Category: Jane Austen

Jane Austen · Movies

Random Thoughts on Lost in Austen

Janeite Kelly3 Comments

A friend, Kate in Norfolk (England), has been telling about Lost in Austen. She is such a witty and charming letter writer! Kate now allows us to post her comments. A few small spoilers might get mentioned along the way, so be warned:

Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2008
We have a new TV series here – Lost in Austen. Recorded the first part last night but haven’t seen it yet. The clips look lovely. It is something to do with a modern girl being transported back in time in a fictional way and living with the Bennets. I will report more in due course. Costumes etc. looked good.

Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008
You must tell them about our new TV series. I have seen the first episode now. It is quite fun as obviously the heroine is a 21st century girl and so there is the fish-out-of-water amusement. I am enjoying Mr Bennet played by Hugh Bonneville. He just seems mildly perplexed by all the women around him but largely ignores them. He also winds them up whenever possible! Mrs Bennet has been treated in a very interesting way. She is like a mad chicken. However, it becomes clear that the 21st century girl has caught Mr Bingley’s eye and she is incandescent with rage that her daughters have been bypassed. She takes the girl aside at one point and is really vicious, practically threatens her with violence if she doesn’t stand aside! The viewer would turn against her at this point I think, I was quite shocked at this display. However, this does open up some interesting considerations. Mr Bennet – does he care that once he is dead and gone his daughters will suffer financially etc. He seems determined to have a peaceful life and ignore what will happen after his death because then it won’t affect him….is he inherently selfish? Does he have his head in the sand? Does this mean that Mrs Bennet has had to take onto her shoulders all the worries about the future and her daughters’ happiness? So is she then a rather good mother doing her best for her family? She certainly seems driven by desperation, and events later in the book confirm this I think. What the TV show will do I can’t say! Elizabeth is stuck in the 21st century but we have seen nothing of her yet – maybe tonight’s episode…

Date: Sat 13 Sep 2008
I do agree that if you label anything with Jane Austen it will sell! That is why we have our strange time travelling Lost in Austen I guess. I have seen the second part now and we still don’t know how Elizabeth Bennet is managing in modern times. I am still undecided about the whole thing. Modern Heroine borrows clothes when she goes to balls but doesn’t put her hair up – there is no way she would have got away with that. There is a lot of suspension of belief necessary! Now Jane has married Mr Collins despite Modern Heroine having previously engaged herself to him in order to try and protect the Bennet girls. Modern heroine is extremely annoyed that the plot of P&P is not being adhered to and when she sees Bingley at the church looking on in horror as the wedding takes place she marches up to him and remonstrates with him for listening to Darcy’s reservations about the Bennets. She says:
“Badly done, Bingley, badly done”! So that amused me as I wondered how many viewers would recognise it!
Must stop telling you the plot in case you get to see it one day. Didn’t know it was based on a book – will have to investigate. I do have to say that Mr Darcy has smouldered in a very successful way!

Date: Mon 15 Sep 2008
Well, please feel free to use my Lost in Austen comments as you see fit! It is going down quite well over here. The acting is generally very good. I do like little Mary Bennet, they have made her almost a caricature with specs and a little plain face but she looks really sweet to me. Modern Heroine has already told Wickham that she knows all about him so he has spread gossip everywhere to the effect that her father is a fishmonger! People are rapidly backing away and making fishy comments! She keeps going back to the attic where there is a (firmly locked) “door” to her world, where Elizabeth is. She calls through to Elizabeth who fails to answer – “It’s all going tits up, Elizabeth” she yells. And she has kneed Mr Collins in the balls at a ball. It is almost as if you are reading the book and when you hate the very idea of Mr Collins, Modern Heroine assaults him for you! My mother is not yet convinced that the concept works.

Date: Thurs 18 Sep 2008
I have another Lost in Austen to watch and admit I am now hooked. The conversation is quite witty:
Modern Heroine upon sighting Wickham: “Oh No! You keep away from me Wickham, I know you”.
Wickham, perplexed: “But, Madam, I haven’t had the pleasure…”
Modern Heroine stomping off: “Get used to that”.
I think the series will bear a second watch because sometimes the conversation is fast and whilst chuckling at early chatter, later witticisms can be missed. I am now wondering whether they can do this for other novels! Imagine the Modern Heroine telling Marianne to buck up or advising Emma to stop interfering!

