She was an immaculate English author, whose novels are about a quaint world she belonged to and not of a world unknown to her. I admire her for her natural language that comes across in all her novels. Her ability to read the hearts and minds of her characters and the skill to beautifully structure everlasting dialogues, lives in my heart forever.
She wrote about the provincial society she lived in, and she wrote of love; not of wars. The plot of her own life was uneventful, therefore, the plot of her novels and stories were born of her own imagination rather than from what came to pass in her life. However, behind her hazel eyes, was a maze of inner drama; which she projected into her characters that brought her novels to life.
Jane Austen was born into a middle class family on the 16th December 1775, and lived 41 years of her life in the middle-class society of Hampshire, Bath and Southampton in Southern England. She created unforgettable characters like the haughty Mr. Darcy, who finally succumbed to the love of prejudiced Miss Elizabeth; and the precious character of the sensible and stable Elinor of Sense and Sensibility, and many other such loveable people, who continue to live and thrive between the pages of her novels. Novels like Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility (her first published novel, although not the first one she wrote) are some of her famous novels.
Recently, to my utter surprise, a new revelation came to light through media headlines — Jane Austen; the flawless author did have a few flaws. A few spelling errors were found in some of her original manuscripts. Some of her original facsimiles are now available on the internet for everyone to see. Although, these flaws can never undermine the brilliance of a remarkable author. Oblivious to this new found evidence, the regal power of Jane Austen’s pen lives on, the brilliant dialogue and gentle humour in her novels continue to cast a spell on me and many of her readers, who continue to grow in numbers. Therefore, I shall always remain a Jane Austen fan, despite her flaws. There is definitely something ageless and exquisite about this beautiful Jane.
Text & Pic: Trisha Bhattacharya
– Factfile –
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com
http://classiclit.about.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_austen