Ritið : tímarit Hugvísindastofnunar - 01.05.2015, Síða 115

114
artáknið Austen, sem er meginviðfangsefnið í skáldsögu Karenar Joy Fowler, Jane
Austen leshringnum. Þar hittast fimm konur og einn karl og ræða sögur Austen hverja
á eftir annarri. Lesturinn hefur umbreytingar í för með sér, hann er félagsleg athöfn
sem sameinar lesendur, opnar huga þeirra og þeir öðlast nægilegt hugrekki til þess
að hleypa ástinni inn í líf sitt.
Lykilorð: Jane Austen, sjálfshjálparmenning, leshringir, Karen Joy Fowler, viðtöku-
fræði
A B S T R A C T
Jane Austen’s wisdom and the reader’s journey.
Book clubs and self help culture
In the past decade Jane Austen’s role as guru and mentor has grown stronger. This
article addresses how works from different genres, such as road narratives, self-help
books, inspirational literature and works focusing on life in faith, come together and
tell a story about the search for a meaning, where the focal point is life in Jane.
In a similar fashion book clubs bring women together to share news and feelings
about themselves, their lives and relationships, in order to enrich their lives. These
two paths cross in Karen Joy Fowler’s novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, which
illustrates perfectly the need to mirror oneself in the novelist or her characters, thus
highlighting the tendency of her fans (and deriders) to imbue her life and work with
whatever they see fit. Austen’s meaning is thus unstable, continually shifting and
changing, as she is constantly being refashioned according to whatever the reader
sees as her core or centre.
Keywords: Jane Austen, self help culture, book clubs, Karen Joy Fowler, reader’s
response theory
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