Jane Austen, Hottie?

by Sidra M.S. Vitale
04/03/2007

Someone wasting their time speculating over Jane Austen's looks: Pretty Words, Jane; Would That You Were Too

This is the bit I love:

Austen’s relative lack of interest in exterior appearance may itself be a clue of sorts. She probably wasn’t much of a looker. And why we care must have something to do with might be called the BBC-ification of Austen — the way that her books have, over and over, been transformed into successful movies and highbrow TV series.

This paragraph makes no sense at all. What if she just wasn't a visual person (you know, like some people are visual learners and some aren't?)? What if she didn't want her friends or family comparing themselves to her characters? Hm? Hm?

From the fact of a "relative" disinterest in exterior appearance, the author infers that Jane Austen was ugly? Relative to what?

I think that inference says a hell of a lot more about the person drawing it, than Jane Austen.

I don't know a god-damned thing about what Jane Austen looked like. And the argument that because the viewing public is accustomed to seeing a pretty Mr. Darcy, they want to see a pretty author of Mr. Darcy, is rubbish.

Tis a patriarchy, my friends. And Jane's a woman and a celebrity. And we like both those categories to be both utterly gorgeous and completely fake.

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