Happy Birthday, Jane!

At the Royal Crescent in Bath

Today is Jane Austen’s birthday.  And what most of you don’t know is that I’m kind of obsessed with her.   I took an entire semester long class on her six major works, saw all the sights from Persuasion and Northanger Abbey when I visited Bath, England (specifically to see all the ‘Jane’ sights) and even visited one of her homes in the village of Chawton.  I’m rapidly becoming a Janeite.  

With Jane at her house, now museum

The wit, humor and tender moments of her novels- from the perennial choice Pride and Prejudice to my forgotten favorite Mansfield Park- should make Jane an author on everyone’s to-be-read-list.

  

Playing dress-up.  Ouch, corsets!

Of interest, for those as obsessed with Jane as I am, is this article from Associated Press.  Turns out, Jane may have had a helping hand with polishing her prose and punctuation.   Yet, the dialogue and drama are all hers…and after all, what is an editor good for anyways? :-)

 So, on this 235^th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth pick up that classic you’ve never gotten around to reading, drool over Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in the BBC’s superb (6 hour long!) adaptation (or Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility or even Clueless, the modern adaptation of Emma), or, heck, book that trip to England!  Celebrate Jane in style!