--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Many of Jane Austen's admirers, it is…" description: "\"“Many of Jane Austen's admirers, it is true, read her novels as a means of escape into a cozy sort of Old English nirvana, but they find this escape in..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/susannah-carson-85782_books_many-of-jane-austen-s-admirers-it-is-tru_429458.jpg" --- # Many of Jane Austen's admirers, it is true, read her… ![“Many of Jane Austen's admirers, it is true, read her novels as a means of escape into a cozy sort of Old English nirvana, but they find this escape in her pages only because, as E. M. Foster has written, the devout "Janeite" 'like all regular churchgoers ... scarcely notices what is being said.'…” quote by Susannah Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/susannah-carson-85782_books_many-of-jane-austen-s-admirers-it-is-tru_429458.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/susannah-carson-85782_books_many-of-jane-austen-s-admirers-it-is-tru_429458.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/susannah-carson-85782_books_many-of-jane-austen-s-admirers-it-is-tru_429458.jpg) > ““Many of Jane Austen's admirers, it is true, read her novels as a means of escape into a cozy sort of Old English nirvana, but they find this escape in her pages only because, as E. M. Foster has written, the devout "Janeite" 'like all regular churchgoers ... scarcely notices what is being said.' - Ian Watt- On Sense and Sensibility”” Susannah Carson ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Readers often escape into Austen’s world without engaging with her deeper social commentary, missing critical insights. **In simple terms:** Austen’s novels offer both comfort and critique, but readers may overlook the latter. Key Takeaway Engage with both the story and its social critique. Themes literature escape social critique reading habits gender roles Mood thoughtful inquisitive reflective Type literary educational When to use this quote - academic study - personal reading - book clubs Key Concepts novel analysis critical reading cultural context Questions to Reflect On - How can readers balance enjoyment with critical analysis? - What social issues does Austen subtly address? A Different Perspective Escaping can limit understanding of underlying messages. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Sense And Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-and-sensibility/) [Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibility/) ## Related quotes > [“Today we are less accustomed to look for universal norms in what we read ... partly because we tend to see life, and therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susannah-carson/today-we-are-less-accustomed-to-look-for-universal-norms-in-what-we/) Susannah Carson > [“I am reading Ian Rankins book Doors Open and am enjoying his dark Edinburgh narrative will rate soon once I have read it. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-rankin/i-am-reading-ian-rankins-book-doors-open-and-am-enjoying-his-dark/) [IAN RANKIN](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-rankin/) > [“The pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety. -Sense and Sensibility”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always-evince-its/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“He laughed, but his face was unreadable as he looked at her titles. “Ah, a collection from Sir Walter Scott. Very nice, I’ve always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-michaels/he-laughed-but-his-face-was-unreadable-as-he-looked-at-her-titles-ah/) [Jess Michaels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-michaels/) > [I think my first bout of that was when I was doing me and My Girl, funnily enough. I really didn't change my clothes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-thompson/i-think-my-first-bout-of-that-was-when-i-was-doing-me-and-my-girl/) [Emma Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-thompson/) > [“...I have decided that I shan't sweat the small stuff. Sense and sensibility will, I assume, come in their own time. If indeed they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-mowafi/i-have-decided-that-i-shan-t-sweat-the-small-stuff-sense-and/) [Amy Mowafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-mowafi/) > [Older people say, 'Oh I loved you in 'Sense and Sensibility,'' and that's the only film they want to talk about. Equally, there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-rickman/older-people-say-oh-i-loved-you-in-sense-and-sensibility-and-that-s/) [Alan Rickman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-rickman/) > [“Charlotte Palmer is no sillier than Harriet Smith; and yet, how intolerable we should find it to see and hear as much of Charlotte…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/charlotte-palmer-is-no-sillier-than-harriet-smith-and-yet-how/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [ “ Sense and Sensibility signs litter Devon -- arrows with S & S on. Whenever Ang \[Lee\] sees a B & B sign he… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-thompson/sense-and-sensibility-signs-litter-devon-arrows-with-s-s-on-whenever/) [Emma Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-thompson/) > [“Well it seems to me that there are books that tell stories, and then there are books that tell truths...," I began. "Go on,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-donnelly/well-it-seems-to-me-that-there-are-books-that-tell-stories-and-then/) [Jennifer Donnelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-donnelly/) > [“And listen--tell your friend to try English Breakfast net time. It's a little more robust. Earl Grey is really more of a 'Sense and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-james/and-listen-tell-your-friend-to-try-english-breakfast-net-time-it-s-a/) [Julie James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-james/) > [“She is not well, she has had a nervous complaint on her for several weeks.' 