Exploring Jane Austen’s cultural legacy
Why has Austen remained so popular and relevant throughout changing times?
By NATALIE SALTER — arts@theaggie.org
This October, a new film adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel “Sense and Sensibility” debuted in cinemas. This December, yet another adaptation of the author’s famed “Pride and Prejudice” will be released on Netflix. These are far from the first adaptations of either novel, and, if the continued readaptation of her works persists, unlikely to be the last.
Jane Austen seems to have a foothold not only in the literary world, but in the pop-cultural world as well. Her works have inspired countless contemporary romance films and novels, stage plays and even role-playing games. A quick search on any social media platform reveals countless video edits of her characters to Olivia Rodrigo and Laufey songs.
But why, of all the famous literary figures, is Jane Austen in particular so persistently beloved? And what parts of Austen’s legacy might be missed in these broader conversations about her works?
Professor Sal Nicolazzo of the Department of English at UC Davis, who currently teaches an undergraduate course on Austen, considered the author’s literary legacy in regards to her continued popularity.
“I think a lot of it has to do with her place in the history of English education, which is complicated,” Nicolazzo said. “She’s often been the one woman from the British literary canon that everybody knows. Until recent decades, she was one of the only women being taught in British literature courses.”
One of Austen’s most memorable qualities as a writer is her narrative voice. All of Austen’s novels are narrated by an unnamed, yet familiar, speaker who approaches each story with warmth and wit. To every tale, Austen’s narrator brings a clear-eyed, charming sense of humor and awareness that draws the reader more closely into the narrative world.
Professor Jennifer Tinonga-Valle of the Department of English named this narrative voice as one of the reasons Austen shines among her peers.
“You get this familiar voice speaking to you through that narrator that I feel is really comforting in times of uncertainty and strife,” Tinonga-Valle said. “There’s a very famous example of soldiers reading Jane Austen in the trenches. There’s something about her writing that has this quality of comfort and familiarity.”
Still, Austen is perhaps best known for the romances she has written. From Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy to Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley, Austen’s couples share enchantingly romantic moments and tales that continue to charm readers.
HoangKim Vu, a third-year English major, noted what specifically makes Austen’s romances continually appealing to readers, especially her famous “Pride and Prejudice.”
“‘Pride and Prejudice’ is very much a fairy tale,” Vu said. “The spunky, confident, lively female protagonist gets the guy, and he changes for her. Many, many girls want that. We want the men who exist in our patriarchy to change their attitudes and ways of living for us.”
In spite of her reputation as a romance writer, however, Austen’s novels also engage with more complex political ideas. Questions about empire, social hierarchies, marriage and gender are just as vital to Austen’s works as their romantic plots.
Nicolazzo cited “Mansfield Park” as their favorite of the author’s works for its more complicated thematic landscape.
“It is Jane Austen at her darkest, most complicated, least optimistic and most engaged with the politics of empire and the broader world,” Nicolazzo said. “That’s not what people often expect from Austen, but a lot of how I teach her is that none of her novels are apolitical.”
Likewise, Tinonga-Valle pointed out how many cinematic adaptations of Austen’s works tend to leave out the darker and sadder parts of her stories in favor of focusing on the romances and social comedies.
“Many of her novels, in addition to being really funny, and light, and bright and sparkling, have these melancholic themes,” Tinonga-Valle said. “There’s a lot of loss, a lot of death. There’s this sense of those realities of life that come in that sometimes get erased in the films.”
Tinonga-Valle selected “Persuasion” as her favorite Austen novel for the way it approaches choice and the passage of time.
“With a lot of the other Austen novels, we have characters who are in their teens or early twenties, who are really just looking ahead at what’s to come,” Tinonga-Valle said. “But in ‘Persuasion,’ we get characters who have a past. They’re looking back at their choices and wondering if things could be different.”
While there are many wonderful qualities about Austen’s original texts, many adaptations expand upon her stories by bringing them into new mediums and universes. For instance, the popular 90s film “Clueless” is a modern adaptation of “Emma,” bringing its characters into the high school rom-com genre.
For an especially unconventional and fantastical take on the world of Jane Austen, the season “A Court of Fey & Flowers” from the Dungeons & Dragons series “Dimension 20” combines Austen’s works with a fantasy roleplaying experience.
“It takes the questions about wealth and power and class that Austen is constantly engaged in and transposes them into a magical setting,” Nicolazzo said. “It is not a straight-up adaptation of any one Austen novel, but it takes the tone and the style and the plots that happen and adapts it in some very interesting ways.”
The contents of Austen’s novels have the capacity to resonate on multiple levels, from her beautifully crafted portrayals of relationships to pensive explorations of gender and class.
Even though two centuries have passed since Austen’s time, the humanity of her stories and characters remain meaningful to readers today. That her novels continue to be adapted time and time again in a myriad of mediums, suggests that their heart and value is timeless.
Written by Natalie Salter —- arts@theaggie.org