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The Appeal of Austen, Why do so many love her work? |
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 Apr 20 2008, 11:59 AM
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Just Through the Brick Wall
Posts: 3
Joined: 11:42am April 20, 2008
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Jane Austen's stories became a source of popularity because they contained all the typical elements of what would one day become the common romance novel among women. Opposing and attracting elements in the lead characters who must face obstacles and overcome them in order to get to their Happily Ever After. It leaves the reader with a satisfied ending. However, as much as I adore Austen's works, I will have to agree with Charlotte Bronte who criticized Jane Austen's productions saying she "had no passion, no fire". The obvious reason for this was that Jane Austen herself only ever observed the goings on between a man and his wife, never the closed door aspects. As a result, her works tended to leave quite a bit more to the imagination, a thought that lends the reader to create their own ideas. Hence the reason there are so many sequels and addendums that have been written over the years to enhance what Jane herself was incapable of exploring within her own manuscripts. In short, it is, in my opinion, as successful as it is do to it's lack of detail, leaving the reader to create their own connections to the characters.
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Apr 20 2008, 12:47 PM
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Perusing the Magical Menagerie
Posts: 90
Joined: 11:40am April 20, 2008
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As much as I truly love Austen's stories, the plot is not the appeal. It is the manner in which she delivers them. Her narrator's tone. Her characters' dialogue. It is all completely elegant and refined, yet every sentence is punctuated with a wit and irony that is completely unexpected coming from a woman of her time. Only Austen could have made Austen's stories as engaging as they are. Similarly, if Jane Austen had written Wuthering Heights (and please don't mistake me: I love the Brontes) would you really want to read it? They are two very different styles of drama and two very different styles of narration, each suited to itself. An internal drama set in a society with such poise would be absolutely dead without a style as clever as Austen's. She, and some of her more memorable characters, are masters of smartly poking fun at others. They say something, they curtsy, and then they leave before their companion can figure out just how badly they've been insulted.
"The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it- it might be sick!" (SS ch3)
Yup, I can see see the influence...
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Apr 20 2008, 01:29 PM
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Perusing the Magical Menagerie
Posts: 90
Joined: 8:43pm June 16, 2007
Location: out of my mind....
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For me, Jane Austen has kind of been an "acquired taste"... I read Pride and Prejudice when I was in middle school or early in high school, and I absolutely hated it. I thought it was completely boring and predictable, and I thought it was just such a long haul to get to the end, when it was already clear what would happen. I only re-discovered Jane Austen about two years ago, when I decided that I should give her another try after hearing for years from so many people that her works were so great. So, one day, I picked up Sense and Sensibility while browsing in a bookstore, and twenty minutes later, I was hooked. Pride and Prejudice is still not my favorite - that would definitely be Emma - but I have grown to love her style and her writing.
What draws me into all of her stories (or all of them that I have read, anyway) is her wit and her characterizations. I love the dry humor that is so very pervasive in her writing, and I love the fact that we as readers are maybe not supposed to take her characters so very seriously. We the readers know that no matter how much the characters may act like the world is ending, it's not, and we are encouraged to just kind of smile at their drama without buying into all of it. I will freely admit that there are several "romantic" classics that I really can't stand (Wuthering Heights and A Room with a View are two that immediately come to mind), because I find them to be too sappy or dramatic or what-have-you, but Jane Austen's characters do not annoy me like those characters do. Yes, her stories are predictable in that we know that the girl will get the guy in the end, and they'll live Happily Ever After, but we get to laugh at and with the characters - and caricatures - as they make silly mistakes along the way. And life is really all about the journey, right? Even if we all know there's no such thing as Happily Ever After...  I think that maybe that is the universal appeal: we love to laugh at exaggerated versions of ourselves...
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In memory of the constant through so much of my life,
and the spark who made us smile through the worst days.
Know that you both will always be deeply loved and missed. |
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Apr 20 2008, 04:04 PM
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Leaky's Official Donut Maker and Mosquito Man
Posts: 10,043
Joined: 10:51am August 25, 2005
Location: Playing kal-toh with Professor Snape
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There are many things that appeal (the style, the happy ending, the way the story is told) but for me one of the things is that it's about an era that no longer exists, where the gentlemen bowed to each other and to the ladies, where women curtsied (sp?) and everyone was polite in a formal prescribed manner which contrasts so totally with today's culture (speaking generally) of total disrespect for ones elders & ones peers. Everything seemed so graceful and civilized.
Of course it was only the *priledged few* that lived in that style, no doubt 99% of the rest of the population lived in abject poverty with no food or decent hospitals or anything, and we always see rich white christian people so I guess minorities didnt even *belong* back then.
But, it's nice to dream & Jane Austen brings a gentle happy sweet dream alive and that's what appeals to me.
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  I'm 1 of the 99.99% W.L.Y.J.  When I sleep I dream, and when I dream I can rise above the walls Remember Cameron Duncan |
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Apr 22 2008, 01:42 AM
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Eeylops Owl Cage Cleaner
Posts: 216
Joined: 1:28am June 27, 2007
Location: Hogwarts library, trying to get through exam work
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Jane Austen's novels, essentially have no major plots. They're pretty common. The beauty lies in her writing. It's the timeless quality of her characters and the way they react to situatuions that arise. I mean, I can relate completely with Lizzie, and what she feels and thinks, and how she hates it when people pester her for marriage, especially her mother. I mean, I'm not pestered about marriage (I'm only in high school!) but I am pestered about other stuff. I know my parents mean well, which is what her mother did too, but I guess it's just the rebelliousness (sp?) of Lizzie that I adore.
Also, no matter how many years go by, every girl wnats a tall,handsome,rich,loving gentleman to love them! I mean, chivalry is always valued among women, and to have such a fairytale story, set in a normal setting (for the time) is stuff of fantasy.
I guess it's this endearing quality of her characters and her writing which make Jane Austen's novels what they are today.
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"The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're working from within to bring down the Ministry of Magic using a combination of Dark magic and gum disease."
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