A New Jane Austen

Completing Juliette Wells groundbreaking trio of books on Austens readers, this latest volume revolutionizes our understanding of how Austen came to be viewed as the worlds greatest novelist. Wells shows that Austens global reputation was established not by British scholars, as is commonly believed, but by visionary American writers and collectors, working largely outside academia. Drawing on extensive research, Wells weaves together colorful, compelling case studies of men and women who, from the 1880s to the 1980s, helped readers appreciate Austens novels, persuasively advocated for her place in the literary canon, and preserved artifacts vital to her legacy. Engagingly written and abundantly illustrated, A New Jane Austen will inform and delight scholars and Austen fans alike.