Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World

Product Details

“Wonderful . . . not only scholarly but indecently entertaining . . . her prose rings with good sense, affection, and humour.”—Daily Mail

Mention Jane Austen and you’ll likely incite a slew of fervent opinions from anyone within earshot. Regarded as a brilliant social satirist by scholars, Austen also enjoys the sort of popular affection usually reserved for girl-next-door movie stars, leading to the paradox of an academically revered author who has served as the inspiration for chick lit (The Jane Austen Book Club) and modern blockbusters (Becoming Jane). Almost two hundred years after her death, Austen remains a hot topic, and the current flare in the cultural zeitgeist echoes the continuous revival of her works, from the time of original publication through the twentieth century. In Jane’s Fame, Claire Harman gives us the complete biography—of both the author and her lasting cultural influence—making this essential reading for anyone interested in Austen’s life, works, and remarkably potent fame.

• ISBN13: 9780805082586
• Condition: New
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Customer Reviews ::

Thorough, very thorough - Amanda Hamm - NC
I enjoyed this book. It was informative and occasionally entertaining. Clearly, a lot of research went into it (there are about 30 pages of notes and sources), but parts of it felt overly drawn-out, as though the author wanted to mention every source she used, even when they said essentially the same thing. All this made it a bit repetitive at times as well. The first part is a biography that seems to say over and over how little is actually know about Jane Austen. But it is well-written so most of this is forgivable. The first and last chapters were my favorites (there are only seven in the whole book). The first chronicled the dates that Austen's books were written and published, not at all the same order. And the last focused on recent attempts to capitalize on her popularity with movie adaptations and fan fiction. Unfortunately, despite the lengthy bibliography Claire Harman loses some of her credibility near the end when she cites Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued as one of the "most intelligent" sequels.

One word of caution, the author assumes that anyone reading this book is fully acquinted with the plots of Austen's novels. If you haven't read all of the them and are concerned about spoilers, you may want to finish Austen's works before you read this.