Laurie Viera Rigler, BA '79

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict 

Laurie Viera Rigler’s, BA ’79 first novel indulges an obsession—not for alcohol, gambling or men who don’t love enough, but for that most-proper chronicler of manners and mores, Jane Austen.  The result, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, careens through the experiences of a 21st-century woman who wakes up one morning to find herself inexplicably living in 1813 England.

Rigler’s route to her novel was, as she describes it, “long and circuitous.”  After graduating from UB with a degree in classics, she became a peer counselor for survivors of domestic violence.  A U-turn took her into film and television, where, among other things, she produced short films and wrote screenplays.  Though she loved the work, she sensed real creative freedom would come in writing books.  That realization led to another turn.  Rigler began contributing to and co-authoring non-fiction works with titles like Popping the Question—Real Life Stories of Marriage Proposals From the Romantic to the Bizarre and He Rents, She Rents: The Ultimate Guide to the Best Women’s Films and Guy Movies, co-written with Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper fame. 

Two loves come together 

In the midst of all that writing, Rigler discovered her talent for editing others’ writing and started getting referrals for freelance editing work.  Today, her editing credits number in the dozens, focused on genres like memoir, true crime and literary fiction.

Through her career shifts, Rigler’s passion for her favorite author stayed constant.  She’s read all Austen’s novels at least a dozen times—“some 20 times”—and is a board member and webmaster of the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Southwest Region.  “Austen’s books are guides on how to live one’s life,” says Rigler.  “Human nature has not changed in 200 years, and that’s why Austen is so popular: She offers insights into human nature that are timeless.”  Several years ago, Rigler hatched the idea for Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict:  “One day, I was standing in my kitchen,” she says, “and the opening of my book just came into my mind.”

The perfect procastination 

The book’s completion involved intensive research.  Rigler’s time at UB, she feels, served her well during the work:  “UB taught me to love research.  I was a nerdy student who loved to spend hours in the library,” she recalls, laughing.  “That’s just stayed with me; it’s my favorite method of procrastination.”  The foundation of Rigler’s research was her intimate knowledge of Austen’s writing.  She’d also read Austen’s letters and books about the time period.  Subsequent study focused on things Jane Austen didn’t write about, often the minutiae of daily life.  Rigler read more books, visited London, Bath and English country villages, contacted experts with specific questions, and more.

The process of creation was not truly linear, Rigler explains.  “I was researching and writing at same time. The story drove my research, but sometimes research had an effect on story.  Even in final revisions, I was still making sure of details.”  Some of her findings surprised her.  One might guess, based on movie portrayals, that dancing at the time wasn’t flirtatious or offered a real workout.  Not true, Rigler says:  “I did some English country dancing, and it’s real exercise.  I also discovered that in a repressed society where men and women can’t be alone together, and courtship was conducted under the eyes of everyone else, dancing was very sexy.  That was how courtship and flirtation happened.” 

Rigler had a fellow member of the Jane Austen Society read the last two drafts to “make sure I got everything right.”  The prospect of sending the completed book out and having it rejected made finishing her novel the hardest part of the undertaking.  However, “many, many drafts” later and six years after her kitchen epiphany, Rigler got an agent and publisher.  Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict will be on bookstore shelves shortly.  “I hope people read it,” says Rigler, “because it’s fun to read and an exploration of the nature of time and an homage to my favorite writer.  Ultimately, I hope it interests people in reading Jane Austen.”

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict is published by Dutton.  Visit Janeaustenaddict.com for more details. 

--Grace Lazzara, July 2007

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