Date: Fri 19 Sep 2008
Yes, please do what you like with the Lost in Austen comments – I am quite happy for you put them on the blog. Apparently the viewing figures have fallen off possibly because the series doesn’t work if you don’t know P&P quite well. You need to know why Modern Heroine is unfriendly to Wickham and warns Lydia to stay away for instance. Best scene this episode is the meeting with Lady Catherine who instructs her daughter to sit next to Modern Heroine at dinner as it will do her good to learn to converse with those with whom she has nothing in common. Such strange plots twists now (Wickham didn’t seduce Darcy’s sister, twas the other way round!) that I can only assume it will all turn out to have been a dream in a shower a la Dallas. Which could make sense actually as the “time travel” occurred in Modern Heroine’s bathroom which is where we last saw Elizabeth. I am very happy with the casting of this series by the way. Jane could be a bit prettier but she is very delicate looking and has big frightened eyes (tho as she is now married to hideous Collins that is understandable; incidentally, he is on a celibacy kick (thank goodness) so she is as yet untouched so obviously there will be a plot device to send her into Bingley’s arms). Mr and Mrs B are great – Mr B very funny. Mary and Kitty moan that they are not in society like their Mother and Lydia and Mr B says that those two are quite enough for society has enough to cope with at the moment. Darcy, at first, seemed a bit odd, but have grown to like him (where have I heard that before!) – quite handsome. Mr Collins is foul so that works well! Miss Bingley is very snooty and conniving but in quite a witty and intelligent way. They all have such marvellous conversation and condescension.

More to come, as the series continues and concludes. Thanks, Kate!

BTW: here’s the Internet Movie Database link; ITV’s link; and author Emma Campbell Webster‘s page at Penguin.US and her own website.

Books · Jane Austen · News

Round-up…all things Austen, week of Sept. 14…

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Lots out there this week, much about Lost in Austen (which I have not yet watched…oh woe is me!), and a few other tidbits of interest…

Fashion on Main, an exhibit at the University of Texas; see the site for a search-able database of the collection (though the “search” feature is under construction; you can browse the site), and references to other fashion resources.

 And more on fashion in the time of Marie Antoinette, read this post on the Queen’s modist (clothing creator) at the Paper Crown Queen Blog, where there is a host of information and pictorials on crowns.

And the ongoing saga of “Lost in Austen” and the many reviews and opinions thereof:  see Austenblog for its usual candid round-up of comments, and also today for Episode 3, and Jane Austen’s World Blog for a nice review of Episode 2, and another review at Austenprose.

See the Times-Picayune (LA) write-up of a Jane Austen Festival in Mandeville, LA on September 13 (alas! I missed it!….but there is another in March, so put it on your calendar if you happen to be in Louisiana): an Austen “Regency Revisited” Day at the Mandeville Trailhead Pavilion.  Organizers of the Jane Austen Festival host a morning of music, dancing, a fashion show and workshop, 10 a.m.-1. Period dancing with free lessons begins, at 10 a.m. The public is invited to bring costumes/outfits/accessories and experts will demonstrate how to convert them into Regency style apparel, appropriate for the festival in March. Free. For details, visit http://www.janeaustenfestival.org/. or call 985.624.5683.

And here is a journalist from the Herald.ie  who has had it with adaptations of classic literature, especially Austen “who has colonised television in a way that no other dead author has managed.”  But alas!  she informs the reader that the gorgeous Rupert Penry-Jones of Spooks (MI-5 in the U.S.) and the ITV Persuasion, will play in a new television version of John Buchan’s oft-filmed The Thirty-Nine Steps.  Can’t wait!

Austenprose continues to offer us the journaling of Virginia Claire Tharrington, the intern at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath:  see her first post and this week’s.  We are all SO envious!

Jane Odiwe tells of her newest book being published by Sourcebooks next year:  Mrs. Brandon’s Invitation, a sequel to Sense & Sensibility.

