Jane Austen

Legacy: the Artists Behind the Legends

Jane Austen was an English novelist active during the later 18th and early 19th centuries, and her writing was best-known for providing a certain level of ironic commentary on the life and roles of women during this era. While so many tend to roll their eyes at Jane’s work and view it as both sexist and delusional, what these nay-sayers miss is the underlying narration of Austen’s observations, or better yet, that the author is attempting to establish the massive restrictions in the purpose and drive of female life. What is so incredibly amazing is that even today, women and men alike are still fascinated by Austen’s work, her colorful cast of characters, or better yet, how a woman with such a quiet personal life could imagine, create, and write such stories. As you will soon learn in this podcast episode, we don’t know much about Jane’s life, and this is due to the fact that her family fiercely protected her privacy, and also because, to be blatantly honest, there wasn’t too much craziness going on. But before I get ahead of myself, I do want to stress one thing about Jane: she was a revolutionary, one of the first novelists of her time to bring realism and social commentary into book form, and though she died with work unfinished, she was fortunate enough to see her novels beloved by others. So, ladies and gentlemen, let’s get episode 25 rolling with none other than Jane Austen.