Jane Austen: Just a Victorian Chick Lit author or more??

Before starting this post, I would just like to say that Austen is hands down my favourite author. I am not a traditional romantic by heart, nor am I inclined towards what we popularly call “Chick Lit” (I just like an occasional read). But Jane Austen in my mind is so much more. In modern times, she is even perceived as a Victorian Chick Lit author by some, while others think she was just a queen of Romance. I say these are mainly those readers who either have not read Austen’s work or have but read one of her many exemplary works.

Question is…what is it about Austen that makes her the no.1 pick in almost all libraries & book collections. In my mind, it is her realism, her accurate portrayal of the then Victorian society, her ironical narrative which bordered on cleverly caustic humour and then came back to a mellow story with ease. The characters she paints are so every day & real, that you can find them around you all the time. Do you honestly believe Mrs. Benett (Pride & Prejudice), the loud, OTT, “marry-my-daughters off obsessed” mother, is a character in pages? Or do you think you have never met an Emma around you –  adorable socialite who wants to set things right for others & falls many a times in the bargain? Have you honestly not met a modern day version of the Dashwood family (Sense & Sensibility). We see all these characters around us all the time even today & irrespective of their nationality. Such was the timelessness of Austen’s shrewd observation of society.

Austen, generally picked up her stories & characters from modest to rich surroundings (read middle class to high society in modern day parlance). Her writing style was full of every day situations & deriving subtle humour out of those stories, like the dependability of 18^th century women to get married & secure an income (very relevant even today). Her characters and their problems provided the main plot & the ensuing humour that seemed like an incident out of your life as a reader.

But often Austen has been taken lightly as just a glorified chick lit writer. In her times, she was often criticised by her peers & was initially not very successful…especially since her genre of books were considered the lowest in elite literature. Romance but was a frivolous domain, and even if had to be written, it had to be dark & brooding…not a drawing room drama over flower patterned china, where Austen’s work was often relegated. However, Austen’s work was so realist, humorous & full of everyday ironies, that her books started picking up & made her a cult figure to this date.

Modern day readers love her work, but some relegate it to being an over-rated chick lit. I remember one reviewer of Sex & the City (the novel) saying that it was like Jane Austen but with cocktails. Well, so not true. Any modern day chick lit cannot match up to Austen’s work. Primarily because the characters & situations are quite unreal…for example a byline contributor living in Manhattan on rent & affording luxury shoes every week (Carrie Bradshaw in SATC), or again a byline contributor in a business magazine shopping for luxury endlessly & falling into senseless situations (Shopaholic series). Most of them lack soul & are written to be converted into money spinning films & TV series. They lack heart, their heroines are no Elizabeth Bennett & needless to say they not timeless like Austen’s work is, although almost all borrow plots & directions from the author herself.

We have seen so many renditions of Pride & Prejudice (my all time favourite) and Sense & Sensibility & still want more. Emma has been made into so many films in so many nationalities, & yet has not lost its appeal.  Mansfield park & Northanger Abbey still have their charm…and Persuasion (sigh!!) can anything be more timeless than that. I just wish Austen had a similar luck in he own love life that her lovely heroines had in her stories!! And I so wish she could have finished her swan song, Sanditon, so that we could have left with one more gem in our collection!!

TIP: For beginners on Austen novels, read Pride & Prejudice first. It’s not a romance, but more slice of life, and that too one of the best!!