Happy Birthday Jane!

If, through some miracle of longevity, Jane Austen were still alive, she'd be 242 years old today. Think about it, just how is it that this female author, writing in a genre (the novel) that was frowned upon in her time, is still lauded today. It's not just that the books are exceedingly well written...there are other books that some might argue are greater 'works of fiction'. But Jane's stories speak so completely to the heart of humanity that they have become timeless.

While it's true, a woman's fortunes no longer hinge on 'making a good match', anyone who is between a rock and a hard place in their lives can appreciate the pictures her words drew of characters who hoped and dreamed, despite the odds, who sometimes felt resigned or beaten, but ultimately through fate or their own efforts, found what they longed for.

In Jane's day, a woman had very little control over these things, and it wasn't all about having the comfort of a nice home, a hopefully loving husband and financial security. It might truly be about having a home at all and some sort of security, making her dependent upon the charity of others for any comfort in life.

Things have certainly changed! But Jane is a stunning example of a woman who made her own choices, as best we can tell from what history has handed down to her readers. In her later years her writing did offer financial support for herself and her family. But she found this success with a kindly yet biting wit that still comes through in her pages. Take as proof the opening sentence of 'Pride and Prejudice'...

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." 

In those first few words she sums of the mores of the time, makes fun of them, and establishes one of the themes of the book. When you understand where she is writing from, you understand that that is not some weighty well of words that leaves you pondering--it should make you laugh. I'm sure it did her, and those who read it at the time.

Writing in and for her time is part of what made her timeless. She was born in England at the start of the American Revolution and during her life her country was at war, either with America or France, more often than not. Open criticism of traditional values, culture or politics could have serious consequences for yourself and your family. She toed the line nicely between gently prodding society and committing treason.

True, she probably would have fit in well with the 'Me Too' movement, as proposed in a recent Washington Post article, but there was so much more to her decisions. While she may have chaffed at the royal request to dedicate her book 'Emma' to the notoriously randy prince regent, she was targeting so much more than men behaving badly. She had society in her sites and she hit her target so incredibly well, and with both humor and insight, that both Jane, and her work remain relevant 242 years later.

Happy Birthday Jane!