How to become a local Jane Austen
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
I will happily admit I’m a Jane Austen fan. There are a few books I re-read every year religiously because I love them so much and want to keep them fresh in my mind. One of those books is Austen’s Mansfield Park, a lesser known society romance books that Jane wrote. While not as witty and delicately balanced as her more well known matchmaking books, I love how simple Mansfield Park is, and how unassuming its heroine, Fanny Price, is for a change. There is only so much veiled wit and feminine wilies I can deal with. If you were interested in getting into Austen’s works but have become instantly lost in Pride and Prejudice or Emma, maybe you should start with mansfield. It’s a lot easier to take while still giving you a good view of everyday life in the Napoleonic era and class struggle.
Austen fever seems to be at a new high, as well. Thanks to the latest incarnation of P&P, along with The Jane Austen Book Club and other new books telling you how to create your own world of Austen, it’s actually pretty hard to get away from her right now. While this overexposure may turn you off of her (I’ve loved her work since I was in my early teens, and this overhyping is irritating me), I still say give the writer a chance and forget that people are using her name to make money for themselves.
LA Weekly, for example, has a great guide on How to be Jane Austen. First, you must decide if you are an Austen — light, flirty, social — or a Bronte: mad, diva-like, with more skeletons than clothes in your closet. (My favourite author is Charlotte Bronte, make of that what you will.) Once you come to your conclusion, granted that you’re an Austen, you can then read on to find local ballroom dancing classes to polish your intricate dance moves, a must for any true Austenite. Ladies were expected to be light and graceful dancers, and men were expected to be as proficient in dance as they were with a hunting rifle. Next comes your writing supplies, since writing was the only way to communicate outside of talking, and was a staple of everyday life. Pick up your journals, find your perfect stationary, and start writing!
It’s a great article, I highly recommend reading it. Who knows? You may even want to give some of these ideas a try. Be sure to read both pages! You can find the full article here.
