Featured Author: Emma Donoghue

Reading an Emma Donoghue book is like falling into a deep friendship with an unlikely stranger: a lady of the evening, a cross-dressing frogcatcher, an imprisoned child. The author’s empathy for outsiders makes for captivating characters; she illustrates the complex inner lives of her creations with a candor that shows humanity at its best and worst.
~Allie Ghaman, "Why you should give 'Frog Music' authorEmma Donoghue's books a read"

Emma Donoghue is an Irish-born writer currently living in Canada. On her website she proclaims, "From the age of 23, I have earned my living as a writer, and have been lucky enough to never have an ‘honest job’ since I was sacked after a single summer month as a chambermaid." She earlier wanted to be a ballerina, but "This way I get to eat more cake." In a funny twist of fate, she was named for Jane Austen's Emma, though she does not count Austen among her influences. She is a proponent of the treadmill desk.

Her book Room was an international bestseller; shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange Prize, and winner of  the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Prize (Canada & Caribbean Region), and more; and made into an award-winning feature film.

She has also written short stories, literary mystery, Bildungsroman, historical fiction, reimagined fairy tales, plays for stage and radio, and began her writing career as a literary historian.


Fiction

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins 

Slammerkin 

The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: Stories 

Life Mask  

Touchy Subject: Stories 

Landing

The Sealed Letter 

Astray

Non-Fiction 

Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature  

Anthologies 

How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity [YA]

One Hot Second: Stories About Desire

 

Shakespeare at 400

There are events all over the world to celebrate Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of his death on April 23rd. (As American foodies, we're particularly interested in the "complete culinary works" celebration in Chicago - "Join 38 of Chicago’s most talented chefs for an unprecedented exploration of food and theatrical storytelling in their restaurants across Chicago and throughout 2016. Each chef artfully translates one of Shakespeare’s plays into a featured dish, menu or event at their restaurant, showcasing Chicago’s vibrant restaurant scene." Yum!) Closer to home, the Folger Shakespeare Library's First Folio Tour came through New Mexico recently, and you can find more local Shakespearean events on the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau's Visit Albuquerque site.

Maybe you are not looking to eat like an Elizabethan or attend any events, but still are interested in the life and work of Shakespeare. The library is here to help! Here's a sampling of some items from the library catalog to slake your thirst for the works of the Bard...whoever you think wrote them, because that dispute is alive and well.

New & Novel Books

Vinegar Girl: The Taming of the Shrew Retold by Anne Tyler

How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn to Dusk Guide to Tudor Life by Ruth Goodman

Women of Will: Following the Feminine in Shakespeare's Plays by Tina Packer

The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio by Andrea E. Mays

Pop Sonnets: Shakespearean Spins On Your Favorite Songs by Erik Didriksen

Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro

Selling Shakespeare to Hollywood: The Marketing of Filmed Shakespeare Adaptations From 1989 into the New Millennium by Emma French [eBook]

The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascoes, Palace Coups by Ron Rosenbaum

Shakespeare in the Garden : A Selection of Gardens and an Illustrated Alphabet of Plants by Mick Hales

Shakespeare and Co.: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, and the Other Players in His Story by Stanley Wells

"Shakespeare" by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare by Mark Anderson

The Shakespeare Book edited by Stanley Wells

DVD

Shakespeare Uncovered, Seasons 1 and 2
Episodes combine history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis, and the personal passion of their celebrated hosts to tell the story behind the stories of Shakespeare's greatest plays. 

Playing Shakespeare
Collection of acting workshops conducted by the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

Slings & Arrows
Based in a fictional Canadian town where legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival, the site of his greatest triumph and most humiliating failure, to assume the Artistic Directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles.

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales 
Animated story telling of twelve of Shakespeare's most popular plays, featuring the voices of actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Shakespeare Retold
Macbeth is the chef in a 3-star restaurant; Beatrice and Benedict are rival co-anchors; Titania and Bottom carouse in a tawdry theme resort; and Petruchio sets out to tame the conservative Kate in a politically incorrect marriage of convenience.

