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Jane Austen: Inventor of Chick Lit 7526 Views


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Description:

Jane Austen wrote about fancy flirtations and picture-perfect proposals. We're guessing she wouldn't be a huge Fifty Shades of Grey fan. Publicly, at least.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Jane Austen: Inventor of Chick Lit, a la Shmoop.

00:09

Speaker 1: Ooh, Pride and Prejudice. I love that book. So steamy.

00:16

What’s hotter than two people realizing that their hate for each other was really…

00:22

love?

00:23

Better than any chick lit nowadays.

00:25

Speaker 2: Hey… you think Jane Austen invented chick lit?

00:29

Speaker 1: Uh… yeah. She was like the Danielle Steel of her time. But… good.

00:38

Ok, I know, for most of the book, Lizzy and Darcy are passive-aggressively insulting each

00:44

other.

00:48

But in the end, a poor girl marries a man rich enough to be a prince – not for money,

00:54

but because they both secretly really, really like each other!

00:58

Love conquers all.

01:00

<<Over-the-top romantic sigh>>

01:02

Speaker 2: Um, are we reading the same book?

01:08

Lizzy and Darcy marry because they rationally decide that they’re suited to be companions

01:12

for one another.

01:13

Plus, they aren’t from different classes – he’s a gentleman and she’s a gentleman’s

01:19

daughter.

01:19

Love didn’t “conquer” anything. Lizzy and Darcy hated each other until they realized

01:23

that they were so similar that they should love each other.

01:26

It’s not chick lit at all. Chick lit is about irrational desires, uncontrollable passion…

01:33

and poorly-developed characters. Speaker 1: Pride and Prejudice not chick lit?

01:39

How can you take all the emotion out of it like that, you robot?

01:42

Speaker 2: How can you be such a deluded, hopeless romantic?

01:45

<<Third, narrator voice>> Well, it seems there’s a difference of opinion

01:48

when it comes to the works of Ms. Austen.

01:50

What do you think?

01:51

Does all her characters’… lovey-doviness make Austen the first chick lit author?

01:58

Or do the serious undertones make her novels… something more than that?

02:03

Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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