From Friends to Lovers: The Rewrite of Emma in The Jane Austen Book Club

Abstract

The novel The Jane Austen Book Club (2004) by the American author Karen Joy Fowler, rewrites the canonical work of Jane Austen modifying different features. Following Gérard Genette’s theory of transtextuality, we analyzed the hypertextual relation between the austenian novel (hypotext) and Fowler’s (hypertext). We focused on the rewrite of Emma (1815) as it sets the beginning and the end of The Jane Austen Book Club’s story. Thus, we analyzed the work on the characters, specific situations and the courtship plot of the hypotext in relation to its rewrite in the hypertext. Through this relationship, Fowler questions both Austen’s historical context and her own, showing the place that personal relationships and women have in society.