Started reading your posts with the quotes from Davidson about my beloved Fanny Price and had to stop as I got too mad, you are stronger than I 🫡
I am so so sorry. They're pretty enraging, aren't they? I get to the point where I have to skim some of them. Nina Auerbach's essay was so frustrating that I had to quit halfway through and then take the weekend off from research to recover.
I went to a convention a few months ago where I heard some Fanny opinions that made me want to fight people, so since next year's convention's featured author is Austen, I decided to write a paper on Fanny to present. Which means that I have to read as much as I can of the existing scholarship to be able to combat their arguments. I have regretted this choice multiple times.
What gets to me most is the level of vitriol. It's like these people are going out of their way to be as vicious and hateful and in-bad-faith as they can. to a fictional character. for...having the "wrong" personality? Seriously? You're an academic and you have chosen to use your intellect to bully a girl who never did you any harm because she doesn't even exist? Real mature. It goes beyond "I don't care for this character" or "I find the character ineffective to the narrative because of [reasons]," which, even though I might disagree, would at least be reasonable, professional perspectives, and it moves firmly into the territory of sheer pettiness.
Anyway, if you ever feel like being mad, there's more in my #FP deserves better tag.