Cymbeline   
2015, modern retelling

Much Ado About Nothing 
2012, contemporary spin  
2003, Kenneth Branagh

Macbeth 
2016, Michael Fassbender 
Throne of Blood, 1957 Japanese adaptation

Romeo & Juliet   
West Side Story, 1961 musical adaptation  
1968, Franco Zeffirelli  
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, 1996 modern adaptation  
Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, 2013 Indian adaptation  
2014, modern retelling

Coriolanus 
2011, Ralph Fiennes

The Tempest
2011, Julie Taymor

Hamlet
Gamlet, 1964 Russian adaptation
1990 Franco Zeffirelli
1996 Kenneth Branagh

2009 television production

A Midsummer Night's Dream
1935, James Cagney

Othello
1965, Laurence Olivier
Otello, 1996 opera

Julius Caesar
1953, Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Links

Shakespeare 400 [Poets.org]

Shakespeare 400
Shakespeare400 is a consortium of leading cultural, creative and educational organisations, coordinated by King’s College London, which will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. Through a connected series of public performances, programmes, exhibitions and creative activities in the capital and beyond, partners will celebrate the legacy of Shakespeare during the quatercentenary year.

Shakespeare 400 [Shakespeare's Globe]

Shakespeare's England

The Stephen King Universe: A Guide (Part 3)

In the last post of this series (you can find the first two posts here and here), I wanted to talk about Stephen King books that aren't necessarily related to The Dark Tower, but are connected to other Stephen King books. As always, this isn't a comprehensive list.

Note: This post may include spoilers.

Let's start with IT, because it's connected to several novels.

IT and Dreamcatcher: In Dreamcatcher, there's a plaque that mentions The Losers' Club and main characters, Beverly, Bill, Mike, Richie, Stan, Eddie, and Ben, all from IT. This plaque also mentions Pennywise, the clown from IT.

IT and 11/22/63: Beverly and Richie from IT make an appearance in 11/22/63.

IT and Christine: In IT, the ghost car Belch Huggins drives when he picks up Henry Bowers is Christine.

IT and Misery: Eddie Kaspbrak's mom and Paul Sheldon's family were neighbors.

Misery is also connected to another book, The Shining. In Misery, Annie Wilkes mentions a man burning down the Overlook Hotel; she's referring to Jack Torrance.

IT and The Dead Zone: In a dinner scene in IT, The Losers talk about Frank Dodd, a character in The Dead Zone.

Speaking of The Dead Zone, it's connected to Cujo, which is also connected to other novels. Cujo and The Dead Zone are connected by Frank Dodd, who is mentioned in Cujo. George Bannerman is also a character in both novels.

Cujo is also connected to Pet Sematary; Jud Crandal, a character in Pet Sematary, mentions Cujo. Pet Sematary is connected to Insomnia, as well; Atropos, a character in Insomnia, has a shoe that belonged to Gage Creed, a character in Pet Sematary.

Cujo has two additional connections, one to a novel, and one to a novella. Cujo is connected to Needful Things and The Body (found in Different Seasons) by the character Evelyn Chambers, who is present in all three works. In addition, Needful Things and The Body share a second character, Ace Merrill.

Needful Things is connected to The Dark Half; Alan Pangborn is the sheriff in both novels.

Last, there are some novels that have smaller connections, to only one or two other novels at the most. The first is Dolores Claiborne and Gerald's Game. The two books were going to be part of a larger work, titled In the Path of the Eclipse. The eclipse in Dolores Claiborne is mentioned in Gerald's Game, and the main characters in each story (Dolores Claiborne and Jessie) have a psychic connection, allowing them to share visions.

The second is Firestarter, The Mist, and The Tommyknockers, which are connected by an organization called The Shop, that plays a large role in each story.

Know of any other connections? Tell us what they are in the comments!

The Stephen King Universe: A Guide (Part 2)

In Part One of this series, I talked about the Stephen King novels that are connected to his Dark Tower series. Today, I'm focusing on the connections among those novels. Again, this is not necessarily a complete list; the connections in Stephen King novels are many and complex.

Insomnia and IT -- Both novels take place in Derry, Maine

Black House and The Talisman -- Black House is the sequel to The Talisman.

Desperation and The Regulators -- Desperation and The Regulators are companion novels. The characters in Desperation are twinners of the characters in The Regulators.

Desperation and Rose Madder -- Cynthia Smith, a character in Desperation, is also a character in
Rose Madder. Other characters from Rose Madder are also mentioned in Desperation.

Insomnia and Rose Madder -- A character in Rose Madder, Anna Stevenson, has a framed photo of Susan Day in her office. Susan Day is a character in Insomnia.

