Writer of Fancy : The Playful Piety of Jane Austen

Two centuries after they were first published, Jane Austen's novels are still best-sellers. Dozens of other novelists continue the stories of her characters in their own works, and Hollywood producers invest millions to make movies of her books and life for her fans and readers. Writer of Fancy: The Playful Piety of Jane Austen provides an overview of her life, character, and legacy. Austen was a modest artist who knew her limitations, devoted herself to her craft, and avoided the developing culture of literary celebrity and hype. Paying attention to the details of life around her, she rendered these particulars with precision in her novels, even to the point of advising her nieces about their love lives. Her laughter echoes through her novels, filling them with an ?impish infectious gaiety.' Much of the English-speaking world loves the romance, gossip, order, and politeness of Austen's world. Others scorn Austen and the bodices, balls, uptight men and desexed women, tedium, triviality, and ditzy sentimentality of it all. Neither gets her right. Fans and critics alike miss Austen's real genius: comedy and sometimes brutal satire. Moreover, those who enjoy her playful wit rarely recognize its religious sources, forgetting that many of the greatest satirists and humorists of English literature were devout Christians.Leithart, Peter is the author of 'Writer of Fancy : The Playful Piety of Jane Austen', published 2008 under ISBN 9781581826456 and ISBN 1581826451.