The Making of Jane Austen

How did Jane Austen, a no-name author in her own day, become an international literary icon? It started long before Colin Firth’s wet-white-shirt Darcy. Devoney Looser’s lecture will introduce you to some of the unsung innovators who first turned ‘Miss Austen’ into a household name, from artists and activists to actors and audiences, looking at how they made and remade her image before popular audiences.

Join us in the National Library of Australia Theatre on July 18th, the 200th anniversary of her death, to celebrate Austen’s life and writings and make sense of how her characters and stories have come to be imprinted on each new generation of readers.

Devoney Looser is Professor of English at Arizona State University, where she writes and teaches on the history of the novel and literature by women. A Minnesota native, Looser traded ice skates for roller skates in middle age and has played roller derby under the name Stone Cold Jane Austen. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband (Professor and Austen scholar George Justice) and their tween-teen sons. She is the author of Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750-1850 (Johns Hopkins UP, 2008), British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670-1820 (Johns Hopkins UP, 2000; 2005), and Forthcoming The Making of Jane Austen (John Hopkins UP, 2017).

This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served following the lecture.