Blog A Go-Go

In which we talk Jane Austen AGAIN

Really, can you ever have enough Jane Austen? I didn't think so. There were a few comments on the blog entry about the "Masterpiece Theatre" Jane-o-Rama that got me thinking. First, TeresaB remarked that she might read the books while watching the adaptations. I LOVE this idea. Most of the films are being shown on consecutive Sundays, so that leaves plenty of time to read each novel, even when real life intrudes. (Although I have to note, if you have never read Jane Austen, starting with "Persuasion" is just WRONG.) As a matter of fact, watching the films should enhance the reading experience rather than the other way around. I don't know about you, but when I was in school, we were ONLY allowed to watch film adaptations when we had finished reading a novel so the teacher could grade exams in peace. But Harvard University released a study a few years back that indicated students gain a much greater understanding of a book if they've seen the film FIRST.

In another comment, Kaitlin confessed to never have read Jane Austen at all. (We like her anyway. In fact, I freely admit that I received a bachelor's degree in English without EVER having read Jane Austen. That is much more horrifying, I think. But I made up for it when I was pregnant. I lolled around on the couch reading all the Austen novels back to back in between "Baywatch" reruns.) If you're just dipping a toe into the Jane Austen pool, I strongly urge you to start with "P&P". When you're talking about fiction you're supposed to say things like "it's accessible to the modern reader", but the truth is, it's the easiest of the novels to get into. Unlike "Emma" or "Mansfield Park" or "Northanger Abbey", the heroine is ENTIRELY likeable. In fact, you just KNOW that you and Elizabeth Bennet would be BFFs. After that, I would suggest "S&S" or "Emma". "Mansfield Park" and "Northanger Abbey" are a toss-up. If any of Jane Austen's work could make me stick a fork in my eye, it would be one of those. But even at her most maddening, Jane Austen is THOROUGHLY worth reading. "Persuasion" must be saved for last. It will break your heart in tiny little red bits of confetti and then stitch it back together. It is a perfect novel in a very grown-up way, just as "P&P" is a perfect novel is a sparkling, youthful way. "'All the privilege I claim for my own sex...is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone!" is a line that sends chills down my arms EVERY time.

And if by the end of reading "Persuasion" you are as devoted to Jane Austen as I am, you will thoroughly enjoy burrowing into her juvenilia, her letters, and the many DIVINE literary biographies that have been written in recent years. So brew a nice pot of tea and settle in to make friends with the Bennets and Woodhouses and Elliots. It will be a very nice party.

In which you must mark your calendars

Starting January 13, Masterpiece Theatre is going full-on Jane Austen! More then 900 MINUTES of Jane Austen adaptations of all six novels! PBS is airing the fabulous Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice (poor Jennifer Ehle. She played Elizabeth Bennet, and yet this will forever be the Colin-Firth-in-a-wet-shirt adaptation. Jane Austen would be so proud.) There are versions of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey that I have never seen before--no doubt full up with fabulous British actors with delicious accents and perfect timing. And then there is the Kate Beckinsale version of Emma, thank the merciful heavens, because if I had to watch Gwyneth Paltrow sulking across the screen I would throw a pointy shoe at the television. So, mark your calendars and make no plans on Sunday evenings. You, me, Jane Austen.

And since I have flogged Masterpiece Theatre, I feel perfectly free to admit that I am completely addicted to Chelsea Handler's show, Chelsea Lately. I assume I am the last person in the free world to discover her, but I watched a LOT of E! when I was lolling at the Hotel ZaZa in Houston, and she was providing some extremely thought-provoking commentary on the whole Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy situation. Well, not so much thought-provoking commentary as scathing jokes, but there is something about her that makes me think we could be BFFs if I ever took up heavy drinking. Her show is the perfect antidote to too much Regency matchmaking. (There can be too much of a good thing, and 900 minutes of Jane Austen might JUST fall into that category.)

Also, don't forget that the first Second Life Silent in the Sanctuary event is TONIGHT! 8pm EST--I will be reading from the book and taking questions from readers. If you have not yet explored Second Life, here is the quickest way to get in and explore Bellmont Abbey: Second Life That link will take you in through the SLAgency, the lovely folks who are putting together the book events. See you there!

In which I love Jane Austen

But you already knew that, didn't you? (My daughter's middle name is Elizabeth, after my favorite Bennet sister, and the dog is Emma.) But did you know that today is Jane Austen's birthday? She was born on this date in 1775, the youngest but one in a family of eight. I am not going to bore you with the biographical details except to say that she never married and she died too soon. There is a misconception about Jane Austen; some people like to think she was sweet and demure. She was neither of those things. She was clever and observant and wickedly snarky at times. Her sister, Cassandra, destroyed much of Jane Austen's correspondence upon her death, but what she saved hints at a dark and delicious sense of humor. This, from a letter in October of 1798: Mrs. Hall of Sherbourn was brought to bed yesterday of a dead child, some weeks before she expected, owing to a fright--I suppose she happened unawares to look at her husband. If Cassandra saved that, imagine what she burned. The mind reels. In any event, today is a very good day to remember Jane Austen and lift a teacup in her memory.