Jane Austen and Black Widow

For years, I had a Jane Austen action figure on a shelf in my office. She followed me to three companies in four different buildings. I originally received it as kind of a joke Christmas gift, but she remains one of my favorite possessions. Like the guys on Big Bang Theory, I left her in the box, which is now so old I am going to have to break down and finally take her out. As a publisher, I loved what she stood for. She bucked convention in a time that gentlewomen did not work. She declined to marry, although it left her poor and at the mercy of her brothers’ generosity. And, while she lived to see her books succeed, she could never have imagined the impact she would have on literature and society.

A few years ago, I received a Black Widow action figure. Black Widow is the superhero name of Natasha Romanoff, a former Russian spy and now a member of the Avengers in the Marvel comics and movies. I am a huge Marvel fan and could happily write ten blog posts about Marvel movies and the Avengers, but suffice it to say that Black Widow is my favorite Avenger.(Followed closely by Captain American and the Winter Soldier, but I digress.)

I loved working. I had a great career where I literally got to read for a living. Reading has always been the thing I did best. While I spent some of each day reading and working with manuscripts, I spent most of each day working with people. If Jane Austen represented my authors and the work that I did, Natasha Romanoff was my role model for all the rest. She is beautiful and strong. She is smart and funny. She can hold her own with the boys, (or Chitauri warriors, or sentient flying robots), but never stops being a fabulous woman.

She is deeply flawed and knows it, but works hard to be a better person and leave the world better. She is never afraid to get her hands dirty. But the thing I love best about Black Widow is that she is a team player.

Literally raised to be a spy and an assassin, she is a lone wolf who is capable of doing whatever it takes to achieve her objectives. But, when she becomes an Avenger, she becomes stronger because she is part of a team. I think about all the teams I got to be a part of. Endless titling meetings where ten people worked together to make sure a book had the right title and subtitle that would appeal to readers. Or sales conferences where everyone, from interns to vice-presidents, worked late into the night finalizing a presentation and dropping last minute covers into a PowerPoint. We knew none of this was going to save the world, but a few of those books really did make it better.

I sometimes wondered what impression people had when they came into my office. What kind of executive has Black Widow sitting on her top shelf? I am surprised that so few people mentioned it. Perhaps no one noticed or thought it was too odd to mention. Maybe they found it childish or off-putting. That was fine. I had her, and Jane, there for me. One was a real person and the other a fictional character, but they reminded me every day what can happen when a woman believes in herself, empowers her team, and does her best.