The French Janeites: from early readers to modern devotees
In this month’s Musing, Claire Saim, author of (along with Gwen Giret) Jane Austen – L’Encyclopédie Visuelle and co-president of the Société Française Jane Austen, shares her insights into Jane Austen’s appeal on the other side of the Channel.
In January 2025, Clara Peytaud, 30-something Jane Austen enthusiast, founded a book club to mark the 250th anniversary of the author’s birth. Simply called Jane Austen Book Club, like so many reading groups around the world, it first took shape through a story posted on her Instagram account, En compagnie des mots. Initially made up of seven members, the group gradually grew, welcoming participants from across France.
On a cold December Sunday in Paris, the book club meets for its final gathering of the year. At brunch time, aboard a bohemian houseboat quietly moored along the Quai de l’Oise and doubling as a bookstore, a dozen Austen admirers come together once more. Throughout 2025, they have shared special moments and re-read Austen’s entire oeuvre, meeting roughly once every couple of months. On this Sunday, the group delights in discussing the novella, Lady Susan. Opinions fly and passions ignite: is the heroine truly a bad person? Does she act out of sheer selfishness, or out of necessity?
Over tea and treats, the debate unfolds amid laughter and mock indignation. With the holidays approaching, the gathering becomes even more festive thanks to a charming Secret Santa gift exchange, and many guests wear Christmas jumpers, adding a playful, joyful touch to the occasion. The exchanges continue in the same convivial spirit, with each participant sharing their personal reading experience. Clara leads the discussion with care, making sure everyone has time to speak. For 2026, she has already planned a delightful new programme, including The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner, as well as Jane Austen’s Letters, recently translated into French (Finitude, 2025). Beyond the book club itself, a strong, supportive, and joyful friendship has taken shape, and these ladies have no desire to part ways.
The initiative is far from isolated. Across France, both in person and online, Jane Austen focused gatherings multiplied in 2025, alongside a growing presence on TikTok and Instagram, where Austen-inspired content is thriving. This evolution shows that, even as reading habits change, enthusiasm for books (particularly among Gen Z) continues to find new forms of expression in digital spaces. Recent figures released by the French Minister of Culture highlight this dynamic. Although overall reading time is declining, young readers remain deeply engaged in book-centred social media, forming active and cohesive communities, with Janeites among the most involved. France is well positioned to sustain this momentum, supported by its fixed book-price law, a strong network of over 3,000 independent bookstores, and nearly 16,000 libraries and media centres nationwide.
This is evident everywhere. Even in the smallest French bookshops, Jane Austen always appears under the letter A. This shows that while reading habits may be changing, literary curiosity remains strong, and the British icon continues to hold a special place. This attachment is also visible in person. According to Lizzie Dunford, director of the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton, after the locals, the most devoted visitors are French, a testament to the depth and lasting nature of their connection to Austen’s world.
Building on this long-standing fascination, it is worth remembering that French was the first language into which Jane Austen was translated, as early as 1813, with excerpts from Pride and Prejudice rendered by Baroness Isabelle de Montolieu. Unfortunately, early French readers often encountered Austen through imperfect translations. Many of the subtleties of the original text were lost in the process. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that Austen’s work received a renewed, attentive gaze. One landmark moment was in 1915, when Léonie Villard defended the first major academic dissertation in France on Jane Austen, titled Jane Austen, sa vie et son œuvre (1775‑1817). This pioneering work inaugurated the tradition of serious Austen scholarship in France, at a time when she was still little recognized in academic circles. Translations, particularly of Pride and Prejudice by Pierre Goubert, Béatrice Vierne, Sophie Chiari, Josette Chicheportiche and Françoise du Sorbier, gradually restored the nuance of Austen’s style, while publishers reintroduced her to a wider audience. Contemporary translations now emphasize fidelity: providing historical context, respecting Austen’s sharp irony, and remaining faithful to her period, far from earlier editions that had fallen into the public domain and were sometimes merely repackaged with pretty covers to sell.
