Everybody's Jane - by Juliette Wells (Hardcover)

About the Book

Explores the importance of Jane Austen and her writings to amateur readers today.

Book Synopsis

The first book
to investigate Jane Austen's popular significance today, Everybody's Jane considers why Austen matters to amateur readers, how they make use of her
novels, what they gain from visiting places associated with her, and why they
create works of fiction and nonfiction inspired by her novels and life.The voices of everyday readers emerge from
both published and unpublished sources, including interviews conducted with literary tourists and archival research into the
founding of the Jane Austen Society of North America and the exceptional Austen
collection of Alberta Hirshheimer Burke of Baltimore.Additional topics include new Austen
portraits; portrayals of Austen, and of Austen fans, in film and fiction; and
hybrid works that infuse Austen's writings with horror, erotica, or explicit
Christianity.Everybody's Jane will appeal to all those who care about Austen and will change how we think about the
importance of literature and reading today.

Review Quotes

'A witty, erudite, and humane exploration of the varied ways that amateur readers of Jane Austen have sought closeness with the object of their affection, from collecting her works and visiting the places where she lived, to imagining Jane in novels and films - or most extremely, in hybrid creations that feature Elizabeth Bennett as a martial artist combating zombies, Jane Austen as a vampire, or her characters as paragons of evangelical faith. Juliette Wells approaches all these manifestations of fandom without disparagement and with an open mind.Her book, which is both learned and generous of spirit, illuminates the sometimes quirky cultural creativity that ensues when Austen's readers follow their desires to connect personally with their beloved author (and the woman behind the writing), and the enormous pull Austen and her works continue to exert on the popular imagination.'--Sanford Lakoff

'At once affectionate and judicious, Everybody's Jane succeeds marvellously in revealing the energy and tremendous variety of the practices that amateur readers develop to make Jane Austen's works a part of their lives. Juliette Wells' stories of Austen-inspired fandom of Austen tourism, collecting, fan fiction, and dating guides amply reveal the creativity that resides within everyday acts of fandom.'--Sanford Lakoff

"Juliette Wells's Everybody's Jane engagingly fills a surprising gap in the bulging Jane Austen bookshelves, surveying how and why this writer of six anonymously published novels attracts both young and old, female and male, and academics and amateurs. Professor Wells leads the reader, including this one, to think about why one loves and respects the same "Jane" who has sparked an Austen cottage industry of key chains, mugs, and Regency dressing, but who shunned fame and publicity in her own life."--Sanford Lakoff

"Once Jane Austen was merely a beloved author. Today she is a phenomenon, a mogul, a money-maker. In Everybody's Jane, Wells provides an encyclopaedic account of Austen in the popular culture, as she and her characters make movies, inspire pilgrimages, provide dating tips, solve crimes, fight zombies... Wells' research is prodigious, her material fascinating, and her style easy and readable."--Sanford Lakoff

'Atonce affectionate and judicious, Everybody'sJane succeeds marvellously in revealing the energy and tremendous varietyof the practices that amateur readers develop to make Jane Austen's worksa part of their lives. Juliette Wells' stories of Austen-inspiredfandom of Austen tourism, collecting, fan fiction, and dating guides amplyreveal the creativity that resides within everyday acts of fandom.'--,

'Awitty, erudite, and humane exploration of the varied ways that amateur readersof Jane Austen have sought closeness with the object of their affection, fromcollecting her works and visiting the places where she lived, to imagining Janein novels and films - or most extremely, in hybrid creations that featureElizabeth Bennett as a martial artist combating zombies, Jane Austen as avampire, or her characters as paragons of evangelical faith. Juliette Wellsapproaches all these manifestations of fandom without disparagement and with anopen mind.Her book, which is bothlearned and generous of spirit, illuminates the sometimes quirky culturalcreativity that ensues when Austen's readers follow their desires to connectpersonally with their beloved author (and the woman behind the writing), andthe enormous pull Austen and her works continue to exert on the popularimagination.'--,

"Juliette Wells's Everybody's Jane engaginglyfills a surprising gap in the bulging Jane Austen bookshelves, surveying howand why this writer of six anonymously published novels attracts both young andold, female and male, and academics and amateurs. Professor Wells leads thereader, including this one, to think about why one loves and respects the same"Jane" who has sparked an Austen cottage industry of key chains, mugs, andRegency dressing, but who shunned fame and publicity in her own life."--,

About the Author

Juliette Wells is Associate Professor of English at Manhattanville College, USA. She is editor (with Sandra Hagan) of The Brontës in the World of the Arts (Ashgate, 2008) and was features editor for the Penguin Classics enhanced e-book edition of Pride and Prejudice (2008).