Was Jane Austen a Turk?

That set me thinking: Could Jane Austen have been a Turk? Are their parallels between the world she created and Turkey?

Secondly, one of my favorite blog sites on Turkey is penned (or should I say “keyed” -- that, sadly, sounds less romantic and less literary) by Bea Vanni of Remarkable Solutions. Bea writes about subjects related to Turkey of interest to foreigners, and she uses as her blog strap-line a quote from the great Jane: “One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.” (You can check it out for yourself at www.remarkablesolutionsblog.com.)

I wonder, could Jane Austen have been an expat here in Turkey? Someone who could write such an apt phrase must have understood what it is like to be a foreigner in a different land.

Of course, the thing that makes Jane Austen so popular is that, although her books are set in early 19th century middle-class England, the themes she deals with are universal. “Pride and Prejudice” is the number-one best-selling classic in my bookstore. Every female reader aspires to be intelligent, witty, attractive Lizzy Bennet who finally gets her man, and the book appeals to sensitive male types, too.

Hollywood has discovered the appeal of Miss Austen, with one box-office smash after another. Kate Winslett, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson and the marvelous Alan Rickman started the ball rolling with wonderful portrayals in “Sense and Sensibility.” Keira Knightley in “Pride and Prejudice” and Gwyneth Paltrow in “Emma” took up the baton admirably.

But it is not just the poor-heroine-finally-marries-rich-and-handsome-hero story line that appeals in India. The society that Jane Austen writes about is one where being female means that you cannot inherit property from your father. You have limited educational and employment opportunities, the only respectable profession for a woman being a governess or schoolteacher. Your one hope in life is to make a good match and be married off to a man who can keep you well, even if he is a crashing social bore like Mr. Collins.

This is similar enough to modern India that transplanting Lizzy, the Bennets, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley to a Delhi suburb in the early 20th century means you hardly need to amend the plot or characterizations to create a soap opera everyone can identify with. Throw in some Bollywood dance scenes in place of the sedate balls, and you have a guaranteed hit.

I wondered about how well it would transfer to Turkey. What if Lizzy were a bright young girl from, say, Cappadocia, and Mr. Bingley rents a Konak in Nevşehir for the season. Would the story still work? Would it be as popular as “Asmalı Konak” -- a popular Turkish TV series based in the same area?

Well, no… not exactly, because Turkish girls have equal rights in inheritance with their male relatives, enjoy great educational opportunities, have proven themselves to be successful businesswomen (the newly appointed chair of TÜSİAD -- the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association is a woman, leading to discussions about changing the name of the organization), and are not judged purely by their deportment and the quality of their accomplishments in music or needlework.

But, well, maybe a small yes… Firstly, money talks here. The local landowning family in “Asmalı Konak” (the ağa) has a lot of say in what happens in the neighborhood. Secondly, parents are concerned that their daughter marry a man who has the means to keep her. I have a friend who tried to commit suicide because her parents wouldn’t agree to her choice of husband… They relented when they saw how serious she was, and the story ended happily; but many Turkish men don’t marry until their 30s as they have to make some money first. Thirdly, the disgrace brought to a family if a girl acts immodestly is as real as in Jane Austen’s novel, just the definition of what constitutes immodest behavior changes from one part of the country to another. Sadly, in some families, Lydia’s elopement with Mr. Wickham would not have resulted in her mother insisting she took chief place at the table when she returned married, but in a family council passing a death sentence on her.

Dig below the surface of an ultra-modern society, and maybe Jane Austen was a little bit Turkish after all.