Embedded Files
Author: Fallynleaf
Publisher: Archive of Our Own
Publication Date: March 1st, 2022
Types of Queerness: Sexuality
Summary:
Emma seeks to distract Harriet from thinking about Mr. Elton. I started reading Emma last year as part of a pretty incredible guided communal reading of the book that takes place during the exact time frame as the events of the novel. We're most of the way through volume two currently, and Frank Churchill just left.
I've seen no less than four different adaptions of Emma, but I'd never actually read the book until now. I can't say it's my favorite Jane Austen story. But reading it like this has really opened my eyes, and I've found that I'm getting far more out of the book than I'd gotten out of any of the film adaptions. I've spent a lot of time over the past few months thinking about Emma's relationship with Harriet, as well as Emma's feelings concerning the thought of her own marriage. There's room there, I think, for interpreting Emma as LGBTQ, either as a lesbian or as asexual or both.
I had various thoughts kicking around in my brain regarding the timing for where an Emma/Harriet relationship could fit into the story, but I kept wanting to wait and keep reading in case there was a better spot for it. So far, every new development has seemed like a better time than the last. I actually wrote this to fit into the part I just read yesterday (accidentally early, as I read it before they shifted the chronology), which was the end of volume II, chapter XIII.
It probably would have been a better idea to wait until I'd finished the book, because despite the fact that I know the story pretty well, it feels sort of like publishing a fic for a show when you've only watched half of the latest season. But I wanted to get a second fic done for Femslash February (this fic marks my 10 year anniversary of participating in it!), and Emma and Harriet wouldn't leave me alone.
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