“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
Though critics have disagreed over the merits of Jane Austen’s work since she published her first book, this quote from “Pride and Prejudice” shows that, love her or hate her, most people can say they know of her. She changed the literary scene when she first anonymously published “Sense and Sensibility” in 1811, creating a romantic genre that didn’t bow to the simpering stereotypes of her time. Hillsdale College Mossey Library is celebrating her and perhaps her most well-known novel, “Pride and Prejudice,” on Jan. 28 with a book discussion in the library’s Heritage Room.
“I try to have a book discussion once a semester,” Mossey librarian Brenna Henry said. “I want to choose books that are classic and paired with an event. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was written in 1813 –– this is its 200th anniversary.”
Henry said Austen’s work is universal.
“It doesn’t get old, it is very classic and witty,” Henry said.
Loraine Eadie, professor in English, agreed with Henry’s assessment of the book. Eadie, who studied Austen as a small part of her graduate studies, teaches a class devoted to Jane Austen. She said that “Pride and Prejudice” is Austen’s most known and most loved book, incredibly crafted, artistic and beautiful.
“It has an enduring appeal,” Eadie said.
Eadie said Austen had little formal education and wrote in her free time, never expecting to be published or gain wealth from her work.
“She has a sharp satiric eye and a realistic view of life,” Eadie said. “She also limits herself by what she knows. She never writes about the married life of her characters –– their stories end with the wedding.”
Austen herself was never married, despite accepting a serious marriage proposal she later declined.
The Cravats and Bluestockings is Hillsdale College’s regency clubs that holds weekly student-professor teas, an annual regency ball and “Cider on the quad.” Junior Emily Schutz, vice president of publicity for the club, encourages women to look past the love story and admire Austen’s talent and witty writing.
“Austen deals with what man is and how he interacts socially,” Schutz said. “I am not a fanatic, but it is good for people to come at her with an open mind, look at the text and see what she has to say, just as with any work.”
Schutz has read all of Austen’s popular work. She said “Sense and Sensibilty” has “some of Austen’s most engaging and well-crafted characters,” “Persuasion” is an excellent study of time as relates to human relationships, and “Emma” is “just a ton of fun.” “Northanger Abbey” and “Mansfield Park” are lesser known and not as generally well-loved.
“I kind of thought it was a drag,” she said of “Mansfield.” “The story unfolds too slowly and the heroine is too much of a goody-two-shoes to be believable or make me sympathetic toward her,” she said.
Eadie agreed that “Mansfield Park” had a distinctly different tone than “Pride and Prejudice.”
“‘Pride and Prejudice’ is not my personal favorite among her works. My favorites are ‘Emma,’(in the comic mode) and ‘Persuasion,’” she said.
Schutz also took an unconventional approach to “Pride and Prejudice,” warning girls not to fawn over Mr. Darcy.
“He is prideful and has human flaws,” she said.
Richard Norris, president of Cravats and Bluestockings, offered a similar caution, saying the cultural context of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s relationship and how it comes about is the exception and not the rule. Eadie said the relationship between the two is based on family and community, not primarily emotions common to modern society.
Nonetheless, Norris said Mr. Darcy can teach men a valuable lesson.
“First impressions are very important,” Norris said. “Elizabeth thinks he is the most disagreeable and awful man and that he has no interest in her when she first meets him.”
Eadie explained that the character of Elizabeth isn’t the air-headed heroine of stereotypical romance.
“Elizabeth doesn’t fall head over heels –– she analyzes her emotions –– the admiration, respect and gratitude she feels toward him and thinks about how much pursuing those emotions will advance both her happiness and his happiness,” she said.
The book appeals on several different levels according to Norris. One is exposed to the English upper-class society during the regency period, their day-to-day life and interactions, and their views on marriage.
His sentiments are not shared by everyone on campus.
“People read her like emotional pornography. Like it is some cheap, titillating emotional high –– it’s gotten out of hand,” said junior Aaron Harris.
Justin Jackson, professor of English, is also not a fan of Austen.
“I believe Mark Twain probably best communicates my feelings about Jane Austen,” he said.
In Twain’s letter to Joseph Twichell, Sep. 13 of 1898, he wrote, “I haven’t any right to criticise books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read ‘Pride and Prejudice’ I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”
ndemacedo@hillsdale.edu
