The Austen Project

In mid-March, a bright spot of unexpected happiness and came into my life in the form of a YouTube channel. Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice and I watched the majority of its 100 episodes in one sitting. I'm an enormous fan of Jane Austen and read all of her books before I was 21--maybe before I was 20. But I noticed something in LBD I hadn't in my last reading of P&P. Lizzie was, well, annoying. A little mean.  Just very--not the model of an Elizabeth (a name I hold in ridiculous esteem) she always had been to me. And then it occurred to me--I was a teenager when I last read it. Did I read it right? Have I ever really read and understood a Jane Austen book?  The answer is, I don't really know. So I'm being more thorough this time. Well, specifically with the heroines. Jane Austen was very good at creating complex characters. So I'm looking in exacting detail at what they do and say, and what that means about who they are. Why do the women who read Jane Austen books relate to these made-up girls from 200 years ago? That's what I'm hoping to find out.

I decided to start with Sense and Sensibility because it's my favorite (tied with Northanger Abbey). Or was. We'll see. It's taken me almost two months to get through the first 20 chapters (of 50) because I keep getting mad at Marianne. I always thought I "was a Marianne," but thankfully, so far, I'm finding that's not true. We just both  made really poor dating choices as teenagers.

When I've finished, I'm not sure how I'll process all the data I'll compile. (Any of my friends studying Literature or English want to help me out?) Either way, I'm glad to have a somewhat academic challenge on my own terms and in my own time (though I would like to finish by the end of the summer).

So, friends, is this project even worth doing? Any suggestions on how to do it better? Who are your favorite Austen heroines?