It’s always a pleasure to have Abigail Reynolds as a guest on Diary of an Eccentric. Abigail is the author of several retellings of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, her most recent being Mr. Darcy’s Undoing (check out my review). I love how she always manages to throw a new obstacle in Darcy and Elizabeth’s path to happily ever after; I never get tired of reading them! Abigail is here to talk about why she thinks Jane Austen and her novels are so popular more than 200 years after her death and why so many authors devote their time to keeping Austen’s characters alive.
Please give a warm welcome to Abigail Reynolds:
For a writer who has been dead for nearly 200 years, Jane Austen is doing remarkably well these days. Her works are more popular than ever. New film and television adaptations come out on a regular basis, and there’s an entire subgenre of Austen-related novels that has blossomed in the last few years. Readers don’t seem to be able to get enough of Jane Austen’s characters or her world.
Admittedly, Jane Austen was a brilliant writer who produced books filled with wit, insight, and timeless characters, but we’re not seeing a deluge of adaptations of Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte, or any other brilliant writers. There’s something unique about Jane Austen’s appeal for modern readers.
Jane Austen was in the right place at the right time. The Regency period is far enough in the past that modern readers can project their own fantasies onto it, but not so distant that it’s hard to imagine living there ourselves. Poised in the time between the First and Second Industrial Revolutions, the people living in the Regency seem much more modern than those in medieval or Restoration times. There was a middle class in Jane Austen’s day. Manufacturing existed on a limited scale. Men used guns for hunting and war, and women bought fabric created in mills rather than spinning and weaving their own. The London ton operated along social rules which parallel modern society in many ways, with popularity and taste helping define social status in addition to birth. It’s a society we can recognize and to some extent picture ourselves in it.
Just as important is what’s missing in Regency times. Massive industrialization, individual laborers turned into factory drones working themselves to death, clouds of soot, and clattering railroads were only a few years in the future. The First Industrial Revolution had started in the late 18th century, but its full effects on society weren’t felt until the 1830s, a mere two decades after Pride & Prejudice takes place. Wages for the poorest workers fell dramatically starting in the 1830s and didn’t recover until the next century. The pastoral pleasures of Jane Austen’s world turned into the bleak and painful landscape of Charles Dickens. Of course, there was plenty of poverty and suffering in Jane Austen’s day as well, but she doesn’t portray it in her books, so we can pretend it isn’t there. A sort of genteel poverty is as bad as it gets.
Many readers are looking for an escape from the ills of the modern world. If we want to think about poverty and starvation, we can read the newspapers. When we want a simpler, seemingly gentler world, one that is both familiar and yet lacking so many of our modern issues, Jane Austen’s world is the perfect place to go. Jane Austen adds to that by giving us love stories and looking at characters with an amused rather than a jaundiced eye. What’s not to love?
Well said! Thanks, Abigail! I can’t wait to read more of your Pemberley Variations!
Courtesy of Sourcebooks, I have a copy of Mr. Darcy’s Undoing for one lucky reader. To enter, leave a comment with your e-mail address and tell me why you think Jane Austen is so popular today. Because the publisher is shipping the book, entrants must have addresses in the U.S. or Canada. This giveaway will close at 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, October 23, 2011.
**Please note that this giveaway is now closed**
Disclosure: I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.
© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
i enjoy jane & her friends very much…and i am glad that she has ‘made a come back’ to a ‘new’ audience 🙂
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Me, too!
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Well said, Abigail! I think there are many things that make Austen popular today. One, of course, is her characters. They are easy to place in modern-day times and situations. Plus, the events and circumstances surrounding the characters are not so far removed from us that we can’t relate. Austen’s works are just timeless!
Thank you so much for the giveaway! 🙂
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I completely agree! The fact that we can relate to them makes us love them more.
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No need to enter me in this book giveaway, but I’ll add it to my sidebar. I hadn’t given it much thought with regard to the industrial revolution and Austen, but Abigail makes some excellent points here…her world was modern enough that its not too foreign to the rest of us.
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I hadn’t thought about it either, but it does make a lot of sense.
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It seems that a general interest in historical fiction is prevalent today. Also, to me there seems to be a lack in today’s society of courtesy; we are always in a hurry, our dress and actions are casual. Jane Austen provides a lovely picture of elegance in dress, in intereaction with society that is missing today, and a joy to read about and escape toward.
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I am one of those who view the Austenesque novels as a glorious escape from the pressures of everyday life. And you’re right…it seems that we do live in a world without much courtesy so to read about Mr. Darcy and his manners is delightful.
