Alert Janeite Kendra sent us this link to a new, less than enthusiastic review of P&P at Ain’t It Cool News. We must include an Unladylike/Ungentlemanlike Language Warning. The review itself is not too bad, but the comments are not for the faint-hearted, though not being especially faint-hearted ourselves–especially after a bracing pot of Dorothy’s Orange Pekoe–we found it rather hilarious and fascinating to read what the other side thinks.

It’s no secret that cinematic adaptations seldom work. The screen is seductive, imperious—a deceptively intimate experience that, given the smelly, sweaty milieu of the modern movie theater, sometimes amounts to legalized voyeurism. The written word, however, requires a more proactive involvement, a level of intellectual commitment that rewards patience and devotion. They’re fundamentally dissimilar entities; what works in one medium seldom works in the other. That’s why those Star Wars adaptations are so mind-numbingly anemic. That’s also why no one—no one—will ever get Pride and Prejudice completely right.

We disagree slightly: it’s that, as Karen Joy Fowler wrote in The Jane Austen Book Club, everyone has their private Austen. We each have our own vision of Lizzy and Darcy and our own virtual mind-film of Pride and Prejudice and all of Jane Austen’s books. Enjoyment of a literary adaptation is a balance of how well that internal film is represented with how much we are willing to admit another’s vision along with the actual quality of the film.

That being said, we wonder if the rumored delay in the release date might have something to do with giving the editor and director extra tweaking time. Things that make you go hmmm…

Alert Janeite Lorraine sent us a link to the Sorrow at Sills Bend weblog, which contains a fascinating post about the author’s work as a research assistant to the editor of the new Cambridge edition of Mansfield Park. We especially enjoyed the explanation of how Mary Crawford’s literary allusions are all hip and contemporary (for her time, of course), especially in comparison with Fanny Price’s literary allusions.

Not incidentally, recognising that pattern was the kind of thing that happened over and over while working on the edition. For me those moments helped me understand better the limitless genius of Jane Austen’s novels. She wastes nothing. Anything you notice, means something, it isn’t just there to add to the word count or plug a gap in the story; and what it means is usually something important. (Fully recognising this early on in the research part of the process proved helpful later when struggling through the infinitely painful work of making sure the spelling and punctuation from Austen’s 1816 edition was accurately transferred to J’s new one.) What this pattern was confirming was that Mary Crawford’s clever and sparkly conversation is actually highly superficial. She gives the impression of having read a lot and having naturalised her reading so that she can always come up with something cultured and apt; but in fact her reading is much closer to the bitsy, fake education that Maria and Julia Crawford have received. Fanny is the other person in MP who quotes a lot, and when you put her reading choices together in the same way, they add up as almost totally antithetical to Mary’s.

What a terrific piece of literary detective work to track down that allusion–and even to recognize it as such in the first place! We have been a bit sniffy about the Cambridge editions (being quite attached to our Oxford editions, not to mention our favorite Oxford man) but the post inspires us to look forward to the new editions.

Lorraine also made a point of saying that the comments to the post are as enjoyable as the post itself.

It’s a big news day for P&P3 today. Thanks to all the Alert Janeites who have sent in news and links today.

Firstly, Alert Janeite Julia sent in this link, which claims that the U.S. release date of P&P3 has been moved back to November 11. Julia speculates that the date change, if true, is intended to position the film for Academy Awards consideration, and we tend to agree. We have an e-mail in to our contact at Focus Features and will post the news as soon as we hear anything.

ETA: No official word yet on the release date. However, we received a note from Paul from KeiraWeb.com saying that today’s Variety reported that the date for the film DOMINO, also starring Keira Knightley, is being moved up from November to August so as not to compete with a November P&P release (and also possibly to grab the tails of the news of the untimely death of the real-life Domino Harvey earlier this week. Gotta love Hollywood). We will, of course, report any official information as soon as we receive it.

Paul also reported that an Observer reporter who has seen P&P3 wrote on June 19:

“…Could Keira Knightley be on the way to her first Oscar nomination? Watching a sneak preview of the new film version of Pride and Prejudice, I was bowled over by Knightley’s performance as Lizzie Bennet. She’s beautiful, fragile and funny in the role and handles the period dialogue with ease and modern attitude. It’s just the sort of thing to impress Oscar voters, as Kate Winslet did in Sense and Sensiblity.”

