Jane Austen
1775- 1817
I should probably start by confessing that I am a complete Janeite. The fact that she managed to create characters whose core attributes and desires are still resonating with audience nearly two centuries after her death, speaks volumes, and honestly for that part of her writing ability, as well as many other parts of her talent, I hold her as dearly as many writers hold Dickens.
She defied convention in pursuing a career, in a time when it wasn’t terribly common for women to do so. She took a unconventional path in her private life as well, considering that her situation in life, as the second daughter of a parson meant that she was not terribly financially comfortable. She received a proposal of marriage, from a family friend Harris Bigg-Wither, who while he was not terribly appealing to her, would have provided a comfortable and pleasant life for her and her siblings.
She accepted the proposal, unlike Elizabeth Bennet, but then thought better of it the next morning, and unlike Elizabeth, never received another. The inner strength that she must have possessed in order to withstand the pressure she might have endured from others in the community, who didn’t understand why she would reject someone to all intents and purposes was perfectly adequate marriage material, and the clarity that she would never truly be happy, or make a good match with Harris, is why I respect her.
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hgolightly1982
I'm a thirty something woman who lives in the north of England. I have been a writer for as long as I can remember, creating stories both written and verbal since childhood. While studying at Edge Hill College, I got several poems published by a small publisher in the USA, and in Europe. I have been part of several writing groups, and done quite a few courses in a attempt to hone my writing skills further. I love reading different genres of fiction, knowing that the best way to develop my own writing, and my vocabulary is by exposing myself to the different ways that other people choose to describe things.
The most recent writing course that I've been part of, run by a published author, included a exercise in which we were challenged to read things that we would never usually even look at.
It inspired me to take up a challenge. Namely to attempt to read at least one book by every author which is stocked in my local library. I soon realised that I was being far too ambitious, especially given the fact that every library rotates their stock too often for me to keep track.
I've decided to instead attempt to read a book every day, starting with a author whose surname begins with A, and ending with a author whose surname begins with Z. It doesn't matter what the topic of the book is, or if it's fiction or non fiction, everything is useful for me at the minute.
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