Conference turris::womannotes-v1

    I started to answer this note with a lengthy discussion of the
    universal insights of Jane Austen's book, and how the characters
    and society she depicts allow us to view our own society more
    clearly.  
    
    But I realized that what really bothers me about your question is
    its underlying assumption:  by asking why contemporary Americans,
    members of another society, should care about this older and
    somewhat alien society, you are implying that 'we' as readers are
    interested only in books set in our own society and our own time.

    But that's not usually why people read novels.  Sometimes we
    read to gain insight into human nature or the functioning of
    our own society, but most often we read novels because we want to
    see another society, live another life, see through somebody
    else's eyes, know what it is like to be different.  We want
    to feel that if we were living in 18th-century England, we
    would be like Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice (or maybe like
    Jane or in my case Lydia).  We want to fall in love in tropical
    places, fight pirates in the Caribbean, gun down alien monsters
    on a distant planet, romance a beautiful spy in the dining
    car of the Orient Express.
    
    It's popular right now to dump on this desire for vicarious
    adventure, call it escapism and unhealthy fantasizing.  But I
    think that this desire to live other times and places, to
    imaginatively create new worlds, is a major part of what makes 
    us human. Besides letting us understand how someone other than
    ourselves sees the world, it shows us other ways of dealing
    with the world and the situations we face.  
    
    --bonnie
    
    

    Re .1, I like your answer, Bonnie, and I agree.
    
    I would also like to add that many British, female, authors are
    read in America.  In the past year I've read novels by several more
    modern (early 20th century) British authors and thoroughly enjoyed
    them.  Among them are Elizabeth Taylor, Rose McCauley, E.M. Delafield,
    Elizabeth Bowen and Jean Rhys.
    
    Why should we limit ourselves to American literature?  If it's written
    in English I'll give it a try!
    
    Lorna
    
    P.S.  Besides, as far as I, personally, am concerned all of my
    ancestors came from Britain so I feel like it's part of my background
    and not alien.
    
 

    For just a brief answer...I read most of Jane Austin's books when
    I was in my early twenties and enjoyed all of them.
    
    Bonnie

    re: .2
    
    Isn't Rose McCauley wonderful?  I love her wit and her sense of
    humor. Also Mrs. Radcliffe, the founder of the whole Gothic genre.
    Shivers up the spine. 
    
    --bonnie    

    Interesting replies, and also some received privately.
    I did not mean to give an impression that I didn't understand why
    Jane's books are so delightful, I just wanted to know what women
    in the States liked about them!  On the wall of this house is a
    large plaque placed there by American admirers (I regret I don't
    recall exactly why or when) and in the book were so many American
    visitors.  Sometimes in these places of respect I find MORE interest
    from America than from this country.
    
    One reason why I enjoy them so much is that I know the towns she
    uses, particularly Bath, and can go and actually see the places
    and houses.  Also the language is so NICE. I use this word in the
    way it should be used and not the common way we use it nowadays.
    The wording is always so precise and conveys so much meaning and
    with such charm.  I do feel we have so many lovely words we don't
    ever get out of the dictionary these days.  For all our education
    and travel experience, we could do no better than a woman who was
    educated mainly at home by her father and did very little travelling
    at all.
    
    As a point of interest, Jane was once a pupil at the Abbey Gatehouse
    School in Reading, England.  Elizabeth Taylor also has connections
    with Reading.
                                  
    As a Englishwoman, may I say how much I love American stories such
    as "Gone with the Wind".  Perhaps for the same reasons given by
    another reply to this note.
    
                 
    Diana.

    Re: .0
    
    I like Jane Austen because she's very good at two important facets
    of writing:  characterization and dialogue.  The only one that I
    *really* like is _Pride and Prejudice_, though I've read several
    of the others, but I still rank Jane Austen among my favorite authors.

RE: < Note 799.0 by IPG::HUNT >

I think there may be another reason. In American high schools,
American literature is (was?) often taught as if it were an 
extension of English literature (read English = British).

Most American high school students take several literature
courses. At least one of these courses are English literature
(read English as in the English language, NOT English as in
English = British) courses where authors, poets, etc., such as,
Shakespeare, Chaucer, Keats, Shelley, and Austen are studied. 

English is our native language. (Please, no flames on this if it
hits anybody the wrong way.) So, it would be natural for students
to read and study any well known English language author,
especially those who write in a timeless manner about the human
condition. Other high school literature courses would cover works
written, more or less, exclusively by American writers; and
classics, such as the Iliad, written in other languages. 

