Jane Austen by Allison Symes

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

It is the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of my favourite authors, Jane Austen, later this year (16th December to be precise). I’m fortunate enough to be able to easily get to Winchester Cathedral where she is buried and they have had exhibitions celebrating her life and work.  

Indeed there is an exhibition running there from 23rd May until 19th October 2025 called the Jane Austen Poetry Exhibition which looks at the friendship between her and Anne Lefoy, who was a mentor to Jane. (I find it encouraging mentors are nothing new for writers). Jane wrote a poem regarding the death of her friend and that poem is one of the objects on display here.

I discovered the joy of Austen’s work, especially Pride and Prejudice, thanks to it being one of the books I had to read at secondary school. I would say its impact was to show me irony was a thing in fiction. 

I’ve had good cause to appreciate that since because it has led me to reading Wodehouse and Pratchett amongst others and I use irony in some of my flash fiction pieces and short stories.

There is still nobody to touch Austen, I think, for showing up snobbery for what it is (for one thing, a complete waste of everyone’s time!). 

I remember watching a few years ago the BBC’s The Big Read where a celebrity had to nominate a classic book and say why they’d chosen it. If memory serves me rightly, Meera Syal chose Pride and Prejudice and claimed it was the blueprint for romantic fiction. 

I think she was spot on there but it’s also the blueprint for subtle comedy (as opposed to slapstick). The opening line is rightly often used as a classic to show new writers the importance of grabbing the reader’s attention and interest from the start. 

This novel is always one of the first I turn to when I feel in need of a comforting read where I want a story I know, a tale which works out right, and which I know will entertain me.

Jane Austen was a wonderful writer and it is good she is remembered with so much love all this time later. Now that is a fabulous writing legacy, isn’t it?

And she represents published writers, self-published authors, as well as those who love to use humour in their work. My only regret is she didn’t get to live longer and write more fabulous works. I suspect she would have loved the royalty system and getting further fees for adaptations of her works. She would’ve made a small fortune from the adaptations of Pride and Prejudice alone.    

My favourite heroine from Jane Austen is Elizabeth Bennet though I do have a soft spot for Anne Elliott from Persuasion too. Both stand out and come to life on the page (which is still a great challenge for every writer to aspire to achieving).