When researching Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott, I found interesting quotes from both of them that speak to the works of the other. Austen targeted Scott directly, and even recognizes his anonymous voice in Waverley when she writes:
Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. -- It is not fair. He has fame and profit enough as a Poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people's mouths.-- I do not like him, and do not mean to like Waverley if I can help it -- but fear I must' (letter to Anna Austen 1814).
Scott voices his opinion of Austen's works too when he compares Mansfield Park to similar novels of the day:
In substance, style, and size, so much alike, that after reading the first three pages, we may with very little difficulty not only know how they will end, but may give a shrewd guess of the various incidents which are to occur, the difficulties and dangers which must accrue, with all the vexations and awkward reencounters which are so highly necessary to make up a fashionable novel.
Although each author takes a different tone of condescension, they both disparage the other for some reason. Austen is jealous of Scott's fame and success, where as Scott pokes fun at the uniform nature of Austen's feminist novels. I found it interesting that gender differences create this dialogue and make some of the themes of Austen's novels hard for men to relate to. Scott stands out with his male voice in his poems and novels amongst an era of female authors who echo Austen's message.
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