Dr Marina Cano has just published
a very interesting study of Austen’s work and its afterlives. One chapter is
dedicated to Jane Austen Fans; that is why I heard of Marina and her research
before the book came out. She contacted me for her survey: am I not a truly
devoted Austen fan who has the luck and joy to know a lot of truly devoted
Austen fans?
I’m truly glad now to present the
final work, Jane Austen and Performance, and to introduce Dr Marina Cano to you and let you discover more about her
research in her own words. She took some
time to answer some questions and here’s the resulting interview.
When and How did you discover Jane Austen?
Like many of the fans who so
generously answered my survey, I came to Austen through the film adaptations.
In my case, it was Ang Lee’s Sense and
Sensibility (1995)—with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, etc.—that made the
trick. From there, I went to the novels—and more films!—Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion...And
the rest is history!
How do you explain her being the most beloved author in English
Literature?
This is the ultimate question I
try to address in my book Jane Austen and Performance: I examine the “performative
potential” behind her texts—in other words, her ability to make things happen. Readers
“perform” her novels and her stories; they inhabit her characters on every
reading, or every time they watch one of the film or stage adaptations, or
revisit her stories in any way. And this does have an effect on people’s lives;
it changes things, as so many of the wonderful respondents to my survey made
clear. It might happen to some extent with other authors but not as much; I
think it is what makes Jane Austen so special in English literature.
