ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Katie Halsey makes use of new digital resources (such as the recent digitisation of the Godmersham Park Library catalogue at readingwithausten.com) and other new scholarship to revisit the question of Jane Austen’s literary influences in the context of a discussion of her reading practices. For Halsey, Austen was a magpie reader; everything she read was grist to her creative mill, lending itself to parody, satire, and critical re-working. The essay suggests that a careful consideration of material now considered ephemeral or unimportant can illuminate our thinking about Austen’s creative practice in new ways.
