Skip to main content

And now a little word on one of my heroines…the most mysterious Jane austen



 Author of just a few romantic novels, and yet still the brain that produced “pride and prejudice “ “Emma” and “persuasion”. In just a few years, Austen created some of the most memorable characters in English literature. Mr Darcy. Elizabeth Bennet. Emma wood house. Anne Elliot from persuasion. These characters have captured the imagination of millions, but why?  What inestimable qualities did Austin’s characters have to warrant immortality?  

What a damn good question. 


I mean who could resist this man?  đŸ˜‰

In times of extreme distress I always watch or read Austen as a way to feel better—to revisit an orderly world is sometimes therapeutic for me. It reminds me of a time where the fugue of the twenty first century passes away for a little while.  

Well for me at least it’s a comfort and release, but I do not romanticize it. This was not a time for women in any sense to live freely or to find intellectual fulfillment. 

And yet we do have extraordinary moments of female power even at this time—Mary Shelley, for example, and her monster. In any time, and in any place, I believe you can find moments of power and intelligence;  moments of quiet rebellion and covert freedom. It’s a mistake to view people (women) of the past as victims. After all most didn’t think of themselves that way!

Jane Austen s work is filled with characters bursting with authority and strength—lady Catherine for one of “pride and prejudice”.   But, just as it’s a mistake to view her female characters in a certain light, so is it a mistake to view her male characters as monuments to a patriarchal order. Each male lead if you will, is a complex mixture of authority and humility, and each is well familiar with the concept of hubris. In short they’re all too human, and this is a tribute to austen as a great writer. 

What I find especially fascinating is that in the past thirty years there have been so many different adaptations of her work—from “clueless” to the most recent pride and prejudice with Keira knightly. You could even watch this rather gruesome rip off :


I mean, what the hell are some people thinking?

But my point is that Austen appears to still have some relevance today for modern audiences, zombies notwithstanding. 

It was an honorable world to be sure, one where the complexities of human nature were present in literature and subtly in interpersonal interactions.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Into the Minds of Moria: Hitler's good little orc, Reinhard Heydrich

Hannah Arendt, who wrote an account of the trial of Eichmann in Jerusalem, characterized Nazism as "the banality of  evil."  What exactly does that mean? BANALITY:  "the quality of being boring, ordinary, and not original."   https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/banality  At least according to the Cambridge University dictionary.  But, do I agree with Arendt's use of that term? Yes and no.  Hitler's inner circle were extraordinarily ordinary men, not gifted with either intellect or extensive education (excepting perhaps Albert Speer).  And yet, these men were truly gifted in their collective hatred and paranoia ...of just about everything and everyone. But, there were special orcs,  even within the circle of Hitler's closest minions.  This is the story of one of the worst: Hitler’s favorite orc. All right.  You caught me.  That orc is actually from the World of Warcraft. OK. Let me introduce you to this f...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Do You Deny then, Mr. Chivington, that you're a vicious psycho hose beast?' No sir, Mr. Congressman sir, I swear I didn't know there was anyone there! The tragic massacre at Sand Creek, 1864.

What images come to your mind, when you dream of the American West, Dear Reader? Something like this? I know that this is one of the more recognized fantasies about the western experience.  Hopefully by now, we all know that this depiction is COMPLETE bulls*&t. THERE WERE ALREADY PEOPLE THERE, FOLKS. When I think of the American western experience, I always have these images in my head: For my druthers, I prefer pictures like the above.  Images that compel impressions of space and wild beauty. Buffalo, coupled (of course) with that endless sky.  Whenever I think about the American West, I think poetically.  I think tectonically.  It's impossible to gage this landscape against the span of a single human life.  But, that is essentially what we have to do here, isn't it Dear Reader? We must create condensed sketches of larger events, even if those happenings are tragic in nature.    Which brings us to Sand Creek. The events surrounding the M...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cartman celebrates xenophobia, and Queen Victoria becomes a drug kingpin! : The tragedy of the "Opium Wars."

Hey, Dear Reader, did you ever watch the original "Miami Vice" with Don Johnson? It was a show about vice cops in Miami (obviously), and was one of the more popular shows in the 80s and 90s.  The reason I mention it, is because this show had some really cool, stylish drug lords. Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and every f&*king prime minister who served Great Britain between the 1830s and the 1890s were drug lords. Which places ole Vicki in a sticky position, historically speaking. But, I suppose lots of world leaders feel they're above common law.  They must belong to the super-terrestrial twilight with other narcissists.  One characteristic that these people share, however, is typically xenophobia.  In other words:  WE'RE THE GREATEST;  THE MOST PURE; THE MOST GODLY.  Any resistance from 'inferior beings' must be crushed, because we (i.e. TOTAL XENOPHOBES)  English know what's best. UMMM.  Cough.  Gagging reflex.  Wait, is this...
Post a Comment
Read more