This is a strange and almost dark place to go,
thinking of life without Austen. For me, she was the first woman author
anthropologist who was sodeft at showcasing her findings amusingly that at
first you may miss the lessons! I have also found some comfort by reading that
people are stillvery much the same as they always were. And if that is true, it
is easier to mentally sort out things in today’s world.
Life without Austen would have likely meant my
staying in the Victorian section for novels and Elizabethan section for
biographies. Oh dear, but it’s true! You can find yourself in a rut.
There are so many wonderful people I have had
the blessing to meetbecause of Austen! Such funny, inspiring, sweet and
talented people whootherwise, we might never have crossed paths. Were it not
for Miss
Austen and the AGMs and Festivals, these cross
country friendships wouldbe merely virtual in blogspace. They have become
friends I cherish andlook forward to seeing. I might never have realized that
librarians areextremely funny people. That the English teachers are hiding such
wildsides from the general public! That supporters of women’s literature can
befound in the least likely of places. And that there are men willing to
donRegency wear and don it well!
With every year that passes, and with each
reading, do you recognize moreof Jane’s characters in this present life? I
certainly do! Occasionally, they are given Jane’s character names. Maybe you
have always been an Elinor or a Marianne. Maybe, if you started reading
Jane Austen when you werein college you connected with one character more than
you do now as youlive through life’s Wickhams and Catherine De Bourghs.
Eventually, becoming an Elinor or a Charlotte Lucas
perhaps or keeping an Anne Elliotcandle alive for your Captain? Who will admit
they are a Lady Susan or the General? How richly she has painted these
characters for us to connectwith and how are we to contemplate life without
them?!
Julia
Julia Matson / Tea Temptress is the owner and creator of Bingley's Teas, Ltd. and The Jane Austen Tea Series. She resides in snowy Mpls, MN (when not hunting tea) with her pup, Charlie Austen Bing and his little fur brother Floki, The Explorer.
Julia is giving away The Christmas at Chawton tea in our great giveaway. It is an earthy pu-erh base tea with cherries, cloves and cinnamon and red wine extract. Absolutely reminiscent of mulled wine at Christmastide. Check it in the rafflecopter form below!
5 comments:
I can't imagine life without Jane, either! Or without tea! Please enter me in your giveaway...Thanks!
I'm probably an Anne, but I would like to be a Lizzie... Loved and admired most ardently :D
One thing that I started doing a few years ago is when I meet someone, as I get to know them I decide which Austen Character they are most like. If I meet an Isabella or John Thorpe I know to stay clear, for example. My personality is most like Lizzie though. I really couldn't imagine my life without Jane, and wouldn't want to!
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