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Abstract
This study examines the various modes of literary influence which the nineteenth-century novelist Jane Austen (1775-1818) exerts upon twentieth-century women writers. Four authors who exhibit a strong connection to Austen in their writing include Barbara Pym (1913-1980), Georgette Heyer (1902-1974), Stella Gibbons (1902-$\quad),$ and Anita Brookner (1982-$\quad).$
Austen's novels have influenced an extensive range of literature, from serious fiction to the popular romance genre. The novelist Barbara Pym reveals a keen awareness of Austen as her "literary sister", and Pym's novels draw upon Austen's fiction in their treatment of the theme of sisterhood. Austen's writing also plays a significant role in the development of the popular romance form. In her historical romances, Georgette Heyer adopts elements of Austen's fiction, such as her comic-ironic style and her anti-romantic stance. Stella Gibbons's classic parody Cold Comfort Farm (1932), focuses on the two opposing nineteenth-century views of female passion: Austen's philosophy of self-control and the romantic approach of unrestrained emotion advocated by the Bronte sisters. Finally, the novels of author Anita Brookner illustrate that Austen's influence extends to contemporary women writers. Brookner's fiction portrays female protagonists with nineteenth-century sensibilities who are forced to function in a twentieth-century context.
The complexity of Austen's fiction allows for a broad spectrum of diverse and varied responses from twentieth-century women writers who follow in the Austen tradition.
