Owned!
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.)
19 June 2005
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES compared to Pride and Prejudice
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.
New retelling of Pride and Prejudice to be released in August
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.
