Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!
It’s times like this where my brain starts turning in funny circles. What if Jane Austen (born Dec. 16, 1775) could be transported to today? What would she think of us reading her novels on iPads, Kindles, and Nooks? How would she react to her life’s work being offered for free downloads? (You can get any of Jane’s novel for free on Kindle, or the Jane Austen Complete Collection
Would she be happy she still had readers? Or dismayed that her work was so undervalued?
How would she react to the many movie versions of her novels?
She was a fairly modern-thinking woman for her time. My guess is she wouldn’t disdain modern technology, but be pleased to see people reading. After all, she’s the one who wrote these statements about books:
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
“But for my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short.”
What do you think?
And which Austen novel is your personal favorite? Which movie adaptation?
She was pragmatic… I bet she’d like all our new venues. Favorite: Persuasion. Movie: The BBC Sense and Sensibility. But, really, I’ll watch and read them all!
I think you’re probably right, Katherine! And I think she’d be pleased at the opportunities for women novelists.