Help..Jane Austen

[samg3008]

Hello!
i am completely new to this..
Am starting my personal study and want to study Jane Austen [im thinking pride and prejudice or perhaps mansfield park] but need to compare it to another novel [doesn't have to be a literary novel] any one got any ideas?
It would be really appreciated!
Thanks a bunch
x

[Newcomer]

If you are new to Austen, start with Pride & Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. Mansfield Park is too idiosyncratic and I would not recommend it as a first read. Leave it to when you have a good idea what Austen is all about.
As a contrasting novel I would recommend Orlando by Virginia Woolf. In style, stream of consciousness and theme, love, it would contrast and complement Jane Austen.

[puffin]

I’d recommend comparing Wharton’s Age of Innocence with Austin’s Emma. Both have strong themes of love, marriage and social propriety in the upper classes. It would be good for looking at social constrictions on both men and (especially) women; and the ‘correct’ treatment of those without money or with a questionable past/social standing. Another interesting aspect would be contrasting the treatment of/ sympathy towards characters by two different women authors.

Oh, and I would also recommend Orlando, not just to compare to Austin, but because it’s a great book.

[samg3008]

Hello!
Thank-you ever so much for the replies, on that note I have bought both Virginia Woolf's Orlando and Edith Wharton's Age of innocence.
x