The Many Lovers of Jane Austen

Pictured: Amanda Vickery

Credit: Glenn Dearing/Matchlight/BBC/Matchlight

Consider what it is about Jane Austen's plots and characters that continue to delight, amuse, console, and provoke. The Many Lovers of Jane Austen, airing Sunday, August 19, 2012 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV/HD (DT21.1/cable 1011 and 11), follows Austen expert and University of London Professor Amanda Vickery as she traces the rise in popularity of Jane Austen novels over the past 200 years and explores the life of the English author and her family.

This insightful documentary features interviews with scholars who have studied Austen’s many readers – including Austen’s family, the aristocracy, World War I soldiers, and many more. The one-hour special includes footage of Austen’s home, her contemporaries’ reading spots, and the places where her English audiences bought her books, adding a personal touch to Austen’s life tale. Scholarly and critical opinions of Austen’s novels are also explored. Celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the publication of Sense and Sensibility with Professor Vickery and American Public Television.

Check out this clip from the documentary: