I Hate Jane Austen

Jane Austen is one of the most celebrated and renowned English language novelists of all time, her novels which have been adapted into countless successful movies, plays, and other books, with the Jane Austen brand spawning a range of merchandise and well attended events by her legion of fans. Among those who counts himself as definitely not a fan is journalist and restaurant critic Giles Coren - an English Literature graduate himself - who sees the works of Austen as fluff for primarily a young female audience, the novels indistinguishable from one another. In rereading the six novels in the order they were written and published, Giles, in addition to attending some Austen related events and visiting Austen related sites, speaks to fans, ranging from academics to fellow authors to filmmakers to regular Janes and Joes (and in the process runs into a few Austen haters like himself), who try to convince him of the greatness of Austen and why the renown is so well deserved.