“It's a short book and I’m trying to reach out to address a much broader audience,” Keymer says. He also touches on her relationship to the writing marketplace of her time, noting “although she's one of the world's most popular classic authors, she found it very difficult to get into print. Jane Austen: Writing, Society, Politics introduces Austen’s six major novels, exploring key themes of her work, narrative techniques and the social and historical context of her fiction. “And I think that can help when you're pushing yourself into slightly new territory.” “I wasn't writing completely in my comfort zone,” says Keymer, whose previous book, Poetics of the Pillory, was about 17th- and 18th-century censorship. It’s titled Jane Austen: Writing, Society, Politics and Keymer hopes it sparks even more interest in the influential writer whose books are still adored and continue to be the inspiration for movies, television series and just about every other form of entertainment. Keymer – a University Professor and Chancellor Jackman Professor of English at in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of English – recently wrote his own book about Austen’s work and hopes. “Just think of how much it would be worth now,” he says. Why? Austen wasn’t a celebrity author in her time – and manuscripts, once printed, were typically discarded. But the University of Toronto’s Tom Keymer says it’s a likely scenario. It’s difficult to imagine the original manuscript of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice being used as kindling for a fire, tossed into the flames one by one.

Jane austen radical