It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is the English most beloved writer. I admit that I have lost count of how many times I have read Pride & Prejudice and of how many film adaptations I have seen. I am simply addicted to it. I have also read Emma and Sense and Sensibility a number of times and I never get tired of them. On the contrary, every time I meet her characters my love and hate for them grows exponentially.
Shakespeare is by all means our most revered writer, the most talked about and the greatest of them all. Undisputable. The Lord of the Rings is the nation’s favourite book, according to a BBC survey. Totally agree! But Austen is our dearest one. Why is it so? Why do we love Liz Bennett and Mr Darcy so much? Why does Emma infuriates and enchants us?
To try to explore some of the possible answers for these questions, this week we are having a discussion on Jane Austen at the IATEFL LMCS SIG Yahoo Group fielded by Laurence Raw. As he puts it,
From the first publication of Pride and Prejudice to recent film versions of her life and work, Jane Austen continues to provoke controversy and inspire fantasies of peculiar intimacy. Whether celebrated for her realism, feminism, characterisation, imagined as a conservative or someone challenging the existing relationships between the sexes, Austen generates passions from readers all over the world – passions not only shaped by her readers’ trends and beliefs, but by her memorable stories, characters, and narrative techniques. This week’s fielded discussion will look at why she continues to be so popular, both as a subject for reading, as well as in the cinema, on television, and in the classroom.
To join the Group and the discussion, please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LMCSSig/
