If Pride and Prejudice is "the originator of romance novels," few would argue against it. Joyful enemies, proud misses and noble princes, from looking at each other wrongly, to changing their views on each other in difficult situations, and finally achieving a good relationship - such a proper romance routine, who can not sigh a wonderful? Jane Austen was a fully talented woman, in the 18th century British social environment, she observed the feelings of men and women in society from the perspective of women, depicting the sour, sweet and bitter life of women in that era.
"Re-encounter with Jane Austen" is a compilation of Jane Austen's works by Baihuazhou Literary and Art Publishing House, including epistolary novels, short and medium stories, dramas, essays, etc., re-collected and published, these works can be regarded as Jane's "lost pearls" works. These works, although they do not read as well as the long works such as Pride and Prejudice and Reason and Emotion, and the stories are not detailed and full, but they are part of the integrity of Jane Austen's work.
Maugham once said That Jane Austen "had a rare sense of humor." This can be seen in the language of her letters and works. In this part of the work, she pursues a sense of eroticism, and her language is witty and mean, which can anger the concept of women at that time in a series of witty words.
Jane Austen especially likes to portray a certain life experience of the character in the novel as "This is the happiest and happiest time of my life". For example, the heroine laura in the first story wrote to a friend that she and her fiancé and friends lived in the countryside together with the happiest and happiest, because at that time they had not yet endured the changes in life, and their husbands and friends were still alive and accompanied.
In Jane Austen's life experience, there seem to be very few happy times, and there may only be a few happy and happy times. She came from an ancient family, which began in the wool industry and rose to the ranks of the British gentry through the momentum of the Industrial Revolution. Like many women of Britain's most prestigious families, Jane Austen had to be an elegant woman of good manners. In the film Becoming Jane Austen, Anne Hathaway was very successful in portraying an 18th-century fashionable and intellectual woman, portraying Jane Austen's lonely and rich life.
The most important person in Jane Austen's life was her sister Kassandra, with whom she lived until her death. She loved her sister very much, and it can be seen from the letters she left behind, "If Kassandra is to be beheaded, Jane must share her fate." "She has a good upbringing that makes her restrain herself in life, but she gives those opinions to her sister and kou, and she can make fun of unaccustomed people and satirize unaccustomed things to her sister."
The most frightening thing about single women is poverty. This holds true even in modern times. It's just that modern women have more opportunities, they have more space and freedom to pursue successful careers, and to obtain the materials of life through labor. But in Jane Austen's day, women were probably only able to be helped or starved to death.
A tragically ill-fated Laura tries to find shelter for the rest of her life by marrying a good man, but reality defeats her and her friends, who can only live by stealing the owner's money when they are poor, and even rely on strangers on the way to help. After their husbands died, their friends couldn't stand the blow and fell ill. They have no way of gaining a foothold in society.
In Mrs. Susan's story, the lady is reluctant to take her with her even if she sends her daughter out to be raised. Of course, others will harshly accuse her of having a daughter and not raising a daughter, and only caring about her own happy life. But who knows how an isolated woman should gain a foothold in such a social environment? She can't have a job like many unmarried children or divorced mothers today, have a stable income, and the husband must also give alimony to support herself and her children.
Jane Austen seems to have insight into the pursuit of feelings by women in that era, which was actually based on material pursuits, and women as dependents, like those parasites, must find a host, otherwise only death awaits her. The fate of women is very sad. One of Jane Austen's fierce points is that she doesn't feel they deserve or deserve pity, but only calmly recounts their situation. Of course, this will make it impossible for the reader to empathize. It may also be that when her creative ability has not yet reached a very high level, she cannot control the emotional portrayal that is too heavy, and can only be superficial narrative. This is the reason why emotions are difficult to be satisfied in the process of reading these scattered works.
Of course, this is not to say that Jane Austen is not a great writer. She is unique in her portrayal of women's lives, emotions and psychology, and is emulated by those who come after her. I believe that her creative psychology is delicate, otherwise it is impossible to experience the hardships of pastoral life and put it into words.
There are always people who say that Jane Austen, like the three Brontë sisters, is always stuck in the love of the children's family. This is not to blame them, only to blame the times for their limitations. Their lives are probably so large that women can't participate in politics or even read newspapers, so they naturally look at problems differently from men.
Jane Austen lived in a very turbulent era, when Britain and France experienced vigorous revolutionary events, such as the French Revolution, the Napoleonic era, the Enlightenment, etc., but her work can hardly see the shadow of these events. The disturbances of the outside world seem to have been deliberately forgotten by her. In this way, she seems to be a writer who does not "have the world in mind", and the pattern is too small. This became a point that many critics later attacked her.
But judging from her scattered essays, she was not a writer who was completely unconcerned with current politics or the social situation at that time. She has commented on several British kings, as well as mary and elizabeth. When she spoke of Henry VIII, she began by writing: "I suppose the readers are certainly not as well informed as I am, and it may be offensive to say so." "Maybe she's not politically sensitive, and her comments are very subjective, but they're by no means completely unobtrusive."
When she spoke of Queen Elizabeth, she began by saying, "It would have been a disaster that this woman's ministers were as evil as hers, and it would not have been so much harm if she had not been complicit in the crimes of those unscrupulous men." The first half of the sentence criticizes the queen for being "evil", and the second half scolds those men who are lustful for using her to ascend to the throne for profit. In Jane Austen's pen, women can always get a favor.
In the history of British literature and the history of world literature, it is fortunate to have such a female writer with a unique style. Today, everyone should read Jane Austen, both women and men.
Text/Angelica
2021.5.30