It's Jane Austen Week!!!

Well it's Sunday, and I with all the work I have to do, I thought to myself, "what better time to do a Jane Austen week than now?"  That's right; I am going to have one day devoted to every book Jane Austen had completed and published, and will add on two works that she wrote that I am betting much of her fan-base has never heard of!

My official week-long Jane Austen series will begin tomorrow, Monday, but let me introduce you all breifly, and very unofficially, to the author:

Jane Austen was born in the late 1700s, and lived during the Regency period.  Often we fall into the trap of saying her novels were Victorian - indeed, I often say that myself, but the Victorian era began only when Princess Alexandrina Victoria took up the throne as queen, which was well after the death of Jane Austen.  The Regency period is named for the Prince Regent George, who acted as Regent for his father, because his father was deemed by parliament as insane, and thus unfit to rule.  However, George had to remain regent until his father's death, when the then became King George IV (or VI, I forget which).  The regency period saw the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812, the introduction of gas lighting in the streets of London, and the introduction of cotton spinning machines, although industrialization did not reach its peak until later, as reflected in the writings of Elizabeth Gaskell.

Jane Austen had a few dissappointments in love, but she never married.  Cassandra, her elder sister, was her closest friend.  They wrote many letters to eachother.  From her letters and her writings we may see that Jane Austen had a very synical sense of humour, which is undeniably amusing, but there was underneath, what must have been a very sensitive soul.  Her novels which I will address, though perhaps not in the following order, are: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey.  They have been printed and re-printed, inspired parody stories, and have been adapted into many film versions.  And if you stay tuned for the rest of the week, you will soon see why!

Let me just note that in reference to the life of Jane Austen, there are two modern films: Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy deals with her earlier life, and Miss Austen Regrets deals with the later years of her life.  There are many biographies that have been written regarding her life, and many of her letters have been published, though her sister Cassandra burned many of the letters Jane had written her after Jane's death. Many people say that this destruction robbed the world of a great insight into the author's thoughts.  However, I have to say that if I had been Cassandra, I would have done the same.  The letters were intended only for her, and as Jane Austen's own stories hint, letters are private things that must not go astray!

Trailer for Becoming Jane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYViBfUvSOA

Preview of Miss Austen Regrets:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pddz_MR1WkY