What do you love about Austen?

I've just read The Jane Austen Book Club and it's got me thinking about why I love Jane.
I've concluded that it's because of her wit and her irony, but mostly due to her ability to remind us how to love.

I love Jane Austen because the lives of her characters seem so fantastic, or outrageous, today. The way that they occupy their time and minds. I can transport myself away from my ten hour-a-week desk job to another world that doesn't seem that far away.

I love Jane Austen because she sees through people's politeness and correctness and into their true opinions and motivations. She's not afraid to call them out for their inconsistencies and absurdities. Her characters are so subtly drawn that it sometimes takes me a long while to really appreciate what makes them great. For instance, Fanny always seemed so boring and passive, but after several readings and a movie, she shines as one of the characters who has had to make the most difficult choices in her time: to openly defy her benefactor and stand by her decision not to marry into Henry. She doesn't need elaborate plot lines, exotic locales, or a whole lot of action to create the most engaging, entertaining, funny and insightful stories I have ever read.

I too love the way Austen shows people for what they really are; I love the way she manages to criticize people's mannerisms and, as urduha said, their absurdities, without ever really coming out and saying it. This makes her criticism twice as witty and funny to boot.

That is so true; she sees straight through people's pretentions.

While she is seeing thru pretensions and absurdities, she has a soft spot in her heart for a great many of her weak or foolish characters - at least she lets them end well - like Emma and Mr. Woodhouse, Mr. Bennett, Lydia, Mary and Mrs. Bennett,& Charlotte Collins in P & P, Edmund at Mansfield Park even if he didn't notice his true love at first, silly Marianne in S and S, etc. She hardly punishes anyone, except Maria and her aunt in Mansfield Park, and Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion.

>3 urduha:, Great post!

>6 almigwin:, Interesting comment. I think JA does let some of her silly types off in the end - at least those who realize they have been silly (Emma, Edmund) or those who are benignly silly (Mr. Woodhouse, and perhaps the Bennet parents fall into this category?).

But I also think that she does "punish" some of her foolish characters, in a way. P&P's Charlotte Collins is forced to endure Mr. Collins after she chooses to marry him. I've read some commentaries on Sense and Sensibility that accuse JA of punishing Marianne for her sentimentality by trapping her in a marriage that contradicts all her previous values. Don't know if I agree with that reading of things, but it is always fun to read about other perspectives. Perhaps the fates of Charlotte and Marianne are less authorial punishments and more societal punishments - I mean, what choice did these women have, lacking as their families were in wealth and status?

# 7 I agree with you. I think Jane Austen lets her characters suffer the consequences of their actions. As you say Charlotte is stuck living with Mr. Collins. Mr Bennet has to put up with his silly wife and her "nerves". Lydia ends up far from her family in a marriage that has little chance of happiness.
In P&P, Mrs Bennet is the only "silly" character who really doesn't suffer from her actions. I think that Jane Austen is sympathetic towards Mrs Bennet because she did face a very real and very serious problem. She had five daughters and if they did not marry before their father's death, they would be left homeless and with no means of suppport.

Because her books are about women making ethical choices.

I love Jane Austen because of she is clever, funny, and inimitable.
Her way of criticizing people's motivations without ever coming out and really saying it is brilliant. She was not afraid to think her own thoughts about such undisputed classics as Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. She exposes the ridiculousness of that heroine and story fatally in Northanger Abbey. And yet she does that story a service as well — I probably would not have read it if I didn't know that NA was a joke on it.

Austen is just one of those authors that helps me to effortlessly escape into the period she describes. She is prim and proper and wickedly funny all at the same time. Love it.

# 7 I also agree with you.

What I absolutely love about Jane Austen's novels are the sparkling dialogues. I wish I could write like that.

I love her books because she is such an acute observer of people-all her characters are recognisable today and because they make me laugh. I love the fact that they take you to another time and the stories are fantastic.

She reminds me of a smart girl friend that always seems to be able to pick apart the hypocrisies of others and you are the only one that knows her well enough to know when she's being a teeny bit snarky.

That's one of the reasons that I love George Eliot, too. She just seems to see and understand human nature better than most.

I love Jane because her characters are larger then life to me. The plainer girls end up with the fairytale endings. The "bad" girls get what is coming to them.

Jane Austen's writing gives the reader the feeling of control in their own lives, even if it is just for a short while.

Also, I love her frankness and how clearly people can see each other if they try.

This is very late but i saw this topic header and remembered a guest blog post i read last year on a site called 'Historical Tapestry' that focuses on historical novels. The topic was why we (meaning the authors of the blog) love Jane Austen - here is the link:
http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-we-love-jane-austen-by-jane-r...

I love her humor and romance. Her characters come to life in a very real way.

I love Jane Austen's humour. Elinor Dashwood, though more pliable than Elizabeth Bennett, manages to bite her tongue on one or two wicked observations.

I wouldn't call Charlotte Lucas foolish at all. She's already 27, fast hitting the end of child-bearing age, the eldest of a long line of siblings with probably less prospects than the Bennets. Inheriting Longbourne would be a step up for her family, and she goes into the marriage with her eyes open. So I wouldn't say she's 'punished', either - Elizabeth admires the way she manages her domestic affairs so Mr. Collins is kept happy, while separating them as much as possible in their daily lives.

The characters are so well-drawn! Mr. Darcy is one of my favorites--he's mysterious until the very end, which is fitting, given his aversion to displaying his very rich and sophisticated private self. Elizabeth is perfect for him because she's able to appreciate this private self (in the end), but she's also able to treat it with humor and teach him from taking himself so seriously.

Austen charms me by writing about ordinary people, living ordinary lives that are made meaningful by the way she tells their stories. She draws universal truths from Mrs. Bennet-- what more can I say?

We get some measure of her achievement if you think that Jane Austen by her early twenties had written:

- in Northanger Abbey the best ever satire of the Gothic horror novel;
- In Pride and Prejudice the best ever novel of romance; and
- In Sense and Sensibility the best ever conduct novel.

You could so rate her novels without of course necessarily saying you love Jane Austen. I think however that many of us who are admitted 'Janeites' find that to us she seems to have been one of the most remarkable, attractive, engaging and appealing women who has ever lived and we feel we can get close to the workings of her mind and heart through her surviving letters and published works. She has certainly cast her spell on me...