I've just read a comment by Jimmy at https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/question/view/2618 and was reminded of an e-mail that I received not long ago. It said something like: "[Do you] Want to write like Jane Austen?" Or maybe "How to write like Jane Austen". I suppose that it was offering places on a writers' workshop / seminar / whatever, and came from either "The Writers' Workshop" or "Writers & Artists". I've been looking through my e-mail inbox and can't find it, so I guess that I must have binned it. Or maybe there never was such an e-mail and dementia is advancing on me. Can any of you confirm [seeing something like this] (and rescue my sanity)?
Anyway, Jimmy's comment ('According to Jane Austen, the correct form was "Do not you think" ') has spurred me to answer this question "Want to write like Jane Austen?" with a resounding "Certainly NOT!" *
Not only do I not want to write "Do not you think", I ALSO don't want to write novels where the #1 obsession is "Is she going to catch him in the end?" NOR novels where none of the main characters seem to work for a living (OK, OK: an exaggeration, but there ARE a lot of idle rich swanning about with nothing better to do than going for outings in carriages) while the working class hardly puts in an appearance. (And a low income disqualifies them from love.)
Or have I been reading the wrong Jane Austen books?
* Not even the fact that Pride and Prejudice is by far the most down-loaded book of the Gutenberg Project's list sways me. (16,690 down-loads compared with the much-more-deserving #2, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, at 10,183) [See http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?sort_order=downloads] (Sherlock Holmes comes in 3rd, and a piece of erotica victoriana 4th. That's the only one I downloaded. [I've already got Alice in printed form.]) Of course, you have to remember that all the books on their list are copyright-free.
Actually, P&P is one of Austen's that I haven't read. (Perhaps the only one?) But I promised myself that if I was a good girl and behaved myself, I wouldn't have to. Even if it's free.
"A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can."
Questions:
a) Has grammar changed that much since Northanger Abbey was written? or
b) Is this REALLY the 3rd person singular present subjuctive form of the verb (and I am an illiterate bumpkin)? or
c) Did Jane put this in the mouth of a character that she wanted to present as stupid and uneducated (as well as full of stupid, sexist views)? (You must remember that I've never read this one... nor wish to.) or
d) Is Ms. Austen not the model of perfection in prose writing that she's [still] made out to be?
Going back to Google to see if I can find some answers WITHOUT reading the book...
Do you know, the juxtaposition of these 2 sentences makes me think that our Jane might have been (is still?) a shrewd businessperson:
"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."
"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of."
Do you hear a message coming across: "If you don't want to be considered intolerably stupid, buy my books and help to increase my income"?
Zombie Jane Austen has demanded her right to reply to these attacks on her literary skills. A firm believer in free speech, I am allowing her to use me as a medium through which to pass her message. My responsibilities on the collective novel thread (where certain guidelines must be followed) have caused me to do some editing, but here I have not attempted to make any changes. (Well, to save space, I HAVE combined several sentences into one paragraph):
There is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions. For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn? There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.
Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast. Is not general incivility the very essence of love? Those who do not complain are never pitied.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.