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Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World
Jane's Fame tells the fascinating story of Jane Austen's renown, from the years of rejection the author faced during her lifetime to the global recognition and adoration she now enjoys. Almost two hundred years after her death, Austen remains a hot topic, constantly open to revival and reinterpretation and known to millions of people through film and television adaptations as much as through her books. In Jane's Fame, Claire Harman gives us the complete biography―of both the author and her lasting cultural influence―making this essential reading for anyone interested in Austen's life, works, and remarkably potent fame.
342 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2009
28 people are currently reading
2383 people want to read
About the author
Claire Harman
17 books160 followersClaire Harman began her career in publishing, at Carcanet Press and the poetry magazine PN Review, where she was co-ordinating editor.
Her first book, a biography of the writer Sylvia Townsend Warner, was published in 1989 and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for ‘a writer of growing stature’ under the age of 35. She has since published biographies of Fanny Burney and Robert Louis Stevenson and edited works by Stevenson and Warner. She writes short stories for radio and publication and was runner-up for the V.S.Pritchett prize for short fiction in 2008. Her latest book is a mixture of biography and criticism, Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World.
Claire has taught English at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford and creative writing at Columbia University in New York City. She has appeared on radio and television and writes regularly for the literary press on both sides of the Atlantic, reviewing books, films, plays and exhibitions.
She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006.
Her first book, a biography of the writer Sylvia Townsend Warner, was published in 1989 and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for ‘a writer of growing stature’ under the age of 35. She has since published biographies of Fanny Burney and Robert Louis Stevenson and edited works by Stevenson and Warner. She writes short stories for radio and publication and was runner-up for the V.S.Pritchett prize for short fiction in 2008. Her latest book is a mixture of biography and criticism, Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World.
Claire has taught English at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford and creative writing at Columbia University in New York City. She has appeared on radio and television and writes regularly for the literary press on both sides of the Atlantic, reviewing books, films, plays and exhibitions.
She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006.
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July 24, 2023Reread, July 2023: no change of opinion.
This is an immensely readable combination of biography, literary analysis, and personal essay, both exasperating and enlightening.
It is at its most exasperating when Harman attempts to tell us what Austen or her contemporaries were thinking, or what they really meant; it is best at uncovering facts and patterns relating to Austen’s publication history, reviews, biographies, and mentions in wildly ranging contexts after Austen’s death.
Examples of the former: page 46, in quoting a letter between Jane and Cassandra, about losing her anonymity due to her brother Charles’ enthusiasm (and lack of ability to keep his lip zipped):
"The truth is that the Secret has spread so far as to be scarcely the Shadow of a secret now—& that I believe whenever the third [novel] appears, I shall not even attempt to tell Lies about it—I shall rather try to make all the Money than all the Mystery I can of it. People shall pay for their Knowledge if I can make them.”
Harmon goes on to say, This is a remarkably hard-nosed remark, a world away from the portrait later painted by Henry Austen and James Edward Austen-Leigh of the woman who ‘only wrote for her own amusement.’
I can’t help but regard that as a stupid remark—‘hard-nosed’—as if Harman is tone deaf to the joking irony with which Austen habitually wrote to her sister, as well as in the books! Then she goes on to say, with an equivalent total lack of proof, Critical success was gratifying, but Austen also coveted sales dearly. Where, in the scant data Jane Austen left behind, is the evidence of ‘coveting dearly’?
Another instance of bending over backwards (with three twists and a half-gainer) to prove Austen’s feet of clay is this example on pages 47-8: Mary Russel Mitford, a novelist whose long life barely overlapped with Austen, heard gossip through a friend who reported the words of another friend in 1815:
“A friend of mine, who visits her now, says that she has stiffened into the most perpendiculr, precise, taciturn piece of ‘single blessedness . . .’” And it goes on to basically castigate Austen for not talking much during calls.
From this third-hand gossip Harman posits that Austen was being “actively unpleasant to her admirers.” Where’s the proof that Austen was ‘actively unpleasant’ to anyone? Being silent during a call could mean any number of things—and deriving behavior patterns from the gossip of a third-hand party is not exactly predictive of patterns.
A third egregiously stupid remark comes in the chapter after Jane Austen died, when Harman reports on family letters. Cassandra, who held Jane until she died, wrote afterward to their niece Fanny.
Harmond reports it this way, in quoting Cassandra’s letter and commenting on it:
“I have lost such a treasure, such a Sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself.”
But this outpouring of feeling is instantly checked by the following consideration: “I loved her only too well, not better than she deserved, but I am conscious that my affection for her made me sometimes unjust to and negligent of others, and I can acknowledge, more than as a generl principle, the just of the hand which as struck this blow.”
The absolute Christian correctness of this seems too violent for sympathy.
What a fatuous, stupid remark. Cassandra is writing from the depths of grief, striving to make sense of life, death, and the universe in a very eighteenth-century Christian fashion, and Harman sneers about ‘Christian correctness being too violent for sympathy.’
But once Jane Austen is dead, Harman is safe from the horror of Christian faith as the years go on and Austen gradually goes from obscurity to fame. Her conclusions about Austen’s fame are nebulous, and many of the specifics of how Austen’s books have been refashioned in modern times are really not specific to Austen but could stand for remakings going clear back to the evolution of Arthuriana over centuries, but the discussion is interesting, especially the formidable range of material on which she sheds light.
Harman’s tracking of mentions in the letters and essays of a variety of famous people shows her at her best: as a detective.
The gradual changing of Jane Austen’s few portraits, deliberately made simperingly pretty, is recorded in the photo insets. (Not that this was at all new; Mary Shelley and her son and daughter-in-law did a similar makeover on Shelley, actively changing some of the existing drawings from Shelley’s rather louche demeanor to an angelic perfection) We also learn about a wide variety of people whose lives were touched by Austen’s work: the revolutionary Fenelon, who translated Austen in prison while awaiting trial for a bombing, Rudyard Kipling, who wrote about grizzled Janeite soldiers, Winston Churchill, who retired with Austen to bed when he was sick or weary.
It ends with an exploration of Austen being discovered by filmmakers and the romance world. Various questions are raised bout the remarkable sticking power of Austen’s fame—is it really all about the famous dip in the lake, which incident never appears in the book?
She offers a variety of reasons, never pinning down one. That’s okay—it’s part of the fun of reading and talking about Jane Austen. Basically, this book is a good read once Austen is dead, and an interesting if untrustworthy one during her too-short life, and so it joins the many, many Austen-related books on the shelf, after having commented on its predecessors.
This is an immensely readable combination of biography, literary analysis, and personal essay, both exasperating and enlightening.
It is at its most exasperating when Harman attempts to tell us what Austen or her contemporaries were thinking, or what they really meant; it is best at uncovering facts and patterns relating to Austen’s publication history, reviews, biographies, and mentions in wildly ranging contexts after Austen’s death.
