Writer's Fallout Shelter

I read Pride and Prejudice. I thought Elizabeth was more the Austen character than Jane - but of course, Jane and Jane. It's pretty obvious now that you mention it. Austen may have been quiet like Jane, but I'm sure she was clever like Elizabeth -maybe not so quick-witted when it came to repartee.

I disagree about inserting yourself into your writing. I think writers do it all the time in subtle ways. The trick is to have enough detachment from the " you" in your work that it comes off as interesting rather than self-indulgent. It doesn't have to be a Mary Sue.

If Pride and Prejudice wouldn't stand in today's society, it's partly due to the fact that
Austen may have invented the genre. She may have been the first to use that now trite story line of the lovers hating each other when they first meet. I've asked around to see if anyone who can name a work in whcih that device was used before and no one has come up with anything. I don't think Shakespeare used it. I wonder about the ancient Greeks.

Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

Marcia

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