The Jane Austen you didn't meet in English class with Devoney Looser

Jane Austen’s enduring legacy is a bit like a lace doily: a frilly decoration that covered over the grime of real life in Regency-era Britain.

But it turns out Austen was much less mild and more wild than public perception — or her family — ever let on.

In this episode we’re joined by Devoney Looser, Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University and one of the world’s most prominent Austen scholars. Her latest book, Wild for Austen, explores how much sharper, funnier and more rebellious the author really was.

Get Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane, from St. Martin’s Press: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250361332/wildforausten/