Ask the Author: Devoney Looser
Answered Questions (2)
Devoney Looser
Thank you, Sara! This is so helpful. I'm going to figure out new ways to connect here and learn more about the list and stats features. I'm grateful for your suggestions and for your support of Sister Novelists!
Devoney Looser
I started my book, The Making of Jane Austen, with a hunch. I suspected that in describing Austen’s gradually growing reputation after her death in 1817 (200 years ago this year), we’d left out big chunks of the story of how she became a household name. I was surprised to discover just how much of that story we’d brushed aside.
We sometimes act as if Austen’s popularity heated up in 1995, with the BBC TV Pride and Prejudice and Colin Firth’s sexy Mr. Darcy. I wondered, “Were there any 19th- or early 20th-century Colin Firths?” It turns out that, yes, there absolutely were! It was great fun to research them and describe their impact. Extensive suffragette uses of Jane Austen were also a blast to discover.
Scholars have been asking “Why Jane Austen?” for some time, but I’ve come around to the opinion that we get some great new answers by asking, “Whose Jane Austen?” I hope that the book convinces readers that it's a fruitful new direction in the well-mined field of Austen's reception history.
We sometimes act as if Austen’s popularity heated up in 1995, with the BBC TV Pride and Prejudice and Colin Firth’s sexy Mr. Darcy. I wondered, “Were there any 19th- or early 20th-century Colin Firths?” It turns out that, yes, there absolutely were! It was great fun to research them and describe their impact. Extensive suffragette uses of Jane Austen were also a blast to discover.
Scholars have been asking “Why Jane Austen?” for some time, but I’ve come around to the opinion that we get some great new answers by asking, “Whose Jane Austen?” I hope that the book convinces readers that it's a fruitful new direction in the well-mined field of Austen's reception history.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more