Following Austen

S&S review

I didn't love Sense & Sensibility.  Ugh.  I mean, I enjoyed it as a casual tv viewer, but not as an Austen fan.  I got this email from a friend yesterday which summarized my thoughts exactly:

We only watched part of S&S, and it was okay. I was disappointed in Edward (too self-assured), Willoughby (not good-looking enough and slightly creepy) and Col. Brandon (definitely creepy). And I feel like Andrew Davies is losing his touch -- he stole so many things from Emma Thompson's version (including Fanny's weird hair).

Edward was energetic and enthusiastic and confident -- I think he could have easily read poetry in such a way that pleased Marianne.  Willoughby was creepy.  I thought the scene at the beginning was unnecessary and actually confusing, because you didn't know who it was.  Mrs. Dashwood is not nearly emotional enough -- according to the book, Marianne gets her emotional tendencies from her mom.  And Davies seemed to steal an awful lot from Emma Thompson!  Like Margaret in the library on the floor, and playing outside with Edward while Elinor watches.  And why, oh why, change the story so that Marianne actually likes Brandon a bit at the beginning?  That changes everything.  I also thought Austen's language had been deliberately dumbed down.

I'm looking forward to Sunday night, but to me this feels like a lesser adaptation of Emma Thompson's wonderful version.

Win a copy of Becoming Jane!

Ms. Place at Jane Austen Today is running another icon contest to give away a copy of the Becoming Jane DVD.  The last one was wonderful!  Can't wait to see what you all create for this one.  Limit two icons per person.  You have until midnight, February 27 to enter.  Read all the details here.  There are already some lovely entries.

Karen Joy Fowler interview

There's a lovely interview with Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club, over at Tina Ann Forkner's blog.  She actually even mentions A Walk with Jane. (!) I was absolutely gobsmacked and thrilled when Karen took time to read my manuscript and gave us an endorsement.  I can't imagine how busy she is -- the fact that she was willing to do that -- and liked it!! -- just meant so much to me.  What a gift.

Wonderful interview, and I can't wait to read her new book, Wit's End.  She mentions T.H. White's Once and Future King -- that's one that's been on my list to read.  Have you read it?

A few snippets:

Karen Joy Fowler: (on including Grigg in her book) Austen is one of our greatest writers. Why wouldn’t a man be interested in reading her? This paradigm in which women read books by and about men, but men refuse to read books by and about women irritates me. The men I like best are not so narrow in their interests. The men I like best are the ones I put in my books.

SPV: There are many movie versions of Jane Austen’s novels. Do you think these are good substitutes for those who don’t have time to read the novels?

Karen Joy Fowler: The movies reduce the ways in which Austen can be understood, often promoting the romance over all other aspects of the books. So no, there are movie versions I quite like (and movie versions I quite loathe) but Austen is, first and foremost, about voice and narration and these are the things you immediately lose when you turn a book into a movie. I go to all the movie versions myself, but they are no substitute for the books, which make you feel as if you’ve spent some intimate time with Austen herself.  (. . .)

Regretful Jane

I watched Miss Austen Regrets last night.  I think I liked it.  I'm not entirely sure.  The truth is, it's stressful to me to see someone attempt to put Jane on screen--I feel a bit protective of her. 

I have a hard time believing that Jane lived with that level of regret.  I love Olivia Williams, and I think she did a great job, but I didn't think the production captured the great energy and joy that I see in Jane's letters.

There was much that was accurate, although I need to go back and review the details.  Harris Bigg-Wither did propose, and Jane did accept him and then change her mind the following morning.  He was apparently awkward and stuttered, and there wasn't any love there.  He went on to marry someone else and have a large family, and the whole thing seems to have been largely forgotten.  Jane and Cassandra went on being dear friends with his sisters.

The character of Brook Bridges was based on Brook-Edward Bridges (who would have gone by Edward).  He was the younger brother of Jane's brother Edward's wife Elizabeth.  We don't know much about Edward Bridges, except that he was an Anglican priest, and Jane ran into him a bit when she visited her brother's family.  There's a reference in one of Jane's letters that makes it seem like he could have proposed at one point, but all we know for certain is that he ordered "toasted cheese" one evening for dinner "entirely on [Jane's] account."  Austen expert Deirdre Le Faye believes that if there was a proposal, Jane "had no difficulty in politely rejecting" it.  [Jane Austen: A Family Record, 150]

There are references in Jane's letters to Charles Haden, the doctor, but I don't believe there's any indication of serious feelings or of a rivalry between her and Fanny.  (Of course, as they depicted, Cassandra burned most of the letters, so much of this is conjecture and imagination.)

