Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World [Hardcover]

Claire Harman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2009

Award-winning biographer Claire Harman traces the growth of Jane Austen's fame, the changing status of her work and what it has stood for - or has been made to stand for in English culture - in a wide-ranging study aimed at the general reader. This is a story of personal struggle, family intrigue, accident, advocacy and sometimes surprising neglect as well as a history of changing public tastes and critical practices. Starting with Austen's own experience as a beginning author (and addressing her difficulties getting published and her determination to succeed), Harman unfolds the history of how her estate was handled by her brother, sister, nieces and nephews, and goes on to explore the eruption of public interest in Austen in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the making of her into a classic English author in the twentieth century, the critical wars that erupted as a result and, lastly, her powerful influence on contemporary phenomena such as chick-lit, romantic comedy, the heritage industry and film.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Diverting anecdotes pepper award-winning British biographer Harman's (Myself and the Other Fellow: A Life of Robert Louis Stevenson) sharp and scholarly analysis of Jane Austen's life and the posthumous exploitation of her as a global brand having everything to do with recognition and little to do with reading. Tracing the rise and fall and rise of Austen's reputation against a larger historical backdrop, Harman chronicles the WWI-era worshipping Janeites; assessments of Austen that minimized her as an accidental artist; and modern post-feminist criticism that, in exploring her politics, sexual and otherwise, has placed Austen in several mutually exclusive spheres at once. Harman notes that film versions have taken liberties with and overshadowed Austen's books, concluding that [o]ne of the horrible ironies of Austen's currency in contemporary popular culture is that she is referenced so freely … in discussions of 'empowerment,' 'girl power,' and all the other travesties of womanly self-fashioning that stand in for feminism today. Yet it is impossible to imagine a time when she or her works could have delighted us long enough. Harman herself delights with this comprehensive catalogue of Austen-mania. Illus. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

How did Jane Austen get to be such a hot commodity? Harman delves into this question by examining Austen’s literary reputation and appeal over the years. Although Austen has been presented (mostly by her family members) as wanting little to do with the fate of her books beyond her own inner circle, she did in fact take a keen interest in their publication and reception. Upon her death in 1817, her work sank into obscurity; even the dedication copy of Emma presented to the Prince Regent while she was alive was relegated to the royal servants’ library. All that changed when Memoir of Jane Austen, written by her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, was published in 1869. Although his portaryal of dear Aunt Jane was misleading, the biography marked the beginning of a steady upward climb in scholarly and popular appreciation, culminating in the avid fandom of today. Engagingly written and full of fascinating bits of information as well as valuable insights, this is a must for any serious Austen reader. --Mary Ellen Quinn --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books; 1st edition (April 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847672949
• ISBN-13: 978-1847672940
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,887,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Claire Harman is the award-winning author of three major literary biographies, Sylvia Townsend Warner (1989), Fanny Burney (2000), Robert Louis Stevenson (2005) and of Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Comquered the World (2009), a biographical study of Jane Austen's enduring appeal. She is the editor of Sylvia Townsend Warner's poems and diaries and of stories and essays by Robert Louis Stevenson, among other works. Claire teaches Creative Writing at Columbia University in New York City and writes regularly for the literary press on both sides of the Atlantic. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The background to the Austen Phenomena, May 20, 2009

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World (Hardcover)

She has the second most quoted line in literary history (the opening to Pride and Prejudice) and a following in the Millions. In fact just looking on the lists of Amazon this month, there are something like 10 new books with Jane Austen in the title (not including Pride and Prejudice and the Zombies). Claire Harman traces the growth of the Jane Austen Phenomena. From Jane Austen's early life to the present day.

Written beautifully, Harman has done an incredible job in tracking down the rise of Austen as the world's favourite author. Dispelling the myths along the way and enlightening the reading public as to the real background to Jane.

