I do not believe it would be entirely erroneous to state that although the most prominent and visible following of Jane Austen is that of the 50 something and up crowd, there is a very strong presence among the younger generations. A walk around the Jane Austen Festival will illustrate this. The hosts and volunteers are a mixture of each.
Jane Austen is timeless.
Her stories of love and loss and hardship overcome reach anyone who wants more than a stable situation from this world. She reaches those who want to love and be loved, who want to be happy and satisfied, who want to wake up smiling because they are alive. This is not someone from one generation or another. This is an enduring desire.
Although she never texted Mr. LeFroy or sent an all caps email to her publisher asking why Northanger Abbey (then titled “Susan”) had yet to see a bookstore, I firmly believe she would have reveled in the constant and every growing exchange of information that occurs online and throughout our world today. And she would have been just as quick to adopt YouTube as a platform as the many people who produce cute kitten videos or talk smack or make up songs about being thought to be gay by their families… it would have been very interesting.
As it is, Jane is not here to take advantage of the second most popular search engine (after Google, naturally). But thousands of Austenites are. A search of “Jane Austen” will return about 5,110 videos. “Pride and Prejudice” brings the number up to 5,350. “Kittens” will provide 186,000. Kittens aren’t really related to Jane Austen – I was just curious.
I found the “Jane Austen’s Fight Club” video to be particularly humorous. And oddly enough, true to the spirit. Jane lived within a very tight set of rules. Although I can’t imagine her taking her issues out on strangers or friends with her fists (she used a pen) I can see her recognizing the feelings expressed in a movie like Fight Club (originally a novel by Chuck Palahniuk).
Also, check out Emma Thompson’s Golden Globe Speech and Emma Thompson on Ellen Degeneres.
Next week: commiseration with the Dashwood sisters as I move back to Chicago and they are forced to leave their beloved familial home. Basically, a look at opportunity.
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