It's a Jane Austen World

I've been an Austen fan since reading page one of Pride & Prejudice in high school British Lit. I believed until recently that I'd read her Complete Works--loved them all (and the Hollywood adaptation of the one I didn't read). I've also enthusiastically read a number of spin-offs and marveled at the number of sequels and retellings.

Turns out I had no idea how very far-flung Jane's influence truly is. The range of Jane Austen Fiction (she has her very own genre!) is unbelievable. There are sequels involving every conceivable Austen character; retellings with settings that run the gamut from high school (Prada & Prejudice) to Civil War era Texas (Pemberley Ranch), and modern day New England (The Family Fortune) to a ship bound for America (Darcy's Voyage), not to mention the zombies, vampires and the occasional ghost.
Then there are the spin-offs which might involve superfans on Austen-inspired vacations (Austenland) or discoveries of Austen-related paraphenalia (The Man Who Loved Jane Austen). Creativity in this genre truly knows no bounds. And that's not even counting the Marvel comic books and fan fiction.

And let's not forget the movie adaptations by BBC, Hollywood, and more recently, Bollywood. There is even to be a new BBC mystery series that will cast Jane Austen in an occasional cameo role (The Regency Detective).

Jane Austen has her own action figure, and her own page on Facebook. Should I friend her??? I'm not on Twitter, so I don't know for sure, but witty Jane probably tweets too.

She even has her own Society, whose mission it is, "to foster among the widest number of readers the study, appreciation, and understanding of Jane Austen's works, her life, and her genius."

That she was a genius, I don't think there can be any doubt.