The Oscar buzz, she is starting.

Speaking of Focus Features, they have the beginning of the P&P3 Web site up and running. We hear that the full site most likely won’t be available for a few weeks yet.

In other P&P3 news, Alert Janeite Cordelia sent in this link to some behind-the-scenes photos from the filming, and Alert Janeite Lynn sent this link, which includes some shots of the various filming locations. Many thanks for the links!

An article in Greater Milwaukee Today about Jane Austen fans features several members of JASNA’s Wisconsin region, which will be hosting this year’s Annual General Meeting in Milwaukee.

“Janeites,” a group of Austen fans that spans the globe, are members of an organization that celebrates Austen’s works — the Jane Austen Society of North America

Well, we suspect there are some Janeites “spanning the globe” who are NOT members of JASNA, but we know what she meant to say.

Bowen encourages all Austen fans to explore JASNA and wants to squelch the stereotype — there is nothing “stuffy” about the group. “The life of the mind is important to this group and that’s refreshing in today’s society.”

Indeed! The Editrix is a member of JASNA and recommends it highly.

No, really! Would we kid you?

Playwright Andrea Mock is having a cup of tea Saturday with Jane Austen — sort of.

Mock’s one-woman show “Jane Austen in Berkeley” holds a free performance at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at A Cuppa Tea, 3200 College Ave., Berkeley.

The playwright exposes the pride and prejudice of Berkeley mothers as the show follows the travails of single mom Jane Smith and her imaginary alter-ego, novelist Jane Austen.

Austen berates Smith and pushes her to write something more cultured and rarefied than her characterless, plotless novel, “Toxique Shock Syndrome.”

As she has done in the past, Mock writes her plays, records them with sound effects and music and then performs them live on stage along with the CD. It’s sort of a solo show in stereo, half live, half recorded.

Call (510) 841-9441.

As always, if any AustenBlog readers go to this performance, we’d love to publish your review.

Heh. We suspect that the headline writer at Stuff is a Janeite.

According to the New York Daily News, the first sentence of Jane Stanton Hitchcock’s new thriller might sound familiar to Janeites.

If Jane Stanton Hitchcock may say so herself, she’s “meaner than Jane Austen.”

Okay, the opening salvo of her new murder mystery, “One Dangerous Lady,” is a tender takeoff on the opening lines of Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” And, “like Austen, I love observing social life, its interactions and minutiae,” says Hitchcock, a socialite with a thriller instinct who first introduced “Dangerous Lady’s” sleuthy heroine, Jo Slater, in her previous novel, “Social Crimes.”

But Hitchcock is more violent, deadly and has far greater savvy about the ways and devious means of Manhattan’s highest society than that other Jane.

Here are some more promotional pictures from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

We get a nice shot of Caroline Bingley (#23), Wickham (presumably) sharing his tale of woe with Elizabeth (#73), and what looks to be Elizabeth’s unexpected encounter with Darcy at Pemberley (#106).

Edited because links didn’t work.

Cub Reporter Julie B. should like this one…in his new book, Everything Bad Is Good For You, Steven Johnson claims that the popular culture of television and films and the internet and video games all contribute to make us smarter. Karen Heller’s review in the Philadelphia Inquirer contained the following tidbit:

Fearless in his convictions, Johnson states that “the social network of 24 mirrors the social network you frequently encounter in the small-town or estate novels of Jane Austen or George Eliot,” albeit with bombs.

We liked this bit:

Taking a Panglossian view, Johnson said “the Internet may be causing people to read less, and write more.”

Two words: Fan fiction.

Thanks to our Janeite Spy for the heads-up.

Sandy Lerner, a founder of Cisco Systems and lover of all things Jane, is profiled in the New York Times.

She left Cisco in 1990, and has spent her time pursuing eclectic interests since then:

[Lerner] started and sold a cosmetics company (Urban Decay), read Jane Austen compulsively, schooled herself in the ways of Colonial farming, studied the history of costume, made period ball gowns, collected books on 18th-century typography and perfected her Regency dancing. “I can dance in five centuries and two sexes,” she said.

