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Show Jane Austen Is Popping up Again 200 Years Later By Carrie Ricke y Knight-Ridder Ney Spapers A lady's imagination js very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love. from love to m: atrimony in a moment So noted Jane Austen. who might be amused that four of the six novels she wrote nearly 200 ears ago have Jumped from page to screen. from screen to viewers hearts, in a winkof the eye At first we were Clueless whenthe satire of Austen's Emma.” starring Alicia Silver- stone. was re summer. But now Persuasion” that ed during the we are beyond the syndicated columnist and ardent Austenian Some suspect that the current Janemania has something to do with the similarities between the 1790s, when Austen began writ ing, and the 1990s In “Persuasion.” you find the prototypeofthe postmodern fam- ily,” proposes Michell. “Mom is dead. Dad is bankrupt. and the old social orders are breaking down And in Austen, Michell. who has been a Janeitesince his teens. also finds “a proto-feminist.” Cit- Austen fever ing a passagein “Persuasion” that ever so gently notes that all the the oy palpitating story of Elliot 10 deftly seizes a songs and proverbs about women's fickleness were written by men, Michell says, “She has a clear-sighted vision of the ways burns hot Andnot just because mectnd cence Efe has opened at theaters throughout the country For these films are just the tip the world is tilted against women of Juggernaut Jane. Soon we will Despite the movie deals and television miniseries, despite the bility.” popular T-shirts that read be gripped by “Sense and Sensi- when the spirited Emma Thompson/Hugh Grant romance hits screens. And by this month “Not now, dear, I'm reading Jane Aus- ten.” Janemaniais hardly new Ever since the mid-19th centu ry. she’s always been enormously At first we were “Clueless” when the satire of Austen's Emma," starring Alicia Silverstone, was released during the summer, But now we are beyond “Persuasion” that Austen Sever burns hot. And not Just because the quietly palpitating story ofAnne Elliot, who deftly seizes a second chanceatlove, has openedat theaters throughoutthe country. Soon we will be gripped by “Sense and Sensibility,” when the spirited Emma Thompson/Hugh Grant romancehits screens, popular,” son, observes Claudia John- professor of English at Princeton and author of “Jane Austen: Women, Politics and the Novel. Among the most famous Janeites were Prime Ministers Benja. min Disraeli and Winston Chur. chill, says Katrin Burlin, associate professor of English at Bryn Mawr A practical reason for today's Janemania: “People like costum ers, and we've run out of E.M Forster and Edith Wharton novy- els to adapt.” observes Johnson \ philosophical reason: “Be cause.” Johnson su like Austen, we live in a conservative counterrevolutionary time when the spirit of illiberality has shut down social criticism and re form Perhaps the resurgence in Austen’s popularity is because she was a sly social critic who could convey contempt in a curtsy? All kinds of women who would be afraid in the present climateto call themselves feminists like to identify with these sarcastic, intelligent, and strong heroines who assume their equality with men we could regress to “Pride and Prejudice,” when Arts & Entertainment airs the BBC's recent mini-series of Austen's beloved novel about the Bennet sisters variously, but never desperately seeking love, romance andsecuri And while a film adaptation of Emma,” starring Gwyneth Pal trow. is slated for 1996, the State- side Jane contagion is trifling compared with that in England There. broke the BBC “P&P’ miniseries audience records. making Janebigger home-box of fice than “Brideshead Revisited and“The Jewel in the Crown It’s not a fever but a typhus in the U.K. at the moment.” reports Roger Michell, director of “Persuasion,”’ of the Janemania without making anissue ofit Johnson says All kinds of men are attracted to these heroines, too — as noted in the Rudyard Kipling short story “The Janeites,” about a secret society of Austen readers fighting in the trenches during World War I. In 1940, they went aboveground when theJane AustenSociety was founded in England The Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) was founded in 1979. Today, it has a membership of 2,800 that includes ‘a lobsterman from Maine who is a former Marine, a truck driver, and a complement of countants, taries.” librarians and secre- says president Garnet 3ass of Raleigh. N.C. They gather annually to discuss suchtopics as sweeping his country the cuisine in Austen novels, the author's relation to British impe- er menthe heroines endup with For Michell, as for so many oth Janeites, Austen is the most timeless. and therefore most mod. ern, of writers because her subject is the human heart rialism, and the suitability of the Bass estimates membership is one-third male, two-thirds female And though members ‘Romanceandfinanceare the rangein age fromhighschoolerto eternal issues,” observes Lindsay Doran, producer ofthe forthcom ing ‘Sense and Sensibility.” on retirement-home resident, “we are, by and large, an over-40 group, Seventy percent of our Austen's recurring theme that ro: mancewithout finance is a nui sance Is there any more eternal, or compelling, story than the search for a mate?” asks Mary McGrory members are over 46. Sixty-one percent have a master’s degree or higher. Other defining characteristics of JASNA members? “Weare, by and large, opinionated people 4 portrait of author Jane Austen, The Granger Collection. New York. Andwe like to laugh. Laughter is the dominant sound you hear at ourconventions No offense, Garnet Bass. but aren't Janeitesa little like Trek kies in their enevclopedic recall and fanaticism? As something of a Trekkie and a Janeite. I see the point says Bass with a laugh, quick to add that she has attended 12 JASNA conventions andnot a single Trek conclave I think it’s because with both Star Trek’ episodes and Auster novels, you know the characters so well that you think of themas real people. This is because ‘Star Trek’ writers and Austen gave us real people. Trust a Janeite to mak¢ rect distinction between fans of Mr. Spockandfans ofMiss Eliza beth Bennet: “In the sense of this sharedpassion that to some looks excessive and dotty, Trekkies and Janewites do have something ir common,” says Princeton’s John son. “But while ‘Star popular phenomenon Trek’ Jane is a longs both to high culture and popularculture. She has a both camps: teen-age girls rea her, andcollege professors read her. Linda Wertheimer. co-host of National Public Radio's Things Considered.” reads ten during All Aus “boring Washington press conferences,” and thinks Emma” the “best antidote to the campaigntrail She owns several complete sets Victoria Hamilton is Henrietta, Emma Roberts is Louisa, and Sophie Thompson is Mary in Where else? Can't The Austen films creating new readers, says Kathleen Anderson, who works in the ture section the Borders Book Shox phia. In the last two mo: has been a genteel ris sales. “She's not Johr Howard Stern, but she son say Still, some local set of Austen: pristine first edilions hardbackreadingcopies. perback reading copies many Janeites. she says, loved‘Clueless.’ ike “| totally She “Persuasion Persuasion” on openingday, and she buoyantly replies. “Of urse 1 shift: Si tremism of the Bront Austen’s sense ar ensibility Often there is a split between the manwho called Dor test the casting of Hugk n Grant as Edward Ferrars in “Sense and Sensibility I cannot wait until the Auster movies come out. Ciaran Hindsis Captain Wentworth in more, I cannot wait = all out on video and | can ov complete collection of thos¢ Wertheimer says In general, most ac - are not happy with the dramatiza tions of Austen tions Johnson. 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