How did you fall in love with Jane Austen?
Probably all of you reading this are in love with Austen or you wouldn’t be on this site. (Although there might be a few newbies!!) What was it that first drew you to her? Did you have a first encounter that, like Elizabeth and Darcy, you misunderstood and created an irrational dislike? Or have you been in love with her as long as you can remember, like Fanny with Edmund?
I first encountered Austen in sixth grade, when a friend of my mom noticed that I loved to read (like, all the time!) and wanted to encourage me to do it even more. She gave me a copy of Pride and Prejudice, small print, with annotations and footnotes.
I read it all in one week, loved it, and immediately came back for more.
Ha ha! That’s not what happened at all! At the time I was into things like Laura Ingalls and the Little House series, along with whatever I could get my hands on from the Scholastic Book Fairs. Champion Dog Prince Tom was a favorite, along with Misty of Chincoteague. I vaguely recall being engrossed with some kind of stone age fiction about a man named Hawk when mom’s friend handed me Jane Austen’s most famous novel. My tastes were not, shall we say, sophisticated.
So when I first began to read the trials of Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters I just wasn’t ready for it. I read the first few chapters but I was not up for the lengthy sentences and advanced vocabulary. I put it back on my bookshelf and went back to Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West.
But even then, something stuck. Perhaps even then I picked up on the subtle witticism and the strong characters. Or maybe I simply couldn’t bear to admit defeat, or the idea of actually throwing away a book. For whatever reason I kept the book around and in the summer between eighth and ninth grade I began reading it in earnest. I slogged my way through the strange customs of Austen’s time, figuring out that Miss Bennet and Jane were the same person, realizing even then how silly Collins was and that the same female snobs in my high school had been around centuries earlier in the form of Miss Bingley.
Then came Darcy’s first proposal. And Elizabeth’s rejection. And his letter. And me realizing, along with Elizabeth, that she had made a huge mistake.
From then on I couldn’t put the book down. It didn’t matter that I didn’t fully understand what a living was, or why Lydia had to get married instead of just coming home. I had no idea what Wickham’s commission was. This was long before the internet was a thing, so I couldn’t even look it up. But it didn’t matter. I *knew* that Darcy was still in love with Elizabeth and I hoped and prayed he would be brave enough to approach her again. I stayed up until the wee hours one warm summer night, walking with Elizabeth and Darcy to Oakham Mount, praying that Kitty would make herself scarce, falling in love with Darcy when he declared himself again. I laughed and rejoiced with Lizzy as she broke the news to her family and sighed in delight when she and Darcy were finally married and safe at Pemberley. When I closed the book I was too excited and happy to sleep for a long time.
A couple of years later I read Sense and Sensibility, and eventually I made it through all six of Austen’s major works. Persuasion was a delight, but nothing ever came close to creating the feelings and enjoyment that Pride and Prejudice did.
How about you? What first got you into Jane Austen, and which of her novels is your favorite? Tell me in the comments, I’d love to know!
Leave a Reply