Examples of the former: page 46, in quoting a letter between Jane and Cassandra, about losing her anonymity due to her brother Charles’ enthusiasm (and lack of ability to keep his lip zipped):
"The truth is that the Secret has spread so far as to be scarcely the Shadow of a secret now—& that I believe whenever the third [novel] appears, I shall not even attempt to tell Lies about it—I shall rather try to make all the Money than all the Mystery I can of it. People shall pay for their Knowledge if I can make them.”
Harmon goes on to say, This is a remarkably hard-nosed remark, a world away from the portrait later painted by Henry Austen and James Edward Austen-Leigh of the woman who ‘only wrote for her own amusement.’
I can’t help but regard that as a stupid remark—‘hard-nosed’—as if Harman is tone deaf to the joking irony with which Austen habitually wrote to her sister, as well as in the books! Then she goes on to say, with an equivalent total lack of proof, Critical success was gratifying, but Austen also coveted sales dearly. Where, in the scant data Jane Austen left behind, is the evidence of ‘coveting dearly’?
Another instance of bending over backwards (with three twists and a half-gainer) to prove Austen’s feet of clay is this example on pages 47-8: Mary Russel Mitford, a novelist whose long life barely overlapped with Austen, heard gossip through a friend who reported the words of another friend in 1815:
“A friend of mine, who visits her now, says that she has stiffened into the most perpendiculr, precise, taciturn piece of ‘single blessedness . . .’” And it goes on to basically castigate Austen for not talking much during calls.
From this third-hand gossip Harman posits that Austen was being “actively unpleasant to her admirers.” Where’s the proof that Austen was ‘actively unpleasant’ to anyone? Being silent during a call could mean any number of things—and deriving behavior patterns from the gossip of a third-hand party is not exactly predictive of patterns.
A third egregiously stupid remark comes in the chapter after Jane Austen died, when Harman reports on family letters. Cassandra, who held Jane until she died, wrote afterward to their niece Fanny.
Harmond reports it this way, in quoting Cassandra’s letter and commenting on it:
“I have lost such a treasure, such a Sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself.”
But this outpouring of feeling is instantly checked by the following consideration: “I loved her only too well, not better than she deserved, but I am conscious that my affection for her made me sometimes unjust to and negligent of others, and I can acknowledge, more than as a generl principle, the just of the hand which as struck this blow.”
The absolute Christian correctness of this seems too violent for sympathy.
What a fatuous, stupid remark. Cassandra is writing from the depths of grief, striving to make sense of life, death, and the universe in a very eighteenth-century Christian fashion, and Harman sneers about ‘Christian correctness being too violent for sympathy.’
But once Jane Austen is dead, Harman is safe from the horror of Christian faith as the years go on and Austen gradually goes from obscurity to fame. Her conclusions about Austen’s fame are nebulous, and many of the specifics of how Austen’s books have been refashioned in modern times are really not specific to Austen but could stand for remakings going clear back to the evolution of Arthuriana over centuries, but the discussion is interesting, especially the formidable range of material on which she sheds light.
Harman’s tracking of mentions in the letters and essays of a variety of famous people shows her at her best: as a detective.
The gradual changing of Jane Austen’s few portraits, deliberately made simperingly pretty, is recorded in the photo insets. (Not that this was at all new; Mary Shelley and her son and daughter-in-law did a similar makeover on Shelley, actively changing some of the existing drawings from Shelley’s rather louche demeanor to an angelic perfection) We also learn about a wide variety of people whose lives were touched by Austen’s work: the revolutionary Fenelon, who translated Austen in prison while awaiting trial for a bombing, Rudyard Kipling, who wrote about grizzled Janeite soldiers, Winston Churchill, who retired with Austen to bed when he was sick or weary.
It ends with an exploration of Austen being discovered by filmmakers and the romance world. Various questions are raised bout the remarkable sticking power of Austen’s fame—is it really all about the famous dip in the lake, which incident never appears in the book?
She offers a variety of reasons, never pinning down one. That’s okay—it’s part of the fun of reading and talking about Jane Austen. Basically, this book is a good read once Austen is dead, and an interesting if untrustworthy one during her too-short life, and so it joins the many, many Austen-related books on the shelf, after having commented on its predecessors.
August 24, 2017
Yeah, my dad bought me two books about Jane Austen a few birthdays ago, and I figured I should read them back-to-back so I could compare them. The other was
A Brief Guide to Jane Austen
. This one, Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World is much less a biography or analysis of her individual novels and much more an examination of how Austen went from moderately successful author in her time to forgotten to skyrocketing fame within two hundred years. Claire Harman clearly lays out not just what it is about Austen’s works that make them so good and memorable but also the way history led to the optimal circumstances for Jane to take the world by storm.
I really like how this is laid out. There are the requisite biographical details, but the majority of the book concerns what happens to Austen’s reputation after her death. Harman delves into as much evidence as she can find, mostly from surviving letters of family, as well as any public notices or records from that time. This journey is pretty much chronological (with a fair amount of foreshadowing). Rather than attempt literary analysis as Jennings does in his Brief Guide, Harman is more concerned with how Austen’s novels were received historically.
This is something we don’t often stop and consider about our beloved authors. We kind of take it as given that these authors and their works were always highly regarded ever since publication. How often do you stop and wonder how Shakespeare was portrayed, talked about, and performed in the nineteenth century? Similarly, Austen’s rise in popularity is more complex than her present status might imply.
Harman provides a glimpse into the intimate writings of Austen’s surviving sister, Cassandra, who acts as a kind of executor and protector of Austen’s memory for the rest of her life. It isn’t until Cassandra and Austen’s brother, Henry, die that the more extended members of the Austen family start wondering if they should be more public in managing Austen’s memory. Much of what they do is reactionary—other people speculating about Austen’s life, sometimes in improper ways that rub against the increasingly moralistic Victorian attitudes of the day. So that’s how you get the things like James Edward Austen-Leigh’s somewhat exaggerated character sketch of his aunt.
From there, Harman shows us how subsequent generations write about Austen as those who knew her personally start to die. By the end of the nineteenth century, Austen’s fame is secured, but she has yet to reach the critical mass of cult followers. Harman chronicles the intense critical debates between those who see Austen as a fluffy romanticist and those who view her as a serious novelist deserving literary analysis and critique.
It’s in the early twentieth century that Austen-mania really takes off. Harman triangulates a few causes. She points out that English soldiers in the Great War found the bucolic sort of novels that Austen wrote quite reassuring in the trenches. Following the war, the advent of mass media in television and radio and some adaptations of Austen’s works helped her reach even wider audiences. The book concludes with the Austen renaissance of the 1990s and 2000s, thanks to the numerous British adaptations of Austen’s work creating a kind of shared zeitgeist perception of Austen’s Regency England.