So, we were at least introduced to her in high school. 
Apparently, many liked what they found. 

As others have more or less said, the actual setting and time are
somewhat irrelevant, it's the use of words of the English
language paint a picture and to describe the timeless human
condition that is appreciated. 

    I loved reading many of the British and American female authors,
    but I found Jane Austen pretty heavy going.  (Maybe I will take
    another look, though.)
    
    Any of the Bronte's stories had a lot more momentum (I know they
    were written later) than the storied I read by Jane Austen.
    A lot of Austen's settings reminded me of all the admonishments
    to be ladylike (in the worst sort of way) and her plots seemed to
    center around getting married off suitably.  
    
    I always wondered if I was missing something special, too.

    Re: .8
    
    >her plots seemed to center around getting married off suitably
    
    Have you read _Pride and Prejudice_?  It addresses the issue of
    "suitable" marriages.

	It's probably trivial, but Jane Austin and her books are mentioned
	in a lot of other novels.  Like some of those Regency-era romances.
	So even if people don't read Austin, they know of her, therefore
	might be interested in seeing sights related to her while in
	England.

	...Karen

    I used to work in the library in Amherst, Mass. in the special
    collections room.  The library was right down the street from the
    Emily Dickinson house.  Scores of people used to come to see the
    house (only open a few hours a week) and the diorama of Emily's
    room that we had in the library, and the 4 manuscript poems we had
    in a case.
    
    Some were scholars, and others were people who loved her poetry,
    but many of the visitors came because they knew she was a famous
    person, and they were visiting Amherst.  I'm glad they came, but
    it used to amaze me that they would come when they didn't know her
    work at all.
    
    I suppose it could be the same for Austen...

    I think sometimes you have to be in the mood for a delicate, non-earth
    shattering story--I know there really are times I'd rather read
    an adventure story and I haven't the patience for more subtle stuff
    about folks who always have enough to eat.
    
    I like them for the sense of women's culture.  Close relationships
    between sisters are there, as well as those between other female
    relatives and friends.  Notice is taken of the talent, experience,
    skills, and balance needed for managing a household, which is mentioned
    so much more than the world of business.  And, not every woman must
    be beautiful or admired by men in order to also have good character.
    
    Did anyone else see the thing Masterpiece Theatre showed and called
    "Northanger Abbey"?  I thought they got it all wrong (not to mention
    all that kissing).  I mean, the novel was an anti-Gothic, wasn't it, but
    they turned it into a Gothic!

    I watched the first twenty or thirty minutes of the Northanger
    Abbey production and turned it off in disgust.
    
    Northanger Abbey is probably the funniest novel I've ever read. Of
    course you have to be familiar with the Gothic novel -- and I was
    well steeped in it -- or you miss half the jokes. 
    
    --bonnie

    In response to the original note, surely great literature is
    universal??
    
    Helen.

    
    To me, there are certain things that I think of as very `English',
    such as afternoon tea, country houses like Jane Austen's (I've been
    there and I thought it was a lovely house), village churches etc.
    In fact thinking about it now, I suppose the image that really comes
    to mind is sitting out in a cottage garden in the summer having
    afternoon tea on a sunny, peaceful afternoon. Jane Austen's novels
    seem to bring to mind lots of images like that, which I think is
    what I like about the one's I have read. She writes about what I
    perceive to be a very `English' lifestyle, but I also find it very
    far removed from a lot of everyday life in England today. I find
    it fascinating, but I also think that lifestyle seems rather stilted
    and formal. I always preferred the Brontes because there seemed
    to be a lot more passion in their novels.
    
    Anyway I know I'm rambling on, but the point I'm trying to make
    is that I'm interested in Jane Austen because I perceive her to
    be very `English', and most people going to a different country
    are interested in what is unique to that country, if I went to America,
    I'd want to do/see some very American things to get a feel for the
    flavour of that country. I would also think that Americans with
    ancestors from England would be particularly interested in their
    English past, in much the same way as I am.
    
    Well that's my theory, perhaps it's a bit impudent of me to answer
    for someone else, if so I apologise !!!
    
    Mind you I have enjoyed sitting here dreaming about summer afternoons
    and croquet on the lawn, excuse me for a moment whilst I just ring
    for the Butler to bring tea...

    Jane Austen is a master of dry wit and character development.  She
    manages to expose characters and relationships between characters
    in the most natural setting--their everyday home life.  Her books
    are fascinating not because of the setting they ae in, but because
    of her perceptive betrayal of the people in these settings.