Jane Austen is so popular these days she’s probably been a write-in candidate in more than one election. Who knows, she might even have won some of them.

When I started reading Austen in college in the mid-70s, the amazing Austen boom hadn’t taken place. Bookstores didn’t teem with Austen mugs, memo pads, tote bags, dolls and key-chains. Our TV, movie, tablet and smartphone screens weren’t filled with Austen adaptations. She didn’t permeate our entire culture, but she bedazzled me anyway.

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