Editing Austen

Mr. Collins gets on my nerves. Jane Austen does a fantastic job to make a character inspire a feeling in the reader. Ever since he is mentioned for the first time he annoys me. He is introduced to the story as a bother and inconvenience and even a target of joke for Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet. He is the perfect example of someone who gets tangled up in irrelevant conversations and useless wordiness. He reminded me of Writer’s Workshop on wordiness and how to avoid it and conciseness. I constantly edited Mr. Collins’ lines cutting out half of them or even leaving him quiet.

Here is an example:

“ ‘I am not now to learn, that it is usual with young ladies to reject the address of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second or even third time. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.’ ” (pg. 81)

And a revised version of my own:

“I know young ladies initially reject a proposal from a man even three times before accepting, so don’t worry about me because I keep my hopes that we will marry.”

Basically the same thing is said. I am well aware that Austen’s merit lays in the vocabulary she uses and the way she writes. Obviously her version is more beautiful and fits the time period and I know it should be praised that way, but I can’t help noticing the wordiness and an uncontrollable desire to cut it down. Yet it only bugs me with Mr. Collins, I love the wordiness in Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. In that Chapter Nineteen when he refuses to accept Elizabeth’s rejection I felt the urge to slap him in the face. Elizabeth’s response pleased me enormously. This is an authentic chick flick. Similar emotions I felt while reading the Twilight Saga and now that I am watching the movie, I feel equally excited.