Review: Camp Austen: My Life as an Accidental Jane Austen Superfan

Reviewed by Ann Beman

Camp Austen: My Life as an Accidental Jane Austen Superfan
Nonfiction by Ted Scheinman
FSG Originals, March 2018
$14; 176 pp.
ISBN-13: 978-0865478213

“Some are born Janeites, some achieve Janeism, and some have Janeism thrust upon them.” Ted Scheinman’s case accounts for all three. The author experiences the serendipity of studying at UNC Chapel Hill at the precise moment his academic adviser hits on the idea of  “Jane Austen Summer Camp.” Who better to help launch this four-day gathering of quasi-academics and civilian Austen fans than a grad student who happens to be the son of a preeminent Austen scholar?

In 160 pages, broken into five linked essays, Scheinman weaves analysis of Austen’s work with personal memoir about his time in a universe of rabid literary fandom. “What began as satire,” he confesses, “progressed through sentiment and ended somewhere between the two.”  He admits to “feeling sometimes like an anthropologist and other times like an embedded reporter.” This approach succeeds. The book achieves a tone of wit and charm — most of the time — as when the author is describing his own cosplay experience as Mr. Darcy. When he agrees to help organize the camp, he’s set to perform mainly clerical duties. “But there were more flamboyant duties, too,” he confides. “I would need to be fitted for Regency breeches.” Turns out there aren’t a lot of young men available to play the requisite role of Darcy, and in that role, a young man can’t escape the need to wear tights.

Note that Scheinman subtitles his compelling portrait of Janeism: My Life as an ‘Accidental’ Jane Austen Superfan. It’s to his credit — and the book’s credit — that he never claims to be a “reluctant” superfan. He openly, willingly commits to his brief but transformative role in this hardcore literary fan club. That’s what makes Camp Austen, as Jane herself might say, “good company.”

Ann Beman has been writing a book about thumbs forever. She lives in California’s Sierra Nevada with her husband, two whatchamaterriers and a chihuahua in Kernville, on the Kern River, in Kern County (cue the banjoes).