Pratchett's Entish Bow

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Child of the 7th Age

[I believe there is an existing fanfiction which sets up Austen's world as the home turf of the hobbits. (That sounds different from what you've broght forward, but it does show how parody seems to thrive in this context.) I'm not sure if that story is on this site or I read it somewhere else. I've always felt there were certain humorous similarities between Tolkien's Shire and Austen's shire both in terms of human/hobbit foibles and the general tone of things.

I hate to admit it but I am one of those people who reread at least one Jane Austen annually. If I remember correctly, Bb is not crazy about Miss Austen so she might be cheering on the orcs when they make that attack!

Sort of at sixes and sevens about Austen. Her humour and irony are spot on and loads of fun--and Northhanger Abby is a hoot--but one wishes her targets were a bit wider afield sometimes. All that wit and cleverness expended upon high tea!
I would love to have seen her sink her nib into targets more akin to Melkor and even orcs! On the other hand, I'd love to hand out her novels as awards to those who focus solely on Mary and Gary Sues.

Still, to consider her England and The Shire is intriguing. She objected to the "improvements" of the English countryside and the expenditure of land to the growing of pineapples, so it's not such a fanciful consideration. Certainly she's got more in common with Tolkien than, say, Fielding, and he was a moralist too.