It is a well-known, if not widely-discussed, fact that fans of Jane Austen in general and Pride and Prejudice in particular fall into two loose groups: those who study them from a scholarly perspective and those who read the books (and often watch the films made from them) purely for pleasure. This is, of course, an overgeneralization; there is a large middle ground that the vast majority of Janeites occupy, but one cannot deny that the scholarly group has produced most of the publications about Jane Austen and her work. However, in this age of miniseries and films and fiction based upon Jane’s work and life, and in the face of a new film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, it is not wonderful that a different kind of take on the novel might emerge; one that does not ignore the novel’s relationship with pop culture but wallows in it. Does Flirting With Pride and Prejudice break startling new ground or present a new common wisdom? No; however, it is an eclectic and very modern take on a 200-year-old book that is perhaps better loved today than at the time of its publication.

The authors of the pieces are mostly writers of genre fiction, representing romance, science fiction and the perhaps inevitable subgenre of chick lit. There is even a former writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and let’s face it, a lot of Janeites are also Buffy fans, at least amongst our acquaintance). Some of the writers present fairly high-powered academic credentials, though we doubt one would see their names on the list of speakers at an AGM. The results are mixed; much like any academic journal or collection of scholarly papers dedicated to Jane Austen’s work, we enjoyed some of the pieces, some made us roll our eyes and skim the pages, and some made us send an angry barrage of e-mails to our Janeite acquaintance, complaining that they just don’t GET IT!

The pieces are generally short — we read the book mostly during our twice-a-day train commute and found it most conducive to consumption in half-hour bits — and vary between the earnestly serious and the completely silly, both from a positive and negative standpoint. We particularly enjoyed Adam Roberts’ “Jane Austen and the Masturbating Critic.” The title is a rip on an infamously provocative and much-discussed scholarly paper, and the piece is a dialogue between an academic (male) and a romance-novel reader (female), each endeavouring to overcome pride and, er, prejudice, with amusingly predictable results. We also liked Joyce Millman’s take on P&P as a reality show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest and incorporating elements of several reality shows, from THE BACHELOR to FEAR FACTOR (”Lady Catherine, please pass the sheep’s eyeballs”).

There is also an “Untold Stories” section, in which several of the authors present fictional takes on the novel. We especially liked Mercedes Lackey’s melding of P&P and her own Elemental Masters series, though it had almost nothing to do with Pride and Prejudice, and a story about Georgiana written by Jane Espinson, the aforementioned Buffy staff writer (no vampyres, never fear; not even Lady Catherine). Melissa Senate contributed a modern-set take on Charlotte Lucas’ story that is entirely convincing, and Cheryl Sawyer’s “Lord Byron and Miss A” is as delicious as it is improbable.

Some of the pieces are so lightweight they are easily dismissed, and there is a distressing tendency by some of the authors to defend their particular genre by pointing out that it is just like! Jane Austen, a claim that is tenuous at best and borderline offensive at worst. We also wished, by the end, that some of the contributors either acknowledged or at least seemed to be aware that Jane Austen wrote five other books that were pretty good, too.

Our favorite piece was the last in the book, written by Karen Joy Fowler, the author of The Jane Austen Book Club. As we are on public record as finding Ms. Fowler’s novel hugely delightful, perhaps there is an element of prejudice in our reading, but no great harm. Ms. Fowler’s piece is a rambling but erudite discussion of why Jane Austen’s novels remain enjoyable to a modern audience, and to individuals throughout their lifetime, though she hastens to add that she will not tell us how we should read Austen: “That project has been well in hand for more than a hundred years. Surely no one else’s fans have been scolded so often for so long over the wrong-headed ways they love her. Even Austen herself has been appropriated for this project. She would be so ashamed of you, her fans are told. You’d embarrass her.”

Ms. Fowler shows a most Austen-like ability to skewer with a few pointed words. Her victims include Mark Twain, whinging about P&P and Jane’s shinbone: “Samuel, Samuel. Stop rereading the damn book.” (Ha!) And we suspect she speaks for many of us when she says, “Let me go on record as someone who dislikes the fixing of Austen.” Heed this, Hollywood, if you heed nothing else.

Overall, Flirting is a mixed bag, and we suspect that while many Janeites will enjoy it, many others will be disappointed with the frothy pop culture sweetness of it all. But it makes no claims to solemn depths; as the editor, Jennifer Crusie, wrote in her introduction, “Clearly, this is not an anthology of Studies on the Work. It’s more of a series of Dates with Jane, where some writers were serious about her, some were looking for a good time and some, frankly, took advantage of her.” But Ms. Crusie also points out that the sweetness won’t rot your teeth, either. “In one hundred and ninety-three years of wear, tear and academic assaults, not to mention countless adaptations, Pride and Prejudice has remained unchanged, except that Darcy now looks like Colin Firth.” Well, perhaps not for all of us, but no matter what, we’ll always have the book: the academics, the readers-for-pleasure, and all of us in between.

Flirting With Pride and Prejudice is available from the BenBella Books Web site and most online merchants.