Jan Freeman writes The Word column for Ideas.
Joshua Glenn is a Boston-based writer, editor, and multimedia
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Christopher Shea writes the Critical Faculties column for Ideas.
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« Talkfest: Blogging and identity | Main | Biblical literacy » Monday, March 26, 2007Plain Jane?Last year, I wrote an Ideas item about an exhibit of "Jane Eyre" book covers and movie posters. Though Eyre describes herself in Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel as "plain" and "Quakerish," over the years she's been reimagined by publishers and marketers as a Gibson girl, a 1940s starlet, and a romantic pre-Raphaelite type, among other things. Now comes the news that another 19th-century Jane is getting an extreme makeover. According to a story in The Guardian, novelist Jane Austen is being dolled up by the publisher Wordsworth Editions. "Jane Austen wasn't very good looking," explained Helen Trayler, the publisher's managing director. "She's the most inspiring, readable author, but to put her on the cover wouldn't be very inspiring at all. It's just a bit off-putting."  For the cover of a new edition of an Austen biography, Wordsworth has taken the portrait of Austen that hangs in England's National Portrait Gallery (talk about plain and Quakerish) and Photoshopped it to remove the author's nightcap, and to give her make-up and hair extensions. Here's what she looks like now:  Via Design Observer Posted by Joshua Glenn at 12:55 PM
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