Jane Austen Is Meh

"Jane Austen? Why I go so far as to say that any library is a good library that does not contain a volume by Jane Austen. Even if it contains no other book." -- Mark Twain

Jane Austen is not my favorite author. I have long insisted that her books stink of bourgeois virtue and predictability. This semester I've been given the distinct pleasure of reading two of her novels. Her unfinished novel Sanditon -- of which I found a printed first edition in UIC's stacks (she had strange spelling habits) -- and Emma. Fortunately for me, I've been able to drift in and out of consciousness while reading this thing because I have a readily available template already stored in my memory:

"She makes me detest all her people, without reserve. Is that her intention? It is not believable. Then is it her purpose to make the reader detest her people up to the middle of the book and like them in the rest of the chapters? That could be. That would be high art. It would be worth while, too. Some day I will examine the other end of her books and see. " -- Mark Twain (American Hero)

But just like that other detestable narrative describing the harrowing trials and tribulations of upper-class party-goers, if you read Jane Austen enough, her merits begin to shine through..... sorta.

Here are a few things that I think are interesting about Emma:

• Mr. Knightley is clearly a rational and intelligent character that doesn't tolerate Emma's garbage. He seems to serve as a point of reference for Austen's world-view.

• The novel investigates the conflict (conspiracy?) between an emergent bourgeoisie and the gentry. This seems strange considering Austen was a member of the gentry, but her readers--to this day--are overwhelmingly bourgeois. At times it seems as though she values prudence, but at times it seems as though she values respectability, honor, etc.

• Rich people are depicted as infirm, weaklings.

• Her books are focused on social realities rather than meditations that look like personal indulgence.
  

I tried my best, but that's the best I could come up with. Here is a short list of things about Jane Austen that irritate me:

• She is not as funny as she thinks she is.

• I understand that her intention is to create complex figures for ridicule and satire, but too often she is more complicit with them than critical.
  

• The logic of the narrative attempts to convince us that what poor people want is be looked after (charity) rather than not being poor. For all their sense, their concern with the welfare of others doesn't extend past those within their social class.
  

• There's nothing at stake in any of these novels. I ask myself -- what would happen if the character didn't get what he or she wanted? and I come up with -- they would continue to live their life of leisure. I think this stems from the fact that Austen has a remarkably bland sense of what's at stake in the prospect of marriage (outside class distinctions, which I think is insightful). What do the married couples do in these novels? What about the prospect of marriage seems actually appealing? There's no intimacy between the married characters, just surface-level sentiment. It was a good match because the partners complimented each other? What the fuck does that even mean?? Which leads me to my next point...

• The only thing that ever happens is that people visit each other and gossip about the affairs of other people. Now I understand that novels are supposed to be about character and not plot, but I don't think this formal device (idle gossip) actually gives the reader a good sense of who a person really is. To be quite reductive, there is too much "telling" and not enough "showing" -- and when there is "showing," Austen resorts to absurdly cliche description and action. The narrator is the only interesting "character" -- everyone else appears remarkably interchangeable. Perhaps I'm not well-versed enough in early 19th century British fiction to be able to sense Austen's urgency with the prose, but I simply do not understand the difference between all the Mrs. so-and-sos.
  

Luckily, I'm not the only one who thinks that Jane Austen is overrated.