I found this while searching for an unrelated Jane Austen book but I am a sucker for Jane Austen-related books (I suppose I can call myself a Janeite?) and so decided to hunt down this book. But, I also just checked Goodreads and it as it turns out, I’ve already read the book! That said, I first read the book seven years ago so this felt like a first time read, rather than a re-read.

A Jane Austen Education is the story of how six Austen novels and the author, then a PhD Literature student, and how he changed from a cynical non-Austen fan to learning important lessons from her novels. The novels and lessons are:

1. Emma – The little things in life are what make up the fabric of life
2. Pride and Prejudice – Growing up involves making mistakes and learning from them
3. Northanger Abbey – Learning doesn’t come naturally, but we must learn how to learn in order to grow
4. Mansfield Park – Charm may be good, but love is the most important and “love means effort and self-control – for the sake of others, and thus, ultimately, for your own.”
5. Persuasion – True friends want you to be happy in the long run, even if it means pushing you out of your comfort zone in the short run
6. Sense and Sensibility – “Love is about growing up, not staying young.”

Something that I didn’t get to mention in my summary of the chapters was this lesson on feelings. From Northanger Abbey, we learn that we should pay attention to your own feelings because “the world is always trying to get you to lie to yourself about them”. And when we’re aware of our feelings, we can begin to investigate them. After all, feelings are one way we know about the world but they are not the only way we can know about the world.

Because the author studies literature, the book mixes his personal experiences with his analysis of the Austen books, something that I really enjoyed. I didn’t really think about the Fanny and Mary being foils to each other, but the idea that Austen split the good parts of Elizabeth Bennet (her charm and loving heart) into Fanny and Mary to show us which was more important made sense. Although I still like Fanny as a character.

This may have been a re-read but it felt very fresh and I learnt a lot. If you’re a fan of Jane Austen and you like literature, I think you’d enjoy this book.

Featured Image: Photo from Canva