The Latest from Devoney and Wild for Austen (March 14, 2026)

Dear Jane-Friends:

Sorry to have been out of touch longer than usual while I got distracted by many disturbing, violent things in the news, including reviews of that Emily Brontë adaptation. I haven’t seen Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” yet, but I do plan to once it comes to a streaming service. (Most Austen aficionados I know haven’t been terribly impressed.) I only recently saw Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, which I’d recommend as a revisionary, provocative adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. I mostly enjoyed it, despite a few moments of “Huh?”

Although I don’t use Letterboxd regularly, I looked up member ratings of these two films. Wuthering Heights has a 2.8 and Frankenstein a 3.8 on a scale of 5. They apparently have in common a bright red color palette. But it’s a bloody Jane Austen short film that’s not to be missed now. (Letterboxd 3.5. It has some haters!)

JANE AUSTEN’S BLOODY BITS

I’ve seen Julia Aks and Steve Pinder’s brilliant live action short Jane Austen’s Period Drama more times than I can count. It’s up for an Oscar, and fingers crossed for it. If you haven’t yet had your first viewing, then I implore you, this weekend, you absolutely must. It’s 13-minutes of hilarity on a subject of perfect seriousness—menstruation. I wrote a short essay about it this week for Literary Hub. The wonderful editors there gave my piece the title, “Blood on the Page: Jane Austen’s Period Drama.” I would probably have called it “Jane Austen’s Bloody Bits.”

One theory I float is that two lines from an 1808 letter might be Austen’s reference to treating period pain. Jane wrote to Cassandra, “I hope Huxham is a comfort to you: I am glad you are taking it.” Critics haven’t done much with these lines beyond noting Huxham’s was prescribed for fevers, “agues” (pains), and as a hangover cure.

But advertisements suggest Huxham’s may also have been sold to treat menstrual discomfort. They claim the tincture could also cure “periodic head-achs” “nervous complaints,” and “low spirits.” The word “periodic” here may be a tell. (“Periodic discharge” is one phrase used to describe periods then.) I think this language reads like precursor ad copy for Midol. What do you think?

MORE WILD FOR AUSTEN AND AUSTEN ON SCREEN YET TO COME IN 2026

It was such a blast to reflect on Austen’s writings, life, and legacy in my book Wild for Austen, along with the thousands of people I had the chance to talk Austen with in her 250th birthday year. The fun isn’t over yet! You’ve probably seen the teasers of the other Austen adaptations soon coming to screens. Trailers were released for The Other Miss Bennet (BBC) (episodes out in the UK on March 15th and in North America on BritBox on May 6th), as well as for the Netflix Pride and Prejudice, release date now described as “fall.” There’s been lots of talk about that shot of Elizabeth Bennet (Emma Corrin) on a rooftop. The upcoming Sense and Sensibility film, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor, has recently pushed back its release date to October 16, 2026. Miss Austen season 2 is also in the works! The wildness of Austen in pop culture continues.

STAGING JANE

Austen’s history on screen has long been intertwined with the stage. The beautiful Staging Pride and Prejudice exhibition at Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, England, shows it! It was an honor and a pleasure to co-curate this exhibit (on display there until January 10, 2027) with JAHM’s Head of Collections Sophie Reynolds. The exhibit focuses on the first “Hot Darcy” and the wildly popular Broadway and West End stagings of Helen Jerome’s P&P play in the 1930s. The JAHM has gorgeous original illustrations of the West End production’s costumes. I’m trying to figure out when I’ll visit in person. If you get there first, tell me about it? The 1930s were a time of surging popularity for Austen, and there’s still more to learn. (I have some new little discoveries to share at the upcoming Jane Austen, the Influencer virtual conference.)

IT’S NOT JANE AUSTEN, BUT . . .

Dare I ask what you’ve been reading or seeing that’s not Austen? I’ve been researching for my next book, The Stunning Gunnings, and I can’t wait to tell you more about that over the coming months. (The project currently has me scrutinizing 18th-century Byrom shorthand. Greek to me! Anyone out there an expert?) I’m back in the classroom this semester, too. In addition to teaching Jane Austen to Arizona State University’s fabulous MA English online students, I’m teaching a public humanities course for our wonderful in-person graduate students.

I’ve read or begun reading some inspiring books, including Rebecca Solnit’s bolstering long view, The Beginning Comes After the End, Laurie Gwen Shapiro’s The Aviator and the Showman (a groundbreaking biography of Amelia Earhart), and Michelle Young’s The Art Spy (a compelling page-turner about WWII French Resistance fighter Rose Valland). Also in my TBR pile are a biography of Audre Lorde, Survival is a Promise, Kylie Mirmohamadi’s gripping novel, Diving, Falling (coming to the States in 2026), and Megan Kate Nelson’s revisionary 19th-century American history, The Westerners.

UPCOMING AUSTEN TALKS, ON THE ROAD AGAIN

I look forward to hearing about where your year is taking you and to finding more ways to stay grounded (and sane?) together, despite the myriad reasons a person might feel precisely the opposite now. As Jane Austen’s Lady Susan had one of its prevaricating characters opine, “Facts are such horrid things.”

Your frequently enraged but attempting to stay hopeful servant,

Devoney

P. S. IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO RATE! If you’ve read and enjoyed Wild for Austen, then I’d be ever so grateful if you took a moment today to rate or review it wherever you might enjoy doing such things. (Goodreads has the greatest impact, they say.)

P. P. S. MORE PODCASTS AND VIDEOS SINCE I LAST WROTE.
Thanks to Austen Connection’s Janet Saidi for including the British Library Austen event in which I participated on her list of 10 favorite Austen videos. Here are a few more videos and podcasts that have been released since:
Lab Coat Optional video podcast
Secret Life of Books podcast
Period, the Podcast (with George Justice)