The Literary Monument is a series that I like very much, it has produced a lot of biographies, and after reading the ones in hand, I plan to collect a few more copies.
Although it is inevitable that the author of a biography will carry subjective judgments and speculations, biography is still a good way to get to know a writer.
Often a book can summarize a writer's life experience and ideological achievements, and play an auxiliary role in understanding the work.
The university would treat Jane Austen's work as a romance novel, and the various versions of the film adaptations of the work were also seen over and over again.
But she is an author hidden behind the work, and it is difficult for readers who love Jane Austen to glimpse the real creative life of the idol.
This "Jane Austen Biography" has been criticized by many people for describing the people around her too much, and she herself has little ink.
On the one hand, she did not leave autobiographical writings, and on the other hand, many of her letters with relatives and friends were burned to the ground by posterity, and only her sister Cassandra kept part of the letters of the two.
Obviously, these missing letters are a great loss to the scholars and readers who studied her.
In view of the above, the author of this book had to look for the figure of this excellent female writer from the materials of her relatives, friends, neighbors and residences, as well as from a small number of letters.
Fortunately, Austin's huge family and social connections have formed a network of people who know Austin.
From the letters and descriptions of others, we know that Austin is a woman with an independent mind who does not conform to the traditional image of a woman.
Born into a pastoral family, she was a very naughty child who loved to read, and the country life and extensive reading provided a rich source of nourishment and creation for her subsequent creations.
It is deeply touching that the father's wisdom and enlightenment have a profound impact on the family.
It can be seen from his connivance with his daughter's novels that he jokes about his identity, tolerates her outrageous remarks and praises her, and that he does not restrict the free and uninhibited thinking of his children, and attaches great importance to education and the cultivation of personality.
Most of his children have achieved good results in their studies and careers.
Austin and her sister Cassandra grew up together, and the two were each other's sunshine on the road of life, sharing each other's secret joys and hurts.
She listed Cassandra as her executor in her will, and gave her the copyright to the book, which is also a testament to Austin's trust in her sister.
Her brothers had helped her, to varying degrees, by providing her with shelter, and Henry had helped her navigate with publishers.
When she was seriously ill, the brothers and sisters of the extended family traveled from place to place to treat her. This kind of brotherhood where blood is thicker than water is touching.
She offered many thoughts, for example, on the marriage and survival of women at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries
"Isn't marriage, as the highest level of friendship, exactly what we all deserve?" From "Charles. Sir Grandison's book on the status and circumstances of women was fully endorsed by Austin's heroines.
To what extent women are able to control their own lives. In addition to money, or money, women without money have no freedom whether they are married or not. ”
These awakenings of female consciousness are all shown in her works.
Now, no matter what generation of women, without money is difficult to move, for others to arrange can only passively accept, there is no right to choose.
A person who seems too rational and calm whether he treats the death of his relatives or friends or faces his own illness, must be a strong person, throughout Austen's life is indeed not vigorous, living in a limited range, but her wise and astute words give the character brilliance, leaving a valuable literary wealth to future generations.
Her life still has meaning for us now, how to treat ourselves, how to treat marriage, and treat the world. I think these will have different standards in each of our hearts.