A conversation with Jane Austen
This was mildly amusing, we guess.
JD: So you’d rather they read the book, in other words?
JA: Mind you, I am no despiser of theatrical entertainments. But nonetheless - (a pause) Modesty forbids me from speaking further.
JD: OK, I get it, you wrote the book, you want people to read it, not some imitation of it, no matter how good. But you must prefer some adaptations to others - like the more faithful British version to the American version, with its over-the-top “Hollywood ending”?
JA: The colonies (as I persist in calling them to this day) seem to me a wild adventure; tho’ themselves full of much possibility, a reputation for excess is not unnatural to their character. But as I utter these words I reproach myself, as I find the pride and prejudice of my characters lurking deep within my breast as well: to leave the theater satisfied is no small thing, and the entertainments of the Americas satisfy as do no others.
(Colin Farrell? Is he kidding?)
December 1st, 2005 at 12:43 am
Replace the “Farrell” with “Firth” and he’d be a little more accurate, I think!
December 1st, 2005 at 1:49 am
Regarding Farrell vs. Firth: Farrell, being the male whore that he is, has been rumored to have propositioned a woman much older than he. Still, I think he meant Firth.
December 1st, 2005 at 4:28 am
Mildly amusing, as you said…..
December 1st, 2005 at 11:07 am
Austen referring to me a ‘dastardly blackguard’ and ‘a cad and a bounder, until she eventually stormed off.
Readers of the Oxford English Dictionary will know that Jane Austen is credited with the earliest use in print of dozens of words, but this interview breaks exciting new ground… the earliest previously recorded use of the word cad, in the sense of a fellow of low vulgar manners and behaviour, was in 1838, although as early as 1831 the word was recorded as being used at Eton & Oxford University as a contemptuous colloquialism for low fellows or townsmen.
Jane’s use of the word bounder is even more exciting, though. Until today, the earliest record of its use was 1889. In 1890, it was obviously an unfamiliar word; on May 2nd of that year, The Times (London) tells us
To speak of a man as a bounder is to allude to him as an outsider or cad.
December 2nd, 2005 at 12:55 am
Hmm. I think I’ve used the word “bounder” in one of my fanfics. Dangit.
December 2nd, 2005 at 2:31 am
Colin Farrell? What was he thinking? but still…what a picture! (laughing)