Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane

Publishing for Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, this unmissable book offers an incisive and entertaining look at her life, writing, and legacy. You may have thought Jane Austen was a quiet spinster, but Devoney Looser puts that myth to rest. Tracing the author’s life and legacy across 250 years, she reveals an Austen far wilder than the one we know. Looser takes a deep dive into Austen’s work, offering fresh insights into her six completed novels, as well as her juvenilia, unfinished fiction, essays, and poetry. She also reveals new information about Austen’s relationship to the abolitionist movement and women’s suffrage. Examining the author’s legacy, she turns up extraordinary stories about ghost-sightings, Austen novels used as evidence in court, and the eclectic members of the Austen family, whose own outrageous lives are wilder than fiction. Written with warmth and humour, and filled with remarkable details never before published, Wild for Austen is the ultimate tribute to one of the world’s most beloved novelists.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Wild writings 1 Introduction: Austen gone wild 2 Fierce, wild, and ruthless: Austen’s juvenilia 3 The controversial case of Sophia Sentiment 4 Running wild: the winning immorality of Lady Susan 5 Wildest: Sense and Sensibility (1811) 6 Almost wild: Pride and Prejudice (1813) 7 Bewildering Mansfield Park (1814) 8 Wild speculation: Emma (1816) 9 Wild to know: Northanger Abbey (1818) 10 The young people were all wild: Persuasion (1818) 11 Wild-goose chase: unfinished Sanditon 12 Oh, subjects rebellious: The Watsons and last words Part II: Fierce family ties 13 Jane, the wild beast, and the progressive Burdetts 14 Cousin Eliza’s statesman, singer, and spy 15 The Leighs as learned literary ladies 16 The sensational shoplifting trial of Aunt Jane Leigh Perrot 17 Three Austen brothers and the abolition of slavery 18 The Austen family legacy, suffrage, and anti-suffrage Part III: Shambolic afterlives 19 Seeing Jane Austen’s ghost 20 Sense and Sensibility goes to court 21 Jane’s imaginary lover in Switzerland 22 Almost Pride and Prejudice: the wild films that never were 23 Wild and wanton: the rise of Austen erotica 24 Loving (and hating) Jane Austen 25 Coda: Austen after 250

About the Author :
Devoney Looser is the author or editor of ten books, including The Making of Jane Austen (2017), a Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book. Her essays have appeared in the Atlantic, the New York Times, Salon, the Times Literary Supplement, the Washington Post, and Entertainment Weekly. She is Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University and a Guggenheim Fellow, a Rockefeller Bellagio Fellow, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar. She plays roller derby as ‘Stone Cold Jane Austen’.

Review :
‘Devoney Looser is a superb interpreter and astonishingly erudite scholar of all things Austen, and she brings her expertise to bear deftly, amusingly, informatively, leaving us with an Austen who's ready to roll.’ Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to Me ‘I'm wild about Devoney Looser. No one else wears such deep Austen scholarship so lightly. A brilliant book!’ Lucy Worsley, author of Jane Austen at Home ‘Entertaining and often even exhilarating. Looser takes us on a ride through the less travelled side of Jane Austen from the base of impeccable research and encyclopaedic knowledge.’ Gill Hornby, author of Miss Austen 'Dedicated Austen fans will relish these fresh insights.' Publishers Weekly ‘The ultimate collection of essays about the beloved Jane and her place in history, literature, and even Hollywood. I couldn't put it down!’ Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker's Wife and The View From Lake Como ‘The reader will come away from this collection not only with new and enriching ways of looking at Austen and her books, but with an appreciation for the limits of biography, the histories that still remain hidden, and the compass that great writing can provide to move forwards through it all.’ Natalie Jenner, author of The Jane Austen Society, The Bloomsbury Girls, and Austen at Sea ‘Roller-skating twenty-first-century scholar meets iconic nineteenth-century author in this dazzling new book. Combining meticulous historical scholarship with acute understanding of present culture, Devoney Looser replaces the old reticent Jane Austen with a woman thoroughly embedded in her turbulent times – and ours.’ Janet Todd, author of Living with Jane Austen ‘Give yourself the gift and pleasure of Wild for Austen: it's a seriously fun and wonderfully intelligent wild ride of a read.’ Soniah Kamal, author of Unmarriageable ‘Devoney Looser takes us on a refreshing and entertaining romp into some of the most wild – and bewildering – aspects of Regency history, with Jane Austen as her companion.’ Tilar J. Mazzeo, author of The Widow Clicquot ‘Breezy, intimate and unfailingly insightful, Looser again sets the Austen world on its head. Wild for Austen is nothing short of brilliant.’ Stephanie Barron, author of the Jane Austen Mystery series ‘An exuberant “wet shirt lake swim” into Jane Austen's untamed genius, bold characters and surprising legacy. With sharp humour and fresh insights, Looser explores Austen's wildest moments. This a must-read for anyone ready to get the “tea” on the untamed side of a literary legend.’ Nikki Payne, author of Pride and Protest ‘Written with Looser’s customary brio and informed by a great deal of original research, Wild for Austen is replete with new insights on the full range of Austen's novels and manuscript works, on her extended family and on her astonishing afterlife. Reading Jane Austen is a joy, and so too is reading Wild for Austen.’ Peter Sabor, Distinguished James McGill Professor, McGill University 'With a fresh and funny take and plenty of serious scholarship mixed with personal anecdotes, this title is very enjoyable. A new, and overdue take on Jane Austen’s wild side. Sure to delight Jane Austen fans.' Library Journal 'An irreverent and loving take on the iconic Austen, celebrating her centuries of popularity and relevance.' Booklist 'Looser aims her work at the general public with a breezy, conversational tone [...] well informed and fun.' Kirkus 'Austen pioneered a way of showing us ourselves in relation to others, and a way of telling stories that continues to shape how we think about love. Perhaps, on the occasion of her 250th birthday, we can repay the favour by seeing her afresh in her own moment, blazing and experimental and new.' Daisy Hay, FT Weekend ‘Devoney Looser's fresh, exciting reappraisal of Jane Austen's life and work firmly knocks on the head "the lingering view of gentle Jane" which has persisted for far too long.’ Jane Austen's Regency World 'Austen pioneered a way of showing us ourselves in relation to others, and a way of telling stories that continues to shape how we think about love. Perhaps, on the occasion of her 250th birthday, we can repay the favour by seeing her afresh in her own moment, blazing and experimental and new. 'Wild for Austen will thrill any Austen fan with its revelation of a rebellious and wonderfully wicked Jane.' Anna Christensen, BookPage 'Looser has a point to make and many people will have their eyes opened by how she makes it. A must for Austen lovers.' Harriet Devine, Shiny New Books 'Overall, I enjoyed this book. It has given me a new take on how Jane Austen’s works have been interpreted over time and how Jane Austen herself has been portrayed.’ Rebecca Williams, Jane Austen Society newsletter