Last Wednesday, 6th of December, the British writer Jane Austen would complete 240 years old. When I was in the university studying literature I analysed her book, "Pride and Prejudice." Her novels can be considered as an early works of realism. A pioneer in social commentary. This post is a tribute to her. this post is a summary of five articles. The first published http://www.biography.com/people/jane-austen-9192819.The second summary was published at hesecretunderstandingofthehearts.blogspot.com.br/2015/12/happy-240th-birthday-jane. The third was at http://www.mssresearch.org/q=Social_Evolution_in_Pride_Prejudice. The fourth summary was published at ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styles_and_themes_of_Jane_Austen. The fifth was published at http://24x7englishliteratureconcepts.blogspot.com.br/2009/10/pride-and-prejudice.html
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Steventon, England. While not widely known in her own time. Austen's novels of love among the landed gentry gained popularity after 1870, and her reputation skyrocketed in the 20th century. The 7th child and 2nd daughter of Cassandra and George Austen, Her father served as the Oxford-educated rector for a Anglican parish. The family was close and the children grew up in an environment that stressed learning and creative thinking. When Jane was young, she and her siblings were encouraged to read from their father's extensive library. Ever fascinated by the world of stories. In the 1790s, during her adolescence, she started to craft her own novels. She continued to write, developing her style in more ambitious works such as Lady Susan, another epistolary story about a manipulative woman. In 1801, Jane moved to Bath with her father, mother and Cassandra. Then, in 1805, her father died after a short illness. As a result, the family was thrust into financial straits. The three women moved from place to place, skipping between the homes of various family members to rented flats. It was not until 1809 that they were able to settle into a stable living situation at Jane's brother Edward's cottage in Chawton. Now in her 30s, Jane started to anonymously publish her works. In 1816, at the age of 41, Jane started to become ill with what some say might have been Addison's disease. She died in 1817, in Winchester, England. Today, Jane Austen is considered one of the greatest writers in English history, both by academics and the general public. Jane's transformation from little-known to internationally renowned author began in the 1920s, when scholars began to recognize her works as marterpieces, thus increasing her general popularity.
The works of Jane Austen can transport a reader to a world that exudes beauty, peace, wisdom, wit and love. Captivating audiences for 200 years, the works of Jane continue to capture today's readers in droves. Jane Austen is now what she never was in life, and what she would have been horrified to become, a literary celebrity. Austen's novels achieved a timelessness that makes them perennially appealing. Kipling and Churchill found solace in her writings during times of war and illness. The TV hit Pride and Prejudice, The award-winning 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, and all the remakes and sequels. Modern-day Jane fans just can not seem to leave her characters.
Social analysis is a common feature of literary criticism. The social context and antecedent of authors and their fiction works are invariably examined in order to shed light on the characters and events depicted in the stories. If literary works are influenced by the times in which they were written, it is equally true that the characters and events in fiction reflect on human character and the character of the times which they depict. The storyline of a novel may be fictitious, but the insights it can provide are very real and true to life. Pride and Prejudice was written during an epoch when France was in the midst of a violent revolutionary upheaval and vividly depicts the social response to those events in England. Pride and Prejudice depicts this silent process of social transformation in the lives of the English gentility. Thus, a charming story of romance and marriage becomes both a vehicle for and a product of social evolution. Any story reflects the mood of its period. The marriages of Darcy and Bingley are symptomatic of the mood of the period, the England in the beginning of the XIX century.
Janes's distinctive literary style relies on a combination of parody, burlesque, irony, indirect speech and a degree of realism. She uses parody and burlesque for comic effect and to critique the portrayal of women in the 18th century in sentimental and gothic novels. Austen extends her critique by highlighting social hypocrisy through irony. She often creates an ironic tone through free speech in which the thoughts and words of the characters mix with the voice of the narrator.
Pride and Prejudice continues to be popular today not only because of its memorable characters and the general appeal of the story, but also because of the skill with which it is told. In Pride and Prejudice (P.P) Austen display a masterful use of irony, dialogue, and realism that support the character development and heighten the experience of reading the novel. Jane Austen's irony is devastating in its exposure of foolishness and hypocrisy. Self-delusion or the attempt to fool other people is almost always the object of her wit. Dialogues play an important role in P.P. The pieces of dialogues are consistently the most vivid and important parts of the novel. This is natural because novels were mostly read aloud in Austen's time, so good dialogues was extremely important. We learn of the major turning points through the dialogues, and even intense inner change like Elizabeth's famous self-recognition scene is related as a person talking to herself. When considering Austen's realism, however, readers should recognize that her major weakness as a writer is related to her greatest strength. She writes about what she knows, and this means that great areas of human experince are never touched on. We never see that much of the male characters, and they are rough sketches compared with her heroines. People who dislike Jane's works often cite lack of extreme passion as their main reason. Even so, no one can deny her ability to create unforgettable characters, build well-structured plots, or deliver assessments of society with a razor-sharp wit. Austen's works possess a timeless quality, which makes her stories and themes as relevant today as they were two hundred years ago.