Jane’s Fame is full of interesting facts, perspectives, and analysis. Sometimes Harman draws conclusions a little too easily for my tastes, making claims that her source material doesn’t always seem to back up. She seems out to dispel “myths” about Austen’s life, even though the counter-evidence she presents isn’t necessarily always more reliable or closed to interpretation. My point, simply put, is that no amount of scholarship is ever going to produce a definitive version of Austen’s story—too much has been lost, too much was never recorded. We will probably never know very well what she looked like. This can be frustrating, from a fan’s point of view. From a literary critic’s, I suppose it’s a fascinating puzzle.
To compare this to A Brief Guide to Jane Austen, I think this one has a more obvious audience. It’s longer, yes, but it doesn’t harp so much on the plot of Austen’s novels as it does their context. Anyone who has read Austen will be able to follow and perhaps enjoy this book—though it is definitely quite literary and academic in its style. In the case of both books, they aren’t necessarily something I would pick up myself—I’m just not that intrigued by Austen’s life—but they were good gifts, and I learned a lot from them. That’s about what you want from your rando non-fiction picks!
I really like how this is laid out. There are the requisite biographical details, but the majority of the book concerns what happens to Austen’s reputation after her death. Harman delves into as much evidence as she can find, mostly from surviving letters of family, as well as any public notices or records from that time. This journey is pretty much chronological (with a fair amount of foreshadowing). Rather than attempt literary analysis as Jennings does in his Brief Guide, Harman is more concerned with how Austen’s novels were received historically.
This is something we don’t often stop and consider about our beloved authors. We kind of take it as given that these authors and their works were always highly regarded ever since publication. How often do you stop and wonder how Shakespeare was portrayed, talked about, and performed in the nineteenth century? Similarly, Austen’s rise in popularity is more complex than her present status might imply.
Harman provides a glimpse into the intimate writings of Austen’s surviving sister, Cassandra, who acts as a kind of executor and protector of Austen’s memory for the rest of her life. It isn’t until Cassandra and Austen’s brother, Henry, die that the more extended members of the Austen family start wondering if they should be more public in managing Austen’s memory. Much of what they do is reactionary—other people speculating about Austen’s life, sometimes in improper ways that rub against the increasingly moralistic Victorian attitudes of the day. So that’s how you get the things like James Edward Austen-Leigh’s somewhat exaggerated character sketch of his aunt.
From there, Harman shows us how subsequent generations write about Austen as those who knew her personally start to die. By the end of the nineteenth century, Austen’s fame is secured, but she has yet to reach the critical mass of cult followers. Harman chronicles the intense critical debates between those who see Austen as a fluffy romanticist and those who view her as a serious novelist deserving literary analysis and critique.
It’s in the early twentieth century that Austen-mania really takes off. Harman triangulates a few causes. She points out that English soldiers in the Great War found the bucolic sort of novels that Austen wrote quite reassuring in the trenches. Following the war, the advent of mass media in television and radio and some adaptations of Austen’s works helped her reach even wider audiences. The book concludes with the Austen renaissance of the 1990s and 2000s, thanks to the numerous British adaptations of Austen’s work creating a kind of shared zeitgeist perception of Austen’s Regency England.
Jane’s Fame is full of interesting facts, perspectives, and analysis. Sometimes Harman draws conclusions a little too easily for my tastes, making claims that her source material doesn’t always seem to back up. She seems out to dispel “myths” about Austen’s life, even though the counter-evidence she presents isn’t necessarily always more reliable or closed to interpretation. My point, simply put, is that no amount of scholarship is ever going to produce a definitive version of Austen’s story—too much has been lost, too much was never recorded. We will probably never know very well what she looked like. This can be frustrating, from a fan’s point of view. From a literary critic’s, I suppose it’s a fascinating puzzle.
To compare this to A Brief Guide to Jane Austen, I think this one has a more obvious audience. It’s longer, yes, but it doesn’t harp so much on the plot of Austen’s novels as it does their context. Anyone who has read Austen will be able to follow and perhaps enjoy this book—though it is definitely quite literary and academic in its style. In the case of both books, they aren’t necessarily something I would pick up myself—I’m just not that intrigued by Austen’s life—but they were good gifts, and I learned a lot from them. That’s about what you want from your rando non-fiction picks!
February 17, 2011
I don't know, I thought this was sort of shallow. It's far from a full biography (whatever the back cover claims to the contrary), and even the later chapters, on Austen's cultural influence, were not as in-depth as I would have liked. For someone who's less well-read about Austen, this probably would be a good read; for me, it was less than I thought it could have been. I think I was expecting something more like Lucasta Miller's The Bronte Myth and just didn't get it.
June 21, 2010
‘What is all this about Jane Austen?’
‘What is there in her? What is it all about?’ (Letter from Joseph Conrad to H.G. Wells in 1901)
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) is one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her novels are amongst the best known in the English language, and have been adapted for film and television. Today, close to 200 years after her death, Jane Austen is more popular than ever. But why is this? During her lifetime she had little fame and her novels were not particularly popular. Sales were modest, and at least some unsold copies were discarded or pulped soon after her death.
Of course, for the many fans of Jane Austen, her current popularity is no surprise. It is, after all, clearly deserved. But those of us who are not totally part of the Jane Austen cult, it is interesting to learn more about the life, times and influences on Jane Austen, as well as the growth of the Austen industry. In this book, Claire Harman combines elements of classic biography with an analysis of the events that have influenced Jane Austen’s posthumous popularity.
Picture Jane Austen: an unpublished author for almost 20 years. During this time she revised and updated her works, a process of continuous improvement which has rendered the published product almost timeless despite the period settings. She was undoubtedly ambitious, yet patient enough to negotiate with publishers.
Two significant events are identified as pivotal in Jane’s posthumous popularity: the publication of James Edward Austen-Leigh’s ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen’ in 1870 and Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in a wet shirt in the BBC adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in 1995. These are two very different events, speaking to the sensibilities of two quite different eras separated by 125 years.
‘What would Austen have made of all of this?’ I imagine that she’d be delighted.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
‘What is there in her? What is it all about?’ (Letter from Joseph Conrad to H.G. Wells in 1901)
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) is one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her novels are amongst the best known in the English language, and have been adapted for film and television. Today, close to 200 years after her death, Jane Austen is more popular than ever. But why is this? During her lifetime she had little fame and her novels were not particularly popular. Sales were modest, and at least some unsold copies were discarded or pulped soon after her death.
Of course, for the many fans of Jane Austen, her current popularity is no surprise. It is, after all, clearly deserved. But those of us who are not totally part of the Jane Austen cult, it is interesting to learn more about the life, times and influences on Jane Austen, as well as the growth of the Austen industry. In this book, Claire Harman combines elements of classic biography with an analysis of the events that have influenced Jane Austen’s posthumous popularity.
Picture Jane Austen: an unpublished author for almost 20 years. During this time she revised and updated her works, a process of continuous improvement which has rendered the published product almost timeless despite the period settings. She was undoubtedly ambitious, yet patient enough to negotiate with publishers.
