Jane Austen in Hollywood

In 1995 and 1996 six film or television adaptations of Jane Austen's novels were produced - an unprecedented number.

More amazing, all were critical and/or box-office successes.

The novels were changed, however, to enhance their appeal to a wide popular audience, and the revisions reveal much about our own culture and its values.

These recent productions espouse explicitly twentieth-century feminist notions and reshape the Austenian hero to make him conform to modern expectations.

Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield present fourteen essays examining the phenomenon of Jane Austen as cultural icon, providing thoughtful and sympathetic insights on the films through a variety of critical approaches.

The contributors debate whether these productions enhance or undercut the subtle feminism that Austen promoted in her novels.