never dismisses modern writers and welcomes references to pop culture. Written in 2008, he blamed the increase of DVDs on a lack of reading books. Oh if only he knew then. I hope that he can do an update to see what he would make of YA fiction and Game of Thrones.

My favourite quotes included:

'Olympian heights of academia'
'a related class of books consists of those read exclusively by literature students and the people who teach them'

This book has given me both the confidence to read these classic books, but also the confidence to put them down if I am not enjoying it, as so many have done before.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange book, wonderfully amusing in some parts, erudite and impressive in others, but also frequently annoying. I read this not as a bluffer's guide or even how to impress people at parties but to get brief ideas about a selection of writers and books I knew about but had not read. And where it did that I was pleased. I loved the chapters on Shakespeare and Ulysses and Homer/Virgil. I learned much about Dante, the Qur'an, Henry James etc and was more than satisfied with what I discovered, but at other times the silliness about bores and professors and what not to say to whom was all just waffle to me.

I guess all this was a "hook" to get some people to read but to me it was annoying, as evidenced near the end when Hitchings admits "In this book, by the way, I am naughty enough to write [once] about a book I have not read, and there are a couple of others I have not finished. I'll leave you to guess which they are." I did not feel the book needed these devices, nor the "quiz" at the very end which was like a test of what you've read. I felt patronised by that.

[Tiina · Rating 3 out of 5]

parts of it very too winding, but I got a decent overview of some classics.
more like 2,5 stars

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me a long time to read but I'm like that with all non-fiction.

At first I was slightly horrified by the idea that I would want to go around pretending I had read certain books. But to be honest I think that this book is really more about persuading you why you should read all the books you haven't read and it did a pretty good job of that for me. I found a couple of the chapters a bit weak though - the chapters on philosophy and science tried too hard and didn't really say much. Perhaps he should have stuck to fiction. I also thought the author lived in some sort of harsh alternative reality where people come up to you all the time questioning your reading habits.

I'm now embarking on an attempt to read more classics, starting with the complete novels of Jane Austen.

[Jeff Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've tried this three times and never managed to read it all. I should perhaps bookshelve it as "did not finish", but three times probably gets it to my main shelf. Whilst marketed as a bluffer's guide, the book is more of a monologue on a range of well known, but often not well read, books. I have read most of the texts he references, but somehow that makes it less, rather than more interesting. It's an odd book, with a few interesting insights but much that drags. I don't know to whom, if anyone, I could actually recommend this book.

[Björn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ég kláraði hana ekki. Kannske ekki bók til að lesa spjaldanna á milli heldur: þetta er kjölfróðleikur um allskonar literatúr og fínn sem slíkur, kannske ekkert ofsalega eftirminnilegur en góðir sprettir.

[Daniel Medina Ramos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante,
por partes tedioso y te llevaba a un profundo sueño, pero era reconfortante despertar después, tiene datos importantes y desconocidos, anécdotas graciosas, y una dosis de enseñanza global.
Sátira a la literatura.
Aprendí un par de cosas.

[Daisy H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since there are so many books that exist like this you'd think the author would try to make this one stand out. The author is incredibly obnoxious and I'm not interested.

[Pamela Ramírez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gracias a este libro, quise leer 10 más.

[Amira Kaadan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny.

[Tinker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witty and accessible.

[Kanlep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brevísimo recorrido por la literatura universal lleno de datos y anécdotas muy interesantes.

[Paky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro entretenido, aunque lógicamente no es que responda exactamente al título. Más bien encontraremos un rápido recorrido sobre distintos autores y libros, más o menos conocidos, con algunas nociones básicas y anécdotas al respecto. Escrito con gran sentido del humor, resulta una invitación a la lectura de grandes obras y otros tantos autores con los que posiblemente no nos hemos atrevido.

[Niki E · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really useful way to learn more about those books I’ve always felt I should read but probably have known deep down I never will get to, and if I do will likely fall asleep every few pages (sadly, I have form here). In witty, densely-packed, brief chapters I learnt useful information about ‘difficult’ books and writers: Dante, Proust, Ulysses, Dostoevsky, the Greek philosophers, poetry etc. Occasionally I wanted to revisit a classic such as Flaubert’s Madame Bovary I read in Yr 11 and which clearly flew mostly over my head at that age, but mostly I felt vindicated in my decision to steer clear of many of these impenetrable works.
It’s telling that at the end the author coyly reveals that in his discussion of all the works in this book, there was one he hadn’t actually read and several he hadn’t finished. We all fake it.

[Carlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Como bibliófilo contumaz, he de reconocer que leer la obra “Cómo hablar efectivamente de libros que no se han leído” (como reza el título original) suponía más un ejercicio de reflexión y memoria –aunque hay algunos textos mencionados en el libro que no he ojeado– que realmente una invitación a no leerlos y sólo ser capaz de hablar de ellos.
Aunque ameno, y con algunas partes interesantes (por ejemplo sus acotaciones: “Cosas que saber sobre Shakespeare”, “Algunos inicios de obras clásicas”, “Ideas equivocadas sobre el Corán”), lo cierto es que no creo que el libro cumpla su cometido: tratar de hablar del Quijote o de “La novela de Genji” a partir de la lectura de un capítulo que apenas ronda la decena de páginas (mientras que las obras mencionadas acumulan, juntas, más de dos mil) limitaría en suma una conversación. Creo que sería más inteligente la aceptación de no haberlos leído, pero intentar hablar de ellos a partir de lo que se ha oído hablar o se ha leído sobre dichas obras.
Por otra parte, tampoco estoy cierto de que, como apunta el editor, esta “guía te enseña cómo hablar y escribir sobre libros clásicos que no se han leído (aún…)”: dudo que mucha gente guste, a partir de la lectura de este libro, buscar precisamente las obras de las cuales habla.
En resumidas cuentas, no es una verdadera guía. Valdría más la pena leer “Cómo hablar de los libros que no se han leído”, de Pierre Bayard, que inspiró este texto.

[María Greene F · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uno al final agarra este libro, como para saber qué piensa el autor de los otros que se han leído y así comparar impresiones. O sea, que es más una compilación de críticas, que un coaching para verse culto. Creo yo.

Puede ser divertido, sí, pero al final no es más que una especie de almanaque y, como todos los que tienen que ver con opiniones, un almanaque aleatorio.

Y además el hombre no le pone demasiado pino a los datos freak o cosas interesantes de cada obra, sino que en verdad intenta vestir al lector casual de lector empedernido, jajaja.

En todo caso la idea la encontré divertida. Tiene su encanto, y debe ser gracioso tener conversaciones con embaucadores camuflados.

Pero lo más seguro es que los verdaderos no lectores, por así decirlo, tampoco leerían este libro.

[Nunyah Biznuss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many others, I read Hitchings' book much less for the purpose of deceit, than as a primer on the Classics; a sampler which might dare me to attempt Ulysses or Dostoyevsky. I recommend it for this purpose.

Hitchings is far more readable and amusing than 'Beowulf on the Beach' as he doesn't take a linear journey through literary history. His is a quirky, meandering path, where Jane Austen leads to Homer and Henry James leads to Don Quixote. Whilst the book's dry, subtle humour might be lost on many American readers, it's definitely worth a look if you're curious about what's in many 'great' books but don't really know if you're ready for them.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant factual review of the art of literary bluffing. It covers a wide scope of literature, often presenting an unbiased opinion and description. I wish I could retain more of its content after the first reading. It has given me inspiration and added numerous books to my "want to read" category. I will be sure to keep it close at hand.

[Krollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to this book I can bluff excellently, it is very interesting and has encouraged me to read Dante's Inferno in the original Italian. The only slightly odd part was at the end where there is a very incongruous quiz which requires intimate knowledge of every word Hitchings writes, which disconcerted me a little. Still, it was all well meant, I'm sure. A fun read.

[Cosimo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ante nada,creo absurdo impresionar a alguien hablando de libros y autores tan conocidos como los mencionados aqui.Las reseñas y comentarios no me aportan mucho pero se lee facil.
En verdad es ridiculo considerarte mejor que otros por ser un buen lector.

[Julia]

Another book on my list just for the title, but it may actually be interesting.

[Neville Tirimba Ogoti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Egetabu ekiya, naende kebwate amange igoro y'ebitabu bie chinse chia Ng'umbu. Yarenge koba buya onye kiare korika igoro y'echinse chinde, tari chiria chia Ng'umbu chioka.

[Bere Alamilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro lleno de pensamientos extraños sobre muchos iconos destacados de la literatura con un sabor distinto a muchos otros libros. Escrito como ensayo se disfruta bastante.

[aliciapidgy13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante:)