The Shining and The Talisman -- In The Talisman, a character named George Hatfield is a student at the Thayer School. In The Shining, Jack Torrance cuts George Hatfield from the debate team. It might be the same George Hatfield from The Talisman.

IT and The Shining -- Dick Halloran, a main character in The Shining, is mentioned in IT. (Halloran served in the military with the father of a main character in IT, Mike Hanlon.)

The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Hearts in Atlantis, and 'Salem's Lot -- Randall Flagg is a character in each of these books.

In the last post of this series, I'll talk about other connections in Stephen King novels--ones that don't relate to The Dark Tower series.

The Stephen King Universe: A Guide (Part One)

The Stephen King universe is vast, and while I've known about many of the connections among his books for years, I never realized the depth of those connections until I started re-reading The Dark Tower series and doing some research. For this series, I'm starting with a beginner's guide to The Dark Tower universe, and how it's connected to the rest of the Stephen King universe.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories - The short story "UR" mentions the actual Dark Tower that Roland is on a quest to find in The Dark Tower novels. Low men, who appear in Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower, also appear in "UR." Finally, the magical Rose that is part of The Dark Tower series is mentioned in "UR."

Black House - Several characters from The Dark Tower series are mentioned in Black House: Blaine the Mono, Ted Brautigan (who makes appearances in other Stephen King works, as well), Jake Chambers, Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, Roland Deschain, and Patricia the Mono. Jake Chambers may also be a twinner of Jack Sawyer (a twinner is a doppelganger in a parallel universe). (Note: Black House is the sequel to The Talisman.)

Cell - In The Waste Lands, Jake Chambers purchases a picture book called Charlie the Choo-Choo. Roland, Jake, Susannah, and Eddie see a train that looks just like Charlie the Choo-Choo in Gage Park. Charlie the Choo-Choo shows up in an amusement park in Cell. Charlie the Choo-Choo is also Blaine the Mono's twinner.

Desperation - CAN-TAH AND CAN-TOI, which appear in Song of Susannah (CAN-TAH and CAN-TOI) and Wolves of the Calla and The Dark Tower (CAN-TOI), also appear in Desperation.

Everything's Eventual - Three characters from this short story collection are either mentioned in The Dark Tower novels or play a part in the series: Dinky Earnshaw, Mr. Sharpton, and Skipper Brannigan.

The Eyes of the Dragon - The main connection to The Dark Tower series is in the character Randall Flagg. Flagg is a sorcerer who has the ability to move among worlds. He is a villain in The Eyes of the Dragon as well as in The Dark Tower novels. Additionally, King Roland in The Eyes of the Dragon is Roland Deschain's twinner.

From a Buick 8 - One of the owners of the Buick 8 was probably a low man, and the car may have been a portal to todash spaces from which monsters escape (a todash space is a void that exists between worlds and is filled with monsters).

Hearts in Atlantis - A few characters in Hearts in Atlantis show up in The Dark Tower novels and vice versa: Ted Brautigan, Roland Deschain, The Crimson King, Randall Flagg, and the Low Men.

Insomnia - The Crimson King is a major player in Insomnia. Patrick Danville, a character in Insomnia, shows up in The Dark Tower, traveling with Roland. Roland is also mentioned in Insomnia by Ted Brautigan.

IT - The concept of deadlights is mentioned in IT; it's a concept that is shared by Pennywise and The Crimson King. Bill Denbrough's nickname in IT is Stuttering Bill; in The Dark Tower novels, there's an Asimov robot named Stuttering Bill. There's also a magical Turtle in The Dark Tower novels that shows up in IT.

Lisey's Story - The Territories, which are mentioned in The Waste Lands, are also mentioned in Lisey's Story. A term used commonly in Lisey's Story, "bool," is also used by The Man in Black in The Gunslinger.

The Mist - The monsters in The Mist are likely monsters that came from Todash through a thinny that was opened during a government experiment. Thinnies play large roles in Wizard and Glass.

The Regulators - Regulators is another term for Low Men; it is also another term for Big Coffin Hunters. It is likely that The Regulators may be Low Men and/or Big Coffin Hunters, though neither of those terms is used in the novel.

Rose Madder - LUD, which is the setting of The Waste Lands, is mentioned in Rose Madder, and Rose Madder is mentioned in Song of Susannah. 

'Salem's Lot - One of the main characters in 'Salem's Lot, Father Callahan, is a major character in Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower (where he is known as Pere Callahan). In Wolves of the Calla, Pere Callahan recounts his experiences after leaving 'Salem's Lot.

