Jane Austen. Carol Shields.

Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)
Carol Shields
New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc. 2001.

Why read it? One of the finest writers of English novels, often rated with Shakespeare. Shakespeare lived in a man's world and wrote about a wide range of characters and action. Austen lived in a man's world and was forced to write about a limited number of characters and situations. Shakespeare and Austen never judged their characters, but made them come alive so that they live for today's readers. Pride and Prejudice is often cited by readers as their favorite novel. I have read it at least five times. Another reason to read this biography of Jane Austen is to realize the degree to which women of her time were restricted by living in a man's world. We've come part of the way, Baby. RayS.

Summary and Reflections: Biography. Jane Austen's life exemplified the women in her novels. Adventure was for men. Domesticity was for women. Their only chance for freedom was to be married, so that they could escape from their parents and set up their own homes. Jane Austen faced the same choice but remained imprisoned in domesticity since she never married. Yet she portrayed the life of her society in dramatic fashion. She truly brought domesticity to life. She made the most of her restricted life in her novels.

I think of Emily Dickinson.

Jane Austen did not have the advantage of solitude in which to write. The dwellings in which she lived had too many people interacting in small rooms and too many visitors, most unannounced. Her first novel, Persuasion she had to pay for herself. Her sunniest novel, Pride and Prejudice, was written at a time of unhappiness. She was apparently a good oral reader of her work because she would entertain the family in the evening by reading portions of her work in progress. When her family reacted well, she knew other readers would too.

Young readers think her novels are about getting married. More mature people recognize the excellent sense of humor she brings to her observations of life. Today's readers can see how far women have come from the restricted view of the role of women in her day--and how far they still have to go to have equal opportunity with men even in modern society.

Having a small cast of characters to study, she was able to notice and portray the dramatic interactions of people. I have found interesting her contradictory views on marriage. She pokes fun at the relations between husbands and wives, but she makes clear that getting married is, for a woman, her only chance at happiness. Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice was probably her model for the perfect woman of her time who has control over her destiny.

Women were not even allowed to attend funerals because it was expected that they would become overly emotional. Therefore, only three brothers and other male members of the family attended hers. Her burial was in Winchester Cathedral where there was no mention of her six novels, her "children."

Her life was as confined as the lives of her characters and represents the severe restrictions and meager opportunities for women in the middle-class society of her day. But her characters live and breathe for today's readers and she belongs on the same shelf as Chaucer and Shakespeare. The palettes of Chaucer and Shakespeare are wide, encompassing a broad sampling of society, and Austen's is narrow, representing the limited types of people available to her observation, but they have in common that their characters live for today's readers.