The Austen Magic

As a simple girl, I feel I have no authority to comment on her works. I'm not a writer, or even a literature teacher. I'm simply a reader. And for a reader, what made Jane Austen's works stand out?

I've read the works of many different authors. They created, imagined and breathed life into different worlds. What separated Jane Austen from them, was her ability to see. “Not imagination, but observation”, would be phrase I would use to describe Austen’s style of writing.

Jane Austen did not have to create another world. She simply saw what was already there. I imagine living in a small county, like all her heroines, would be boring. Day after day you'd see the same people and do the same chores.  But Austen saw the charm in people. She made the regular characters relatable. We all know a Mrs Norris or an Emma in real life. She transported us, from the moment we opened the book, to her world, and we lived there with her.

She made her characters flawed. Most of her characters, right from Mrs. Bennet and Lizzy to Fanny Price were incredibly flawed. But she didn't stop there. She paraded those faults. Throughout the story, she made her heroines come in terms with those faults, and correct them. That is what stands out about their character developments.

The most remarkable thing about her stories is how so many things happened without much happening. Austen held our attention through the mundane, everyday lives of the same people. But she opened those people up. There was something new every time we met them. She showed the complexities of humans in the most delicate ways. 

How she did all of this in a few hundred pages, without being underwhelming or over-descriptive, still remains a mystery to me. I call it “ The Austen Magic”. 

Jane Austen might have lived a a long time ago, but, to me, she will still be the amazing, timeless writer, who comes to life every time I open her books.