Austen-ified | Sunday Observer

Austen-ified

23 July, 2017
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”  ― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” ― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

With interest on Jane Austen waxing this year, the literary world celebrated the bicentenary of the death of the much loved Jane Austen last week, exactly on July 18. People celebrated her writing in various ways; some had very Austentatious English Tea parties, some read her books at book clubs, and England put her face on the 10 pound note. It is said that Jane Austen received 10 pounds for her first novel from the publishers. Being the Queen of Irony, Austen would appreciate that move.

However, do we really know who Jane Austen is? There are those who have read Pride and Prejudice, who say, “truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” Is Austen being honest about the mercenary aspect of her society, especially, in women? Whereas, there are others who say, Austen delivers that line with gentle sarcasm, not earnestness, simply mocking the very simplistic assumption she’s putting forth. But, what we do know about her is that she wrote plots that wouldn’t be out of place for two hundred years and more. She is definitely a most revered female author in English Literature.

For being astonishingly popular, Jane Austen remains a curious figure, a plain Jane, always hidden among the shadows.

A Lady and the creaking door

“It isn’t what we say or think that defines us,

but what we do.”

- Sense and Sensibility

A British journal published an article titled, “Novel Reading, a Cause of Female Depravity,” in 1797, which leaves no room for imagination why Jane Austen wanted to remain in anonymity, dreading being caught. Austen used a pseudonym, ‘A Lady’ in her books, though many critics claim that it is common practice in her day for both male and female writers not to use their real names.

On the other hand, there are many stories about Austen hiding her writing and some of them define her far from being a polite lady writer. In “A Room of One’s Own,” Virginia Woolf muses on whether “Pride and Prejudice” would have been a better novel if Austen “had not thought it necessary to hide her manuscript from visitors.” (Not that the novel we see today is not a masterpiece)

Many historians maintain that Austen wrote her novels using a portable desk on a small table in the sitting room at Chawton Cottage. It is said, the door to the room creaked when opening and Austen prevented the door being repaired; the creaking door giving her ample notice of intruders to hide her writing.

But, this presentation of Austen contradicts her bahaviours recorded over time. Accordingly, Austen, A Lady, remains a deliberate, careful writer who took pride in her work, had strong opinions about them, and was not reluctant or ashamed. Her family, repeatedly portrayed her as a modest lady who wrote for pleasure, not for profit.

Unlike in the Bronte sisters, and other contemporaries, Austen’s books don’t have secret passages, wind-howling meadows, murderous rage or shattering love expressed with the sharpness of a bloody dagger. But, Austen had a unique talent in combining realism with a new narrative style, rich with irony, humour, sarcasm and an honest view of human folly which was radically inventive.

Austen the Feminist

“What are men to rocks and mountains?”

- Pride and Prejudice

Austen was incorporated into the feminist movements from very early days.

In the early 20th century the suffrage movement claimed her as one of its icons, marching with her name emblazoned upon its banners as proof of women’s intellectual prowess. “We cannot picture Miss Austen addressing, far less, interrupting a public meeting,” Bertha Brewster, a hunger-striking suffragette wrote, “but we can very well imagine her making fun of (conservative party politician) Mr Arnold Ward’s speeches.” If women historically struggled to make their voices heard and their opinions known, Austen prevailed as a result of her undeniable skill, hence, becoming a face of the movement.

Austen – a war time ray of sunshine

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope...I have loved none but you.”

― Persuasion

It was her magic all over again. There’s nothing that can beat a romantic plot woven around country dancing and polite conversations. Austen’s novels became part of the government program to soothe shell-shocked soldiers during World War II. Doctors prescribed soldiers to read Austen so as to prevent them from being reminded of their trauma. Her gentle and seemingly insular narratives seemed to offer a sanctuary from reality, stepping into the England before the war, which was by then, lost. It is said, Sir Winston Churchill found comfort in reading Pride and Prejudice during World War II.

Austen globalised

“Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.”

- Emma

Other than books, television adaptations of her books were embraced by fans with much love and affection. Books or TV, Austen has successfully transcended the quintessentially British boundaries and has become a global icon. According to many articles, the Jane Austen Society of North America boasts more than 5,000 members; the Jane Austen Society of Japan was established in 2006 and Manga versions of “Pride and Prejudice”, “Emma” and “Sense and Sensibility” were issued in 2015 and 2016. There have been more than 50 written versions of “Pride and Prejudice” in China alone. Two hundred years on, Austen’s sniping observations of human vanity and folly still hit the mark.

Austen in the modern world

“Angry people are not always wise.”

- Pride and Prejudice

There are those who have asked what Jane Austen would have done in Brexit England. Austen who saw the American Revolutionary War and the loss of the Thirteen Colonies, the French Revolution, the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the birth of the British Empire, but didn’t include them in her novels (except for brief mentioning of militia stationed in cities she wrote about), decided to ignore it. During her whole life Britain was at war, but she opted to write about stories of the way of life for the lowest level of gentry in rural England in 19th century.

Many criticize her for it, though it was her way of depicting the world she knew well, portraying people as they were, their follies and idiosyncrasies.

She laughed at them and provided a platform for the reader to laugh at them too. And that’s exactly what she would have done today, too. 

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