Valancourt Books has published Clermont by Regina Maria Roche, the first in the Northanger Novels series, a set of the horrid novels listed by Isabella Thorpe for Catherine Morland’s information in Volume I, Chapter VI of Northanger Abbey.

“Dear creature! how much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.”

“Have you, indeed! How glad I am! — What are they all?”

“I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocket-book. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.”

“Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?”

“Yes, quite sure; for a particular friend of mine, a Miss Andrews, a sweet girl, one of the sweetest creatures in the world, has read every one of them.”

According to the Valancourt Books Web site,

This exciting new edition (of Clermont) includes a new introduction comparing Roche with her rival Ann Radcliffe, and examining the similarities and differences between Clermont and The Mysteries of Udolpho, as well as a wealth of supplementary materials, contemporary reviews, and other information sure to be of great interest to any Gothic reader or scholar!

The Editrix imagines herself curled up by a roaring fire with a lovely pot of Dorothy’s Orange Pekoe and Henry Tilney reading horrid novels to her…if in this scenario Henry rather resembles Mr. Adrien Brody, perhaps wearing a flannel shirt with the first several buttons undone, we feel certain that the generous reader will forgive the Editrix her little fancies.

(via the Janeites listserv)

Jim Tynen, writing for the Pittsburg Tribune-Review, dares to reveal that he, a man, was looking forward to the latest adaptation of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

I have a confession that’s hard for guys to make.

No, I don’t tape “The Gilmore Girls” and I don’t have a man bag.

But I was eager to see the new movie of “Pride and Prejudice,” with Keira Knightley. It’s amazing how passionate many people, male and female, are about Jane Austen’s story of the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennett and the proud Mr. Darcy.

And even more startling is this:

But try telling “Pride and Prejudice” fanatics, as I did, that Colin Firth rates only a “B” as Mr. Darcy, in the 1995 version. You would have thought I burned the American flag while tap-dancing on a Bible.

To me, Firth looked less like an arrogant aristocrat than an English accountant who has ingested an especially greasy meal of fish and chips. The discomfort annoys him, but what he really dreads are the potentially embarrassing after-effects.

Them’s fighting words amongst Firth fangirls everywhere. Immunity to the effects of the Wet! Linen! Shirt! must be at the root of this minority opinion.