To celebrate the 250th birthday of beloved author Jane Austen, the Bexley Public Library hosted an event to honor her work and long enduring influence in the world of literature.
Jane Austen was born on Dec. 16, 1775 in Hampshire, England. She is most famous for her six novels, most notably “Pride and Prejudice” (1813) and “Emma” (1816).
There have been many adaptations of her work; the first film adaptation of her work was of “Pride and Prejudice” in 1940, starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier.
The event’s lecturer, Jamison Kantor, Phd. is an associate professor at The Ohio State University who specializes in 18th and 19th century Romantic literature and the black diaspora.
He discussed the creation of “Pride and Prejudice” and explored it as a “realistic fairytale.”
“I think it’s an incredible way that Austin is toying with the logic of happiness, right?” Kantor said.
Realistic fiction is described as literature that explores the details of everyday life that “turn into important narrative points that push the story and twist it in certain directions,” according to Kantor.
“Did you mess up that crochet stitch? Does that hat look right today? It is concerned with everyday life as it really is,” Kantor said.
Austen excelled at focusing on the mundane aspects of life, one of the many reasons readers love her novels and characters. They are typically funny, imperfect and realistic.
She was also known for her use of humor and irony in her novels, which also focus heavily on social and class relations.
Realistic fiction was also focused on the “inward action of minds; how consciousness moves and our sympathetic attachments to one another,” Kantor said.
In the 19th century, many women authors published their work anonymously or under a pseudonym.
Austen published her work simply as “A Lady.”
“She brought literature forward — the intricacy but also the availability of the prose,” Kantor said.
Kantor looked for a reason as to why “Pride and Prejudice” remains Austen’s most famous novel and is continuously adapted. “It’s a novel that comports with our real experience and reality, and it’s also a novel that appeals to our sense of fantasy.”
Kantor mentioned that the words “happy” and “happiness” appear 179 times in the novel or “about every other page.”
“That’s happiness with real depth, rather than just happy, happy ever after,” said Kantor.
Kantor argued that the fantastical aspects of Pride and Prejudice lay in the classic elements found in fairy tales, such as rags to riches, the heroine, epiphanies and the happy ending.
The attendees of the event collectively view themselves as part of the “Janeite” community (fans and lovers of Jane Austen’s life and work).
Guests mingled before the lecture began, discussing Austen and their excitement for the event as they ate cucumber sandwiches and pumpkin cake.
The library offered black tea and homemade pastries available to guests before and during the event. These were provided by long time Bexley Public Library patron, Peggy Hedden.
The attendees were passionate and responsive to Kantor’s lecture, starting a lively conversation about the intricacies of Austen’s work.
Jane Austen is still considered one of the most well known and influential writers of the last three centuries.
Her enduring significance continues to create joyful communities with her work on display at Bexley Public Library.
