The Guardian

The Observer view on Jane Austen’s immortality | Observer editorial

Two centuries after her death, her influence is still felt
WINCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 18: People in period costume pose with one of the Bank of England's new ten pound notes, featuring British author Jane Austen, during its unveiling at Winchester Cathedral on July 18, 2017 in Winchester, England. Two hundred years after Jane Austen's death, Britain is celebrating one of its best-loved authors, who combined romance with biting social commentary that still speaks to fans around the world. Austen is buried in the cathedral in Winchester, where she died. (Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe-Pool/Getty Images)

Jane Austen, who died 200 years ago last Tuesday, has been enjoying an impressively vigorous afterlife. First, as an icon of her gender, there has been her controversial debut on the new £10 note, an appearance that sent some indignant Jane-ites into “Airbrushed”, they cried; “inauthentic”, they snorted.

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