Tag Archives: Austen

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is 200 Year Old

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Charles Dickens had his day and now Jane Austen with the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice.

200px-Pickering_-_Greatbatch_-_Jane_Austen_-_Pride_and_Prejudice_-_This_is_not_to_be_borne,_Miss_BennetPride and Prejudice was first published in 1813 and has never been out of print since 1832  when its copyright was sold to another publisher.  Poor Jane Austen had signed away the rights for a paltry sum and never profited from one of her most successful stories.

Celebrations for followers (Janeites) and those who may have only seen the movie(s) are being held on both sides of the ocean, and one close to my old hometown.  Goucher College in Maryland owns the American archive of Jane Austen’s works that include first editions, letters, documents, pictures and drawings – even a lock of hair.  If you are in the area, stop by for some tea or champagne.

9781441145543Goucher professor and Austen scholar Juliette Wells has a new book about Jane Austen – Everybody’s Jane: Austen in the Popular Imagination.

Judging a Book By Its Cover

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If the cover has a handsome hero with a sweet-faced young beauty, will the story be more enticing to some readers?  In her article for the New York Times – To Lure Twilight Teenagers, Classic Books Get Bold Looks – Julie Bosman reports on the trend to change the covers of those classics in the public domain.   With updated outfits designed by a fashion illustrator, familiar characters from Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and even Bram Stoker are modernized and sometimes lose a few years in their new cover portraits.

Some teens have rejected the marketing…

“A display of repackaged classics did not sell well (in San Francisco)…the store’s owner {said} ‘Kids don’t want to feel like they’re being manipulated.'”

The books are doing well in the adult section with traditional covers.

When I was required to read Austen in high school, her books did not have the same appeal as when I read them as an adult.  How about you?