Several reviews of Marsha Altman’s The Darcys and the Bingleys, are sited at Austenprose; see Jane Austen Today for an interview with the author.

An article in Piecework Magazine is mentioned on Austenblog; also see the comment from the current President of JASNA, Marsha Huff, referencing a Persuasions article on the coverlet that Jane Austen, Cassandra and their mother made (the quilt now hangs in Chawton), so you, too, can make a replica of this quilt.  [See also my previous reference to the JASA article on this topic.]

Ms. Place at JA’s World continues the column with Marjorie Gilbert and her creation of a regency gown… this week is about the necessary regency undergarments.

Excellent sleuthing by Laurel Ann at Austenprose who writes “The Legend of the Lost Sequel“, about the publishing history of D.A. Bonavia-Hunt’s Pemberely Shades.  

See the article in the Western Daily Press about the Crazy for Jane movie premiere at the Bath JA Festival. The documentary tells the tale of contemporary publishers rejection of Jane Austen novels…shame on them!

Books · Jane Austen · News

Another Austen sequel

BookLady Deb5 Comments

In some random searching today I discovered that come December, there will be yet another Austen sequel in the mix.   Titled The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet: a Novel, the book is by Colleen McCullough of Thorn Birds fame and will be published by Simon & Schuster.  You can pre-order it at Amazon.  [note that it will be published in Australia in early October by HarperCollins…read their synopsis and pre-order here.]

Lizzy Bennet married Mr Darcy, Jane Bennet married Mr Bingley – but what became of the middle daughter, Mary? Discover what came next in the lives and loves of Jane Austen’s much loved Bennet family in this Pride and Prejudice spin-off from an international bestselling author Readers of Pride and Prejudice will remember that there were five Bennet sisters. Now, twenty years on, Jane has a happy marriage and large family; Lizzy and Mr Darcy now have a formidable social reputation; Lydia has a reputation of quite another kind; Kitty is much in demand in London’s parlours and ballrooms; but what of Mary? Mary is quietly celebrating her independence, having nursed her ailing mother for many years. She decides to write a book to bring the plight of the poor to everyone’s attention. But with more resolve than experience, as she sets out to travel around the country, it’s not only her family who are concerned about her. Marriage may be far from her mind, but what if she were to meet the one man whose own fiery articles infuriate the politicians and industrialists? And if when she starts to ask similar questions, she unwittingly places herself in great danger?
[quote from Fantastic Fiction]
Jane Austen · News · Regency England

Just hafta share

Janeite Kelly1 Comment

In a comment sent to my research blog on Mary Gosling and Emma Smith, Dinah at the Priaulx Library on the island of Guernsey sent a link for the library’s delightfully informative article on the Le Marchants. Denis Le Marchant married Emma’s sister Eliza, but his father was a famed Peninsular war hero (and a founder of Sandhurst! I never realized…). Major-General Gaspard Le Marchant wrote to his daughter (Denis’ sister) Katherine during these years – and one has such a ring of something Jane Austen would have included in a novel (or even a letter!) that I just had to copy and share it here:

The Priaulx Library has some of the letters that Gaspard wrote from Spain to his daughter, Katherine (1796-1881). Her grandaughter says of her in a letter that she was like a mother to the younger children.  She went on to marry a parson, Basil Fanshawe, and lived in Essex.  Gaspard took great care over her education at Mrs de Minibus’ establishment, especially her musical education, and the end of his last letter to her, written on 5 July 1812, about two weeks before his death at Salamanca, reads thus:

 

Beauty, education and money, are separately capable of obtaining an advantageous marriage.  As you have not the money, nor the beauty, your whole reliance is on an excellent education.

 

Father sometimes knows best…

Jane Austen · JASNA-Vermont events · News

“Austen’s England” ~ A Fine Afternoon!

BookLady DebLeave a comment

We append a guest post from Janeite Marcia who so graciously comments on our Sunday gathering on “Austen’s England”.  With over sixty people in attendance at the Vermont College of Fine Arts Chapel (and with many thanks to the College for the use of this lovely space!), it was a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and we heartily thank John Turner for his delightful and insightful talk.

