Jane Austen and the Manosphere

There is no finer balm for a long day than tea with Miss Jane Austen.

By Ann Burns

No matter what calamity is going on in the world, Jane Austen seems to have already penned the answer. And so, after being discouraged by inane X comments from the battling cultural phenomena of the “manosphere”, I seek solace once again in the words of Austen, as she reminds me there is truly “nothing new under the sun.”

While Austen’s novels are confined, taking place within a limited space with the odd trip to Bath or Box Hill, she wrote during a riveting period in history. While we hear of dreamy officers in their dashing uniforms, we forget that the Napoleonic Wars are going on. The rotten fruits of the French Revolution have already taken root in England, and the dangerous creed of Romanticism is in full swing.

The world Jane Austen inhibits is corroded by pernicious false ideologies and genuine tragedy.