Janeites Reading Jane

Why Jane Austen? A Brazilian's View

By Mariana Fonseca

December 21, 2009

Among all the great writers in the history of literature, why does this little English spinster with no more than seven complete novels fascinate thousands and thousands of readers almost 200 years after her death? Well, I’m sorry; I can’t answer that one. But I can tell you why she is so special to me.

Let me start by saying a little about myself. I’m an 18-year-old Brazilian girl. My parents are doctors and I have a 10-year-old brother who likes to play soccer. We live in a middle-class apartment in a middle-class neighbourhood. I wake up early every day to go to school, where I have a bunch of friends. As you can see, my life is pretty ordinary.

My first contact with Jane Austen happened when I was 13. I heard about the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie and was immediately interested. I always liked period films and romances. The movie wasn’t available on DVD yet, so I Googled it. I read lots of reviews and found out it was actually based on a novel by this Jane Austen of whom I had never heard. While still waiting for the DVD, I found a 1949 Portuguese edition of the book in a secondhand bookstore. It was deteriorating, but I bought it anyway. It only took me one day to finish it.

I was dazzled – there’s no better word to describe it – by that author. I had expected a romantic novel, but I found much more than that. The way that woman wrote was... fascinating! Her brilliant acid humor spread between the critical descriptions she made of her society – so different from my own. She was funny, she was smart, she was perfect. Of course I would read the book again, and then I found not only sarcastic comedy, but also deep lessons. She teaches us not to judge others only based on first impressions, not to be so vain as to believe our stone-written opinions are always right and, above all, to know intimately our true character.

I couldn’t be satisfied with only Pride and Prejudice. I started looking for her novels in bookstores. I bought Sense and Sensibility (which would become my favorite), Emma, and Persuasion. But it wasn’t enough. I discovered there was no Portuguese translation of Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey, so I looked for the originals. Therefore, reading Jane Austen also helped me improve my English.

I’ve read all her books and seen almost all the TV and cinema adaptations. It’s been five years and the spell is just as strong. I’ll never tire of losing myself in this world full of courtesy, gentlemanlike manners and good principles. It’s a kind of escape from reality, but, at the same time, it’s also a dive into it. Although the characters have their faults – Austen makes them human, which just makes her better than lots of novelists – they always find the right path in the end. As said in Becoming Jane, her characters “shall have, after a little trouble, all that they desire”. And this makes me believe there’s still something for me somewhere. I mean, if even the irritating Marianne Dashwood – whom, unfortunately, I resemble the most – could find happiness with the wonderful Colonel Brandon, I think there’s still hope for me. Jane Austen keeps me dreaming.

I look at my society and each time I find more of Jane Austen in it. She knew human nature like no one else. In the 21st century you can still see everywhere a lot of Collinses, Wickhams, Willoughbys, Steeles, Crawfords, Woodhouses, Bates, Churchills... Well, it’s true the Darcys, Wentworths, Knightleys, Tilneys and Brandons are not that easy to find.

Jane Austen not only made me learn a lot more about my world but also expanded it. My fascination with English literature started with her. Because of her I discovered the Brontës, Dickens, Byron, Gaskell and even Shakespeare. Of course I knew them before, but only after Austen did I start to really read them.

Here in Brazil she is not as famous as she is in the UK or in the USA. But her admirers are getting more numerous each day. Now we have our own Jane Austen Society. There are translations of almost all her novels in the bookstores. We even got, after hundreds of e-mails, our own DVD of the 1995 mini-series. Austenology is growing here and I hope we’ll get our own translation of A Truth Universally Acknowledged soon.