Two significant events are identified as pivotal in Jane’s posthumous popularity: the publication of James Edward Austen-Leigh’s ‘A Memoir of Jane Austen’ in 1870 and Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in a wet shirt in the BBC adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in 1995. These are two very different events, speaking to the sensibilities of two quite different eras separated by 125 years.
‘What would Austen have made of all of this?’ I imagine that she’d be delighted.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
September 2, 2010
Not everyone is a fan of Jane Austen, but this work of literary history is a wonderful example of how an author's work comes in and out of fashion and how it becomes distorted as various heirs, critics and fans put their spin on it.
"The Divine Jane," as some call her, certainly earned her place on the literary pantheon for her radical departure from the outlandishly dramatic Edwardian novels of her day. In contrast to all that fantasy and hyperbole around her, her novels focused on everday life among the gently-bred country set. In doing so, she captured the manners and concerns of the Edwardian years, giving us a window into a time universally acknowledged to be a golden age for England.
Where "The Divine Jane" proves false is in the speculation about Austen as a person. Anxious to please the societal expectations of the time, her nephew's biography (written over 40 years after her death) stressed her life as normal woman in a busy household, fulfilling all her womanly duties. While there is nothing to suggest she wasn't a good, reliable woman, neither does it acknowledge her lifelong ambition and dedication to her craft. Nor does it capture her financial and social precariousness as an unmarried woman.
Family letters during her life and shortly after her death give a more likely vision of her as sharp-eyed, highly intelligent woman who wasn't above judging and standing apart from her family and the public. She disdained the literary life and was gossiped about among the upper classes as being "coarse," meaning she was middle-class and country-bred.
The only known portraits of her are a crude sketch done by her sister Cassandra and a view of her from the back in a family scene. Her brother commissioned a portrait of her for the biography 40 years later which softened her expression and prettified her with more deluxe clothing and surroundings. The portrait was further refined by the publisher who made her look a little more intelligent, but of a much higher social class than she actually was.
She thus becomes the epitome of femininity and docility in the Edwardian age. A well-bred, highly respectable woman who is pretty and dedicated to her family and home. The myth begins...
What is certainly true is that she wanted to write, to be successful and to be self-supporting. Her novels have an innate polish because she wrote and re-wrote them for 20 years before she finally published her first book as written "By A Lady." After several years of private success, her identity is revealed and must have created a great deal of ambivalence in her. She clearly wanted no part of being a public figure, but she must have longed to get credit for her much acclaimed books.
The persistence of her effort, her intelligence, and her brooking no fools seems to have cemented her place in the family as the spinster aunt who didn't mind intimidating younger members of her extended family as their family correspondence confirms. She wasn't pretty, she wasn't a member of the higher classes, and she most certainly wasn't a "divine" personification of female rectitude. Except for her six novels: there her writing truly is divine and worthy of the sobriquet attached to her person.
"The Divine Jane," as some call her, certainly earned her place on the literary pantheon for her radical departure from the outlandishly dramatic Edwardian novels of her day. In contrast to all that fantasy and hyperbole around her, her novels focused on everday life among the gently-bred country set. In doing so, she captured the manners and concerns of the Edwardian years, giving us a window into a time universally acknowledged to be a golden age for England.
Where "The Divine Jane" proves false is in the speculation about Austen as a person. Anxious to please the societal expectations of the time, her nephew's biography (written over 40 years after her death) stressed her life as normal woman in a busy household, fulfilling all her womanly duties. While there is nothing to suggest she wasn't a good, reliable woman, neither does it acknowledge her lifelong ambition and dedication to her craft. Nor does it capture her financial and social precariousness as an unmarried woman.
Family letters during her life and shortly after her death give a more likely vision of her as sharp-eyed, highly intelligent woman who wasn't above judging and standing apart from her family and the public. She disdained the literary life and was gossiped about among the upper classes as being "coarse," meaning she was middle-class and country-bred.
The only known portraits of her are a crude sketch done by her sister Cassandra and a view of her from the back in a family scene. Her brother commissioned a portrait of her for the biography 40 years later which softened her expression and prettified her with more deluxe clothing and surroundings. The portrait was further refined by the publisher who made her look a little more intelligent, but of a much higher social class than she actually was.
She thus becomes the epitome of femininity and docility in the Edwardian age. A well-bred, highly respectable woman who is pretty and dedicated to her family and home. The myth begins...
What is certainly true is that she wanted to write, to be successful and to be self-supporting. Her novels have an innate polish because she wrote and re-wrote them for 20 years before she finally published her first book as written "By A Lady." After several years of private success, her identity is revealed and must have created a great deal of ambivalence in her. She clearly wanted no part of being a public figure, but she must have longed to get credit for her much acclaimed books.
The persistence of her effort, her intelligence, and her brooking no fools seems to have cemented her place in the family as the spinster aunt who didn't mind intimidating younger members of her extended family as their family correspondence confirms. She wasn't pretty, she wasn't a member of the higher classes, and she most certainly wasn't a "divine" personification of female rectitude. Except for her six novels: there her writing truly is divine and worthy of the sobriquet attached to her person.
February 3, 2020
Five stars for delivering exactly what the title and subtitle promise. This is not a biography of Jane Austen, so readers hoping for a full accounting of her life will be disappointed. (For example, at one point, the author tells us: "Two days after composing [those lines], she was dead." But we hear nothing at all about the preceding illness and how she died.
Those details simply aren't in the scope of this book. Instead, we learn how her books gained their readership on their own merit, and then grew after her nephew's reluctant memoir of her life (written in response to Charlotte Bronte's disparaging comments on her work, printed in Elizabeth Gaskell's book, The Life of Charlotte Bronte). Harman takes us from Jane Austen's family's treatment of her estate to the cult following she began to gain in the 1890s to the many film adaptations in the 1900s and even more recent spin-offs, parodies, and genuine ardent affection.
I was especially interested to learn that in the 1890s, both proponents and opponents of the "New Woman" held up Jane Austen as a model. Proponents pointed to her independence and the fact that she produced good work. Opponents claimed she was content and simple in her small domestic life and never felt the need to parade around asking for the right to vote.
Also fascinating is the religious terminology applied to Jane Austen. The Divine Jane, for example, and "Austenolatry," a term coined in 1876, imply a tongue-in-cheek worship and idolatry.(Austenolatry, by the way, was a play off the earlier term, Bardolatry, which referred to the worship of that great bard, William Shakespeare.) This book proposes that it is the narrow scope of her novels (money and marriage) that give them such a universal appeal.
There's a lot more I could say here. I've underlined lots of text (sorry to those of you who just cringed!). All in all, as long as you are truly interested in her rise to global fame and aren't looking for a true biography in the same volume, I highly recommend it.
