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"Miss Austen was surely a great novelist. What she did, she did perfectly. Her work, as far as it goes, is faultless. She wrote of the times in which she lived, of the class of people with which she associated, and in the language which was usual to her as an educated lady. Of romance, -- what we generally mean when we speak of romance -- she had no tinge. Heroes and heroines with wonderful adventures there are none in her novels.
Of great criminals and hidden crimes she tells us nothing. But she places us in a circle of gentlemen and ladies, and charms us while she tells us with an unconscious accuracy how men should act to women, and women act to men. It is not that her people are all good; -- and, certainly, they are not all wise. The faults of some are the anvils on which the virtues of others are hammered till they are bright as steel. In the comedy of folly I know no novelist who has beaten her.
The letters of Mr. Collins, a clergyman in Pride and Prejudice, would move laughter in a low-church archbishop. " These words said by novelist Anthony Trollope provide us the understanding of the perception of Austen by her college and thus, define her place in the literary world. The Romantic Age brought, rather paradoxically, the cool and classically shaped novels of Jane Austen, a major practitioner and still a model for apprentices in the craft. Jane Austen made it a point to write about only what she knew from first-hand experience and, having never left the south of England, her experience was rather limited.
While some find this cultural myopia disturbing, others feel it to be one of Jane Austen's greatest strengths. By avoiding the pretense of discussing matters that fell outside of the realm of her daily experience, she could focus on what she knew best. Her novels portray the lives of the gentry and clergy of rural England, and they take place in the country villages and neighborhoods, with an occasional visit to Bath and London. Her world was small, but she saw it clearly and portrayed it with wit and detachment. The plots depend little on coincidence or exciting events, like Gothic novels of the time, but instead derive much meaning and drama from misunderstood feelings, the neglect of social obligations, and ordinary human weaknesses. Her dry humor and witty elegance of expression delight even readers who find her subject matter rather restricted one more time proves that Jane Austin is not really a romantic writer.
She herself described her writing as "the little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush, as produces little effect after much labor. " Jane Austen's novels are, in this sense, highly autobiographical. Her characters share this insular view of their world, carrying on with dances and amateur theatricals, seemingly oblivious to any outside concerns. The critical and commercial success of today's numerous film and television adaptations of Jane Austen's novels testifies to her timeless and universal appeal. While recent attempts to bring her classic novels to the screen have made her stories available to a wider audience, they fail to fully capture the true genius of her writing and the significance of her enduring popularity. There are some vivid examples. "North anger Abbey, ... from its first paragraph...
moves to characterise the naive romantic private reader as a beginner; it flatters and shames her into becoming more ambitious. In this educative process Catherine the heroine shows the way. " We see Jane Austen's 'anti-heroine' grow up, fall in love, and, through various strong betrayals of her unquestioning trust, learn to view human nature from a more realistic point of view. Jane Austen's heroine arrives in Bath as a young debutante and, entirely inexperienced in the ways of the world, is immediately impressed by the more sophisticated Isabella. After their first meeting this is clear as she watches her leave; " (she) admired the graceful spirit of her walk, the fashionable air of her figure and dress, and felt grateful, as well she might, for the chance which had procured her such a friend. " Jane Austen's interjection here, ("as well she might"), expresses the reader's feelings at this point.
Up to now we have had few clues as to Isabella's less desirable character traits, and so we are guided, along with Catherine, into feeling grateful for her patronage of our heroine. Catherine is, as Jane Austen says, entirely 'artless' in everything she does, and we are invited to delight in her slightly naive, entirely genuine approach to life throughout the novel.
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