'I am sorry for that. At her time of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/she-is-not-well-she-has-had-a-nervous-complaint-on-her-for-several/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I got quite cross when I heard about Emma Thompson adapting 'Sense and Sensibility.' It was absolutely childish of me, but I thought, 'I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-davies/i-got-quite-cross-when-i-heard-about-emma-thompson-adapting-sense-and/) [Andrew Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-davies/) > [“Colonel Brandon alone, of all the party, heard her without being in raptures. He paid her only the compliment of attention. from Sense and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/colonel-brandon-alone-of-all-the-party-heard-her-without-being-in/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I grew up reading 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Pride and Prejudice' - girly kind of books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leighton-meester/i-grew-up-reading-sense-and-sensibility-and-pride-and-prejudice-girly/) [Leighton Meester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leighton-meester/) ## More by Susannah Carson > [“Nor do we need such a great deal of ingenuity to see that all, or nearly all, the great issues in human life make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susannah-carson/nor-do-we-need-such-a-great-deal-of-ingenuity-to-see-that-all-or/) Susannah Carson > [“Today we are less accustomed to look for universal norms in what we read ... partly because we tend to see life, and therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susannah-carson/today-we-are-less-accustomed-to-look-for-universal-norms-in-what-we/) Susannah Carson Explore all 3 Susannah Carson quotes ## More Austen quotes > [The difficulty with poetry is that it doesn't have the life that Shakespeare or Jane Austen have beyond the page. You can't make a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/the-difficulty-with-poetry-is-that-it-doesn-t-have-the-life-that/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-davies/look-at-jane-austen-her-characters-derive-in-a-reasonably-straight/) [Andrew Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-davies/) > [“The celestial brightness of Pride and Prejudice is unequalled even in Jane Austen's other work; after a life of much disappointment and grief, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-jenkins/the-celestial-brightness-of-pride-and-prejudice-is-unequalled-even-in/) [Elizabeth Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-jenkins/) > [It has been suggested that Tiptree is female, a theory that I find absurd, for there is to me something ineluctably masculine about Tiptree’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-silverberg/it-has-been-suggested-that-tiptree-is-female-a-theory-that-i-find/) [Robert Silverberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-silverberg/) > [Had Elizabeth Bennet known how wildly Darcy's heart beat for her, 'Pride and Prejudice' would barely have made it into a short story. Their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariella-frostrup/had-elizabeth-bennet-known-how-wildly-darcy-s-heart-beat-for-her/) [Mariella Frostrup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariella-frostrup/) > [ “\[Jane\] Austen was not a novelist for nothing: she knew that our stories are what make us human, and that listening to someone else's… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-deresiewicz/jane-austen-was-not-a-novelist-for-nothing-she-knew-that-our-stories/) [William Deresiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-deresiewicz/) > [I'm kind of a mash-up of taste - Graham Greene and Jane Austen; W.G. Sebald and Alice Munro.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-waldman/i-m-kind-of-a-mash-up-of-taste-graham-greene-and-jane-austen-w-g/) [Amy Waldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-waldman/) > [I'm sure I've been influenced by every fine writer I've ever read, from Dickens and Austen to Auden and Jane Hirshfield. And also, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-bloom/i-m-sure-i-ve-been-influenced-by-every-fine-writer-i-ve-ever-read/) [Amy Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-bloom/) > [“You know, somewhere a Jane Austen angel just lost her wings over you saying that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nichole-van/you-know-somewhere-a-jane-austen-angel-just-lost-her-wings-over-you/) Nichole Van > [Great books are readable anyway. Dickens is readable. Jane Austen is readable. John Updike's readable. Hawthorne's readable. It's a meaningless term. You have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-barnes/great-books-are-readable-anyway-dickens-is-readable-jane-austen-is/) [Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-barnes/) > [“Gratitude, not merely for having once loved her, but for loving her still well enough, to forgive all the petulance and acrimony of her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/gratitude-not-merely-for-having-once-loved-her-but-for-loving-her/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I grew up on Jane Austen novels and was a massive literature fanatic when I was a kid - I read everything I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-king/i-grew-up-on-jane-austen-novels-and-was-a-massive-literature-fanatic/) [Georgia King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-king/) > [“I don't care a whit for Society. I think people should only marry someone who can offer them some bit of affection. I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harper-st-george/i-don-t-care-a-whit-for-society-i-think-people-should-only-marry/) Harper St. George > [“Does everybody know everything in this town!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vaishnavi-nair-k/does-everybody-know-everything-in-this-town/) [Vaishnavi Nair K](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vaishnavi-nair-k/) > [“People don't say what they mean very often. You have to read between the lines of their behavior, of what they say, to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-c-frank/people-don-t-say-what-they-mean-very-often-you-have-to-read-between/) [M.C. Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-c-frank/) Browse all 292 Austen quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Many of Jane Austen's admirers, it is true, read her novels as a means of escape into a cozy sort of Old English nirvana, but they find this escape in her pages only because, as E. M. 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