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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
Jane Austen, Pride and prejudice
Even now, almost 200 years later, the opening sentence to this scintillating literary work remains one of the most intriguing and recognizable quotes. The most popular novel Jane Austen has ever written has seen countless film and stage adaptations and is even said to have inspired numerous writers to follow suit.
Jane Austen has been alternatively know as either the grandmother of popular romance novels or a most ingenious feminist of her era. Remaining single until her untimely death, her life has been the source of intrigue and mystery.
And though the sentence was meant to be ironic, it is still very much a sad reality that even today, in the so called liberal, pluralistic society the idea that women should secure their futures by marrying remains firmly in our collective conscience.
I should have paid more attention to this, my hubs got a house, a car and a wife, when he married me, he was the younger man!
ReplyDeleteJane Austen was an absolutely brilliant writer. The more I read her, the more aware I become of the irony and nuances in her work.
ReplyDeleteI think what you say is true, and I'm always sorry to hear younger women espousing (no pun intended) this retrograde idea as something revolutionary.
Bourbon and Pearls: You opened another excellent point: women who date or marry younger man. When did it become appropriate to call them cougars? I find this label offensive to the extreme. The idea of labeling women as predators, shaming them for their inappropriate? behaviour.
ReplyDeleteune femme: I've seen the movie, horrifying! And of course the critically acclaimed BBC TV series, but I come back to the book every time. I agree on the subtle nuances. And it also irks me how her work has been abused over the time as well as her image and what she stood for.
une femme: espouse! love it :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, I think Jane Austen is one of those authors that needs to be read and then re-read later in life. I'm currently reading Sense and Sensibility, and noticing all sorts of wisdom that I missed the first time around.
ReplyDeleteJane does come across differently when one reads her at different ages--not better, not worse, just differently. She has such a wry sense of humor and understatement. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteMs. M: I love re-reading her novels for the language if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte: I love her sense of humor, it's very intelligent. I imagine she must have found it almost unbearable to live in such a close-minded society. Humor was her weapon, I'm sure.
Well...I coulda married a rich man just as well as a poor one (to bad they didn't ask!) lol
ReplyDeleteMandy: LOL! Goes to show we don't need marriage to be happy and/or taken care of.
ReplyDeleteJane Austen is one of my very favourite authors and P&P one of my fav. books :) Always gets me to smile and sigh (just like one of her lesser characters I imagine LOL)
ReplyDeleteAnnette: It is something I've often wondered: what makes a book or an author very good? My mum once gave me an excellent definition. She sad a good book can give many different things to different people reading it. It contains layers withing layers so that every reader gets something out of it. A most apt explanation.
ReplyDeleteYour mother is a wise lady I like her explaination.
ReplyDeleteJA was part of traditional classic education and all her books had to be read & quoted from.
Northanger Abbey was my favourite well read and thumbed copy as it was part of the GCE's English literature requirement.
I prefer the Bronte sisters' more outward looking take on their lives. Ida
Ida: Thanks, my mum is an avid reader herself and she passed the love for books to me :-)
ReplyDeleteAs for school curriculum, it can either make you loathe the author or love it, so much depends on the literature professor. I was lucky, most of mine were outstanding with a few rotten apples thrown in the mix.
I have read my Jane Austen books, though a very long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI´m afraid I have no ready opinion on her production right now.
Mette: That's quite all right :-) Happy weekend!
ReplyDelete