"thedailydot:  Austen mashups are nothing new to Janeites Think Pride and Prejudice and Zombies started a crazy trend of revamping classic works of fiction? Think again. As any hardcore Janeite can tell you, the trend of authors writing sequels, alternate viewpoints, or even totally new renditions of Jane Austen's six novels is nothing new. It's been going on for a century—ever since a romance writer named Sybil Brinton published Old Friends and New Fancies, a 1913 crossover uniting characters from three Austen novels at once. Although Jane Austen is now the second-most popular author taught at universities (after Shakespeare), her works have historically been considered lowbrow. ""Universities didn't pay much attention to her,"" Sheryl Craig of The Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) told the Daily Dot. ""She was considered popular culture, like Dickens."" Today, sequels to Jane Austen's novels are so popular that entire publishing presses have been formed around them. The Republic of Pemberley lists reviews for hundreds of such novels, and that list is by no means complete. There's even a musical.(cont.)"
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