Jane Austen Has Alt-Right Fans? Heavens to Darcy!

NY Times ^ | March 20, 2017 | Jennifer Scherssler

[C19fan]

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that anyone in want of attention could do worse than take possession of Jane Austen.

We’ve already had Austen and zombies, Austen and game theory, Austen and guinea pigs.

Now, a scholar has offered another spit-take-inducing pairing: Jane Austen and the alt-right.

[C19fan]

Count me in although I am more a Bronte fan.

[AppyPappy]

I like her songs but can’t stand her voice.

[JBW1949]

Who is Jane Austen?

[Brad from Tennessee]

[I like her songs but can’t stand her voice.]

My favorite is the Pride and Prejudice Blues.

[buffaloguy]

Author.

Pride and Prejudice is my favorite.

[JBW1949]

Ohhh...I thought it was someone new on the entertainment scene...I’ve heard of the author, of course...My wife reads her...

[Red Badger]

LOL!......................but you like Eric Clapner, right?...................

[Red Badger]

I take pride in my prejudices and with complete sense and sensibility......................

[Red Badger]

The ‘mother’ of the modern form of novel...................

[Noumenon]

I see what you did there.

[JBW1949]

I’m more of a Tom Clancy, James Patterson, W.E.B. Griffin kind of guy....

[Red Badger]

[chajin]

I one of the colleges I taught for, for a number of years the students were required to read Persuasion in the humanities class. I took a different tack than most, digging into the Christian aspects of the book, and how Austen was an Anglican who had some sympathies with the evangelicals of her day. I was just enough under the radar that I got away with it, though the course later was redesigned without the book assignment, and I was switched over to teaching their critical thinking course anyway. There is nothing underlying Austen's works that goes against conservative or Biblical principles.

[georgiegirl]

There is nothing underlying Austen's works that goes against conservative or Biblical principles.

Absolutely correct. Austen's "proverbs" are every bit as wise as Shakespeare's or Dicken's. One of my favorites is "Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility..." (Darcy from P & P)

[Let's Roll]

Who even knew that conservatives would be discerning enough to BE Austen fans?

Would have thought that only ‘women’ dressed like vaginas would have the intellect, sensitivity and good taste to be Austen fans.

[Shadow44]

Because that was the society’s norms at the time.

Only fringe loonies like Mary Wollstonecraft were recognizably “modern”.

It’s why feminists are now turning on writers like Austen, because they don’t fit their arbitrary 21st Century Postmodernist values and ignorantly don’t even appreciate things like historical context.

[oldplayer]

I dodged Austen all through high school and college. Years later, my teenage daughter challenged me to read Pride & Prejudice. I read it and loved it.

Unfortunately, reading Austen caused me to immediately disdain poor writing. Numerous times since, I have quit reading otherwise interesting books (often, best sellers) because the author’s English was so tortured.

From time to time I go back to her novels just to remind myself how good literature is constructed. I am never disappointed.

[JimSEA]

Jane Austin has to be read with a recognition of the class structured society and values of her own day. With that in mind, her works are quite remarkable in their insights as well as their gentle humor.

[RegulatorCountry]

A little pitchy at first but it grows on you.

https://youtu.be/-1pMMIe4hb4

[fella]

I’m more of a Jasper Fforde fan.