Alert Janeite Kirsty wrote to tell us that the BBC has profiled Jane Austen as one of its “Faces of the Week.”

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that every man in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife,” begins Pride and Prejudice. Austen knew only too well about the economic necessity and convention of her class that women must also secure a husband. But Austen’s heroines hold out for a union of equals; they will marry only for love.

Casting Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet has confirmed some critics’ fears that Austen has now become a chick flick, but it shouldn’t surprise us that Jane Austen has become a phenomenon with a myriad of marketing opportunities.

Skilfully exciting the reader’s imagination about the unseen, smouldering passions beneath the surface, her “iceberg” novels have a timeless appeal to generations of romantics.

Why? Because the Editrix says so. Besides, it’s about time that somebody pointed out that NA is a great book too and that Henry Tilney is way cooler than that moody Darcy fellow. The great coat! The curricle! The large and drooly Newfoundland puppy! And the snark, fellow Janeites, the delicious snark! Can anyone listen to Henry’s nonsense about muslin and not fall in love? Or to Jane Austen’s defense of the novel and not nod energetically? Or think about Henry riding ventre-a-terre to Fullerton so he could know that Catherine was safe and offer her his hand without going all wibbly?

Dorothy? Dorothy! Our vinaigrette and a strong pot of tea, directly!

We also declare it Northanger Abbey Day because Alert Janeites Heather L and Chris wrote to let us know that BBC radio is broadcasting a dramatization of NA today! In fact, it has already been broadcast; however, one can listen to the radio play on the BBC Web site. They usually leave them up for a week or so.

The broadcast has an all-star cast, including Amanda Root as Jane Austen (WOW!), John Shrapnel as General Tilney (the Hornblower fans who hang around here suddenly snort and mutter about bad wigs), Saskia Reeves as Eleanor Tilney, Claire Skinner as Isabella Thorpe, and Jenny Agutter as Mrs. Thorpe. Emily Wachter plays Catherine Morland and David Harewood is Henry Tilney (swoooon). More information, including photos of the leads, here (scroll down to Page 4). We like that Henry. He has the proper spark of mischief in his eye.

That is only part 1 of 3, so we suppose there will be two more parts broadcast. Now we have to figure out how to listen to the bally thing without downloading Real Media…

In addition, we have a further treat for Northanger Abbey fans. Joey McGarvey, an incoming junior at Stanford University, has engaged in a complex online project about Janeites and Northanger Abbey. We’ll let Ms. McGarvey tell you about it in her own words:

I’m an incoming junior at Stanford University and for the last few months I’ve been working on a research project– that’s a very liberally-defined name– on Jane Austen. It’s particularly focused on Janeites and the Austen tourist industry. My work was divided into three stages. First, I went to Bath and Chawton and a few other places of interest, did the typical Austen-related things there, and blogged my experiences. Then I did a tutorial on Austen at Oxford, and posted all of my papers online in a second blog. I’m trying to complete the third part of my project now. It’s a fictional blog where the blogger and heroine is a devoted Janeite who travels to England to worship Austen and surprises herself when her life assumes some rather Northanger Abbey-like qualities.

Basically, it’s an excuse for me to indulge my love of paraliterature and to write bad fanfic.

She says that like it’s a bad thing!

But I’ve almost entirely finished the project now and very few people have looked at it. If anyone might enjoy it, I think it would be readers of your site.

We think so, too.

The main site is http://bloggingausten.blogspot.com. There’s more information posted there and links to the different parts of the project.

We loved the bit of modern-set NA fanfic, though as we are about to embark on our own Janeite tour of Bath and London (with a sidetrip to Portsmouth to satisfy our Royal Navy jones), we were a little taken aback by some of the heroine’s reactions to Bath and other Jane Austen-connected places in the U.K. However, these were needed to dampen down our excessive enthusiasm, which has affected our ability to concentrate on anything besides obsessively re-reading Rick Steves’ guidebook.

Enjoy Northanger Abbey day, AustenBloggers, and remember: The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. Henry Tilney said so, so it must be true.

