There is this genre of fiction on the bookshelves and it seems to emit more mass appeal, I feel.
Some classical women writers are being applied to our post-modern age, based on the common theme of love. I've come across 2 books on this very 'cross-era-istic' manner of approaching the classics. Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte are the 2 "privileged" choices, depending on which way you look at it. Some critics may think this new genre does absolute dishonour to their original presentation of the pre-modernist eras. I would like to think that this makes them more universal and transcendent in their appeal to readers.
Austen's works and Bronte's life are used to help post-modern readers like yours truly grapple with the dominant forces of life being thrown into our faces, especially that of relationships. All of Austen's novels are applied to the lessons we can learn while experiencing different types of love and Bronte's own personal letters are applied in the same way. So who can say they are stale and staid??
The two books are entitled Jane Austen's Guide to Dating by Lauren Henderson and The Bronte Project by Jennifer Vandever. They are categorized under the genre of chic-lit.
It would earn more plus points from me if more classical female writers were applied in the same fashion.
No comments:
Post a Comment