Around 1800, a woman wrote this way: No hatred, no pain, no fear, no protest, no preaching. I think this is Shakespearean writing.
This is the famous British female writer Virginia Woolf's evaluation of another outstanding British female novelist, Jane Austen, and her works.
Born into an ordinary clergyman's family, Austin began writing at the age of thirteen or fourteen, never married, and put his life and enthusiasm into words, such as Pride and Prejudice, Reason and Emotion, Emma, persuasion, etc.
Jane Austen
In Austen's novels, the love and life of the hero and heroine often go through twists and turns, but no matter what kind of suffering they suffer, they can always get rid of pride and prejudice, let go of the struggle between reason and emotion, and have a happy ending.
However, the real Austin and his protagonist's fate overlap only with pain and struggle. She left the beauty to her characters and quietly hid her misfortune.
Austin, 21, fell in love with a young Irish lawyer, Lefroy, at first sight and began a brief but deep relationship. But both families wanted to marry a wealthy family, and their relationship was forced to end.
Since then, Austin has injected all his unfinished emotions into literary creation, focusing on the theme of "marriage and life of women in the english gentry family from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century", opening a new section of the special British women's world in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Screenshot of the movie Pride and Prejudice
Austin wrote a total of 6 complete novels with marriage as the main theme, and Pride and Prejudice is one of the best.
By the time of his love affair with Lefroy, Austin had already created "First Impressions," a blueprint for Pride and Prejudice. Austin projected his ego, emotions, and good intentions into it, which became known as Pride and Prejudice.
Pride and Prejudice's success is not so much due to Austen's artistic talents as it is her artistic semi-autobiographical novel and choice.
Although three centuries have passed, Austen's thoughts on reason, emotion, arrogance, prejudice... It is still a necessary journey for women today to explore love.
Screenshot of the movie Becoming Jane Austen
If the young Austen is the lively and intelligent Elizabeth in "Pride and Prejudice", then the middle-aged her is the kind-hearted Anne in "Persuasion".
At the time of The Persuasion, Austin was forty years old. Tormented by illness, she will still see the girl who is full of love with creative dreams in a trance, so sunny.
Despite the true ending that awaited her, a life of loneliness, poverty, and ridicule, she once again hid herself and whispered to the little girl:
The lover you missed when you were younger, he never forgot you, he was just late and will definitely come back to you. Lovers eventually become dependents.
Austin is such a kind "dream weaver" who dedicates himself to weaving a happy ending for the heroine of his pen. Perhaps, this is also the most ideal life she can imagine for herself, for women of the same period.
In the movie "Become Jane Austen", Anne Hathaway plays Jane Austen
Maugham once said of Austin:
Most novelists have ups and downs in their state, and Miss Austin is the only exception I know of, who is always at her best.
In addition to the 6 classic marriage-themed novels, "Re-encountering Jane Austen" also includes Austen's creations in different periods, including epistolary novels, novellas, dramas, essays and other different genres, taking us to a new and different Jane Austen, but also providing a new perspective on Austen.
The book contains 3 epistolary novels from Austen's teenage years, 6 short stories, 4 essays and plays, and 6 fragments written in different periods.
Compared with Austen's world-famous novels, these works present a frank, exaggerated, and witty creative direction, and it is still possible to find the shadows of famous works such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Reason and Emotion", which give people a refreshing feeling.
I have to say that Austin is partial to epistolary and enjoys the wonderful feeling of words flowing on the tip of the pen.
Another of Austen's famous books, Sense and Sensibility, was published after the epistolary "Eleanor and Marianne" was changed to a narrative body, and finally renamed "Sense and Sensibility".
Of course, in the United Kingdom at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, due to the limitation of transportation methods, people's common way of communicating was still letters. The exchanges between people are based on a piece of paper, slow, traditional and beautiful.
The three epistolary novels included in "Meeting Jane Austen" are "Love and Friendship" written by 55-year-old Laura to her girlfriend's daughter Marianna, "Mrs. Susan" in the letters between the widowed Susan and friends and relatives, and "Emilia Webster", which is seven naughty text messages.
In the correspondence of various characters, the characteristics of the characters emerge one by one, and the complete story chain is gradually put together, which leaves enough imagination space for people in place, and also allows Jane fans to see Austen's little-known writing style.
"Re-encountering Jane Austen" collects 19 of Austen's lost pearl works, presenting the unknown side of Austen for everyone, and re-encountering a different Jane Austen in the text.
No wonder, Liang Shiqiu said: Jane Austen was the most outstanding female writer at the end of the 18th century.
Austin laid out the misfortunes of his life and then lived a full life in his pen. In the kingdom of words, she is no longer alone.