What is it about?
Jane Austen's novels are constantly re-imagined on page and screen, in updated and transplanted re- tellings, adaptations, spin off publications, and fan fiction. The Digital Afterlives of Jane Austen explores the ever-expanding realm of Austen fandom on the Internet, tracking the many re-workings of this Regency writer's novels on today's electronic writing platforms and websites. Situating online Austen fandom within developing as well as continuing modes of literacy and publishing, this book provides an insight into a dynamic, diverse and sometimes surprising fan culture. By reading print and digital literary cultures in relation to each other, and as contiguous rather than competing, it challenges static notions of literature and literary practice, and offers new ways of seeing and understanding Austen fandom and the activities of Janeites at the keyboard.
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Why is it important?
This is the first full-length study of online Austen fandom. It brings together insights from the fields of literary studies, fan studies, adaptation studies and digital culture studies. It offers close readings of fan fiction and attendant material from a variety of online sources, including The Republic of Pemberley and Wattpad, a digital platform that is transforming the ways that young people read and write.
Perspectives
Tracking the online activities of Janeites was pure research joy. I read stories that re-imagined beloved Austen characters in all sorts of different scenarios and contexts, from sporting tales, to narratives about the boy band, One Direction, to erotic and religious re-tellings. The range of material was staggering, as was the emotional and creative energy that went into the creation of these stories. Jane Austen definitely lives on in the twenty first century.
Dr Kylie J Mirmohamadi
La Trobe University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Digital Afterlives of Jane Austen, January 2014, Nature,
DOI: 10.1057/9781137401335.
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