 

Even though it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon after many dreary ones, the College Hall Chapel at Vermont College in Montpelier was filled with Janeites eager to learn more about our favorite author at the fall quarterly meeting of the Vermont Chapter of JASNA.  We were a group of men and women of all ages, clearly enjoying the companionship of those who shared our interest in Jane Austen.  The Chapel Room is exquisitely decorated and I kept looking for Jane herself to walk into the almost 19th century setting. 

 

 

The afternoon opened with Deb welcoming the attendees, outlining the afternoon’s activities, and providing updates on future Chapter activities as well as other related and interesting news.  See this website for the upcoming events.  So much to do, see and read; so little time.  Alas, I suspect we all feel that way. 

 

After Kelly reminded us that the Vermont Chapter had its origin in the very city we were in, nearly one year ago (November 2007 at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library), she introduced John Turner to speak about “Austen’s England.”  John began by stating that we were not to have a travelogue.  I guess I didn’t expect one, but I did rather expect details on English life of the time.  Indeed, those details were what John talked about, but it was English life as Jane Austen lived it, an entirely different focus than I expected.  And, it was wonderful. 

 

John’s early statement that Jane Austen’s writings revealed England more truly than many scholarly sources was accurate indeed.  With quotes from Jane Austen’s books and letters, and his skillful interpretations of their meanings, we were transported to her time and how she must have lived.  John Turner’s presentation was filled with fascinating information and interpretations, and delivered with his ready wit and humor.  For those of us who were able to be there, we were fortunate indeed.  If you couldn’t attend, John Turner has posted his presentation on his website:  http://wordandimageofvermont.com/.  Whether for the first time or to refresh your memory of the afternoon, it is wonderful reading.  I, for one, will always remember the joy of fully understanding the line from Emma that begins “A mind lively and at ease…” 

 

When his formal talk was finished, John graciously answered questions to the pleasure of all.  Thank you, John Turner!

 

A refreshment break included a delicious variety of cookies and cakes, donated by many of the Chapter’s members.  From the crumbs, and only crumbs, left on the platters, I think everyone enjoyed them. 

 

The second part of the day was a delightful presentation of pictures of Jane Austen related sites taken by Deb during trips to England.  For some it was a refresher of places they had already seen; for others, it was a glimpse of places to see in the future.  But as I looked around the room during Deb’s commentary on the pictures, everyone’s eyes were focused on the screen and smiling as they “traveled” in Jane’s footsteps, as I was. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I’m sure I should close with an appropriate quote from Jane Austen, I can only say the afternoon was delightful and fascinating, not the least of which was being with so many others who felt similarly.

Thank you Marcia for posting this for us!  

Books · Jane Austen · News · Social Life & Customs

A Journey through Jane Austen’s Letters

BookLady Deb4 Comments

I have read many of Austen’s letters through the years, and certainly know the majority of quotes that are repeated over and over…but I am finally committing myself to going through each letter in chronological order and reading through all the accompanying notes and references ( my source and Essential Austen title: Jane Austen’s Letters, collected and edited by Deirdre Le Faye, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1997)…. and I invite you all to take this journey with me, one letter at a time, one day at a time. 

So often these letters, and the sentences or words from them, are quoted out of context, and I feel compelled to make some sense of it all, to go back to the original source and get a feel for what Austen was really saying.  There are so many gaps in the letters, either from Cassandra’s choice to edit and / or destroy many of her sister’s writings, or because the sisters were not apart and hence no need to write (and of course there are only a few letters from Cassandra herself, and because Austen often refers back to a received letter, and with her constant comments on her sister’s writing abilities and humor, the reader is saddened by this loss.)

There are also many primary and secondary sources on the letters and I will discuss these periodically (see also the Letters Page, which I will continually add to), but I think I better just start the process and let it evolve from there.  I encourage you to comment, suggest sources, offer suggestions or interpretation, so please visit often and participate.  For those of you who know the letters backwards and forwards, and for those just discovering them, please take this journey with me.  I think all of us might learn something new along the way.  I know I already have….

