Jazba Singh resplendent in Austen-inspired regalia. Photographer: Dan Jackson. Photo Editor: Liliana Braumberger.
Those who think Jane Austen’s fiction is nothing more than dusty, buttoned-up romance between the landed gentry, and therefore anachronistic to contemporary literature’s interest in race, sex and identity politics, are sorely mistaken.
Austen may have been born centuries ago, in 1775, but her work has been perennially popular since the publication of Sense and Sensibility in 1811. As well as numerous reprints, her work has sparked innumerable celluloid and book spin-offs. (Check out, for instance, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters for the sheer absurd joy of the mash-ups.)
Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
Her debut, a collection of poetry called Turbulence, came out in 2020 and was released by University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP). Her second collection, Decadence, was published in July 2022, also by UWAP. Her third book, Essence, will be published in 2025.
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy
