/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.14896722]

>nor could ever speak of her but with compassion, though it had been entirely a match of affection, when he was now obliged to part with Miss Taylor too; and from his habits of gentle selfishness and of being never able to suppose that other people could feel differently from himself, he was very much disposed to think Miss Taylor had done as sad a thing for herself as for them, and would have been a great deal happier if she had spent all the rest of her life at Hartfield.

What other authors equal Austen's piercing understanding of human mannerisms, personalities, and patterns of thought? Shakespeare? Salinger?
Fuck fretting about the human condition for interminable pages while stroking the author's ego about what a special little genius flower he is. I want to read stories that breathe, by authors that understand that to write a novel is to tell a story, not to jackhammer a theme into your readers like a university lecturer.

[Anonymous No.14898013]

>>14896722
Shakespeare certainly, but another novelist who does is Henry James- but he's more poetic, more subtle in his later works and therefore requires a little more patience than Austen does. My favorite by her is Northanger Abbey but her best is probably Persuasion btw. Of James try The Turn of the Screw; if you either don't like or can't manage it you won't like the much longer, later stuff either.