Austen was a writer from early on, her Juvenlia were also part of an active, intelligent, and witty family collection. Clearly she wrote to appeal and entertain as with the rest of family. However Jane did show a special interest - and was supported in this at a time when there were female authors - but they were rare. The known facts of her life are laid bare, which reflects on the later biography by her great Nephew Austen-Leigh as less than honest reflection. Letters Harman has sourced between Austen-Leigh and other relatives show that much was concealed and the attempt was made to paint Jane Austen as gentle kindly lady.

Jane Austen's fame grew from the mid to late nineteenth centry - up until the 1850's there had been fewer than 10 critical articles in literary journals on her work, and while her works were in print, an attempt to sell the copyright to them in the 1830's hardly fetched the sum her family had hoped for - a mere 500 pounds. So while they eventually sold the copyright much cheaper, the books at least stayed in print for several decades.

Austen was loathed by the Brontes who saw no emotional merit in her workds, and Mark Twain (who thought a library could be considered a good library if it did not have any of her works, even were it to have no books in it at all!) Austen's cult grew.

I found Harman's precise and detailed story excellent reading. And what a story - who would have thought the spinster, dead in her early 40's, the last two books she published ended up pulped between 1818 and 1820. Could rise to such fame - her books epitomising a realism and wit which seams to transcend ages - and of course a romance.

This book is definitely for fans of Jane Austen however it should find a broader reading audience in those who have enjoyed the rise of the austen novel and the modern film adaptations along with HOllywood's obsession with her.

It is a well written and immensely readable book. Harman brings a fresh eye to Austen and a fresh turn of subject. She also has a clarity of expression which allows you to understand Austen's life clearly and the age she lived in. I found her discussion of the relationship between Jane and her sister fascinting. But like all the other authors before her - Harman can shed no light on what Austen was doing in the period of early nineteenth century where for several years she was silent, and unheard. Perhaps one day something will be revealed - however given that CAssandra had burned or edited most of their letters this is unlikely. Harman does make a pretty good fist of ruling out issues it was not likely to be.

Really worthwhile reading - and highly recommended.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How We All Became Janeites, May 18, 2009

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World (Hardcover)

The reading public is not all clamoring for the next popular thriller. There are reasons to be confident that people are at least sometimes reading truly great literature. If you need evidence, look at the continuing popularity of the novels of Jane Austen. They have not always been popular, and were wrenched from obscurity decades after her death, but it does not seem as if they will ever need such a rescue again. In _Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World_ (Canongate), biographer Claire Harmon has given something of a posthumous biography, although she does provide some useful insights about Austen's life and attitude toward her work. The important chronicle here, though, is how Austen, well appreciated as an author by her family circle, had significant but minor success with publication in her lifetime, was forgotten, became a literary staple, and then became a phenomenon. Harmon expects that readers will know something of Austen's works (not a bad assumption to make), but her book even when concentrating on what academics have made of the novels is unstuffy and brightly written.

Austen died at age only 41in 1817. In the chapters devoted to Austen's life, Harmon tries (as have so many) to understand how this rural spinster could have produced such worthy novels. It was family influence that helped. Her family read. They talked about books, and they made fun of the bad ones and valued the good. "Jane Austen became a great writer," says Harmon, "partly because she was a great reader, and had a highly developed _consumer's_ understanding of her favourite form." Her family, though they loved her writing, underestimated the value of her novels, and certainly would have been surprised that generations later would find Austen a world-class author. The famous gravestone the family set down within Winchester Cathedral is full of praise, but does not at all mention that the lady wrote novels. After she was set beneath it, the family lost or discarded most of her papers and letters, and the early editions of her books were remaindered or pulped. Harman proposes that the turnaround began with a memoir from her nephew James in 1869. Aunt Jane was quiet, she was modest, she was a loving and lovable family member, went this portrait. That she was a careful and determined professional author was not emphasized, but she seemed simply a nice, ordinary, English gentlewoman. Readers rather liked this depiction; after all, many of them were nice, ordinary English gentlewomen, too, and so began a strain of affection for Austen that has not been equaled for any other author, and has continued to our day. Also like no other author does Austen repay the attention of the ordinary reader as well as the academic. Although her novels take place among the members of a few families in a village, larger themes of religion, nationalism, warfare, and slavery can all be cited, as well as the constant interest within women's studies.