They used so many quotes directly from Austen's letters and writing, which was wonderful and also a bit distracting. I kept thinking about where the quotes came from.  I felt like they were taking lots of little gems and stringing them all together in a way that wasn't entirely natural.  And many of the conversations just wouldn't have happened.  Jane was so incredibly reserved with her brother Edward (appropriate to the time).  I don't think he would have chastised her--at least not openly--for not marrying Harris Bigg-Wither.  Edward was known, as well, for being incredibly kind.  I think, if anything, he would have grieved the added stress to his family as a result of the lawsuits (which were eventually resolved in his favor after several years) rather than striking out at them.

Dashing Henry (who was actually tall and good looking) did go bankrupt, and all of this was happening at the same time.  It's presumed that the stress made Jane's illness worse, and most now believe that she had Addison's disease, though no one knows for sure.

I'd love to know what you thought.  My biggest complaint is that Jane comes across as so much happier than that in her letters.  I don't think her energy and joy for life was so diminished by past regrets.

Some thoughts on Mansfield Park

I was debating about whether to post this now or wait until Sunday, but my thoughts on Mansfield Park have been posted over on the PBS.org blog, Remotely Connected.  I was thrilled to be asked to do this.  Check it out now, or wait until Sunday night and weigh in with your own opinion.

Fanny Price is a ninny.  (Forgive me, dear Jane.)  I’ve tried to like her and I can’t.

When I was first asked to blog about Mansfield Park, the editor mentioned that she saw “such similarity” between me and Fanny. I had to stop to consider whether or not that was an insult. (...)

Sweet Northanger

So what did you think of Northanger Abbey?  I have to confess that I watched a screening copy last week, along with Mansfield Park (which I'll be blogging on this week for PBS's Remotely Connected), and now they're all getting confused in my little brain. 

I loved it, though.  Catherine was sweet, Henry was sweetly sarcastic, Isabella was sweetly evil, Eleanor Tilney was elegant and good, and John Thorpe was absolutely creepy and horrid.  If everything didn't exactly follow the book, I thought they kept the spirit of it, and I'm thrilled to have an adaptation of this little-adapted novel.

Of course, Andrew Davies wove in a bit of latent (and at times not-so-latent) sexuality.  Catherine seemingly longing to be ravaged by outlaws and villains was a bit silly.  In the book she has an air of complete innocence, and is silly enough on her own.  Apparently there was a bath scene which was cut out of the PBS version -- not entirely sure about that.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing it again. And I hope it will introduce tons of people to this fun little book, which they likely haven't read. Would love to know your thoughts.

Seems like we all had the same reaction to Persuasion.  And yes, I thought that, too, that Anne's sister Mary reminded me of Molly Shannon.  Did a bit of a double-take.

This week -- my absolute least favorite Austen novel:  Mansfield Park.

Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland.  ©ITV plc (Granada International) for Masterpiece™

Were you Persuaded?

Ack!  I don't know how it's been two months since I posted.  (Actually, it was the holidays, and a relapse of that darn Lyme disease, and having some work done on my house...)

There's so much I want to tell you, but I have to start with PBS's Persuasion last night.  What did you think?

I have to say, I can't imagine anything more fun than a whole series of Austen films on Sunday nights for months to come.  (In case you didn't know, I'm a complete Austen nerd.  As if the book and blogs don't give that away.) So, kudos to Masterpiece for giving us this Austen celebration in the midst of a particularly barren tv season.

I really wanted to love this new adaptation, but didn't.  I was watching with a bad headache, so perhaps that's partially to blame, but I think my biggest complaint was simply how rushed everything was.  There were big pieces of the story that were only hinted at as a result.  I think the thing is, I love the one with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds so much, it would have taken a lot to shift my loyalties.

I'm particularly difficult to please when it comes to Austen, I guess.  And I think it may not be possible to do justice to Persuasion in an hour and twenty minutes.  Kudos to them for filming so much in Bath, rather than finding another location to substitute.  I liked Rupert Penry-Jones, and thought the cast was fine (if Mary was a bit annoying I thought it was an interesting portrayal of her ridiculous self), I just would have liked more of a chance to get to know them as their characters.

On the other hand, I heard from a friend who's new to Austen that they were moved by it, which made me happy.  The whole series could help attract a new generation of Austen fans to her writing.  As Martha would say, that's a Good Thing.

How about you -- were you Persuaded?  Check out Ms. Place's review on the PBS blog Remotely Connected.

Looking forward to next week and Northanger Abbey.

Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot. ©Nick Briggs/Clerkenwell Films for Masterpiece™