Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:
Diverting anecdotes pepper award-winning British biographer Harman's sharp and scholarly analysis of Jane Austen's life and the posthumous exploitation of her as a global brand having everything to do with recognition and little to do with reading. Tracing the rise and fall and rise of Austen's reputation against a larger historical backdrop, Harman chronicles the WWI-era worshipping Janeites; assessments of Austen that minimized her as an accidental artist; and modern post-feminist criticism that, in exploring her politics, sexual and otherwise, has placed Austen in several mutually exclusive spheres at once. Harman notes that film versions have taken liberties with and overshadowed Austen's books, concluding that [o]ne of the horrible ironies of Austen's currency in contemporary popular culture is that she is referenced so freely … in discussions of 'empowerment,' 'girl power,' and all the other travesties of womanly self-fashioning that stand in for feminism today. Yet it is impossible to imagine a time when she or her works could have delighted us long enough. Harman herself delights with this comprehensive catalogue of Austen-mania.
This title will be released on March 2, 2010.
What are you waiting on this week? Leave your link here.
8 comments:
It sounds great. Why oh Why are there so many great books written about Jane Austens life and career..also so many sequels. I already have a list of maybe even ten or more books that I still need to read and I'm adding this one to it. Thanks for the great pick! :)
Sounds like a book I'd like! I love reading about the author herself (just as interesting as her books).
I luvz me some Jane Austin. Here's Mine
Nice pick, sounds really informative. My WOW is at The Crowded Leaf.
This sounds like a very interesting book! Thanks for sharing about it. I am a Jane Austen fan so I'll have to check this out.
Here is my WoW pick.
This book sounds amazing! I think it'd be interesting to learn about how Austen came into such prominence ;)
I will have to agree - Jane Austen has conquered the world, and posthumously as well!
When will I be able to finish Persuasion! LOL!
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