I can answer that question in one word: poorer,
both literally and figuratively. Long before I became a writer of Jane Austen
re-imaginings, I was devotee of her work. I first met Jane Austen while reading Pride and
Prejudice in my senior high-school English class. Although required reading, I
thought it was the best book I had ever read, and I kept looking around the
class to see if everyone was as enthusiastic as I was. They weren’t, but I hope
that has changed. (I once had a professor tell me that his favorite novel was Silas Marner: “It is a
fantastic novel if you aren’t exposed to it too young.”) I am sure that was the
same difficulty for my classmates who, at seventeen, were thinking of other things,
like what to wear to the prom or getting their driver’s license.”
Jane Austen was a master of the exposé. By pulling
back the curtain in places great and small, she revealed the human condition in
Darcy’s pride, Elizabeth’s prejudice, Emma’s conceit, Marianne’s immaturity,
and Anne’s faithfulness. Literature enriches our lives, and few did it as well
as a spinster from Hampshire who changed the world with a quill pen. We would
have been poorer without her.
Mary Lydon Simonsen
Mary Lydon Simonsen is the author of several Jane
Austen re-imaginings including Mr. Darcy’s Bite and When They Fall in Love. She is a contributor to the Austen Authors blog.
Twitter: @marysimonsen
4 comments:
Jane enriched many lives, mine included!
Jane created wonderful heroines and I really hope my classmates appreciate her now as well :)
I agree with you as I would be poorer in my knowledge of history, human understanding, relationships, etc. What your professor said it's true also. You will come to a point in life when you start to appreciate things that earlier you don't give a hoot about.
For example, I was having difficulty in reading Persuasion in my teenage years but 10 years later I can stand in Anne Elliot's shoes and know how she feels.
I was alone in my younger years in my delight when I read my first Jane Austen too. My friends were definitely not interested in reading let alone the classics.
Thanks for sharing!
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