Though determined to break away from the trappings of his mother’s calling, Scheinman has nonetheless penned a love letter to Austen superfandom, and with it a documentation of this fascinating literary bailiwick ... Camp Austen is a vivid and absorbing book. But don’t let its whimsical cover fool you: this is a solid work of literary scholarship and affecting biography as much as it is a fun romp of memoir and laugh-out-loud reportage. Readers unversed in the Austen canon will inevitably miss some of the cleverer references, but that is to be expected. The triumph of Camp Austen, however, is that there is something here for all readers, whether devoted Janeites, curious neophytes, or those of us just showing up for the clotted cream and costumes.

While Scheinman is clearly an astute reader of Austen—he includes numerous analyses of Austen’s life and work that are insightful and often quite funny—this is also a fascinating window into a man’s experience in a largely female realm. Scheinman is a wonderful guide to the world of Austen, and this honest and thoughtful discussion of the role Austen’s works have played in his family will delight any Janeite.

Eventually, Scheinman begins to worry he's a bit of a fraud, someone who's given a pass because he fills out a pair of breeches ... But his tone throughout the book is anything but melancholy; his depiction of 'Austenworld' glows with affection and insight, and his asides about the Austen canon itself are uniformly thought-provoking. Camp Austen may not prompt most readers to don their best topcoats and taffeta, but it will certainly send them hurrying back to the novels, to savor again what Scheinman refers to as a world displaced in time.

True to his scholarly roots, Scheinman provides insightful Austen literary criticism and review throughout essays that flit back and forth between Scheinman’s childhood, studies, and the graduate work that ultimately brought him, wool-breeches-clad, to the Jane Austen Summer Camp. He genuinely and completely immerses the reader in his world of fielding bonnet-wearing women of all ages?—?eager to scribble his name on their dance cards?—?while he never forgets his scholarly (though thankfully unpretentious) ways, providing for the fervent reader a close examination of the finer points of Austen’s writing. That remains a key characteristic of Scheinman’s work, one I thoroughly enjoyed: the candor and earnestness with which he writes. This is not only a humorous essay collection regarding the times Scheinman accidentally ended up as Mr. Darcy, performing for a crowd of hundreds at the behest of his mother, and under the watchful eye of Austenworld’s most highly esteemed critics. This is also a dialogue on the subtext of Austen, including examinations on gender dynamics, wit, familial hierarchies, inheritance, and rules of civility ... Even if you can’t stay long in Austenworld, once you witness its 'frenzied love,' you can’t ever really leave it behind for good. Jane Austen is for everyone, and everyone who’s anyone loves Austen, even if he comes by that love charmingly and accidentally.

In this lively debut, Scheinman expertly captures the most memorable moments from the year and a half that he spent 'in the world of Jane Austen fandom' ... This is a loving and often humorous tribute to the Janeites of the world.

A light and frothy tour of Austenworld and its Janeites ... In his witty, sly, and often humorous first book, Scheinman discusses his time as a graduate student when one of his graduate professors decided to hold the first-ever Jane Austen Summer Camp ... Scheinman picks and pokes a little here and there, but he admits it’s 'some of the best and cleanest fun available to an academic.' A pleasing divertissement for Austen fans everywhere.