This will be the format: 

  • letter number
  • date
  • sender (their location) / recipient (their location)
  • location of letter today
  • synopsis; quotes of import; comment

So today I start with Letter No. 1:

  • January 9 – 10 (Sat, Sun) 1796
  • Jane (Steventon) to Cassandra (Kintbury, Newbury [Rev. Fowles home])
  • Original MS untraced

 This is Austen’s first documented letter and one of the most quoted.  It is here that Jane writes of her attachment to Tom Lefroy and she refers to him often in this letter…”I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved.  Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together.”  She tells of the balls- “we had an exceedingly good ball last night”, who she danced with (Warren, Charles Watkins, and “fighting hard” to escape John Lyford), commenting on Miss Heathcote (“[she] is pretty, but not near so handsome as I expected”), and the many references to friends that we meet again and again in her letters.  We read of her latest fashion thoughts, the silk stockings she cannot afford but the white gloves and pink persian (silk) she can, and much on her brother Charles and brother Henry and his latest plan to obtaining a lieutenancy.

The letter ends with another lengthy reference to Tom Lefroy:  “he has but one fault…his morning coat is a great deal too light.  He is a great admirer of Tom Jones, and therefore he wears the same coloured clothes, I imagine, which he did when he was wounded.”

So in this first letter,  (Jane was 20 years old writing this letter on Cassandra’s 23rd birthday and the letter opens with “In the first place I hope you will live twenty-three years longer”)  we are introduced into Austen’s life, her family and friends, her likes and dislikes, and her biting wit, her poking fun at others and so very often herself.  Her letters to her sister were entertainment for both of them when they were apart, and in just these few pages we are drawn into this late 18-century world, with all its domestic goings-on, and we are glad to be in such company.  These letters are a veritable feast!

Book reviews · Books · Jane Austen

Old Friends and New Fancies (a review)

Janeite Kelly1 Comment

A guest-post from Nancy Charkes, a JASNA-Vermont member who is also active in her ‘winter’ JASNA region of Eastern Pennsylvania:

 

 

Like Marianne, I believe that first attachments are forever, and cannot be superseded. So, once I fell in love with Jane Austen, no sequel, pastiche, or derivative, could interest me. Not for me the middle age of the Darcy marriage, or Jane Austen as Miss Marple, or a 21st-century chick waking up in the Regency period. The language was wrong, the irony was lacking, the bite was dulled. But along came Col. Brandon, or rather, Sybil Brinton. Truth be told, she came along nearly 100 years ago, but only recently did I discover her book in a contemporary reprint. Old Friends and New Fancies: an Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen was written in 1913 and republished in 2007 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Old Friends bring together many of the main characters of all six novels as a social network of friends and acquaintances. From Bath to London to the great country estates in Derbyshire, people we know quite well are linked in a busy social life that is full of budding attachments, misunderstandings, and eventual reconciliations. The language is right, although lacking the subtle irony of Jane Austen. The voice is that of the observer, the storyteller.

Kitty Bennet, visiting her sisters Mrs. Darcy and Mrs. Bingley, sets her cap for William Price, who is home on shore leave, and visiting in the country. William, however, is attracted to Georgiana Darcy, who, out of friendship to Kitty, rejects Capt. Price’s addresses in spite of her own warm feelings towards him.

Col. Fitzwilliam, having been introduced to Mary Crawford in Bath, falls in love with her. His evident interest is, of course, subject to the arrogant meddling of Lady Catherine, with an almost fatal outcome. Besides, gossip reports that Miss Crawford is the constant companion of Sir Walter Elliot and his haughty daughter Elizabeth, and is almost sure to be soon the second Lady Elliot.

Along the way, Mrs. Jennings stirs the pot; there are balls at Pemberley and Desborough; reference is made to Darcy, Bingley, and Ferrars offspring. There are hunting mishaps, heroes, and a cameo of Emma Knightley. Elizabeth Darcy manages with good sense and astute understanding; Jane Bingley is calm, facilitating with kindness, and there are just the right number of weddings at the end.
 