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A thought provoking post which I enjoyed greatly. Another bygone era which changed worlds. Thanks for this fascinating glimpse and your apt words. Many thanks for this giveaway.
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Thanks for stopping by, Ellie!
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I love Abigail’s comment here: “The Regency period is far enough in the past that modern readers can project their own fantasies onto it, but not so distant that it’s hard to imagine living there ourselves.” And I think that’s so true! It’s remarkably simple to imagine myself in a drawing room waiting for Mr. Darcy . . . but maybe that’s because I’ve read so much awesome Austen fiction, like Abigail’s. 🙂
Please count me in! writing.meg [at] gmail.com
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It’s easy to imagine oneself in a drawing room with Mr. Darcy…and the steamier Austenesque novels make it easy to imagine what might occur if left alone with him there. 😉
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A very insightful article as to Jane’s continuing popularity!
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Thanks for stopping by, Kim!
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I think Jane Austen is so popular today because her themes are universal. Shows how ahead of the times she was! Thanks for the great giveaway! amusedbybooks@gmail.com
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Not only that, she was simply brilliant. She had a way of merging humor and wit with social commentary. Mrs. Bennet, for instance, is so ridiculous, but at the same time she’s right in being concerned about the future of her daughters.
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I think it’s because she’s surprisingly so accessible. I think people thought “old” books would be boring and but her books are full of such character and wit.
Thanks!
Amanda
libraryofmyown at gmail dot com
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Exactly! The language and writing style take a little getting used to, but once you get past that, Austen’s novels read so easily and are quite entertaining.
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Good Question! I think because even though she lived many years ago and it was at a different time socially speaking, woman can still relate to her. Her life is also an inspiration too I think. Thanks for the giveaway!
Margaret
singitm@hotmail.com
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I wonder what Austen would think about our fascination with her life and her characters. Looking at all the Austenesque novels and films, it’s easy to see that she was an inspiration to many!
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So true what’s not to love 😀 And I sure can’t get enough…ever, keep it up! 😀
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It’s amazing how many of these variations I can read and still want more!
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i love retellings or stories inspired by austen! i watched ‘lost in austen’ on netflix about 4 times already. i’ve read a few regency-p&p retellings and have always enjoyed them. i think i like the ‘back in time’ stories even more, though!
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I really need to see Lost in Austen!
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I agree with Abigail Reynolds – sometimes it’s nice to escape from the busyness modern times into an era full of balls and pillow sewing and turns in the garden.
Thanks for the giveaway
alitareads{at}gmail{dot}com
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I feel the same way! The closest I can get is knitting while I watch P&P or Persuasion.
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I love this author and her books!! Don’t enter me, I have a copy 😀
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Thanks for stopping by, Staci!
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Well I think it’s because she’s a forward thinking woman in a time of romance t (and somewhat backward thinking haha) and she portrays strong women with a touch of romance and what woman or young girl wouldn’t want to read about that and perhaps picture themselves there?
tlabunski **((gmail))**
Pabkins @ Mission to Read
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It’s true that dear Jane gives us some escapist reading!
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I think Jane Austen is popular today because she offers an escape to a more simple, attractive world than the troubled one we live in today. Of course there were problems in society during Jane Austen’s life-time but still. it was a more simple time when family, relationships and friendship were of the utmost importance. In her books, Jane Austen gives us that society and makes it a fun, exciting world we can escape into and actually imagine existing. Austen writes with humor and intelligence about a variety of relationships, especially between men and women, a topic of endless fascination, which makes the society in her books all that more intriguing and captivating,
Thank you for hosting this giveaway, Anna!
Aimala127(at)gmail(dot)com
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You’re right that there’s both humor and intelligence. I just love characters like Elizabeth Bennet who know they need to marry to support their families but are brave and intelligent enough to know that they must marry for love. There’s both entertainment and social commentary in Austen’s novels.
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Jane Austen is timeless, but I think that the movie adaptations have really won her a new generation of fans. I’d love to win this one.
stacybooks at yahoo
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So true! I wonder whether P&P would be getting this much attention without Colin Firth’s wet shirt scene? 😉
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I think Jane Austen is so popular because she created such fantastic characters, that nobody wants to say goodbye to them 🙂
I love your books, Abigail!
justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
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I agree, her characters are fantastic!
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Great post! This does sound like a nice Austen re-telling 🙂 I agree with the author, Austens world is a fantastic place to visit for a little escape.
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With all the stress in my life lately, I need these escapist reads!
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This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. The winner will be chosen via Randomizer.org, e-mailed, and announced shortly.
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