We are very much amused with a link sent in by Alert Janeite Jen. Chatsworth House, which was used as Pemberley in P&P3, has a page on the film at their site that includes a photo of a bust of Matthew Macfadyen as Darcy, which will apparently be featured in the film. As Jen said in her note to the Editrix,

So Lyme Park has CF’s portrait, and Chatsworth has MM’s bust. I wonder what will happen if they keep making the P&P adaptations…until every British estate has its own form of Darcy.

There’s a few fangirls who will think that no very bad thing, we believe.

We hasten to add that there is no truth to the rumour that Cub Reporter Julie B. is planning a commando raid on Chatsworth. Dorothy has been roundly scolded for spreading such scurrilous tittle-tattle.

Alert Janeite Liz sent us a link from the IMdB message boards about an article in this month’s Premiere magazine featuring Keira Knightley.

YOU HAD TO DO A LAP DANCE IN DOMINO. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?

It’s quite strenuous, really. I was f******* terrified. I was in a room filled with guys and guns and a camera crew, thinking, “God, get me back to Mr. Darcy.”

Tuh. That’s what we all say when we’re stuck doing a lap dance we don’t want to do. Don’t we, girls?

Paul from KeiraWeb.com sent us a link to an article about Keira Knightley from the Sunday Express that includes some tidbits about P&P3, including the fangirlish squeeing over Matthew (and the misspelling of his name) previously posted.

Paul has updated the P&P information page at KeiraWeb.com and also has links to purchase the film tie-in version of the novel, to be released on August 15 in the U.S. and August 25 in the U.K., and the poster, which will be released on August 25. We are amused to note that Jane Austen is listed as the author of the poster.

Paul from KeiraWeb (apparently in a bid to drive up the Editrix’s blood pressure) sent a link to yet another article about chick lit with the obligatory mention of Jane Austen. We admit that this author at least pretended to feel distaste at the association.

So perhaps the mind that gave birth to Emma and Sense and Sensibility is the true godmother of this literary style. After all, it’s hard to think of a more appropriate creator of ‘Single Jane’ than the original single Jane herself. Only let’s hope she’s a fairy godmother and can break out her magic wand. Maybe then all these brainless books and their inevitable ‘Chick Flick’ follow-ups will finally disappear.

We really don’t care one way or the other about the books (and frankly, Bergdorf Blondes, which we skimmed one afternoon at Barnes & Noble, was a lot better than we expected). Just please leave Jane out of it!

We posted previously about the book Flirting with Pride and Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece, edited by Jennifer Crusie. The publisher’s Web site has an excerpt of the book, and they sent along some more information about the book: (more…)

Keeping us up to date on the Francophone Janeite news, Alert Janeite Paola sends us a link to an article about the French actress, director and singer Agnès Jaoui in which Ms. Jaoui claims Jane Austen among her favorite things. From the article:

Quinze ans que je parle d’/Orgueil et préjugés/ ! Et je l’aime toujours, et il se lit très vite. Je l’aime pour son anticonformisme foncier et son féminisme. Attention, pas féministe « contre les hommes », mais contre la condition dans laquelle vivaient les femmes il n’y a pas si longtemps, et parfois encore aujourd’hui.”

Paola kindly provided a translation to English:

“Fifteen years that I talk about Pride and Prejudice! And I still love it, and you read it very fast. I love her for her innate anti-conformism and her feminism. Beware, not feminist “against men”, but against the condition in which women used to live not so longtime ago, and sometime still today.”

Jane Austen is global!

USA Today (via Yahoo) tells us about a new book, Read It and Eat: A Month-by-Month Guide to Scintillating Book Club Selections and Mouthwatering Menus by Sarah Gardner, includes reading guides and menus to be used by book clubs related to 64 books, including Emma. What is the recipe associated with that novel, we wonder? We imagine something from Serle’s cookbook: asparagus and sweetbread fricassee, perhaps? Or maybe Miss Bates donated her recipe for baked apples. Either way, Mr. Woodhouse will be much distressed.