[submitted by Nancy Charkes]

Jane Austen · News

Another “In my mailbox”… more about Austen

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Just got this email from a gentleman who has posted on his website Wild River Review  “Interviews with the Famously Departed” … today his “chat” with Jane Austen  is quite amusing… and click here for his interview with Charles Dickens.

Jane Austen · News

In my Mailbox today…..a few more all things Austen

BookLady DebLeave a comment

In my email box today:  The Jane Austen Centre’s latest newsletter, filled with all sort of interesting articles about afternoon dress, calling cards, the new P&P musical, Stoneleigh Abbey, an Austen quiz and a word search puzzle for a rainy afternoon, and of course, information on the upcoming Jane Austen Festival in Bath from Sept. 19-28.   (you can purchase a DVD of the festival events “Crazy about Jane” on the website)The newsletter also references ( click here ) an interesting musical montage from the newest Northanger Abbey on YouTube….

Jane Austen · News

Web Round-up…all things Austen

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Another tour through cyberspace generated some great tidbits this week…..let me hear from you on any of YOUR Austen finds out there!.

  • Found a wonderful blog called Factual Imaginings, which “consolidates information, both new and old, concerning film adaptations of English History and Literature”…. lots of information on Austen related films, Thomas Hardy’s Tess, and even the upcoming 2009 celebration of the 500-year anniversary of Henry VIII’s coronation.  Click here for the link to the blog’s review of Lost in Austen and another on the history of  the Royal Crescent in Bath.  This is a site I shall be visiting often!
  • The BBC’s Radio 4 broadcasts of “Book at Bedtime” are available online for seven days after airing.  Listen this week of Sept 8 – 14 to Someone at a Distance, a story by Dorothy Whipple; book is available from Persephone Books:  get on their mailing list immediately if you are not already [I LOVE their books!…if any of you are looking for a book list to work on, start here!]
Persephone Books reprints forgotten classics by twentieth-century (mostly women) writers. Each one in our collection of seventy-eight books is intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written, and most are ideal presents or a good choice for reading groups.
  •  I may be perhaps the only Janeite out there who has not been watching Lost in Austen (we in the US can see it on YouTube), but there is enough chat about it to keep you busy for a while…Professor Kathryn Sutherland reviewed the show in this Guardian article; see also these posts at Austenblog; Austenprose; and Jane Austen Today (there are a few posts here), for just starters! I will put in my 2 cents after I have had a chance to see it… and any reviews from any of you would be appreciated!
  •  The Art of Manliness (!) site has a wonderful post on the Gentleman’s Guide to the Calling Card.  See also a few posts by Ms. Place at Jane Austen’s World on this topic…. Calling Cards in S&S and Persuasion; the Etiquette of using calling cards; and her most recent, The Etiquette of using calling cards 100 years after Austen.
  • Jane Austen is now the biggest industry in Britain…see this article at NewsBiscuit.  You need to read through the whole article, as it is quite outrageous (oh! what would Jane think!)
  • And speaking of Britain, If you happen to be hanging around Bury St. Edmunds, visit their Georgian Gem festival that runs through Sept. 21.  There is also the annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath from Sept.19 through the 28th. Oh, why am I not in England!  (our meeting this Sunday on “Austen’s England” will just have to do for now…)
  • Jane Odiwe has added a few of her lovely drawings to her blog Jane Austen Sequels:  a portrait of Jane, and a winter scene of Jane and Cassandra walking in Chawton.
  • And another book giveaway of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict:  go to the Bookworm Blog and comment on the Q&A with author Laurie Viera Rigler…winner will be announced Sept. 15.
  • And Laurel Ann at Austenprose, still recovering from her excellent Mansfield Park Madness escapade, is reading some of the Juvenilia…so visit her for an update, and if you haven’t read any of Austen’s early works, start now…they are delightful!  (and hoping that Laurel Ann will continue her posts on this.) 

A review of the book Lace in Fashion , by Pat Earnshaw on the Textile Dreams Blog:  the book traces the history of lace from the 16th to 20th century.  Originally published in 1986 by Batsford, a 2nd edition by Gorse (1991) is still in print.