Those details simply aren't in the scope of this book. Instead, we learn how her books gained their readership on their own merit, and then grew after her nephew's reluctant memoir of her life (written in response to Charlotte Bronte's disparaging comments on her work, printed in Elizabeth Gaskell's book, The Life of Charlotte Bronte). Harman takes us from Jane Austen's family's treatment of her estate to the cult following she began to gain in the 1890s to the many film adaptations in the 1900s and even more recent spin-offs, parodies, and genuine ardent affection.
I was especially interested to learn that in the 1890s, both proponents and opponents of the "New Woman" held up Jane Austen as a model. Proponents pointed to her independence and the fact that she produced good work. Opponents claimed she was content and simple in her small domestic life and never felt the need to parade around asking for the right to vote.
Also fascinating is the religious terminology applied to Jane Austen. The Divine Jane, for example, and "Austenolatry," a term coined in 1876, imply a tongue-in-cheek worship and idolatry.(Austenolatry, by the way, was a play off the earlier term, Bardolatry, which referred to the worship of that great bard, William Shakespeare.) This book proposes that it is the narrow scope of her novels (money and marriage) that give them such a universal appeal.
There's a lot more I could say here. I've underlined lots of text (sorry to those of you who just cringed!). All in all, as long as you are truly interested in her rise to global fame and aren't looking for a true biography in the same volume, I highly recommend it.
August 10, 2023
This is a thorough and comprehensive analysis of Jane Austen's life and afterlife as a writer, from her early beginnings writing for the amusement of her own family to the 2007 adaptations. At times there's a little TOO much information and extensive quoting from the Austen family recollections and letters. We can look those up and read them in book form if we want.
Still, I learned a lot I didn't know or had forgotten. It was interesting to see the rise in Austen's popularity from the 1830s onwards and the famous fans of her works. She could have been famous in her own day, she certainly had many admirers, many famous in their own right, but no one knew who she was. The last section on modern day Austen idolatry is outdated now and I'd like to see an updated edition now there's a new Emma, a new Persuasion, Fire Island and the remotely distant relative Bridgerton!
I'm not sure Harman is an actual Janeite though. Some of her details were wrong and some of her interpretations were unconventional for Austen scholarship. There were even some typos.
This book is more for the academically inclined. Those who are interested in Jane as a pop culture icon and the fandom should read Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom
Still, I learned a lot I didn't know or had forgotten. It was interesting to see the rise in Austen's popularity from the 1830s onwards and the famous fans of her works. She could have been famous in her own day, she certainly had many admirers, many famous in their own right, but no one knew who she was. The last section on modern day Austen idolatry is outdated now and I'd like to see an updated edition now there's a new Emma, a new Persuasion, Fire Island and the remotely distant relative Bridgerton!
I'm not sure Harman is an actual Janeite though. Some of her details were wrong and some of her interpretations were unconventional for Austen scholarship. There were even some typos.
This book is more for the academically inclined. Those who are interested in Jane as a pop culture icon and the fandom should read Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom
July 7, 2022
This was a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable piece of non-fiction focused, as the title suggested, on Jane's fame. Rather than being a traditional biography, this was something of a micro-history examining the rise of Austen's global influence. The first two chapters cover events during her lifetime but detailing really only her publishing career and reputation when the books were first released. The rest of the chapters are discussing the time from Jane's death to the present day... how she was perceived by contemporary and Victorian authors, her family's first attempts to promote a certain image of her as an "ideal spinster aunt", the comfort of her books for soldiers in the trenches and people on the homefront of the World Wars, the rise of Jane Austen societies and museums, how various strains of literary criticism have interpreted her works, and finally the present era of Austen movie adaptations and online Janeites!
March 20, 2020
Not for the faint of heart, this literary chronicle of Jane's ascent into the world verges on the point of being a heavy read. From Jane's earliest writing, the publication of four of her novels in her lifetime, to all of her books being out of print, to her popularity resurgence with the release of her biography, up to the twentieth century; this book covers her meteoric rise as one of the greatest female writers ever born. I'm not a true Janite, just a casual admirer so I didn't know a lot of what was in this book. I do know that she wasn't very popular in her lifetime (her books were all published anonymously) but I didn't know all the circumstances surrounding that. Claire does a good job bringing readers along through the decades as the cult of the "Divine Jane" grew and spread across the globe. Not a light read, but very enlightening!
October 27, 2024
Quite interesting account of how Jane Austen’s fame has grown over two centuries, from what readers thought of her in her own lifetime up to the early 2000s. Interesting to see how critical views of her have changed, and how many different ways there are of looking at her books.
May 22, 2011
In 1815, Jane Austen published Emma, dedicated by permission (or rather command) to the Prince Regent, who was Austen’s highest profile fan, keeping a set of her novels in all his residences. What is less well known is that during Queen Victoria’s reign, the Prince’s beautifully bound presentation copy of Emma was relegated to the servants’ library. And apparently it wasn’t too popular there, which is why it remains in excellent condition today.
Despite attracting patronage from aristocracy and royalty, Jane Austen was never among the bestsellers of her day. She chose not to write in popular genres such as Gothic and historical fiction, and while authors such as Ann Radcliffe could sell their work for thousands of pounds, her earnings were in the hundreds. In the 1820s, with her works out of print, it seemed she was destined to fade into literary history. So how did the world learn to appreciate her?
Claire Harman opens this entertaining meta-biography with a preface establishing Austen’s current place in popular culture. She then tracks Austen’s reputation chronologically through her lifetime and on to the present day. What I found most fascinating: the influence of Austen on the long-forgotten “silver fork” novels of the 1820s; the important role nostalgia for a pre-industrial past played in reviving interest in her work; how the unflattering sketch of her by her sister Cassandra had to be “Photoshopped” to make it appeal to Victorian readers; the popularity of her books in First World War trenches and why men think the heroes and the romance in her books are unrealistic. There’s thorough coverage of the 1990s spate of dramatisations and the seemingly endless stream of prequels, sequels and spin-offs. Harman quotes Sourcebooks editor Deb Werksman as saying that Austen’s relatively small body of work left her public forever wanting more: “‘Anything that will evoke the work of Jane Austen becomes very appealing.’”
I did have some reservations about Jane’s Fame: its recitation of the myriad Austen references in popular culture sometimes reads more like a list than an analysis. As Harman suggests, the more pervasive such references become, the less meaning they retain. Also, not all of the images Harman discusses are illustrated (or easily findable online) – although these gaps may be down to the rights-holders rather than the author. That said, this is an essential read for any ‘Janeite’ - or anyone seeking to understand Austen's global popularity.
Despite attracting patronage from aristocracy and royalty, Jane Austen was never among the bestsellers of her day. She chose not to write in popular genres such as Gothic and historical fiction, and while authors such as Ann Radcliffe could sell their work for thousands of pounds, her earnings were in the hundreds. In the 1820s, with her works out of print, it seemed she was destined to fade into literary history. So how did the world learn to appreciate her?
