Edward Edward Everywhere

I am chugging through an array of books – currently reading Twilight, Like Water for Chocolate, and The Jane Austen Book Club. And kinda sorta Their Eyes Were Watching God.  I have noticed a number of connections to Jane Austen’s works that I had not expected. One of the benefits of reading multiple books at once.

In Twilight, Bella Swan mentions that her favorite Austen books were Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Bella tries to read to avoid thinking about her soon-to-be love, Edward Cullen. Once she gets  into Sense and Sensibility, Bella gets annoyed because one of the main characters is named Edward. She switches to Mansfield Park only to realize that there is an Edward in it too.

It seems like Jane Austen uses the same first names in a number of her books. While looking up information on Austen and her books (because of The Jane Austen Book Club), I came across Katherine Cox’s blog November’s Autumn. Katherine is hosting a series called Jane Austen’s Paradox of Names. Join her every other Thursday as she compares and analyzes Jane Austen’s characters who share first names.

Check out The Story Behind Twilight to read more about how Stephenie Meyers chose her characters’ names.