It is a truth universally acknowledged (to anyone who knows me, or who reads my blog) that I not only adore Jane Austen, but I love watching ANY adaptation of her work.

And I mean any: if it’s based on Jane Austen, I will watch it, and I will love or hate it, but I will thoroughly enjoy every minute of watching it and thinking about it and whether it represents Jane Austen’s work.

I like to call it watching TV for work (and I do often write about period drama for work), but ultimately, I’ve loved watching Austen on screen as long as I can remember.

I’ve been talking to my friends recently – more so than ever – about sharing my thoughts on adapting Austen’s work, and the period of history her work represents. I really think these are two distinct aspects of a period drama adaptation, and they translate to adaptations that don’t sit in the category of a traditional period reading of Austen’s work (hello Clueless and Bride and Prejudice, just to mention two of my favourites).

How they represent the story, the feel of Austen’s writing and her characters, as well as the conventions around romance, relationships, gender, economics, politics and society that shaped the words that Austen penned, are all significant factors in thinking about adaptations of her work.

It is these things that, when considered, render (in my humble opinion) Clueless (1995) a brilliant reimagining of Emma, and Netflix’s 2022 Persuasion a fun period drama but a not great adaptation of Austen’s final novel of the same name.

So, I’m putting my pen where my mouth is, and I’m beginning a new series on my blog all about adapting Jane Austen: rating my favourite adaptations, exploring traditional versus nontraditional adaptations, reviewing and thinking about them all.

In addition to other book reviews, snippets and stories from history, I’ll be posting in my Adapting Jane Austen series as often as possible. I hope that you enjoy it, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on your favourite adaptations, and why!