The Shining - Danny Torrance is referred to in The Dark Tower novels, while Jack Torrance is mentioned, but not directly named.

The Stand - In Wizard and Glass, Roland, Susannah, Eddie, and Jake find themselves in the Topeka, Kansas, of The Stand, where they see a newspaper article that discusses the superflu from The Stand. Mother Abigail, a key player in The Stand, is an enemy of Randall Flagg, who is also a key player in The Stand.

The Talisman - A major setting in The Talisman is the Territories; the Territories are mentioned in Wizard and Glass. The White, which is in The Talisman, is the force of good in The Dark Tower novels.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Many characters and settings from Stephen King novels are mentioned in The Dark Tower series without playing actual parts in the series. Some of the books listed here are also connected to each other, which I'll explore in the second part of this series. The last part of this series will focus on Stephen King book connections that are unrelated to The Dark Tower series.

Think I've missed a connection, or know of a connection you'd like to see in this series of posts? Let me know in the comments!

Featured Author: Paul Auster

Paul Auster was a novelist in Brooklyn before there were novelists in Brooklyn. (When I was growing up there in the 1980s, my father used to point him out to me as we did the grocery shopping in Park Slope — this was a rare kind of sighting.) Since those days much has changed; you can’t go out to the Fort Greene Greenmarket on Saturday without running into a spangle of fiction writers. But Auster’s fictional concerns — the contingency of identity, the nihilism of urban living, the clarities of asceticism — have remained steadfast, even as the postmodern toolbox has grown more elaborate, demanding greater semantic complexity of its users than ever before.
~Meghan O'Rourke, "These Wild Solitudes"

Paul Auster was born in 1947 in Newark, New Jersey. His first book was a critically acclaimed memoir called The Invention of Solitude, published in 1982 after his graduation from Columbia University and his move to Paris, where he tried to become a poet. His books defy categories - his acclaimed series of loosely connected stories, The New York Trilogy (winner of the Prix France Culture de Littérature Étrangère in 1989), are billed as detective stories, but not traditional ones, as they feature an existential bent - they once described as "Kafka goes gumshoe". His themes include American history, absence of father, loss of language, coincidence, intertextuality, and an obsessive writer as a character. He has credited his start in writing to failing, at age 7, to get an autograph from baseball great Willie Mays because he didn't have a pen to hand.

Paul Auster has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and on the IMPAC Award longlist multiple times. He was part of NPR's National Story Project from 1999-2001, and has written the screenplay for the movie Smoke, and directed the movie The Inner Life of Martin Frost, among other cinematic accomplishments. Auster has also translated works by French writers. Personally, he was married to writer Lydia Davis and is now married to writer Siri Hustvedt, with whom he lives in Brooklyn.

Fiction

The Brooklyn Follies 

Travels in the Scriptorium [LP, audiobook]

Man in the Dark 

Invisible

Sunset Park  

The Book of Illusions

Timbuktu

Leviathan

In the Country of Last Things

Auggie Wren's Christmas Story

Oracle Night 

The Locked Room 

Non-Fiction & Biography

The Invention of Solitude 

City of Glass [adaptation by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli}

Report from the Interior 

Winter Journal

Hand to Mouth: A Chronicle of Early Failure

Collected Prose: Autobiographical Writings, True Stories, Critical Essays, Prefaces and Collaborations with Artists 

Collected Poems   

I Thought My Father was God and Other True Tales From the National Story Project [editor]

Links

Paul Auster, The Art of Fiction [Paris Review] 

Paul Auster, Abstract Expressionist [The Guardian]

Jonathan Lethem Talks With Paul Auster [The Believer]

Paul Auster (Official) on Facebook

Authors as Characters in Fiction

As for the most popular fictionalized writers? No surprise to see a ton of Shakespeares, Austens, Dickenses and Brontës scampering with pens through the pages of other peoples’ novels. But a...[c]ranky Robert Frost? Witty Alexander Pope? These are some of the delights we uncovered for your reading pleasure.
~Sarah Seltzer, "50 Novels Featuring Famous Authors as Characters"

With the recent success of books like The Paris Wife and movies like Midnight in Paris, nostalgia for times past - and the famous people who lived through those eras - continues to be popular. Why is imagining the lives of the famous from history so entertaining? People with romantic or tragic lives seem to be often chosen as subjects; also people of whom not too much is known. Trying to blend non-fiction and fiction seamlessly is always an interesting experiment. A good novel might bring a famous person or their era alive for you - instead of just the facts, the emotional truth can be evoked. When you try to imagine the real-life experiences of famous authors, the challenge seems to be writing about those whose words resonate with so many and making your own words live up to theirs. What novels with famous authors, or other famous historical figures, as characters have you enjoyed? Or do you eschew historical fiction of this type in favor of biography or history?

