Weekend Writing: Why Jane Austen is Still Important

I recently took an online course from the University of Southampton (powered by Future Learn) about Jane Austen. The course, "Jane Austen: Myth, Reality, and Global Celebrity," offered multiple lessons about Jane Austen's personal life in Hampshire and what she means to a global audience today.

The course opened up many conversations and allowed me to ponder some ideas about Jane Austen's status in today's culture. Why is she still important? Obviously, I adore her writing, but what other features should we consider?

Let's think about her journey as an author. She went from being a moderately successful anonymous novelist in the early 1800s to a global celebrity in our lifetime. Even if you're not a reader, you should know Jane Austen and perhaps her most well-known novel, Pride and Prejudice. 

But, there is so much more about the novelist that we need to study. I was amazed at the information I didn't know about Jane Austen as I was taking the class. For example, the course discussed Austen's formative years in Hampshire--who she was before she was writing her classic novels. I had no idea how close she was with her family, the books she read, and more.

Jane Austen's home (photo/Good Housekeeping).

This valuable information provided an insight into the woman behind the novels--who Jane Austen really was. How did her location, her family, the books she read, and her hobbies affect her work? How did others view her work and help place her in the modern canon of world literature? Why is Jane Austen still important?

Well, this question has multiple answers, and we can all have our different responses on why the author is important to us. How many authors can you think of that have inspired other women to write, have inspired multiple film adaptations, and have survived the evolving changes in modern and contemporary literature?

Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" (photo/CBC.ca).

Readers still turn to Austen's novels as a resource on early 19th-century culture--from the way people behaved, societal standards, classism, language, traditions, and more. Because Austen is a resource for historians and literature fans, I believe she will always remain popular. She will always be a global celebrity--because there are very few novelists from her era who have accomplished everything she has over the past 200 years.

Here's my question: Do you like Jane Austen? Is she still important to you? Why or why not? Let me know in a comment and let's start a conversation. To me, Jane Austen is very important to study. Don't you want to know about the woman who created Mr. Darcy?

Read on.

-KJL-