What's with Jane Austen fandom?

Position:Home>Books & Authors> What's with Jane Austen fandom?

Question:

I am about 2/3 of the way through Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice"!. Although I do appreciate her for what she has written and agree that it is witty, I feel like I knew what was going to happen within the first ten chapters and now I'm just kind of waiting for it to end!. Have you read other works by Austen, or Pride & Prejudice!? What were your thoughts!? I guess I just don't understand the hype!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Well, her books are a little predictable (for our time period)!. Her characters always end up with happy endings so you know that no matter what happens, everything will work out!. Romance stories are generally fairly predictable though, because few authors have the guts to split up "true love" or not have the characters end up together!. Although one thing to consider is that back in her time period, the story wasn't predictable!. In her time period, wealthy men didn't end up with poor women!. So during her life time, Darcy and Elizabeth wouldn't have been predictable!.

I've read all of her novels except for Northanger Abbey!.

Personally, Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors!. Her books can be a little predictable, but it's still fun to me to see how everything develops!. Her books have character development, clever plots, interesting characters, and send out good messages!. They are romance stories, but there are other things explored as well (such as, well, prejudice and judging in Pride and Prejudice)!. Her writing is fantastic and witty!. And although her books have happy endings, the characters get happy endings in ways that make sense!. They usually deserve their happy ending!. They have to suffer a bit first-- they have character development!. So I can forgive the predictability!.

I'm fond of the time period the books are set in as well, so the books are interesting in that aspect!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I've read Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and I'm half way through Emma!. Part of it for me is that I love history so I usually find reading classics entertaining!. also I consider myself a hopeless romantic, and today it's hard to find good romance in a book that doesn't contain endless sex scenes!. I understand that there is a physical aspect to relationships, but to me that's shouldn't be the main part!. And finally, there's the men!. Most of Austen's male characters are just so irresistible!. Guys in books are just better!. lol!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I have read all of her books!. I think all are pretty fantastic, but in their own little way!. It's like each of her books reaches out to a certain type of people, a certain type of heart!. My all time favorite of hers is Persuasion, which is odd because it is considered to be pretty much a "dud!." Her most popular and acclaimed novel, is of course Pride and Prejudice!. You should try another one of her novels, a less popular one!. I'd recommend Persuasion, but it kind of drags on in the beginning, and it's hard to read for most due to that!. So in short, I recommend maybe Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility or Northanger Abbey!. Emma seems similar to Pride and Prejudice because it's so well liked and popular!. If I were to choose an order in which to read the three recommended novels, you should probably start out with Sense and Sensibility and then move on to either of the two!.

Good luck with Jane!
And I apologize for the long answer!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Some times she is a little bit predictable maybe, but Jane Austen is fun to read!. And the contrast of society of her time with today is fascinating!.

You can get to read the whole of Jane Austen collection, if you want to, in the Internet!. You can try:
http://www!.webliterature!.net/literature
and explore the Jane Austen page (listed among the authors)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'm not sure if men should, but I had to read it at Uni and loved it!. The side story about her feckless sister and the dodgy soldier (I forget!) wasn't much good and a bit predictable!. The Darcy and Lizzy plot was great!. I hate soaps but I love happy endings!. Agreed, it's predictable but it wasn't back then!. Maybe the dialogue and wit is more appealing to to the English!?

A little secret I learned a while ago!.!.!.if you don't enjoy a book!.!.!.put it down!. Life's too short to read anything you don't enjoy ; )Www@QuestionHome@Com

I think its the appeal that her books have had for years and years!. Even though she wrote her books in the 1800's, people can still relate to them now, and thats what makes them classics!. I love Jane Austen, she's one of my favorite authors, I've only read P&P, Sense and Sensibility, and Mansfield Park, but I will definitely read her other work!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I also have the same feelings, I couldn't get into Pride and Prejudice!. To me, it seems like the world's first written modern soap opera!. But I know I am not a soap opera fan!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I think its just a new fade to read the classics and talk about them it makes people feel sophisticated and older!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

I actually think Jane Austen is only predictable in that she writes happy endings!.

Pride and Prejudice is so well known at this point, that the things that weren't predictable when I first read it, are seemingly predictable to people who read it now!. It is because, whether people realize it or not, they have somehow heard what happened in the book!. There have been two very popular adaptations made (1995 & 2005) and a lot of discussion of the book!.

For instance, when I first read the book I had never seen a movie of it nor was it being discussed!. I had no idea that anything would happen between Lydia and Mr!. Wickham!. There had been no indication of a possible romance between the two at the point when Lydia goes to Brighton!. Did you really know that without ever hearing anything about the story!?

Personally, I think Jane Austen was a brilliant author who had a thorough understanding of human nature in all its forms!. She knew the variations between the good, the wicked, the moral, the immoral, the wise, the silly, the haughty, the humble and most other combinations you could come up with!. Her era was different than ours, the way people behaved was different, the way she worded things was different, but her wit and humor come through all the same!. Therein lies the appeal of Jane Austen!. Her themes are timeless and universal; people are people still, with the same needs, desires and faults!.

I have read all of her works, including her juvenilia (works written as a child like Love and Freindship [sic])!. Though Pride and Prejudice is my favorite novel of all time, I love her other novels, too!. They each have the happy ending, but each is different than the other!.

Persuasion has her oldest heroine who has already loved and lost her love, Sense and Sensibility has two sisters (one whose behavior is controlled by what she believes is right, the other whose behavior is dictated by her passions and emotions), Emma is about a wealthy young woman of consequence who is snobby and thinks she knows more than she does, Mansfield Park is about shy Fanny Price (the proverbial poor relation) who lives with her rich relatives and is taken for granted, and Northanger Abbey is a brilliant satire of the Gothic romances so popular in Jane Austen's day!.

Forgive my tome, but I love Jane Austen's works!. To me she is incomparable!Www@QuestionHome@Com