Claire Harman opens this entertaining meta-biography with a preface establishing Austen’s current place in popular culture. She then tracks Austen’s reputation chronologically through her lifetime and on to the present day. What I found most fascinating: the influence of Austen on the long-forgotten “silver fork” novels of the 1820s; the important role nostalgia for a pre-industrial past played in reviving interest in her work; how the unflattering sketch of her by her sister Cassandra had to be “Photoshopped” to make it appeal to Victorian readers; the popularity of her books in First World War trenches and why men think the heroes and the romance in her books are unrealistic. There’s thorough coverage of the 1990s spate of dramatisations and the seemingly endless stream of prequels, sequels and spin-offs. Harman quotes Sourcebooks editor Deb Werksman as saying that Austen’s relatively small body of work left her public forever wanting more: “‘Anything that will evoke the work of Jane Austen becomes very appealing.’”
I did have some reservations about Jane’s Fame: its recitation of the myriad Austen references in popular culture sometimes reads more like a list than an analysis. As Harman suggests, the more pervasive such references become, the less meaning they retain. Also, not all of the images Harman discusses are illustrated (or easily findable online) – although these gaps may be down to the rights-holders rather than the author. That said, this is an essential read for any ‘Janeite’ - or anyone seeking to understand Austen's global popularity.
April 26, 2010
Every Jane Austen fan must read this book! More than just a biography, this book is a literary history told from both the academic/critical and business/publishing perspectives. It follows Jane's fame up till our times with a chapter called "Jane Austen TM," which includes a discussion of the films, the Colin Firth pond scene insertion, and fan sites such as the Republic of Pemberley. (My own intro to JA, through the 1980 Masterpiece Theatre version was not mentioned, nor was the fanfic phenomenon.)
Of course there were the familiar critics - the famous Mark Twain and Charlotte Bronte quotes, but most interesting to me was the first known Darcy fan and the political figures' reactions (ie a French anarchist who became a fan because his jailers considered JA's writing innocuous enough; World War I soldiers reading JA from the trenches, and Winston Churchill's reaction).
There's also a long discussion of the famous portrait we fans have come to know and love. It turns out it's a touch-up of a touch-up of a sketch of Cassandra's. The book shows all three, and Cassandra's original is not as attractive, but much more expressive. Jane has got her hands folded and her face is in a half-smirk, half-frown, as though she's thinking, "C'mon, Cassandra. Finish up already."
If you're a fan looking for speculation about JA's love life, you won't find it here. But if you're interested in Jane Austen the writer, and would enjoy an excursion into other people's reactions, both literary and popular, this is the book for you. And most of all, if you're an aspiring writer yourself, you want to read her story. Though talent like hers is rare, the rest of us can at least learn from her example of discipline and self-direction.
Of course there were the familiar critics - the famous Mark Twain and Charlotte Bronte quotes, but most interesting to me was the first known Darcy fan and the political figures' reactions (ie a French anarchist who became a fan because his jailers considered JA's writing innocuous enough; World War I soldiers reading JA from the trenches, and Winston Churchill's reaction).
There's also a long discussion of the famous portrait we fans have come to know and love. It turns out it's a touch-up of a touch-up of a sketch of Cassandra's. The book shows all three, and Cassandra's original is not as attractive, but much more expressive. Jane has got her hands folded and her face is in a half-smirk, half-frown, as though she's thinking, "C'mon, Cassandra. Finish up already."
If you're a fan looking for speculation about JA's love life, you won't find it here. But if you're interested in Jane Austen the writer, and would enjoy an excursion into other people's reactions, both literary and popular, this is the book for you. And most of all, if you're an aspiring writer yourself, you want to read her story. Though talent like hers is rare, the rest of us can at least learn from her example of discipline and self-direction.
May 11, 2010
This was a biography, not of Jane Austen, but of her fame, in the Regency sense (her reputation, her interpretation, her known-ness), and how it's developed from the time she was first publishing until now. I'm not, after reading it, totally sure who the audience for this book was meant to be, but the book makes a persuasive argument that just by having Jane in the title, there will be a large and dedicated audience, many of them intelligent, many of them dipshits. And the fact that I felt like I was the only audience is, again according to the book, a usual thing for Austen-related stuff. It's scholarly but fairly accessible, and very neutral in tone (a neutrality that makes the exception particularly glaring: Harman gets very riled up about the girl power as feminism trend). Oddly, my favorite part was not having some of my undergrad scholarship validated; no, it was definitely finding out about the existence of YouTube Austen montages, especially the "It's Raining Men" one featuring leading men in the rain which begins with Henry Tilney saying "I fear we may be about to get a little damp." Haaaaa!
July 17, 2014
If one was only going to read one book about Jane Austen, this is the one I'd recommend. Harman covers Austen's life, literary influences, work habits, as well as the public and critical reception her books have received in the years since their first drafts. Few regular readers are interested (I think) in critical analysis as practiced by professors of English literature, but Harman gives concise and fairly entertaining overviews of the many theories, as well as an idea of how well they've been received or not.
And for the most ardent fan, she not only discusses the scriptwriting involved in making films from the texts, she also address the whole Darcy-in-a-wet-shirt phenomena.
And for the most ardent fan, she not only discusses the scriptwriting involved in making films from the texts, she also address the whole Darcy-in-a-wet-shirt phenomena.
March 7, 2017
3.5 stars
This is one of those books I didn't know I needed until after I read it. It was an intriguing, rounded look at one of England's most beloved authors.
Instead of examining Jane Austen's life and works, Harman focuses on Austen's legacy as an author. She ranges from Austen's fame during her lifetime to the eagerness of the early Janeites to the coming of Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. Published in 2009, this book already feels dated, but it still plays an interesting role in putting Austen in her historical context.
Though readable, this book wasn't very interestingly-written. It took me a while to get through it. Worth it though!
This is one of those books I didn't know I needed until after I read it. It was an intriguing, rounded look at one of England's most beloved authors.
Instead of examining Jane Austen's life and works, Harman focuses on Austen's legacy as an author. She ranges from Austen's fame during her lifetime to the eagerness of the early Janeites to the coming of Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. Published in 2009, this book already feels dated, but it still plays an interesting role in putting Austen in her historical context.
Though readable, this book wasn't very interestingly-written. It took me a while to get through it. Worth it though!
July 30, 2018
Interesting, but I started to disengage about 3/4ths of the way through... Perhaps I'm not a serious enough fan. :)
April 1, 2010
(Review written for The Bookstudio)
For all the love showered on Jane Austen through cinematic lovefests, academic treatises, and “I’d Rather Be Reading Jane Austen” bumper stickers, the author herself gets rather lost in the chatter. The sparse details of Austen’s biography and her brief catalogue of six novels permit today’s fans to imagine whatever they will of the British literary titan. Among the most common tropes about “Divine Jane?” That she was indifferent to fame, writing novels set squarely in the domestic sphere merely for the amusement of her intimates and neighbors.
