> I was visiting Jane Austen's House Museum last year and it always gives me pleasure to see how wildly popular her work remains.

I have believed for a long time that Austen is broadly popular because her works deal with issues of human relations and economic prosperity at the heart of modern, bourgeois existence. The draw is summed up in this excellent quote from the article:

> They also both, mostly, focus on characters who have enough privilege to have choices, but not enough power to escape circumstances.

That's a perceptive description of middle class life. The movie "Clueless" is an illustration of how easily Austen's insights translate to a society that is superficially very different from hers. [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clueless

▲ PapstJL4U 2 days ago | parent [-]

She is although simply a joy to read. Witty remarks and well written.

"Elinor agreed with it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition". - from S&S

Who wasn't in a situtation where they felt arguing would do nothing? John Green asked: "Who doesn't want a friend as witty as Jane Austin to comment on life?

▲ hodgesrm 2 days ago | parent [-]

Austen's command of language and empathy for her characters is second to none. I love the hook at the end of this passage from Pride and Prejudice.

   ``And of this place,'' thought she, ``I might have been mistress! With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own, and welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt. -- But no,'' -- recollecting herself, -- ``that could never be: my uncle and aunt would have been lost to me: I should not have been allowed to invite them.'' This was a lucky recollection -- it saved her from something like regret.

https://pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppv3n43.html