Social activist Aruna Roy on Jane Austen's enduring appeal

The Hindu

2 days ago

I was nine when I read my first novel, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Since then, I have read all her works multiple times, appreciating them afresh with each reading. As we mark the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth, I am reminded of British-American poet W.H. Auden's remark about her in his 'Letter to Lord Byron'.
…It makes me most uncomfortable to see
An English spinster of the middle-class
Describe the amorous effects of 'brass',
Reveal so frankly and with such sobriety
The economic basis of society…
A few years ago, a friend who rarely reads and is indifferent to Austen, remarked with surprise that the French economist Thomas Piketty had praised the novelist. He seemed open to her merits now that a contemporary male economist of repute had found her commendable. When, on the day of reckoning, he sits down with books to read, she may feature on his optional reading list.
There are many narratives about Austen. The most important among them is her literary acclaim — the first woman novelist, master of irony, stylist of repute, one who is popular with changing times, and so on. Even F.R. Leavis, the 20th century's self-appointed arbiter of literary excellence, approved of her. He admired her as a hard-core rationalist who examined relationships through the lens of money and privilege, or the lack of them.
The inner worlds of women
Austen's delicacy of language and sentiment, and ironical observation of the folly of people who bumble through life created memorable characters such as Mrs. Bennett and Miss Bates. She observed their oddities with humour and sympathy, without moral commentary. Emma is an anti-heroine; her actions contradict her professed intentions. Austen's irony is delicate, her perception keen, but Emma's never judged by her creator.
Another narrative about Austen is the issue of her popularity. Pride and Prejudice has caught the popular imagination over centuries, continents and classes. You could say that it remains more popular with women. Why not? Austen was the first novelist (a feminist without the polemic) to talk of the world of women living in the restrictive and narrow confines of domesticity and marital ambition, without justifying or offering excuses.
Men in Austen's universe
Austen has had male supporters such as Leavis, E.M. Forster and Auden. Yet, many men do not read her because she doesn't pay obeisance to patriarchy, by inclusion or defiance.
She wrote only of the male world she knew. Meticulous in her character portrayals, she shaped them from her observations. Darcy was objectively observed, and given limited space. But, in films and imitative fiction, Darcy's character gets more room. In popular imagination, his character has captured the iconic space of a romantic hero.
Could she have been a part of the male universe she depicted? How could a sensibility like hers make no comment on the revolutionary happenings across the Channel? In Persuasion, the French Revolution and shadows of war touch the life of the protagonist, Anne Elliott. But she remains within the sheltered world of Bath.
Meanwhile, on film
Pride And Prejudice, like her other novels, has lent itself extraordinarily well to theatre and film. Every couple of years, a new interpretation comes out. Celebrated actor Laurence Olivier played Darcy in 1940. The 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, scripted by Andrew Davies, is a six-part television drama with 55-minute episodes. This format allowed the subtleties of Austen's language and irony to come alive more fully. Bridget Jones Diary, a contemporary interpretation, explores Bridget's fear of spinsterhood and her romantic aspirations with Mark Darcy.
For many Indians, Bollywood films represent the ideal of romance and aspiration, setting the bar for popular cultural expression. The story inevitably became a victim of Bollywood-nama in Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice (2004), with its song-and-dance sequences and loud scenes. Mrs. Bennet's character, full of exaggerated folly and impropriety, dominates the entire film, leaving no room for Austen's subtlety, irony, asides, or comments.
In India, almost every bride and groom, rich or poor, live out their fantasies with the sanction of society during weddings. Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding (2001) mocks the concept while entertaining the audience with a family's life-long planning for a wedding and its culmination.
When Pride and Prejudice moved from the domain of serious literature to popular fiction, its form and content underwent changes. The title, story, and the names, Darcy and Elizabeth, became marketable. A search for Pride and Prejudice opens a Pandora's box, revealing hundreds of titles. Many of them, in theme and plot, have laid to rest Austen's craft and delicacy.
Marriage at the centre
Austen even made her way into Rajasthani village politics, when I had to meet a politician who had an ill repute with women. I was young and apprehensive, but Austen came to my rescue. In my imagination, I transformed him into another Mr. Collins (from Pride and Prejudice), and the meeting took place without incident.
The fundamental relationship between man and woman remains a central concern of most great literary fiction. Pride and Prejudice captured this in its famous opening, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.'
Marriage plays a central role in peoples' lives, even in 21st century India. That's one of the reasons why the novel continues to resonate with readers.
Austen is read, appreciated and celebrated 250 years after her birth. It's a testament to her storytelling, style, sense of humour, irony, and to the craft of a great writer.
The writer is a social activist and an author.