As I read Regency-set romances by modern-day authors, I am saddened that the revered beauty of nineteenth century writing is largely tossed aside in preference for the plainer prose and dialogue of the twenty-first century. It is not only the way of life depicted in Jane Austen's novels that holds an intense charm for me; the style of her writing that immortalizes the language of the time is for me like a song of enchantment. I love the unique placement of her words and her flowery phrases. Too many of her present-day fans dislike her complicated syntax and shudder when they find it in a modern-day novel set in the Regency Era. Most only want a distant taste of the language of that time period. I understand why. I really do, but it is still unfortunate.
Below, I have selected a few examples of Jane Austen's beautiful phrases that present-day authors would likely find drastically altered by their editors or publishers and regarded as pretentious and annoying by their readers. Beneath each example, I have attempted to show a modern equivalent to the example and to demonstrate how much beauty is lost by writing the phrase in today's language. I am an old hardliner who deeply loves the historic writing of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Jane Austen's style is a lost art from a bygone era. In my rewrite of excerpts from Jane Austen's novels, the song in her syntax has almost been reduced to noise.
Pride and Prejudice: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
In today's style: Everyone knows that a rich man must need a wife.
Persuasion: Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.
In today's style: Tell me I'm in time and that you still love me.
Emma: I lay it down as a general rule, Harriet, that if a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him. If she can hesitate as to ‘Yes,’ she ought to say ‘No’ directly. It is not a state to be safely entered into with doubtful feelings, with half a heart.
In today's style: If a woman isn't sure she should accept a man, then she should refuse him. If she hesitates to say yes, she should say no. She shouldn't marry someone if she isn't certain.
Sense and Sensibility: I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter in all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both.
In today's style: I couldn't be happy with a man who didn't share my taste in everything. He must feel like I do and enjoy the same books, and he must enjoy the same music I do.
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