Yet France still lacks translations of major critical works, such as those by Devoney Looser, Juliette Wells, Janet Todd or John Mullan. Biographies remain scarce: apart from Claire Tomalin’s or Fiona Stafford’s, the most popular works in the UK, like those by Paula Byrne or Lucy Worsley, have yet to appear in French. However, French-language critical works do exist, including a biography by Catherine Rihoit (Ecritures, 2018), as well as academic theses such as those by Lydia Martin (L’Harmattan, 2007) and Marie-Laure Massei-Chamayou (L’Harmattan, 2012).
It was really in the early 2000s that enthusiasm became a community. Television and cinema played a decisive role. While the 1995 BBC mini-series with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy sparked the famous international “Darcymania,” France was not immediately affected: the first broadcast remained relatively low-profile. Later, the success of the DVD, particularly following Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice (2005), allowed a broader audience to discover Austen. DVDs, distributed by Koba Films, specialists in British period dramas, proved highly successful.
Wright’s film attracted new generations and breathed fresh life into Austen’s novels, sometimes in a more contemporary and sensitive way. This resurgence inspired numerous online communities : blogs, fanfictions, podcasts and forums. Among the most active, sites like The Inn at Lambton and Whoopsy Daisy keep Austenian passion alive through discussions, analyses and shared resources. These platforms offer fans a space to exchange quotes, insights and evocative images, tracing a journey that stretches from Hampshire straight to the heart of the French-speaking world. Some creators also contribute to renewing the Austenian approach: Nathalie Novi and Fabrice Colin with Le Musée imaginaire de Jane Austen (Albin Michel, 2017), Victoria Bath with Austen Academy (J’ai Lu, 2025), Belgian author Lorie Forêt with her cosy mystery, Meurtres & Préjugés (Eyrolles, 2025), and film maker Laura Piani with Jane Austen Wrecked My Life (2025), a subtle fusion of Austenian spirit and contemporary concerns.
In 2025, French media spotlighted Jane Austen, publishing articles, interviews and features that celebrate her lasting influence, fuelling public interest. That year also saw the creation of the Société Jane Austen, presided over by Marie-Laure Massei-Chamayou, specialist of English literature at the Sorbonne, and me, co-author with Gwen Giret of Jane Austen – The Visual Encyclopedia (Titan Books, 2024). The society, born during an Austen symposium at the University of Nanterre and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, sprang from a group of enthusiasts eager to channel their shared passion into a structured framework, inspired by the Jane Austen Societies of the UK and the US.
The same year also brought a first for French audiences: the stage adaptation of Isobel McArthur’s play, Pride and Prejudice (sort of), translated by Belgian humorist Virginie Hocq and French university professor, Jean-Marc Victor. The production sold out every night at a major Parisian theatre, won several prestigious awards and is set to tour across France in 2026.
Today, fans of the francophone world have a wealth of ways to immerse themselves in Austen, from attending the Jane Austen Festival in Bath to taking historical dance classes in local amateur groups, such as Sur les pas de Jane Austen in the town of Ligueil. Riding this wave of enthusiasm, the Société Jane Austen will launch its own festival in Paris in June 2026: a weekend of meetings and lectures, culminating in a Regency picnic, costumes warmly encouraged!
Francophone admirers contribute their creativity and insight, engaging with Austen fans worldwide and asserting their voices as an influential presence in the global Austen community.
Claire Saim is an author, lecturer and cultural contributor passionate about British culture. She is the co-author, with Gwen Giret, of Jane Austen – L’Encyclopédie Visuelle (Hachette Heroes, 2023), translated into English (Titan Books, 2024) and Spanish (Lunwerg, 2024). She regularly delivers lectures, contributes to cultural events and participates in literary festivals. She is co-president of the Société Française Jane Austen, a long time contributor to the cultural webzine Onirik with over 5,000 published articles, and continues to work on a variety of projects related to Jane Austen.
