Turn anywhere in a bookstore, and you’ll run into Jane Austen’s handiwork. Whether it’s the author’s beloved stories in the classics section, or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies over in horror, the stories of this leading literary light have deeply penetrated our culture. Spin-offs (Death Comes to Pemberley), teen-lit rewrites (Prom and Prejudice), and even board books (Pride and Prejudice: A BabyLit Counting Primer) fill the shelves. Television isn’t immune either, and a glance at any library’s movie section or streaming service’s offerings will reveal numerous Regency-era renderings of Austen’s tales. Added to that list are playful reimaginings such as Clueless, Bride and Prejudice, Austenland, and Bridget Jones’s Diary. The endlessly creative human spirit was not to be discouraged by this seeming glut of Austen, however, and in April 2012, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries aired on YouTube.
A decade later, the series holds up remarkably well. Set in a modern-day U.S. (presumably somewhere on the West Coast), it’s presented as a vlog-style diary narrated by one Lizzie Bennet, complete with cellphones, Twitter, and mildly amusing mid-2010s fashion. Before you pass judgment on yet another potentially mind-numbing Austen adaptation, though, wait.
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