The amount of fan-generated content about Jane Austen and her novels has long surpassed the author鈥檚 original canon. Adaptations like Clueless, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen鈥檚 Fight Club, and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries have given Austen fans priceless opportunities to enjoy the classic texts anew, and continue to bring new and younger fans into the fold. Now, through online culture, the amount and type of fan-created works has exponentially multiplied in recent years. Fans write stories, create art, make videos, and craft memes, all in homage to one of the most celebrated authors of all time.
This book explores online fan spaces in search of 鈥淛aneites鈥 all over the world to discover what fans are making, how fans are sharing their work, and why it matters that so many women and nonbinary individuals find a haven not only in Jane Austen, but also in Jane Austen fandom. In relatable chapters based on firsthand experience, the authors explore how Austen fandom has and continues to build communities around women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. Whether Janeites are shrewdly picking up on the latent sexual tension between women in Emma or casting people of color in leading roles, Luetkenhaus and Weinstein argue that Austen fans are particularly adept at marrying fantasy and feminism.
鈥淚n showing the range and inventiveness of modern extensions of Austen鈥檚 timeless social commentaries, Luetkenhaus and Weinstein will delight old and new Austen fans.鈥濃Publishers Weekly
鈥淭houghtfully written and fun, this is a can鈥檛-miss dive into the ageless zeal of Janeites.鈥濃Booklist
鈥淕iving contemporary Austen-inspired fan culture its due, in a style that feels as if you鈥檙e having a conversation with smart friends over a glass of wine, the authors of Austentatious have given us a seriously fun, information-filled, and thought-provoking read. Whether you already know what today鈥檚 Austen 鈥榝anon鈥 is, or don't yet know that you need to know, you鈥檒l be grateful to Luetkenhaus and Weinstein for simultaneously illuminating it and entertaining you鈥攚hich is, of course, in keeping with the mode of the great author herself.鈥濃擠evoney Looser, author, The Making of Jane Austen
鈥淲ritten by two self-professed 鈥楯aneites鈥 for both scholars and fellow Austen fans, Austentatious offers an accessible overview of Jane Austen fandom from its beginnings in the nineteenth century to its digital and diverse iterations in the twenty-first century, reminding us that fandom, as we think we know it, began long before Star Trek or Sherlock Holmes.鈥濃擪atherine Larsen, coauthor, Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls (Iowa, 2013)
