What makes Jane Austen an immortal writer? How do her books continue to speak to us after two centuries? Which patterns of human behavior demonstrated in her works do we see in our daily lives? On the other hand, how has the passage of time divided us from her works? In this collection of essays assembled by Susannah Carson, given the long title A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, renowned authors, literary critics, and historians answer these frequently-asked questions and many others about this literary mastermind.
As the subtitle of the book suggests, the primary focus of each essay is the elements of Jane Austen’s work which have captivated readers through the ages. “Superficially,” J. B. Priestley sums it up, “Jane Austen is describing a world that has vanished. Go below the surface, however, and she is coming close to people… as they still are today.” In his own contribution, Priestley points out that the pride and snobbery demonstrated by such objects of ridicule as Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet, and Caroline Bingley, mirror similar patterns in “the social life we know today,” while Benjamin Nugent holds up the character of Mary Bennet as a Georgian-era representation of the “nerd” archetype.
However, as Carson points out, Austen’s books, like all lasting literature, are simultaneously timeless and archaic. Though artists who have produced classics must have hit upon the eternal, they nonetheless cannot have escaped being people of their time. Therefore, while the observations about human nature demonstrated in Austen’s works are universal, there are further undertones which may be lost on modern readers. But within the pages of this volume lies a trove of information. Studies by other renowned authors such as C. S. Lewis and Virginia Woolf, as well as literary critics such as Harold Bloom and Lionel Trilling, explore each of Austen’s books in-depth and analyze their literary, historical, and social contexts in a practical and accessible manner. Ian Watt demonstrates further connotations of the words “sense” and “sensibility.” Susannah Carson explains the deeper sting behind Emma’s insulting remark to Miss Bates, and Susanna Clarke outlines how the societal structure of Georgian-era England would have propelled intelligent young women such as Elizabeth Bennet and Anne Elliot to be “in their different ways, inveterate people-watchers.”
The collection includes essays aimed at all levels of prior knowledge of Austen’s works. Readers unfamiliar with her books will find ample direction for a first reading in Rebecca Mead’s “Six Reasons to Read Jane Austen.” Those who have done close readings of most or all of Austen’s works will delight in C. S. Lewis’ more specific analyses with their detailed references. Finally, readers of any experience will be gloriously entertained by Amy Heckerling’s description of her process in adapting Emma into the 1995 film Clueless. However, none of the treatises in this collection grow tiresome with increased familiarity with Austen’s books. After a glance at any point in this volume, longtime fans will itch to delve once more into each of Austen’s works to find additional complexities they may have missed in previous readings.
A Truth Universally Acknowledged offers access to an exhilarating array of professional opinions and scrutiny of Austen’s beloved works. These pieces provide amazing new perspectives on all of her books as well as fresh reminders of how much we still learn from them, and how much of our own lives and thought processes we still recognize in them. Lastly, there are few pleasures like that of observing masters’ takes on a master.
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