Persuading Myself to Persevere

After three readings of Jane Austen's Persuasion, I know my least-favorite novel ever written better than I thought I would. I had to read the book twice in college: first in my freshman year, for my course on 19th Century British Literary Women. Then, it showed up on the reading list for my senior exam. At that point, I thought I was done with Persuasion, and most of Austen (I only like one of her novels, Pride and Prejudice), for the rest of my life. Imagine my dismay when it showed up again on the reading list for my master's exam. While I last read it just two years ago, I decided to actually push through and give it another go. I maintained no pretensions about magically learning to like it. As I said, I've never been much of an Austen fan. While I probably could have gotten away with just reviewing my old notes, I suffered through a third round of Persuasion because I am well-aware that subsequent readings of a work reveal new things that a reader might not pick up on before. My master's exam is designed to demonstrate the new knowledge I have developed about literature and theory in the past two years. Although I did not want to read Persuasion again, skipping the book would have been a disservice to myself and my education. By only reviewing old knowledge, I would miss out on the opportunity to discover new things about the novel, things that I never noticed before, or didn't have the skills to understand. The only way to fully demonstrate my knowledge of the book was to read it yet again, this time with new perspectives and understanding.