ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Olivia Murphy addresses why Jane Austen has become so vulnerable to co-option by the alt-right, with particular attention to recent newspaper and blog posts on this topic, and how Janeites and journalists alike might struggle to defend her reputation. She contends that what this minor scandal over Austen’s popularity amongst the far right suggests is that Austen—or rather the fictional ‘world’ of her novels—has for many people come to be a kind of shorthand for an all-white England of conservative values and decorous feminine behaviour. This essay works to unpack this myth and explore some of the contemporary re-visions of Austen’s world that have aimed to make the diversity of the late eighteenth century more visible.
