Jane Austen and Female Self-Worth

The British press is abuzz this week with all sorts of articles on Jane Austen, due to Friday's release of Becoming Jane. Much of it isn't worth reading, but Germaine Greer's take on why Jane Austen is still relevant to women today (and, I would argue, to men) in The Guardian is particularly sharp, and gets to the core of why Austen's novels are not about getting the man:

The point is not to achieve the man at any cost. He is not the prey or the prize but the symbol of merit. The possibility that there may be no such man is always present. Part of our gratified surprise at the Austen happy ending is that there was a man around with the good sense to see that a woman without rich and powerful connections might be a pearl beyond price, a woman whose company was reward in itself. We know that she is good company because we have been seeing the world through her disabused eyes. We go on reading and watching Jane Austen because she is good for us.

More here.