With some help from the folks at Flavorwire, we've compiled a lists of books with authors as characters that are available in the library catalog. Please note, we have touched upon fiction with Jane Austen as a character in a recent post, so we have not included any in this list.

Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister [Dorothy Parker]

Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar [Vanessa Bell & Virginia Woolf]

The Hours by Michael Cunningham [Virginia Woolf]

The Master by Colm Tóibín [Henry James]

The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee [Alexander Pope]

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler [Zelda Fitzgerald]

Drood by Dan Simmons [Charles Dickens]

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan [Robert Louis Stevenson]

The Book of Salt by Monique Truong [Gertude Stein & Alice B. Toklas]

Old School by Tobias Wolff [Robert Frost, Ayn Rand, & Ernest Hemingway]

The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl [Edgar Allan Poe] 

Angelmonster by Veronica Bennett [Mary Shelley; YA]

Loving Will Shakespeare by Carolyn Meyer [William Shakespeare; YA]

Fall of Frost by Brian Hall [Robert Frost; eAudiobook]

The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald [Novalis]

Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath by Kate Moses [Sylvia Plath]

Passion by Jude Morgan [Mary Shelley]

Beyond Austen: Fiction Inspired by the Classic Novels

To be one with Jane Austen! It is a contradiction in terms, yet every Jane Austenite has made the attempt.
~E. M. Forster, "Jane Austen: The Six Novels"

Jane Austen only completed 6 novels.  It's a sad truth to those who love her writing. They are, in order of composition: Northanger Abbey; Sense & Sensibility; Pride & Prejudice; Mansfield Park; Emma; & Persuasion, with Persuasion and Northanger Abbey published posthumously. (Recent years have seen publication of some her juvenilia, including her history of England; you can also find in the library catalog an early work, Lady Susan, in a volume with two unfinished novels, The Watsons and Sanditon.)

Jane Austen's novels were first accepted into the Western literary canon in the last century, and even then, though Pride and Prejudice was already being adapted into a movie with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson in 1940, Austen's fiction's mainstream appeal was arguably not as all-consuming as it was to become after the 1995 mini-series (starring Colin Firth) was aired.

But, as author Deborah Yaffe points out in Among the Janeites:

The Austen spinoff isn't an entirely contemporary invention. Austen herself apparently imagined afterlives for her characters, telling her family  that the fourth Bennet sister, Kitty, would eventually marry a clergyman; that her older sister Mary would settle for a lawyer's clerk; and that Emma Woodhouse's invalid father would die two years after her marriage.  The first authors to attempt an Austen spinoff were two of Jane Austen's nieces: Anna Lefroy, who knew Austen well and consulted her for advice on writing, and Catherine Anne Hubback, who was born the year after Austen's death. As a child, Hubback heard Aunt Cassandra read Aunt Jane's books aloud, and she saw the manuscripts of Austen's unfinished novels, The Watsons and Sanditon. 

It's just that there are so many now! Now, a reader looking to immerse oneself in Austen's world can find mysteries where Jane Austen or the Darcys are sleuthing. You can read Amanda Grange's "Jane Austen Heroes" series, with each novel written from the perspective of a different hero - Darcy, Captain Wentworth, Mr. Knightley. There is a series called "Pride & Prejudice Variations" and one called "Brides of Pemberley"; "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman" has his own series; the "Darcy Saga"; young adult novels based on Jane Austen; "Austen Addicts"; "Jane Austen's Diaries"; "Darcy and Friends"...the list goes on and on. We'll hazard a guess that Pride and Prejudice fanfiction seems by far the most popular.

Here's an overview of some of the Austen-inspired fiction from the library catalog, chosen from Goodreads' "Best Jane Austen Fan Fiction" list. And, if you don't feel like reading, why not try a DVD?

