Romance Re-Scripted: Lost in Austen's comparative historical analysis of post-feminist culture

This paper argues that the British television drama serial Lost in Austen implicitly constructs a critical analysis of post-feminism. Firstly, it will argue that its complex narrative structure (travelling from contemporary London to the pages of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) allows its female protagonist to ask important questions about the nature and relevance of feminism today. In particular, it enables it to rediscover feminist history in an attempt to reconnect it to a generation of young women who have arguably lost sight of its continuing significance. Secondly, it implicitly positions traditional romantic fiction as a cultural antidote to an overly sexualised post-feminist culture, one that continues to objectify the female subject while making young women complicit in their own oppression. In doing so, it arguably offers a critical evaluation of post-feminism while reinventing the emotional power of traditional romantic discourse for a contemporary age.