Book Review: Lady Susan by Jane Austen
First, I read this book because of my favorite BookTuber — Jack Edwards. He made a video about a bunch of books that Maeve Wiley recommends in Sex Education — unfortunately, I haven’t watched that series yet. But I really influenced by him and the character to read some books, especially by the legend woman author Jane Austen. So, I decided to pick a short one — a novella that her favorite Jane Austen book is Lady Susan.
Maeve Wiley herself describes this book as severely feminist literature. This book is written in an epistolary mean like a series of letters between characters. I’ll give you the book description from Goodreads so you can have a bit picture of it. This book is a magnificently crafted novel of Regency manners and mores that will delight Austen enthusiasts with its wit and elegant expression.
The main character from this book — Lady Susan is a recent widow with a beauty privilege, flirtatious and quick-witted. She seduces and manipulates men — including those who are married. Lady Susan herself is described as a woman who ignores her husband during his life and lives extravagantly, she seduces men just for the sake of wealth or legacy — not in a romantic way. She seeks an advantageous second marriage for herself while attempting to push her daughter into a dismal match.
Lady Susan has a different perspective about the position of women in society, in a toxic way. She gives a perspective on how women should place importance on elegance and manners overmastering education which is said to be a waste of time receiving compliments rather than getting lots of lovers. Therefore, she also forces her child to be able to marry young and live in prosperity.
In addition, this book also discusses the issue of marriage in the 18 19 centuries era. That the choice of marriage is still a matter determined by the family. Like the background of the prospective wife. Your life choices are observed by everyone in the family — especially in marriage, that our happiness is at stake with all of the family’s happiness.
There is a generational gap between the mindset of that era and today we live in — but in fact, it is still embedded in the principles of some 21st-century people. As many people presume those women will only end up in the fire if they get married and don’t need to have an academy education to do so, and you just need to produce a baby? Owh... This is the thing that makes me hate marriage if I meet the wrong person.
Such is Lady Susan as the main character and the men who are seduced by her charm and pretend character see how the immoral is exposed. Likewise with several families who were harmed by Lady Susan’s actions.
You can listen to it in the English language for free on YouTube or if you want to read in Indonesia translated, you can read for free on iPusnas.
