A Critical Evaluation of Austen's Standing as a Novelist and her Continued Popularity

I find myself in in violent agreement with Thomas Macaulay’s estimation of Austen - that she “approached nearest to the manner of the great master Shakespeare.”

Even after two centuries of the publications of the first two of Jane Austen’s novels, the popularity of her works does not just endure; in fact, with advancements in media technology, it has become even more widespread.

Should one inquire into the reason as to the astounding and enduring popularity of her works, one can seldom find better words to capture the essence of the argument than that Austen’s novels are works in which “the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusion of wit and humour are…conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.”

Austen’s biggest strengths were her exceptional understanding of human nature (no matter how petty or magnanimous, small or large) and he exquisite ability to document this as well as complex human interplay in exceptionally precise prose. No small feat, that!

Austen’s popularity has stood the test of time because even though we are separated, in innumerable ways, from her time and that of her characters by a good 200 years, we recognize every one of those characters in our everyday lives. All of us know at least one manipulative Miss Bingley or rakish Colonel Wickham in our own lives. The circumstances of our lives in the 21^st century may have changed, but the people haven’t changed all that much since Austen’s time!