The Secret of the Jane Austen Industry - WSJ - 0 views
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Jane Austen. She is not only a climate of opinion, she is a movement, a mood, a lifestyle, an attitude and, perhaps most tellingly of all, a fridge magnet.
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there are no other writers who have quite so many imitators. Each publishing year brings its crop of Austen novels, whether they are prequels, sequels or fresh treatments of a plot from a new perspective
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Last year saw a particularly good one, Jo Baker’s “Longbourn,” which was “Pride and Prejudice” viewed from below the stairs by the servants. The veteran crime novelist P.D. James also joined in with her “Death Comes to Pemberley,” which brought murder into the otherwise ordered world of Austen’s characters. That novel was duly added to the list of Austen sequels that have ended up on the screen, including the odd Bollywood contribution.
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Then there are the erotic novels, ranging from the mildly sensuous to the highly explicit. One series presents the books with their original titles and adds: “The Wild and Wanton Edition.” These are pastiche, using Austen’s prose but suddenly veering off into most un-Austen-like descriptions of what really went on.
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The continued life of the Jane Austen industry must have a secret. At the heart of it is probably the simple, persistent appeal of romance.
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Austen is far from superficial. Although her books are set exclusively within the confines of a certain class, she provides a fascinating picture of the ways of that slice of society and the confines within which its members, particularly women, are obliged to live. She is also extremely funny, able to paint the foibles of characters with a dry wit that has dated very little. Her books are intimate and compelling. She has a voice that somehow seems to chime even with a modern sensibility. She is, in essence, timeless.