In which I discuss my opinion of Jane Austen inspired literature

Books written while under the influence of Jane Austen abound. Evidently there's a market, because there's a plethora of books that use her characters in sequels or prequels, modern adaptations, and Jane Austen herself as a character in the story. I've even seen a sequel written by someone shortly after Ms. Austen's death. I can't recall the title, because I didn't read it, but Jane Austen fandom literature has existed for a very long time.

I don't read a lot of it. I'm not knocking those who write it or read it. I just don't enjoy it. Most of the sequels tend to look like bad romance novels when I open them up in the bookstore, and I promptly put them back on the shelf. And yes, this is my personal opinion, and yes, technically Jane Austen did write romance into her books. But they were so much more than that, and the prequels and sequels are missing that X factor. Plus Ms. Austen’s vision for her characters started and ended within her books, and I’m satisfied with that.



As for the books that attempt to add to the existing novels, such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I tried to read it and couldn’t get past the halfway mark. Everything about the story was tortured so that the zombies could be added to it. It was horrible.

I felt bad about it too, because it was a birthday gift.

 

I do like Stephanie Barron’s mystery series, which are Jane Austen’s “journals” featuring Ms. Austen as the sleuth. Ms. Barron obviously does a fair amount of research into the era and the events that happen in the books.

I’m also intrigued by a book called A Jane Austen Daydream by someone I follow on Twitter, Scott D. Southard, which seems to be an amalgamation of her life and her books and which does not try to claim to be a biography or a sequel. I’ve read a sample of it, and have added it to my to-read list.



I do better with the modern adaptations, and the books in which the characters are living their regular lives but are influenced in some way by Jane Austen. For example, I recently read Austenland and enjoyed it, and now it turns out the movie is at Sundance. I liked Bridget Jones and Clueless (movie). I had hopes for Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star. It seemed like a fun premise, in which the characters from Pride and Prejudice are in rock bands, or their managers, etc. But I was disappointed in the sample, though I haven’t removed it from my Goodreads to-read list yet. I'm still undecided about it. I enjoyed Jane Austen in Boca by Paula Marantz Cohen when I checked it out from the bookstore at which I worked then enough to read Jane Austen in Scarsdale when it was a free staff giveaway at that same bookstore.


Though I tend to enjoy the modern adaptations of the Jane Austen novels, one of their weaknesses is the necessity to squeeze the characters into preset storylines instead of letting them go where they will. The good ones hide it better than some of the others.


In my next post I will be regaling the world with my interesting, scintillating thoughts about a specific Jane Austen modern adaptation, Persuaded by Jenni James, which I received as a Goodreads giveaway.