Claire Harman begs to differ. In Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World, Harman tells of a Jane Austen who knew well what her literary powers were worth. Citing a wealth of letters, documents, records, journals, and other curious remnants of her life and legacy, Harman convincingly reveals Austen as an ambitious, hard-working writer who wanted to make money from her fiction and was attentive to how her work was received. Indeed, Austen kept a log called “Opinions,” where she tallied responses both favorable and critical to her novels. This is a far different image than the myth of Austen as a blushing spinster who hid her tales in her desk drawer, lest anyone discover her scribbling.
Beginning in Austen’s lifetime, as she struggled to be published, and moving into the present day of film adaptations, biopics, and spin-offs, Harman lays out how Austen’s legacy developed into the dominating, and at times misguided, force that it is today. (“Jane Austen” is the title of one of the chapters.) Harman keeps both her wit and sense about her as she chronicles the passionate, the virulent, and the absurd of Austen-mania past and present. As well, she allows herself space to explore where Austen, who published anonymously in her lifetime, found some of her most fervent fans – including the trenches of World War I and a French prison cell that incarcerated an anarchist.
In the brisk telling of Jane’s Fame, Harman moves through 200 years in not much more than 200 pages. It is most successful in the first half, when Harman remains close to the facts of Austen’s century. As the book moves into present day, the broad scope of Jane’s Fame turns diffuse; the information, while interesting, feels anecdotal, detached from a clear through-line. At its best, however, Jane’s Fame is both well-researched and well-written, clever and intriguing. Harman takes Austen seriously as a writer while not romanticizing her or her legacy. This book is a refreshing response to a world grown tipsy on Jane Austen, as well as an enticement to take Austen’s fiction as seriously as she intended it to be.
For all the love showered on Jane Austen through cinematic lovefests, academic treatises, and “I’d Rather Be Reading Jane Austen” bumper stickers, the author herself gets rather lost in the chatter. The sparse details of Austen’s biography and her brief catalogue of six novels permit today’s fans to imagine whatever they will of the British literary titan. Among the most common tropes about “Divine Jane?” That she was indifferent to fame, writing novels set squarely in the domestic sphere merely for the amusement of her intimates and neighbors.
Claire Harman begs to differ. In Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World, Harman tells of a Jane Austen who knew well what her literary powers were worth. Citing a wealth of letters, documents, records, journals, and other curious remnants of her life and legacy, Harman convincingly reveals Austen as an ambitious, hard-working writer who wanted to make money from her fiction and was attentive to how her work was received. Indeed, Austen kept a log called “Opinions,” where she tallied responses both favorable and critical to her novels. This is a far different image than the myth of Austen as a blushing spinster who hid her tales in her desk drawer, lest anyone discover her scribbling.
Beginning in Austen’s lifetime, as she struggled to be published, and moving into the present day of film adaptations, biopics, and spin-offs, Harman lays out how Austen’s legacy developed into the dominating, and at times misguided, force that it is today. (“Jane Austen” is the title of one of the chapters.) Harman keeps both her wit and sense about her as she chronicles the passionate, the virulent, and the absurd of Austen-mania past and present. As well, she allows herself space to explore where Austen, who published anonymously in her lifetime, found some of her most fervent fans – including the trenches of World War I and a French prison cell that incarcerated an anarchist.
In the brisk telling of Jane’s Fame, Harman moves through 200 years in not much more than 200 pages. It is most successful in the first half, when Harman remains close to the facts of Austen’s century. As the book moves into present day, the broad scope of Jane’s Fame turns diffuse; the information, while interesting, feels anecdotal, detached from a clear through-line. At its best, however, Jane’s Fame is both well-researched and well-written, clever and intriguing. Harman takes Austen seriously as a writer while not romanticizing her or her legacy. This book is a refreshing response to a world grown tipsy on Jane Austen, as well as an enticement to take Austen’s fiction as seriously as she intended it to be.
April 22, 2012
Plenty has been said and written about Jane Austen’s novels and plenty about Jane herself. Yet the woman remains frustratingly out of reach. There has never been a satisfying portrait of her (she died 10 years before the first photograph came into history) and reports about her character vary greatly. No one is even quite sure what her hair color was.
But she was known for a satirical wit, a sweet temperament and an eagerness to make money to supplement her family’s dwindling income…and, of course, the six novels on which her fame rests.
This is an engaging, easily understood book, one even non-Austen fans could enjoy. Ms. Harman delves into the mystery and history behind Austen’s fame: her life, her family, her background and the nonstop juggernaut that is the love, lust and often bewildering passion for her books. In this biography, Harman charts the queer turns Austenolatry takes as well as probing the other side of the coin—those who can’t stand Austen and think her a minor-league talent, at best.
Ms. Harman manages to remain even-handed and impartial in her text. Without betraying a like or dislike for her subject, she has brought a candid eye to Austen: meticulous, detailed, probing without ever being boring, wry and amused about the devotion that Austen’s novels inspire in their diverse readers. From the 19th century to the 21st, from the peaceful English countryside to the far stretches of the globe, from hand-folded booklets to YouTube music videos, Ms. Claire charts the path of Austen, exposing a whole new generation to her subtle influence.
But she was known for a satirical wit, a sweet temperament and an eagerness to make money to supplement her family’s dwindling income…and, of course, the six novels on which her fame rests.
This is an engaging, easily understood book, one even non-Austen fans could enjoy. Ms. Harman delves into the mystery and history behind Austen’s fame: her life, her family, her background and the nonstop juggernaut that is the love, lust and often bewildering passion for her books. In this biography, Harman charts the queer turns Austenolatry takes as well as probing the other side of the coin—those who can’t stand Austen and think her a minor-league talent, at best.
Ms. Harman manages to remain even-handed and impartial in her text. Without betraying a like or dislike for her subject, she has brought a candid eye to Austen: meticulous, detailed, probing without ever being boring, wry and amused about the devotion that Austen’s novels inspire in their diverse readers. From the 19th century to the 21st, from the peaceful English countryside to the far stretches of the globe, from hand-folded booklets to YouTube music videos, Ms. Claire charts the path of Austen, exposing a whole new generation to her subtle influence.
April 10, 2013
4.75 teacups out of 5 for Claire Harman's "Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World"
What a delight! What a pleasure! This lovely non-fiction book traces Jane Austen's strange journey from a well-kept (mostly) local secret to world literary powerhouse! This is a reread for me. The book wears well! I believe most Jane Austen fans, from Team Marianne(me!) to Team Elinor, will find something to like.
I know a wide range of Austen fans who have liked this book. Perhaps some of the early 20th century parts might be abit less thrilling for some. I didn't really care for the author making a negative comment about "Jane's Marriage" by Kipling(as over the top as it might be!). I hope the book can be updated for the 200th anniv. for P&P and the smashing success that is the Lizzy Bennet Diaries(they were hoping to raise $50,000 for a "kickstarter" campaign, they were well over $300,000 last figure I saw). I know a wide range of Austen fans who have liked this book.
