In its day, Jane Austen’s most famous work stood as an argument against marriages of convenience and social conventions that measured a woman’s value by the size of her dowry. I, however, had a version with an actual lady from the land of tea 'n crumpets, and she did a fine job. I read the novel as it was in my syllabus and I was overwhelmed to find out a character like Elizabeth who differed from other women through her courage, wit, readiness and she placed true love over any compulsion or the basis of settlement. At the same time, she is average-looking, so she fails to get matched with someone of the upper class. I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: A Timeless Classic

I was struck by his ability to use humor and satire to make social commentary, and I sought to emulate that style in my own writing.

Spacks includes centuries of Austen scholarship in her notes, not just contemporaries, so points of view vary widely. One of my early influences was the satirical writing of Jonathan Swift, particularly his work “Gulliver’s Travels. A hundred pages or so in though I started to see what a shrewd eye for character this Austen woman had.

Pride and Prejudice’: A Timeless Classic Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’: A Timeless Classic

Austen's value lies in her portraiture: her characters are believably human in their concerns, vanities, failings and quirks.In bidding Elizabeth farewell from Hunsford, Mr Collins apologizes profusely for the humbleness of his style of living, as if he considered her socially above him--and this is a complete 180 from his incredibly condescending proposal of marriage earlier in the book, where he deigns to presume he’s taking a burden from her parents by opting to support her.