One of my favorite authors is Jane Austen. I sometimes wonder why because I have to read her books with a dictionary. In fact, I don't even like all of her books - Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey are just plain odd. Mostly, I think its because I have romanticized that time period in my mind. It makes me think of civility and grace and morals - things that are seriously lacking in today's world. But realistically, I would have lasted only 2 seconds sitting in a hard, upright chair embroidering in a corset waiting for the men to come back from their adventures!What I really want to be is a modern Elizabeth or Emma or Elinor or Anne - witty and clever in conversation. Whenever I finish reading her work or watching a movie based on her work, I wonder what Jane was like. Was she strong like her characters or did she choose to write because, like me, she always thinks of the good punch lines after the matter, and by writing she could make up for her missed opportunities to be clever?
And so I name my blog after one of my favorite Jane Austen lines from Pride and Prejudice:
"For what do we live, but to make sport for out neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?"
Many of you have made me laugh and think and want to be better from what you have so cleverly written in your blogs, so I in turn will make sport for you as I attempt to write about the quirky thoughts that occupy my mind.
(Picture Above: The English countryside; Winchester, England April 2008)
This house in Winchester, England is where Jane Austen died on 18 July 1817, at the age of 41.
Just a short walk from the house above is the Winchester Cathedral. Jane Austen was buried in this church, a great and rare honor. The dedication in this marker on the floor was written by her brother.