Apparently, she is vehemently opposed to solitary dining:

In 2001 she opened a pub in Upperville, in the vein of those found in the English countryside, where she has a home that belonged to a brother of Jane Austen. “I like the custom in England of going into a tavern by yourself, sitting down, having dinner, meeting people,” said Ms. Lerner, who has made no profit from her pub. “As opposed to eating at home by yourself in front of the TV and turning into Jeffrey Dahmer.”

Ms. Lerner is largely responsible for the preservation of Chawton House Library, for which we are ever grateful.

The Independent interview with Matthew Macfadyen gives us this glimpse into Macfadyen’s view of the inner workings of Mr. Darcy.

“He’s rather heartbreaking, Darcy,” he reveals. “They say Darcy is haughty and arrogant, but that comes from vulnerability, from thinking very deeply about things and not being able to be relaxed. In those days Mr and Mrs Bennet were totally naff, and nowadays they think, oh what a snob, but in those days he wasn’t being a snob. He was being honourable.”

(Naff? Huh? Ah, UK slang for not stylish or fashionable.)

So we have a heartbreaking, vulnerable Darcy coming to us in September. I’m trying very hard to remain all bookish and objective and “But is it true to the text?” and mature as a good Cub Reporter should. I’m failing miserably.

Must.Not.Squee.Aloud.

For those of us waiting with bated breath and ready credit card for the release of the Jane Austen Action Figure, word has come from the manufacturer that the release has been moved back to July. The action figure will be available for order from the Archie McPhee site for $8.95. To get a look at the action figure, check out the Entertainment Earth site, where the action figure is available for preorder, though the price is a few dollars higher. (Please note that the photo is a prototype and the final product may be different.) Thanks to a certain Janeite Spy for the info.

Jane Austen owns Britney Spears, that is. And she’s just edging out Shakespeare.

(Via Such Shakespeare Stuff, a shiny new weblog that is to Shakespeare as AustenBlog is to Jane.)

The Age finds echoes of Austen in the Sunday night soaper:

As social comedy, Desperate Housewives is in the tradition of Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde, both geniuses at depicting the fineness of class distinction and the fragility of social acceptance. Austen’s heroines exist in a world where making the right choice in marriage is not only a prescription for happiness but also the only way to guarantee security and wellbeing. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen famously has Elizabeth Bennett undergo a shift in her opinion of the character of Mr Darcy from unfavourable to favourable after she has seen the size of his estate. How much of this is calculation, however unconscious on the part of the character, is teasingly left for the reader to decide.

Amanda Grange wrote to tell us about her new book, Darcy’s Diary, which will be out in August in the U.K. and October in the rest of the world…just in time for the brand spankin’ new crop of Darcy fans that will no doubt be born around that time! As the title indicates, the book is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view. From Amanda’s Web site:

Pride and Prejudice is the most popular romance of all time, and in this enjoyable retelling, Amanda Grange allows us to see the events of Jane Austen’s famous novel from Mr Darcy’s point of view.

Scenes only hinted at in the original are brought to life as Darcy writes of his horror at discovering his sister’s plans to elope with George Wickham, his efforts to separate Charles Bingley from Miss Jane Bennet and his disgust at having to arrange a marriage between George Wickham and Miss Lydia Bennet.

But, most satisfying of all, he discloses his feelings for Elizabeth. Darcy’s Diary records the full story of their courtship, from initial hostility to their eventual love, before revealing a tantalising glimpse of their early married life.

The book is available for preorder from Amazon.co.uk.

Several Alert Janeites wrote to tell us that there is a new, longer trailer for P&P3 at Working Title Films’ Web site. Unfortunately, the Editrix was covering for a vacationing co-worker (and Friday is her busiest day under normal circumstances) and was unable to post the information until now, and the Cub Reporters had some technical difficulties. Anyway, the link is posted, go watch!

Many thanks to Amy P., Sonja, Lindsey, Lynn and Paul from KeiraWeb.com for writing in! It’s lovely that you were all concerned that we didn’t know about the trailer. *hug* Now we are off to download it…review/squeeing/snarkage to follow.

ETA: First impression: Poor Bingley!

That Macfadyen fellow definitely knows how to smolder. Umm-hmm.

