Reception history of Jane Austen a responsible land-owner taking care of his family's ancient estate and Emma Woodhouse symbolising wealth cut off from any sort of social role. David Kaufmann in his 1992 essay "Propriety and the Law" argued that Austen was a classical liberal in the mold of Adam Smith, who felt that virtue was best exercised in the private sphere of the family life rather than in the public sphere of politics. Kaufmann rejected the claim that Austen was influenced by Edmund Burke, arguing that for Austen, virtue was not something passed down from time immemorial from a landed elite as Burke would
Jane Austen in popular culture West-End style musical theatre production based on the life of Jane Austen. The musical, directed by Geetika Lizardi, focuses on Austen as a modern heroine, a woman who chose art and integrity over the security of a loveless marriage. Jane Austen features as an amateur sleuth in Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen series of historical mystery novels. Kate Beaton, cartoonist of webcomic "Hark! A Vagrant", devoted one of her comic strips to Jane Austen. Jane Austen (voiced by Eden Riegel) is revealed as the narrator of 2013's "Saints Row IV" in a bonus cutscene, and the game's antagonist Zinyak reads the