All Things Austen

My family (at least some of them) and my friends know I have slight Jane Austen obsession.  I have read all of her novels (she only completed six) at least once, and have tackled at least 6 different editions of Pride and Prejudice (annotated, updated, with zombies and without). One of my girlfriends has even nicknamed me '97 after 1797 which is the year First Impressions (a.k.a Pride and Prejudice) was first unsuccessfully peddled to publishers and the year Austen first started to write what would become Sense and Sensability. 

This past weekend, having 48 hours to myself, and only needing to make sure the farm animals were fed and had clean water (without ice), I viewed two versions of Pride and Prejudice (1995 BBC miniseries and the Keira Knightley 2005? version) and the BBC Sense and Sensibility miniseries (I also spent my time in more productive ways such as doing the laundry, sorting through winter clothes, organizing finances, playing the piano and grading papers). 

Austen's stories are essentially the same; she's a bit of a formulaic writer, obviously by design.  I  know I am obsessed with Austen's novels because everything always works out beautifully in the end.  I also realize that at least half of the female population has this obsession, especially when I see the bookstore beach-read section devoted to Austen spin-offs (in addition to the real literature).  As someone once told me, "Don't we all want to find Mr. Darcy?!" (I was lucky to find someone pretty darn close).  The girl finally gets the guy of her dreams, and then...

Right, what then?  We never find out. All of Austen's novels end right after the guy gets the girl (or the girl gets the guy).  There's adventure and intrigue involved in getting to the point, but then the reader assumes everybody lives happily ever after.

But as we all know, life is simply not that straightforward. Relationships are hard work; marriage is hard work; raising children is hard work; jobs are hard work.  And some of the time all that hard work isn't that rewarding.  A Mr. Darcy or a Mr. Ferris or a Mr. Knightley is not going to come riding up on his white horse to save us from any or all of this, nor would we really want these fictional heroes to do that. 

Instead, I am a firm believer that life is what we make of it (sometimes I have difficulty practicing what I preach).  If we dwell on the negative aspects (the things we want, but can't have; the things that aren't working out) then we will never be satisfied with what we do have; we will always be continuing to search for the perfect world that Austen's heroines seem to end up in.  If, however, we take a moment and realize all the things that are going well, then life becomes that much more beautiful.  Simply having a moment at the end of a hectic day to immerse oneself into a Regency-era English romance, or browsing through the local bookstore with a loved one, or tucking your children in at night; all are little reminders that each day is full of bright moments to cherish.