ETA II: Paul from KeiraWeb.com also sent us some more news about the U.K. premiere. The director of the Jane Austen Centre told Paul that the regional premiere of P&P3 will most likely happen as part of the Jane Austen Festival. The date has not been finalized but is likely to be the week of the 12th. Paul speculates that the world premiere will be in London on September 5 and the Festival will premiere the film on the 12th, followed by the general release on the 16th. Thanks for the info!

ETA III: It is obviously P&P movie news day! Our contact from Focus Features tells us that if you want to see the trailer on the big screen, before THE PERFECT MAN or CINDERELLA MAN is your best bet; also that there is a short behind-the-scenes piece running as part of “The Twenty” (pre-show entertainment) at select AMC and Regal theatres and on some lobby monitors at Regal theatres. (This info is for viewers in the U.S.)

ETA IV: Direct links to the trailer for downloading (Quicktime versions) have been posted in the comments of this post. Thanks to Mock Tudor!

P.S. And thanks to Teresa for the e-card! *snorfle*

The software upgrade is mostly complete. There are still a few things that need tweaking *glares sternly at link category titles* but we think everything is working. Let us know if you run into any problems.

Comment preview will be back eventually. (It’s not out of the box, and I have to figure out the plugin, and there are some more pressing matters that need attending to beforehand.) Live comment preview installed–as you type the comment, the preview will appear underneath the typing box. We agree that it is a bit creepy. Also I installed a comment-spam killer app, so please don’t be offended if your comment is kicked to moderation. I’m using it on two other blogs and so far genuine comments get through with no problem, so hopefully that will continue.

ETA: I tested the comment posting as a “guest” (i.e. not logged in as a staff member) and it asked for a “captcha” where I had to enter a generated code. This is part of the spam killer software. Once you post with a “captcha” once, I think you become a trusted user and shouldn’t be asked again, unless you use a different name/e-mail address/URL etc. I am thinking about having registration for commenters, which would allow one to bypass all that stuff. What does everyone think of that idea?

The Telegraph has a tidbit about BECOMING JANE, the young-Jane Austen biopic (scroll down, it’s at the end of the piece):

Her novels have frequently been adapted for television and the big screen, but the author’s own story has been shrouded in mystery. Until now. Jane Austen is going to take centre stage in a new film that charts the novelist’s early life, entitled Becoming Jane.

“We’re starting shooting this summer,” says producer Douglas Rae. “It’s about the young Jane Austen and her one love affair with an Irish barrister called Tom Lefroy.” The young American actress Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, Brokeback Mountain) will play Austen.

Oh goodie, something to obsess over once the P&P3 mania dies down.

Harry Reid of The Herald can’t figure out why people like Pride and Prejudice so much.

I find this extraordinary, for it seems to me that it is a novel crammed with malice and spite. I am told that it is satirical but I can find precious little genuine satire in it. . . .Austen has a serious capacity for dislike. She seems to dislike most of her characters and the dislike is not lighthearted. It is intense and cruel. Over the past few days I have been re-reading the novel carefully. My view is confirmed, and I simply cannot understand why so many people seem to find it a happy and comforting book. . . .In its presentation of women it is a sustained exercise in misogyny.

The poor man. It must be so difficult to go through life without a sense of humor. Shall we take up a collection and purchase one for him?

Paul, the editor of KeiraWeb.com, sent us some information about the documentary on the 1995 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE television miniseries, about which we posted yesterday. He spoke with the producer, Toby Stevens, who also produced the Comedy Connections documentary. The P&P documentary will follow a similar format, showing “the early careers of the cast and major crew (director/producer etc.) and how they came together for the production, what they’ve been up to since and lots of interviews and on-the-set footage,” Paul wrote. We can hear the fangirls swooning already.

Mr. Stevens did not mention a broadcast date, but Paul speculates that it will be shown in mid-September to correspond with the premiere of P&P3. We hope that the documentary will make it to AustenBlog World Headquarters’ side of the pond eventually. Of course, one never knows what rogue satellite transmissions might make their way across the Atlantic, does one?

Paul also mentioned that there is a rumor about that the world/European premiere of P&P3 “may take place at the Venice Film Festival which runs August 31st to September 10th. Working Title have a habit of placing world premieres for their movies at film festivals. Love Actually debuted at Toronto, for example.”

Thanks so much for the information, Paul! (And you Keira fans should definitely check out KeiraWeb.com.)