Remember Jane Austen?
Of course you do, you probably studied her in school or read about 80 of her novels during your undergrad or perhaps you still find yourself settling down in the evening to thumb through an old copy of Pride and Prejudice.
Either way, Jane’s a bit of a literary icon and should be respected as such.
That’s why when Ms. Austen was disrespected via a headline on Twitter, people weren’t just disappointed.
They were downright furious.
The whole debacle went a little something like this.
The Washington Post wrote an article about Jane Austen to mark her birthday. It was grand.
Then, the Washington Post tweeted the article out, with the words: “Jane Austen was the master of the marriage plot. But she remained single,” above it.
Ah. We see.
Jane Austen was the master of the marriage plot. But she remained single. https://t.co/BwBp51el8U
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 18, 2017
Naturally, it didn’t take people on Twitter long to get a whiff of this gross miscarriage of justice.
They responded accordingly, by listing other authors who didn’t exactly represent the things that they wrote about either.
Because, as we all know, Stephen King may be the master of horror but that doesn’t make him Pennywise the clown, probably.
Here are some of the most inspired responses to the tweet.
My favorite response to this so far was someone who said,
“You’d be surprised to hear how many mystery writers have never even committed *one* murder!”— Sarah Gioia (@sarah_gioia) December 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/paulengelhard/status/942700459470532608
Jane Austen, Emily Brönte, Louise May Alcott – all unmarried.
Huh. It’s almost as if women who can support themselves don’t cater to societal pressures to find a man.
— CaitlinCarrigan (@CaitlinCarrigan) December 18, 2017
I don’t think Beatrix Potter married either, but I think her fiance died. Still, she was successful as well.
— phenderson67 (@phenderson67) December 19, 2017
Get the fuck outta here with this headline. And tweet. And essay premise.
— General Strike Now (@nandelabra) December 19, 2017
Ah, Twitter.
Never change.
