I read Pride and Prejudice and Emma in my teens and had fond memories of them. I should revisit her works at some point.
Link to Henry Oliver’s article.
Excerpts:
She invented the modern novel in order to answer fundamental questions about how to be good, happy, and flourishing in a commercial society. Her novels are about questions that are still central to our lives. How to live a good life in a commercial society? What is a moral education in the modern world? Who should we marry?
Drawing on her knowledge of the Enlightenment philosophers, especially Adam Smith and his book The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Austen’s novels are all about what it means to see things from someone else’s point of view. That is the moral lesson Lizzie Bennet learns about Mr. Darcey, it is what Marianne learns about Elinor, and it is what Emma Woodhouse learns about all her meddling.
Jane Austen is so popular because she used her talents to write about things that really matter to readers’ lives. She didn’t pander to their expectations—either about the genre or the moral of the story—but nor did she dismiss their interests as petty or unimportant. She wrote characters who are loved, characters who we are still startled to realize we know all too well from our lives. She wrote about moments of awkwardness, embarrassment, and shame that still happen ever day. Drawing room mishaps, over-loud mothers, embarrassing sisters, vulgar relatives, and shameless friends.
She used her genius to write about the moral importance of everyday life in a world that is always reinventing itself. That is why we love her still and will continue to do so.
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