Her finely tuned humor elicits a smile, the sarcasm with which she makes the shortcomings of her characters visible, yet never displays them ostentatiously. At the same time, the apparent ease with which she rails against the gender injustice of her time, without violating etiquette, is impressive.
She was a feminist avant la lettre; in every one of her novels she tackles the absurd entailment of inheritance that considers only male heirs and forces daughters to marry for purely economic reasons. Other restraints imposed by etiquette – being an author is untidy, a woman may only dance at public events with a man if they have been officially introduced – seem almost insignificant by comparison, yet they dominated women’s everyday life.
Janine Barchas focuses in “Jane Austen – Her Life as a Graphic Novel” on the assigned gender roles. Indeed, Austen’s other grande theme inevitably threads through. The Austen expert at the University of Texas, Barchas, tells Austen’s life in three parts.
On December 16, we celebrate the 250th birthday of the author Jane Austen, who as a woman could initially write only in secret and became a major classic of world literature. The marks this jubilee with a Jane Austen Week: Daily we illuminate a facet of her works. All published texts can be found here.
The first part “Aspiring Author 1796–1797” presents the Austen family as a mutually appreciative community; the tone of address is affectionate, irony and linguistic wit are important components of communication. Jane is introduced as a clever, unpretentious young woman who must write.
A woman may only dance with a man if they have been introduced to each other.
In the second, titled “Unsuccessful Artist 1801–1809,” it is not only about literary setbacks – Austen does sell a manuscript to a bookseller, but it is not published –, but also about personal matters. For financial reasons – and also because Austen’s father perhaps hoped to bring his unmarried daughters under the protective wing – the family moves to Bath. There they do not feel comfortable. Prospective inheritances and the hopefully charitable relatives are openly discussed. As in Austen’s novels, this is done in a factual and orderly manner.
Barchas not only adopts the tone of the Austen novels – Eva Bonné continues in her translation the tone of the well-known Austen translations by Andrea Ott –, she frequently inserts quotes from the novels and contemporary events and facts, which are either explained directly in the text or in the detailed glossary.
Janine Barchas, Isabel Greenberg: “Jane Austen – Her Life as a Graphic Novel”. Penguin, Munich 2025. 145 pages, 25 euros
That Jane’s brother, Frank Austen, can sew and does so, sheds light on the family’s understanding of gender – even though she leads a conventional life. The third and final part probes the “Published Author 1809–1817” and her more carefree years in Chawton, which yield her literary successes.
Conventions Demanded and Observed
These lightly narrated episodes from the Austen family’s life are vividly illustrated by the London-based illustrator Isabel Greenberg, who superbly uses the graphic novel medium’s possibilities. To illustrate Jane Austen’s life within prescribed boundaries and thus a rather monotonous life, she has chosen a monochrome yellow-blue color palette.
Except for the moments when Jane’s imagination spurs her: they appear in bright red. Her delicate drawings do not conform at all to conventional ideas of female grace. Her faces are angular and comically distorted, yet always friendly and likable. In this way she also underscores the gap between demanded and observed conventions.
What contribution Austen has made to the changes of the last two hundred years is hard to gauge. But considering that even today there is no talking about institutional equality between men and women, Jane Austen remains as relevant as in her lifetime.
