‘Gentle humour’ to ‘savage satire’: Austen Obituaries on Her Death, Its Centenary and Bicentenary

This chapter invez stigates cultural perceptions of Austen at three points in time as evidenced through obituary articles published on her death in 1817, at the 1917 centenary, and at the bicentenary in 2017, in order to trace shifting trends in the cultural appreciation of the author. The vantage point here is that of the newspaper obituarist or columnist who may or may not have read Austen ahead of their commissions. Turning to non-specialists can reveal much about an author’s cultural status outside of the academy, where assumptions may be just as, if not more, entrenched. Half of the obituaries published in 1817 failed to mention that Austen was a writer. By 1917, one hundred years later, the views expressed in the press were at least partly based on the novels. By 2017 Austen had largely become a popular icon independent of her works. The chapter explores each period’s version of Austen, discusses what she is seen as being about and associated with and asks to what degree her public reputation is based on the novels, spin-offs, her life, or on cultural construction.