Maybe it’s sacrilegious,
but many Jane Austen fans have commandeered the acronym WWJD? Others drive
around with “I’d rather be at Pemberly” pasted on their car bumpers or
carriages. Still more fantasize about their husbands dressing in breeches and coattails. These Austen obsessed folks spend their time taking personality tests online to
find out which novel character they are most like. (In case you’re wondering, I
actually did test as Elizabeth).
These diagnosed
individuals are referred to as Janeites.
Yes, it is a word—you can look it up in the Oxford
English Dictionary. The term connotes any members of Jane Austen book
clubs, costume balls or regency period movie marathons. In the way that a Star Trek fan calls him or herself a
trekky, Janeites prove infatuated with Jane Austen, her novels and any minutiae
which pertain to her and her work.
The name of this
diagnosis first appeared in 1896 when
a literary critic coined the phrase. It resurfaced in 1924 when the author
Rudyard Kipling penned a short story entitled, “The Janeites.” The story shared an interaction of several soldiers discussing Jane's novels. Kipling wrote that “the more I read the more I admire and respect and do reverence” her
work. Reportedly Kipling even read the stories aloud to his wife and daughter
as the family mourned the loss of its son Jack in World War I.
After the first time I watch
P&P and it finally ended with a double wedding and a carriage ride kiss, I trotted
downstairs and spent the rest of the night pouring through an illustrated
abridged version of the novel that had been tucked away on a shelf in our
school room. Before, I had liked the pretty dresses of the sisters on the
book’s cover, but now! It was the first girlish thing I surrendered to in my
awkward transition from want-to-be tomboy/junior higher to young lady, trepidly
becoming acquainted with girl stuff.
Not much
later, I purchased a paperback copy from Barnes&Noble and tore through all
61 chapters. Lost in Austen’s masterpiece, I could be that graceful woman with
an up-do and an accent who danced the quadrille and played the piano forte. Mom
bought me sheet music from the movie that Christmas.
My
enculturation into Janeite-ism had begun. While my friends romped around on the
playground, I squealed with all the moms about Austen films and empire waists.
The beautiful thing was that it
didn’t end with Pride and Prejudice.
Then came Marianne and Eleanor in Sense
and Sensibility, dear silly Emma and
good little Anne Elliot from Persuasion, not
to mention Knightly and Wentworth. And along with the other literature, there
was the whole world and lingo of the time period. “Dear Mama, I will bring you
some tea,” my best friends and I acted out our favorite scenes and quoted the
beautiful passages.
It was, or rather is, an entire
world to absorb you—a secret club whose members know the delight of the
keywords and feel equal disdain towards common enemies like awful George
Wickham and slimy Mr. Collins.
Aside from the frightening
implications that there exists an entire subculture of primarily women who wish
they were born in 1811 hidden blatantly in our homes, super markets and offices,
you always know when you’ve met another Janeite. Instantly, a polite question such
as, “What kind of movies do you like to watch?” snowballs into a giggling
ecstatic exchange of “Oh my gosh, I love Austen.”
“Have you seen the new version of Persuasion?”
“The one where he’s blonde?”
“Yes!” Instant connection and
compatibility. Like a traveler in a foreign land who learns that a new
acquaintance also speaks her native tongue, a stranger transforms into a kindred
spirit.
A final identifier
of a confirmed Janeite is perhaps a subscription to Jane Austen’s Regency World. The magazine is currently preparing to
celebrate the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice’s publication
which occurs next year in 2013—perfect timing for my senior project!
 |
| Check out the bicentennial celebration at http://janeaustenmagazine.co.uk/2012/08/new-book-to-mark-pp-bicentenary/ |
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