Spoiler alert:
"The significance of Jane Austen is so personal and so universal, so intimately connected with our sense of ourselves and of our whole society, that it is impossible to imagine a time when she or her works could have delighted us long enough." -Claire Harman "Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World" pg229(the end!)
What a delight! What a pleasure! This lovely non-fiction book traces Jane Austen's strange journey from a well-kept (mostly) local secret to world literary powerhouse! This is a reread for me. The book wears well! I believe most Jane Austen fans, from Team Marianne(me!) to Team Elinor, will find something to like.
I know a wide range of Austen fans who have liked this book. Perhaps some of the early 20th century parts might be abit less thrilling for some. I didn't really care for the author making a negative comment about "Jane's Marriage" by Kipling(as over the top as it might be!). I hope the book can be updated for the 200th anniv. for P&P and the smashing success that is the Lizzy Bennet Diaries(they were hoping to raise $50,000 for a "kickstarter" campaign, they were well over $300,000 last figure I saw). I know a wide range of Austen fans who have liked this book.
Spoiler alert:
"The significance of Jane Austen is so personal and so universal, so intimately connected with our sense of ourselves and of our whole society, that it is impossible to imagine a time when she or her works could have delighted us long enough." -Claire Harman "Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World" pg229(the end!)
October 5, 2010
I enjoyed this book. It was informative and occasionally entertaining. Clearly, a lot of research went into it (there are about 30 pages of notes and sources), but parts of it felt overly drawn-out, as though the author wanted to mention every source she used, even when they said essentially the same thing. All this made it a bit repetitive at times as well. The first part is a biography that seems to say over and over how little is actually know about Jane Austen. But it is well-written so most of this is forgivable. The first and last chapters were my favorites (there are only seven in the whole book). The first chronicled the dates that Austen's books were written and published, not at all the same order. And the last focused on recent attempts to capitalize on her popularity with movie adaptations and fan fiction. Unfortunately, despite the lengthy bibliography Claire Harman loses some of her credibility near the end when she cites "Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued" as one of the "most intelligent" sequels.
One word of caution, the author assumes that anyone reading this book is fully acquinted with the plots of Austen's novels. If you haven't read all of the them and are concerned about spoilers, you may want to finish Austen's works before you read this.
One word of caution, the author assumes that anyone reading this book is fully acquinted with the plots of Austen's novels. If you haven't read all of the them and are concerned about spoilers, you may want to finish Austen's works before you read this.
March 14, 2010
As a recent convert to the Austen fan club, I regard this volume as essential for all Janenites. It provides the pithy details of the publication history, critical responses, and changing attitudes to Jane Austen's oeuvre (a word she would have derisively challenged). Harmon is an apt commentator and has done previous literary critiques and biographical studies on Fanny Burney and R. L. Stevenson. Her writing reflects her scholarly background at Oxford and Columbia without the pretentious cant often associated with academic studies. However, on occasion, she succumbs to a jarring journalisticp turn of phrase ("Phew!" to describes the purple prose attributed to an early Austen worshipper) or inserts a contraction in a work where such constructions should be verboten. She is also somewhat flippant about other writers, displaying at times a lack of knowledge about their works. (This aspect is most egregiously evidenced in her assertation that Gissing's ODD WOMEN was an antifeminist novel.)
My criticisms do not detract from this worthy addition to the growing literature on one of the most adept and thoughtful of English writers.
My criticisms do not detract from this worthy addition to the growing literature on one of the most adept and thoughtful of English writers.
April 2, 2010
To someone who has spent the major part of his life in the city of Bath this book is irresistable. It begins by documenting the twenty year struggle of a professional writer living in a family of writers to gain publication and subsequent recognition. It then catalogues the near two hundred year history of the success of the ensuing publications and the fame of the author around the world. It is a most erudite study and I am pleased that Claire Harman puts in a kind word for Gwyneth Hughers 'Miss Austen Regrets' which, to me, is the definitive study of the lady. An excellent read for lovers of the books.
January 7, 2014
Almost 4 stars.
It's odd and quirky and jam-packed with information, but bogs down a bit midway through.
Harman traces how Jane Austen became popular, from when she initially wrote the books, through publication, republication, her biography by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh, on through other books about her, right up through Colin Firth in a wet shirt.
It's fascinating and I enjoyed it, but going decade by decade through the 1800s and early 1900s was just a wee bit tedious. I thought it could have been edited just a bit more tightly, but perhaps I was simply in a bored mood.
Recommended for Janeites.
It's odd and quirky and jam-packed with information, but bogs down a bit midway through.
Harman traces how Jane Austen became popular, from when she initially wrote the books, through publication, republication, her biography by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh, on through other books about her, right up through Colin Firth in a wet shirt.
It's fascinating and I enjoyed it, but going decade by decade through the 1800s and early 1900s was just a wee bit tedious. I thought it could have been edited just a bit more tightly, but perhaps I was simply in a bored mood.
Recommended for Janeites.
April 20, 2010
Although I have considered Jane Austen to be my favorite author for several years now it has only been recently that I've really spent time reading about her life. Harmon chronicles Austen's rise from almost obscurity after her death to her steady rise to fame from the late 1800s into present day. Harmon does not spend a lot of time on present day interest except to discuss the movie versions, specifically the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.I would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy to read chronicle of her life and lasting legacy.
May 31, 2020
I read this book for a presentation in an American Literature class in 2015. Harman has done fantastic work on women's literature in the 19th century literature (I recommend her more recent biography of Charlotte Bronte). This work doesn't disappoint! It goes through fascinating facts about how Austen was treated in her own lifetime and some of that reception is surprisingly vicious. However, it goes on to discuss how Austen became a cultural phenomenon and how she has developed a cult following. A y ran of Jane can't miss this one!
March 14, 2018
I have read every bio there is about Jane. So, I had read much of this information in bits and pieces, but it is nice to have this research detailed all in one book... the metamorphosis of her amazing success (mostly posthumous.) I love Jane. It is January! Biography month. I love to read bios in January...
January 29, 2014
2.5 Stars
As my review is off-topic and may not conform to the new TOS of this site (whatever that may be), if you wish to read my thought then please click here to read it on my blog.
As my review is off-topic and may not conform to the new TOS of this site (whatever that may be), if you wish to read my thought then please click here to read it on my blog.
September 7, 2013
Very interesting account of Jane's popularity and exploration of her cult status. It's pretty incredible that someone who wrote six novels two hundred years ago and was hardly considered important in her own time now has the recognition and obsessed hoards of devotees seen today.
May 27, 2019
Overall good, though it did drag at parts. I did enjoy how this book set out to show that "Jane Austen became a great writer partly because she was a great reader and had a highly developed consumer's understanding of her favorite form", meaning novels. And what we can take from her enduring popularity is "perhaps she simply succeeded too well at charming us: she knew what she liked in a novel, she labored to make her own novels as attractive as possible, and - it worked."
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September 5, 2022made me want to read a jane austen book !
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