There's something to be said for creating a work of literature that can stand the test of time. Many writers of today go to great (and painstaking) lengths in the attempt to accomplish that transcendency--a universality that touches us to the core, and ensures that the author (and the work) will be remembered for a long time to come.

It seems rather simple: To reach out and touch another person. But, a great writer really does much more than that... He/She touches a whole range of readers--each with a myriad of joys/sorrows, hopes/fears, successes/failures. How does one writer touch each of those individuals in very specific ways? How did writers of the past achieve lasting value in their writings? What can we learn from their struggles (and successes)?

In his article about Pride and Prejudice, John Thornton writes: "Jane Austen is a novelist with an extremely narrow focus that extends, surprisingly, into a wide range of concerns. Her books can be viewed most simply as eerily good romance novels, more broadly as sharp critiques of nineteenth-century vanity, cruelty and folly, and--broadest of all--as an indictment of a social system and economic system dedicated to the marginalization and commodification of a full half of the human experience."

Take the Pride and Prejudice quiz to test your novel knowledge, and then join our discussion of Jane Austen's novels.

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