The Telegraph has a snarky article about visiting the Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton. We like snarky, though the snark here seems to come from an imperfect understanding.

Joe Wright, director of the eagerly awaited new film version of Pride and Prejudice, is only the latest of a long line of revisionists who have tried to rescue the novelist from her prissy chocolate-box image, promising social realism instead of the usual emphasis on empire-line frocks and gently heaving bosoms.

It will be interesting to see how he fares, and whether he enrages the Janeites - the Barmy Army of the literary world.

They are a formidable lot and their devotion to their heroine is touchingly absolute. No literary property in England - not Anne Hathaway’s cottage near Stratford, not Wordsworth’s house in the Lake District - feels quite so much like a shrine as Jane Austen’s house in Chawton, Hampshire.

There is only a “prissy chocolate-box image” because the media persists in writing about it.

Inside the house, whispering is the order of the day, as if someone has just died. A lock of Jane’s hair in one of the cabinets sets the reverential tone. One misses the boisterousness, the shrieks of laughter, which one likes, rightly or wrongly, to associate with her.

Curious; we thought one spoke in a low tone in museums out of respect to our fellow visitors. Our bad.

But whether you are a fully paid-up Janeite or just a dabbler, on no account should Chawton be missed. This is Jane Austen’s world - or the closest approximation we have to it.

Fair enough. See you in a month or so.

As we have been lazing about reading bad paraliterature this weekend, we are remiss in rounding up the many reviews and spinoff articles related to the general release of P&P3 in the U.K. this weekend, apparently complete with snogging. (We would appreciate it if anyone who saw the film since Friday would confirm the presence of the snogging scene at the end.)

Firstly, for those who inquired about the availability of the P&P3 companion book outside the contest, Alert Janeite Mandy wrote to tell us that a version is available online at the Working Title site. It mentions AustenBlog, but our heads shall not be turned by such Collinsish toad-eating. (well, maybe a little!) Private to Working Title: Sell the book. People want to buy it. Don’t you want to make money?

Alert Janeite Lorraine sent us an article from the Guardian on How to Spot a Period Film.

Also, we note that the Boston Herald says that “next spring is all about the Empire waist,” despite Joe Wright’s aversions that they make ladies look like “marshmallows.”

Put away all those low-rise pants and skirts - next spring is all about the empire waist.

Designers such as Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler and Narciso Rodriguez executed the new silhouette best.

The new look is flattering, if a bit youthful, Singer said. But beware - higher waists usually mean mid-calf skirt lengths.

“That doesn’t really flatter many women,” Singer said.

But it hides a multitude of sins. (Look for a high-waisted princess style cut on the bias, ladies.) And the low-rise waistline on pants and skirts cannot disappear soon enough for us. In further fashion news, Alert Janeite Emma wrote to tell us that Keira Knightley made People magazine’s Best and Worst Dressed list for “Best Short Haircut.” Too late, she got extensions (for a film role, but let’s see if she keeps them afterward).

But on to the film reviews! (more…)

Just for a change of pace.

Alert Janeite, er, Jennite of the Jennifer Ehle Blog sent us a link to the P&P2 documentary on BBC “Drama Connections” at colinfirth24-7.com. Remember to right click and Save As to download!

If you want a preview, the JE Blog Forum has some transcripted excerpts.

Jennite also tells us that the anniversary edition of the P&P2 DVDs apparently has a NEW making-of documentary. It might even be the Drama Connections broadcast–has anyone bought it who can tell us?

And lastly, a very sweet and funny poem from a P&P2 fan posted at the IMdB, which we only excerpt here:

Oh! Pity the woman! The one who is dead,
with some other Darcy locked up in her head.
She missed the dark rake who embodied the name
of Fitzwilliam Darcy and then rose to fame.

[. . .]

E-bay reports a phenomenal mystery,
One that will dwell in the tomes of web history.
An order was placed with a vendor in Boston
for a P&P boxed set from: Heaven, Jane Austen.