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Performing Jane: A Cultural History of Jane Austen Fandom
Jane Austen has resonated with readers across generations like no other writer. More than two hundred years after the publication of her most celebrated novel, Pride and Prejudice, people around the world continue to honor "dear Jane." In Performing Jane, Sarah Glosson explores this vibrant fandom, examining a long history of Austen fans engaging with her work, from wearing hand--sewn bonnets and period--appropriate corsets to creating spirited fanfiction and comical gifsets. Sophisticated and engaging, this study demonstrates that Austen fans of today have a great deal in common with those who loved the English novelist long before the term "fan" came into use.
Performing Jane analyzes three ways fans engage with Austen and her work: collecting material related to the writer, whether in physical scrapbooks or on social--media platforms; creating and consuming imitative works, including fanfiction and modernized adaptations such as The Lizzie Bennet Diaries; and making pilgrimages to Steventon, Hampshire, Chawton Cottage, and even to annual meetings of Jane Austen societies. Key to Glosson's exploration of Austen fans is the notion that all of these activities, whether occurring in private or in public, are fundamentally performative. And in counterbalance to studies that center on fans with a tendency to transform and disrupt the original text, this study provides much--needed understanding of a fandom that predominantly reaffirms Austen's works.
Because Austen's writing has bridged the realms of both literary and popular culture, this fandom serves as an excellent case study to understand the ways in which we draw distinctions between fandom and other forms of intensive engagement and, more importantly, to appreciate how fluid those distinctions can be. Performing Jane embraces a holistic view of the long history of Austen fandom, relying on archival research, literary and visual analyses, and ethnographic study. This groundbreaking book not only demonstrates the ways in which fan practices, today and in the past, are performative, but also provides fresh perspectives into fandom and contributes to our understanding of the ways readers engage with literature.
Performing Jane analyzes three ways fans engage with Austen and her work: collecting material related to the writer, whether in physical scrapbooks or on social--media platforms; creating and consuming imitative works, including fanfiction and modernized adaptations such as The Lizzie Bennet Diaries; and making pilgrimages to Steventon, Hampshire, Chawton Cottage, and even to annual meetings of Jane Austen societies. Key to Glosson's exploration of Austen fans is the notion that all of these activities, whether occurring in private or in public, are fundamentally performative. And in counterbalance to studies that center on fans with a tendency to transform and disrupt the original text, this study provides much--needed understanding of a fandom that predominantly reaffirms Austen's works.
Because Austen's writing has bridged the realms of both literary and popular culture, this fandom serves as an excellent case study to understand the ways in which we draw distinctions between fandom and other forms of intensive engagement and, more importantly, to appreciate how fluid those distinctions can be. Performing Jane embraces a holistic view of the long history of Austen fandom, relying on archival research, literary and visual analyses, and ethnographic study. This groundbreaking book not only demonstrates the ways in which fan practices, today and in the past, are performative, but also provides fresh perspectives into fandom and contributes to our understanding of the ways readers engage with literature.
- GenresNonfictionHistoryAdult
256 pages, Hardcover
Published June 10, 2020
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92 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 10, 2020
My cello teacher wrote a book! It is about Jane Austen, a literary love we both share! Anyways... I found the early fandom fascinating, which consisted of collections and scrapbooks. Kind of like me, back in the day, putting up Johnny Rzeznik on my wall. My Muppet poster. Things like that. I loved the chapter on the most modern of Austen adaptations, the vlog Lizzie Bennett Diaries. I read the novelization of the vlog, but I am going to check that out next, to experience that for the first time.
June 8, 2020
Heartfelt thanks to Edelweiss for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I read “Performing Jane” both as a scholar and as a fan. I’ve always regarded academia as a way to both legitimise and give structure and meaning to my love for literature and the Eighteenth Century. As a fan, I’ve found myself compiling knowledge and feeling most satisfied when able to share it with others, something Glosson discusses at length, and with the appropriate terminology—which I personally found incredibly validating and satisfying. I’ve often thought that it is this incalculable passion, only satisfied when researching the object of their fanatism, that makes fans thorough and disciplined scholars. And this too is very aptly described by Glosson in the second chapter of the book, which investigates the production of scrapbooks in Twentieth-century North America, after providing the reader with a very interesting contextualisation for fans and fandom in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. When reading the summary for this book I felt especially keen to read the chapter on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which I remember eagerly following, and on Tumblr, a platform that had a very important role in my late teens, where I was an active participant in several fandoms. It delivered.
