International Women's Day 2024: Jane Austen's undying influence

Friday 8th March marks International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions that women make to the world around us, as well as taking time to reflect on the long struggle towards gender equality worldwide. This blog centres around the celebration of one woman all year round - Jane Austen. Whilst our blog spends a lot of time getting into the cracks and crevices of Jane Austen’s work and her influence, we thought it might be a good opportunity to show just how much she has influenced literature by profiling a few authors whose work reflects the legacy of Jane Austen’s writing. 

Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer has been named the mother of Historical Romance. Without her? No Bridgerton. Of course her Regency romances are inspired by Jane Austen! Heyer was a prolific writer of novels, so if you’ve ever found it frustrating that Jane Austen only wrote a handful of novels, Georgette Heyer’s writing will scratch that itch for a while. Though she was very successful in her lifetime, fewer readers today reach for her work, making her the perfect candidate for a bit of International Women’s Day kudos. 

George Eliot 

One of Jane Austen’s greatest strengths is her ability to really cut to the heart of what makes romantic relationships work. George Eliot, too, was a master of getting to the inner workings of marriages. Before she would turn her hand to fiction, Eliot commissioned an essay about female novelists from writer George Henry Lewes, whom she would later elope with. It was in this transitional period from essayist to novelist that Eliot worked through the novels of Jane Austen, which has led one New Yorker columnist to argue that without Austen, there would be no Eliot. 

E.M. Forster

Of all of our authors, E.M. Forster was the loudest about his love of Austen. He even said, 

"I am a Jane Austenite, and therefore slightly imbecile about Jane Austen."

E.M. Forster shares Jane Austen’s fascination for the role of money at the root of social relationships, and perhaps felt a kind of kinship with the unwed ‘spinster’ author as a closeted gay man - both defied societal expectations of love and romance. In a fascinating 1924 article, Forster wrote affectionately about our favourite author. You can read it here at the New Republic.. 

Hilary Mantel 

We were very sad to hear of the passing of Wolf Hall author Hilary Mantel last year. Throughout most of her career, Mantel specialised in moreish historical tomes running into the seven- and eight-hundreds of pages. After her death, however, her husband revealed that she had been working on a Jane Austen novel - Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of Mary Bennet. Like Austen, Mantel was interested in social rules and strata, with a familiar dry wit to go with it. We remember her legacy this International Women’s Day. 

So, who did we miss? Who is your favourite Austen-influenced writer? Who’s work will you be celebrating this International Women’s Day. Let us know in the comments!