My Love of Jane Austen
Why is Jane Austen so popular? What are her novels about? And why does the modern reader love her?
As a teenage girl living in modern Britain you may be surprised to hear that the pull of Jane Austen and her characters draw me into her fantastic story lines. But I have read all of Austen’s completed novels more than once and I have enjoyed them all immensely.
And it seems like I am not alone in my love of this literacy genius. It seems Jane Austen has been having quite a revival of late: her novel Pride and Prejudice (my all time favourite Austen novel) topped a poll of the books “we can’t live without.” The voters of this poll are right, were would women be without our fantasies of Mr Darcy?
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I think think the reasons why her novels are enjoying such a big fan-base, even in todays society are:
1) The feelings of her characters are so universal. Although Jane Austen wrote her novels years ago (her last novel “Persuasion” was published in 1817) the characters and emotions still feel real, personal and relevant to the modern world.
2) Her novels are easy to read because they aren’t about war or poverty or pain. They are romantic and light and fluffy. This may be criticized by some but for me it is all part of the attraction. She writes about situations that I can relate to in a witty, wickedly observant way.
3) Her books are about woman making the right choices. The characters who do act foolishly are punished. One example of this is Charlotte in Pride and prejudice, who is forced to marry Mr Collins. Another theory, is that Marianne in Sense and sensibility is forced into a marriage that goes against her previous values, to punish her for her sentimentality. Austen manages to criticize different peoples motivations and actions without disagreeing outright.
I enjoy reading Jane Austen’s novels because her novels all feature her wicked sense of humour, sparkling dialogue (if only I could write like that) and intriguing characters.
Below is a list of all of her novels in order of how much I liked them.
- Pride and prejudice (The best)
- Persuasion
- Sense and sensibility
- Emma
- Mansfield Park
- Northanger Abbey (my least favourite)
Thankyou for reading. If you would like to checkout some of my other articles you can find them here:
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jane austen is a good writer pride and prejudice was awesome
This is a good article berrynice however I can’t leave a comment on my view on Jane Austen as I’ve never come around to reading her books. Great article though keep it up.
I have always thought about reading one of her books. The one I always hear about; Pride and Prejudice. I might get it next time I go to the library.
Good Article
berrynice,
It is nice to see that someone your age has an appreciation for Jane Austin. Pride and Prejudice is my all time fav too….with Emma a close second. You may also like Louisa May Alcott, if you haven’t already read her.
I also love her works.Nice one,berry
I love Jane Austen too.
I’m doing a college project on Jane Austen and her influence on modern literature, so this is an interesting article to come across. Thank you for writing it. I disagree that Pride and Prejudice is Austen’s best work, however- I found it extremely hard to get in to. In fact, I didn’t finish it =] I loved the movie of Northanger Abbey, have you seen that? It helped me to appreciate the book a little more.