What is it about Jane Austen?
The English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817) has a passionate following, but her life is notable for its lack of events. She did not marry, although she had several suitors, one of whom she accepted one evening, only to withdraw her acceptance the following morning. While she was writing her novels, the Napoleonic Wars were in progress, but you would never know it from her classic work.
I’ve never read a word of Jane Austen”s novels (not many men have) but, as a film fan, I’ve seen “Emma” [my review here], “Pride And Prejudice” [my review here] and “Sense And Sensibility” [my review here] and this weekend I saw the new bio-pic “Becoming Jane” [my review here] .
BBC on-line has a short essay examining Austen’s undoubted enduring appeal.
March 12th, 2007 at 12:40 am
I love Jane Austen. I wonder if what you said is true, that not many men have read her? She is required reading in lots of British Lit. classes here in America. Certainly I was required to read Pride and Prejudice, as were my students. You’d appreciate her sense of humor.
March 12th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Me neither Roger – but a lot of men have: Pride & Prejudice was 6th on the list of books that men can’t do without, according to the World Book day lists. Or, at least, the list of books that men claim to have read (I’m a little sceptical of these things), or think they ought to have read. Or are they just thinking of Keira Knightley 😉