The Jane Austen phenomenon is bigger today than twenty years ago mostly because of movies. More people come to her novels because of film and television, and of course some never get from the films to the original books. Harman is of course correct to consider this a real loss, but although Austen's reputation needed no boost, her visibility has certainly been increased. There are Jane Austen societies on either side of the Atlantic, with thousands of members who go to conventions and talk about the latest slant on the novels and participate in quizzes on trivia within the books (one scholar wrote about how badly fellow scholars do on such competitions: "We rarely recollect the colour of this character's dress or that servant's name"). In 1913 came the first sequel to the novels, a genre that continues to grow, and has branched out into tongue-in-cheek porn and even Austen-meets-Zombies or Austen-as-sleuth spinoffs. You can, if you wish, advertise your Janeite enthusiasm by an "I [heart] Mr. Darcy" bumpersticker. Miss Austen would be astonished. I would love to talk with her about all this; I have a feeling that she would be amused by all the spinoff novelties. Even zombie sequels, I would remind her, are a reflection of a sincere regard for her unmatchable originals. Harman's delightful book about increasing appreciation though the decades proves it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "[She] gave away more about how women think and behave than any previous writer had cared or thought right to do.", May 10, 2010

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World (Hardcover)

When the Archbishop of Dublin made this statement in a long article he wrote in 1821, just four years after the death of Jane Austen (1775 - 1816), he was recognizing the genius of a writer whose identity was unknown during her lifetime. Now, two hundred years later, with "Jane-mania" reaching epic proportions, Claire Harman writes a scholarly and readable analysis of the events over the past two centuries which have led to Jane Austen's increasing popularity, ultimately explaining "How Jane Austen Conquered the World."

Writing for the public was still a man's activity in the early 1800s, and Jane Austen spent most of her life writing privately, for family and friends. For twenty years, she wrote and, more importantly, rewrote her six famous novels, before Sense and Sensibility was finally published anonymously in 1811, when Jane was thirty-five. Pride and Prejudice followed in 1813, Mansfield Park in 1814, and Emma in 1815. Two more novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously, in 1817. Her books did not sell a large number of copies, though she was praised by the literati, including dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Sir Walter Scott, who, in 1815, wrote a four thousand-word praise of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma.

After her death and public acknowledgement of her authorship, her work remained in print, and by 1840, Jane Austen was being compared to Shakespeare by Thomas Babington Macaulay. As the nineteenth century continued, Robert Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and others all praised her work. (Charlotte Bronte was a well-publicized dissenter.) In 1869, Jane Austen's nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published a memoir about Jane which went into extra printings, and by the 1890s, the "Janeites" were almost a cult. In the 20th century, Henry James was regarded as Austen's "literary son and heir." The Bloomsbury group loved Austen, and Virginia Woolf became a "penetrating and sympathetic critic" of her work.

The biggest boost to Jane Austen's popularity came with the movies of the 1940s. Her books, regarded as romantic, have continued to gain popularity, and author Claire Harman believes that the current popularity of "chick lit" owes much to the fact that these books are often based on Jane Austen's plot outlines, with their "erotic potential." All of Austen's books have now spawned their own TV mini-series, gaining instant fans for Austen across the globe. Jane's fans will love this thorough, scholarly study, filled with anecdotes and thoughtful, new insights into Jane Austen's legacy. Harman's analysis of the trends which have made Jane Austen popular for almost two hundred years is sensitive to changing tastes while also acknowledging the universal characteristics which make Jane Austen so beloved by her fans today. Mary Whipple