Accessible, enlightening, thoroughly compelling and always respectful and self-aware, Performing Jane does much more than it promises. It legitimises contemporary fans and fandom and the modes in which we produce and consume content in a way that goes beyond a study of Austen’s fandom. Glosson writes in an accessible and engaging style that approaches fans to academia and scholars to fandom; although she demonstrates that often there is no distinction between the two in the Austen fandom, I here make reference to fans with no interest in scholarly work, who will see themselves faithfully and respectfully depicted and validated; and scholars with different levels of understanding of fandom studies. She manages to make the reader an active participant while reading it: engaging with the theoretical aspect of the text, I found myself constantly thinking of further examples of the material and practices she described. All in all, this is a very recommendable book that will be appealing to a variety of audiences, far from limited to the Janeites.
I read “Performing Jane” both as a scholar and as a fan. I’ve always regarded academia as a way to both legitimise and give structure and meaning to my love for literature and the Eighteenth Century. As a fan, I’ve found myself compiling knowledge and feeling most satisfied when able to share it with others, something Glosson discusses at length, and with the appropriate terminology—which I personally found incredibly validating and satisfying. I’ve often thought that it is this incalculable passion, only satisfied when researching the object of their fanatism, that makes fans thorough and disciplined scholars. And this too is very aptly described by Glosson in the second chapter of the book, which investigates the production of scrapbooks in Twentieth-century North America, after providing the reader with a very interesting contextualisation for fans and fandom in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. When reading the summary for this book I felt especially keen to read the chapter on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which I remember eagerly following, and on Tumblr, a platform that had a very important role in my late teens, where I was an active participant in several fandoms. It delivered.
Accessible, enlightening, thoroughly compelling and always respectful and self-aware, Performing Jane does much more than it promises. It legitimises contemporary fans and fandom and the modes in which we produce and consume content in a way that goes beyond a study of Austen’s fandom. Glosson writes in an accessible and engaging style that approaches fans to academia and scholars to fandom; although she demonstrates that often there is no distinction between the two in the Austen fandom, I here make reference to fans with no interest in scholarly work, who will see themselves faithfully and respectfully depicted and validated; and scholars with different levels of understanding of fandom studies. She manages to make the reader an active participant while reading it: engaging with the theoretical aspect of the text, I found myself constantly thinking of further examples of the material and practices she described. All in all, this is a very recommendable book that will be appealing to a variety of audiences, far from limited to the Janeites.
June 6, 2020
A DRC was provided by Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.
An interesting work of scholarship based on examining the many participatory oriented fandoms of Jane Austen - the woman, the work, the endless film, television and fanfiction adapatations which inspire her devoted followers to identify with not just her body of work but also with a world of cultural and social values that she has come to embody. The thesis becomes a little repetitive in its insistence that these adventures are as valid and sincere an experience as simply reading and thinking about her books. But for anyone who has found themselves drifting into fantasies of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy or imagined themselves in the shades of Pemberley will recognize something of themselves in the many devotees who seek to express their obsession in cosplay, making memes or literary pilgrimates, collecting Austen memorablia or building extensive scrapbooks tracing Miss Austen's influence in popular culture. Those looking to expand their reading in more academic directions in reading about current cultural tastes will find it a good introduction - and an inspiration - in its accessible use of academic lingo and pleasantly short chapters. Those of us who consider ourselves worthy of holding up the Austen altar will find themselves staring into a mirror, even a distorted one.
An interesting work of scholarship based on examining the many participatory oriented fandoms of Jane Austen - the woman, the work, the endless film, television and fanfiction adapatations which inspire her devoted followers to identify with not just her body of work but also with a world of cultural and social values that she has come to embody. The thesis becomes a little repetitive in its insistence that these adventures are as valid and sincere an experience as simply reading and thinking about her books. But for anyone who has found themselves drifting into fantasies of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy or imagined themselves in the shades of Pemberley will recognize something of themselves in the many devotees who seek to express their obsession in cosplay, making memes or literary pilgrimates, collecting Austen memorablia or building extensive scrapbooks tracing Miss Austen's influence in popular culture. Those looking to expand their reading in more academic directions in reading about current cultural tastes will find it a good introduction - and an inspiration - in its accessible use of academic lingo and pleasantly short chapters. Those of us who consider ourselves worthy of holding up the Austen altar will find themselves staring into a mirror, even a distorted one.
January 19, 2021
This is an academic book. I knew it was an academic book going in, but I thought it would be different than other academic books. Why did I think this? Wishful thinking. Every academic book these days leaves me thinking "You know, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
Anyway... this book is fine. Well researched and documented. But I found it a little tedious, a little pompous and very heavy on citation and light on actual content that would be of interest to Janeites. I would love it if she wrote a book about all the great research she did and stories she heard without all the academic theorizing.
Anyway... this book is fine. Well researched and documented. But I found it a little tedious, a little pompous and very heavy on citation and light on actual content that would be of interest to Janeites. I would love it if she wrote a book about all the great research she did and stories she heard without all the academic theorizing.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews