The portrait of Jane Austen in chick lit style (“Jane in Love” by R. Givney)

Abstract

The article studies Rachel Givney’s novel “Jane in Love”, which conjectures the biography of Jane Austen who is considered to be the mother of chick lit. The study proves that Givney uses: 1) the principles and techniques of chick lit, a modern literary genre of the post-feminist era, at the same time revising the matrix of chick lit; 2) a fabulous narrative theme, discovered by V. Propp, which also undergoes some revision. Givney rethinks the happy ending conceptually important for chick lit and for the fairy tale with regard to a psychological novel devoted to an artist who has found his voice and his place in world literature. In her narrative about Jane Austen, a time traveler, the writer conceptualizes her significance for modern English culture and the Englishmen structuring her novel with formulas-codes of Jane Austen’s oeuvre. The main storyline of her novels is devoted to the complexities of love, and their plots assume a certain set of components. A love affair with a happy ending in the spirit of the Cinderella fairy tale is the main formula of Jane Austen’s novels, which is in demand in chick lit. R. Givney reduces this formula and fills it with a new content: her Jane Austen sacrifices a man for the sake of the future.