Since they are no longer in competition, the title seemed appropriate!

In The Book Standard, Jessa Crispin of the excellent Bookslut complains about yet another adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and about how she doesn’t get this Jane Austen thing anyway. To say we are disappointed and dismayed is an understatement, particularly in the light of this part:

That worries me. Isn’t the point of Elizabeth Bennett that she’s completely mediocre? Not a great mind, not a great wit, not a great beauty—something every adaptation except for Bridget Jones seems skip over. Can’t someone adapt a book like Jane Eyre, where the title character actually makes a decision and does something?

Elizabeth Bennet (one t, s’il vous plait) is not mediocre, and she is actually rather clever and witty, and by the end of the book Mr. Darcy says she is “the handsomest woman of his acquaintance.” Once cannot read Jane Austen and place trust in the words of characters like the Bingley sisters. And to come away from even 108 pages of Pride and Prejudice thinking that Elizabeth Bennet lacks brains, wit or looks means that one did precisely that.

We think Ms. Crispin might like the film. Sounds like she’s the type of person for whom Gritty Realism™ was made.

Neil Norman grouses in the Times about P&P and the new adaptation of OLIVER TWIST directed by Roman Polanski. They’re too Victorian, he complains.

To remove Austen’s critique of her society as well as leave out the more offensive elements such as Wickham’s mercenary manipulation of women through irresistible sexuality (not to mention reducing Elizabeth Bennet from a fiercely intelligent witty woman to a slightly bewildered girl) is a travesty.

Yikes! (And what were we just saying about smart and witty?)

The Tacoma, WA News-Tribune reports that NPR commentator and author of Book Lust Nancy Pearl’s favorite author is Jane Austen–or at least, Jane is in the top three.

I think it’s a shame to go through life not having read certain authors.

Name your top three.

Jane Austen. Charles Dickens. Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness.” I think those are a shame to go through life not reading, not because they’re “classics” but because they still have the ability to elicit pleasure.

And just like Jane Austen, Ms. Pearl has an action figure–now in a deluxe edition!

An AustenBlog Exclusive! (”You will soon know why.”)

During the JASNA Annual General Meeting held last weekend, it was announced that the 2009 AGM will be held in Philadelphia. The theme will be “Jane Austen’s Brothers and Sisters in the City of Brotherly Love,” and will concentrate both on Jane Austen’s real-life brothers and sisters as well as sibling relationships within the novels.

The Editrix is a member of the Eastern Pennsylvania - Delaware Valley Region, which will host the AGM, and we look forward to welcoming our fellow JASNA members to the great city of Philadelphia.

Our Janeite Spy has filed a report on the 2005 JASNA AGM, held in Milwaukee this past weekend.

Ah, the Milwaukee AGM of Jane Austen’s Letters in Fact and Fiction. How does one describe the thrill of being inches away from one of Jane Austen’s own letters? Cannot find the words. How does one describe the Pride & Prejudice movie? Still not sure what to think. Maybe one more screening will do the trick. The AGM was spectacular. The Wisconsin members should be very proud of themselves; we are all now very prejudiced in their favor.

Pressed for information about the screening of the film, our Janeite Spy reported that it had a mixed reception. The film did not create the same kind of buzz amongst the attendees as did last year’s screening of BRIDE AND PREJUDICE; many felt that the film was not “light, bright, and sparkling” like the novel, but was dark and Gothic and unAustenlike. However, the attendees all agreed that it was delightful to see the film in company with their fellow Janeites. Also, we hear that the theatre in which the film was screened was a beautiful old-fashioned theatre with an organist. The organ descended into the floor before the film began, and the organist waved good-bye to the viewers, whereupon he received a round of enthusiastic applause.

There was also an Interesting Announcement about an upcoming AGM, but we think it deserves its own post.