I know that there is a prejudice against Jane Austen and her times/lifestyle, partly because people criticized her back then, and partly because when someone sees you reading her novels they instantly associate you with those book groups who compare their own lives to Emma's or Elizabeth's or their own husbands and boyfriends to Mr. Darcy. Now, I'm a relatively fair person and I know that not everyone assumes this about "us," but I'm certain some people do.
So some people have this idea that women back then were frivolous, meek, and silly and were only after marriage to a wealthy dude. Fine, fair enough, maybe, because of societal pressures and norms and not wanting to "fall into destitution", they did want good marriages.
However, I do not believe that women in the 18- and 1900s were any less smart than the highly independent and successful women of today. Perhaps in the pursuit of a good husband or perhaps because it was the natural thing to do, they learnt to sing, play the piano extensively, speak properly, speak fluent French, and more often than not Latin, Greek, and sometimes German. They could draw, paint, had impeccable manners, and read some pretty deep stuff. Anyone who does all of these things today is considered some kind of saint, and is set up on a pedestal. The one thing that they may have been lacking in is a political view (apart from the Empirical one put forth by the British in pursuit of world domination) that was balanced and unbiased. You were expected to have immense pride for your country and to not criticise it. That said, I am not so sure that women today have a clear sense of what is going on in the world either. No wonder: it is very confusing.
Mark Twain was a harsh critic of Austen's writing and, mostly, characterization. He went as far as to compose an essay containing his most searing comments, which you can look for online. Everyone loves that he said "every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and hit her over the head with her own shinbone." Some people say that he acted like a schoolboy trying to impress a girl. However, since she died 18 years before he was born, I am dubious. Not that love can't transcend lifetimes or anything.
Here is a delightful essay encapsulating some of the most snarky insults from one author to the other. http://www.examiner.com/book-in-national/the-50-best-author-vs-author-put-downs-of-all-time
Although I really should not enjoy authors stabbing at each other with pens, I can't help it. It seems as though they were all so sure their own work exceeded that of any one else's. They were all so enraged, it's really very entertaining.
I am proud to belong to that great legion of Jane Austen readers, no matter what people say. And I have read some Mark Twain and can now say that he had absolutely no right to go and criticise her. However, since I honestly believe that he enjoyed doing it, I don't mind. If I could have spoken to him I would have told him that I love his work and Jane Austen's. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Twain.
I admire Twain for his rough, comical, and real portrayal of life, and Jane Austen for her romanticised version. I consider his writing to be what life was like, and her's to be what life should be like. When I read a Jane Austen novel, I don't read it because I'm in love with all the characters. I read it because the writing is clear, clever, and beautifully phrased.
Basically the conclusions of this posts are that:
Everyone has different tastes, people are always going to disagree about things, and you can easily like two authors who vehemently opposed each other.
Another shocking discovery: George Bernard Shaw despised Shakespeare! I adore both of these men's writing as well.
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