Me, a Janeite?

What exactly is it that makes one a Janeite? Does one have to quote extensively from Pride and Prejudice? Must one compare all men (unfavourably) with Mr. Darcy? Is it forbidden to enjoy the works of the Bronte sisters? If these are what make one a Janeite, then I fall far short of the measure. However, I have just finished reading Michael Thomas Ford's novel Jane Bites Back, and it makes me realize just how much I have read and seen around the whole Austen oeuvre.

I follow a blog on the world of Jane Austen, I have seen movie versions of most of Austen's works (Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy), as well as Becoming Jane and Lost in Austen. I find Austen very easy to get lost in. She creates real worlds with real characters. Even two hundred years after she was writing, you can feel the honesty in the writing. I think it is this honesty that makes Austen so enduring as a writer.

There is now an entire industry of novels that either re-write Austen novels, have Austen herself as a character, or tell a story of how others have been changed by an Austen novel. I've read most of them. In my book club, we have read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which takes the plot and language of Pride and Prejudice and inserts zombies. Elizabeth and Darcy bond while slaughtering hordes of the ravening undead; what's not to like? We've also read The Jane Austen Book Club which is about a group of women in California who decide to read the books of Jane Austen and begin to realize that their lives mirror the lives of the Austen heroines. The third book we as a book club have read in the Austen oeuvre would be An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aiden. This is the first of three books that tells the story of Fitzwilliam Darcy from his perspective. Wow, my book club has spent a lot of time on Jane Austen inspired books. Maybe we are all closet Janeites.

I have just finished reading Jane Bites Back which turns the world of Jane Austen on its ear. It tells the story of Jane Austen who is a vampire running a bookstore in upstate New York. Yes, you read correctly, Jane Austen is a vampire. All I can say is - Lord Byron really is "mad, bad, and dangerous to know." The premise of the story is that Jane Austen runs a small bookstore, is trying to deal with a love life, AND with getting her newest novel published - a novel that has been rejected 116 time! It is really a fabulous book, and I encourage everyone to read it.

Maybe I am a Janeite. What do you think?