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"Rejecting Jane" is the title of a 2007 article by British author David Lassman. The article, which was published in Issue 28 of Jane Austen's Regency World magazine, is a critique of the publishing industry through their inadvertent rejection of Jane Austen.
Contents
The idea
Using the pseudonym 'Alison Laydee' - a play on Austen's original nom de plume "A Lady" - Lassman sent out the opening chapters of Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion to several major publishers and literary agents, with different titles but only minor changes to the text, such as character names and locations. The resultant article chronicles the fact that all but one of the publishers and agents failed to recognise her works, including Penguin Books and J. K. Rowling's publisher Bloomsbury, with the vast majority rejecting out of hand this apparent attempt by one of the world’s greatest known authors to gain a publishing deal. This despite the fact that one of the most famous opening lines in English literature, Pride and Prejudice’s "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" was left intact.
Reaction
On its publication the article created worldwide media coverage, which saw its author appear on radio and television programmes across the globe, including American news programmes and TV talk shows such as Good Morning America.