“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” This epic excerpt from Pride & Prejudice, along with many other memorable lines from the acclaimed novel, can still ring true and inspire individuals today.

Jane Austen, the world renowned English author, completed just six works during her time, and yet manages to command a legion of fans around the world. Her timeless stories have been adapted into a large body of movies, TV shows, and theatrical productions, in addition to being translated into multiple languages across the globe. Today, she remains as popular as ever and is revered as much as any literary figure in the history of the English language.

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On that note, we took a closer look at why Austen’s book-to-film adaptations typically work well on a critical and commercial scale. Netflix’s summer film Persuasion may not have been a hit, but that won’t deter fans from eagerly awaiting future adaptations of Austen’s novels. Take a look at our analysis below.

Jane Austen’s Life and Career

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The English writer, who only lived until the age of 41, is perhaps solely responsible for giving novels a distinctly modern character through her treatment of ordinary people in everyday life. Austen published four novels during her lifetime: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815). Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, meanwhile, were published together posthumously in 1817. In each, Austen vividly depicted English middle-class life during the early-19th Century. Her work defined the era’s novel of manners, but they also became timeless classics that remained successes for two centuries after her death.

Historians confirm that her lively and affectionate family circle provided a stimulating context for Austen’s writing. It was this world that she was to use in the settings, characters, and subject matter of her books. Austen’s concentration on character and personality, specifically the tensions between her heroines and their society, align more closely to modern society than to 18th-Century traditions.

Why Adaptations of Austen’s Books Work

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And that brings us to our next point. The universally beloved modernity, wit, realism, and timelessness of her prose style is what makes Austen’s novels genuinely enjoyable to read today — not to mention why they’re also taught in schools everywhere. Modern critics remain fascinated by the commanding structure and organization of the novels. It’s common knowledge in Hollywood that any acclaimed novel that features an introspective romantic heroine, strategic matchmaking, and silly supporting characters will ultimately be brought to life on the big screen.

To get a sense of Austen’s influence, know this: at least nine films were based on Pride & Prejudice, including the 2005 film starring Keira Knightley, and even Bridget Jones’ Diary, which spawned a whole franchise. Despite the huge gap in years between Austen’s era and ours, the situations — or shall we say, predicaments — that Austen’s characters stumble into are quite relatable. Most of us have “been there,” having suffered through seemingly well-mannered conversations about inheritance, marriage, and social standing, be it with loved ones of work colleagues. These “modern” circumstances can be found in Austen’s six published works.

“A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment,” reads another line from Pride & Prejudice. Such relatable “hot messes” like Elinor Dashwood, Emma Woodhouse, and Fanny Price are some of the more coveted roles in Hollywood, so it’s no surprise that Austen’s novels have long been made into period dramas — the best of which blend perfect casting with exceptional costuming and dramatic staging of those iconic, endlessly quotable monologues.

Future Austen Adaptations in Development

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The Netflix film Persuasian, which hit the masses over the summer, is the latest Austen book-to-film adaptation, and we hope to see more. And it seems Pride & Prejudice just can’t be stopped — a Muppets film version was recently pitched by Ted Lasso’s Emmy-winning star himself, Brett Goldstein (via Collider). Austen herself became a character in a recent novel by May McGoldrick titled Jane Austen Cannot Marry, which would certainly work as a big-screen adaptation. The universes created by Austen in her novels are also being adapted to stage, such as a recent headline-making production in Houston, Texas. Please check back here for updates on future Austen-related projects in the works!