Mysteries

Pride and Prescience, or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged by Carrie Bebris

Jane and the Man of the Cloth: Being the Second Jane Austen Mystery by Stephanie Barron 

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James 

Sequels

Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Linda Berdoll

The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston 

Lydia Bennet's Story: The Continuing Adventures of Mrs. Darcy's Youngest Sister - A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Jane Odiwe [eBook]

Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued by Anna Elliott [eBook]

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough 

The Bad Miss Bennet: A Pride and Prejudice Novel by Jean Burnett 

Reimagined

An Assembly Such As This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman by Pamela Aidan

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding 

Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange 

Prom & Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg [YA] 

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World by Abigail Reynolds [eBook] 

Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field by Melissa Nathan 

Longbourn by Jo Baker 

Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits by Mary Jane Hathaway   

Jane Austen as a character

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James

Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford 

Just Jane: A Novel of Jane Austen's Life by Nancy Moser 

Austenmania

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler 

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo

Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster

Pride and Prejudice and Kitties: A Cat-Lover's Romp Through Jane Austen's Classic by Jane Austen, Pamela Jane, and Deborah Guyol
 

Links to Austen Fandom

Tarot of Jane Austen

Jane Austen at the Republic of Pemberley
The Republic of Pemberley is an online community dedicated to the appreciation of the work of the English author Jane Austen. 

Jane Austen's Regency World magazine

Best of Jane Austen FanFiction

The Meryton Assembly [Jane Austen fanfic]

Derbyshire Writers' Guild [Jane Austen fanfic]

The Austen Project

Each novel is a formidable engine of strategy. It is made to be - a marvel of designing and workmanship, capable of spontaneous motion at the lightest touch and of travel at delicately controlled but rapid speed toward its precise destination. It could kill us all, had she wished it to; it fires at us, all along the way, using understatements in good aim. Let us be thankful it is trained not on our hearts but on our illusions and our vanities.
~Eudora Welty, "The Radiance of Jane Austen"

First there were the Canongate Myths, "[a] bold re-telling of legendary tales — The Myths series gathers the world's finest contemporary writers for a modern look at our most enduring myths," which took us from Ancient Greece to Amazonia, China to Asgard. Soon there will be the Hogarth Shakespeare series, prose ‘retellings’ of Shakespeare’s plays for the modern reader, launching in 2016 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. But now, there is the Austen Project.

The series might be smaller in scope, with only 6 novels to choose from, but it more than makes up for it in depth. Charlotte Brontë famously dismissed Austen's work as 

An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a common-place face; a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers—but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy—no open country—no fresh air—no blue hill—no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses.

However, there are countless other critics and readers to whom the novels remain beloved classics. Devotees of Austen are often called "Janeites"; this term has been around since 1894, although Austen did not become accepted into the literary canon until the 1930s and 1940s.Venerable names of English literature count themselves as Janeites, including E. M. Forster, P. D. James, and Virginia Woolf, who wrote "The balance of her gifts was singularly perfect. Among her finished novels there are no failures, and among her many chapters few that sink markedly below the level of the others."

Here are are the books that have been published so far by the Austen Project, with Curtis Sittenfeld's version of Pride & Prejudice expected in 2016.

Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

Reimagining Sense and Sensibility in a fresh, modern new light, [Trollope] spins the novel’s romance, bonnets, and betrothals into a wonderfully witty coming-of-age story about the stuff that really makes the world go around. For when it comes to money, some things never change....

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid

 A modern retelling finds bookish minister's daughter Cat Morland joining her well-to-do friends in Edinburgh and falling for an up-and-coming lawyer who may harbor unsettling secrets.
 

Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith

The summer after university, Emma Woodhouse returns home to the village of Highbury, where she will live with her health-conscious father until she is ready to launch her interior-design business and strike out on her own. In the meantime, she will do what she does best: offer guidance to those less wise in the ways of the world than herself. Happily, this summer brings many new faces to Highbury and into the sphere of Emma's not always perfectly felicitous council: Harriet Smith, a naive teacher's assistant at the ESL school run by the hippie-ish Mrs. Goddard; Frank Churchill, the attractive stepson of Emma's former governess; and, of course, the perfect Jane Fairfax.  


What do you think of these "retellings"? Are you interested in reading an author's take on Austen's classic novels? Deborah Yaffe, author of Among the Janeites, is decidedly not a fan; in April of this year, she wrote on her blog about The Austen Project turning into "The Austen Fiasco."

 *all book descriptions are from the library catalog unless otherwise noted