Alert Janeite pennyforyourthoughts sent us a link to a BBC Mastermind Quiz featuring Jane Austen. Have fun!

Alert Janeite KelleyB sent us a link to an article about Hayley Atwell, who will have a part in MANSFIELD PARK 2007 but we do not yet know which; though, from the photo accompanying the article, we’re guessing Mary Crawford.

Critics have praised her wide range, which extends from being a natural period drama actress to her acclaimed performance playing the troubled daughter of a Conservative MP in The Line Of Beauty.

Her striking looks have hardly been a hindrance.

We dare say not!

Alert Janeites SylviaM and Patrizia sent us word that Rupert Penry-Jones will play Captain Wentworth in Persuasion 2007. Sylvia also found out that Anthony Head (yes, Giles on Buffy) will play Sir Walter Elliot. (We know quite a few Janeites who also love Buffy so this will be delightful news to them, we are sure!)

“Altered beyond his knowledge.” Anne fully submitted, in silent, deep mortification. Doubtless it was so, and she could take no revenge, for he was not altered, or not for the worse. She had already acknowledged it to herself, and she could not think differently, let him think of her as he would. No: the years which had destroyed her youth and bloom had only given him a more glowing, manly, open look, in no respect lessening his personal advantages. She had seen the same Frederick Wentworth.

*fans self*

More? You want more? Oh, all right!

There was a momentary expression in Captain Wentworth’s face at this speech, a certain glance of his bright eye, and curl of his handsome mouth, which convinced Anne, that instead of sharing in Mrs. Musgrove’s kind wishes, as to her son, he had probably been at some pains to get rid of him; but it was too transient an indulgence of self-amusement to be detected by any who understood him less than herself; in another moment he was perfectly collected and serious, and almost instantly afterwards coming up to the sofa, on which she and Mrs. Musgrove were sitting, took a place by the latter, and entered into conversation with her, in a low voice, about her son, doing it with so much sympathy and natural grace, as shewed the kindest consideration for all that was real and unabsurd in the parent’s feelings.

Here is a link to a Rupert Penry-Jones fansite with a lovely gallery. Swoon away, you naval enthusiasts (and you know who you are).

(Although it occurs to us that perhaps we should not get too excited, for the news has not been verified anywhere that we can see. It could have been an overzealous fan sending in the news to the IMDB. We are treating this as an unconfirmed rumor for the nonce. Remember Orlando Bloom’s sister playing Charlotte Lucas? That was on IMDB, too.) ETA August 31: See comments–Clerkenwell Films site now confirms Sally Hawkins, Penry-Jones and Julia Davis (possibly Miss Elliot?) in the cast.

Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character; vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did, nor could the valet of any new made lord be more delighted with the place he held in society. He considered the blessing of beauty as inferior only to the blessing of a baronetcy; and the Sir Walter Elliot, who united these gifts, was the constant object of his warmest respect and devotion.

Here is his official site, which confirms his role in the film on the News page. Tony is so totally going to rock in this role, in our not so humble opinion. But do you think he might need to rouge a bit in daylight hours? *falls over laughing at own wit*

Dorothy: pass out the sporks and have the Tullamore Dew ready to hand. Andrew Davies talks NA 2007 in the Telegraph, and we have developed a throbbing pain directly above our left eye.

He believes the Austen novel, written in 1798, gives him “the opportunity for a little bit of discreet nudity”. He has Catherine unclothed in a bath scene in which one of her admirers “happens to catch a glimpse of her naked, tipping a bucket of water over herself after a hard ride” - and there is, naturally, “a stirring of the loins”.

Oh, we’ll just bet.

Davies said that while Pride and Prejudice, because of its dense plotting, was “quite a fiendish bit of compression”, Northanger Abbey was “very straightforward”.

Depends on your definition of “straightforward,” one supposes.

He also admits to “taking the liberty” of imagining one scene. This is when Catherine’s rather false friend, Isabella, goes off with Capt Frederick Tilney, who is a bit of a rogue with beautiful young women and a serial seducer. In the book Austen does not spell out what happened to them.

Davies said: “I was quite sure that the captain would regard her as a silly girl that he knew for certain he could get into bed.” So he wrote in a seduction scene.

What, is he kidding? Isabella Thorpe give it up to anyone without her marriage lines? She’s much too cunning for that. In fact, we would think that might be why Freddy got bored with her.

He said that adapting Northanger Abbey and Tipping the Velvet were quite similar in that it could be done in the way the book was laid out.

COULD be, yes. (she said sardonically)

With Austen, he said, there was often a “very discreet back story” that she invented to comply with the conventions of her time. “It contains quite a number of seductions. Not exactly rape, but a certain number of abductions of under-age girls with a hint at all kinds of rude things. She never actually writes the scenes. You just sort of hear about them.”

Sir, with all due respect: what the hell are you talking about?

For the five thousandth time–please pay attention! NORTHANGER ABBEY IS A PARODY OF GOTHIC MELODRAMA. A PARODY!

No one was abducted, no one was seduced. There were little faux abductions (such as John Thorpe whisking Catherine away from her date with Henry Tilney and then the General whisking her away to the Abbey under Thorpe’s nose) but we take pains to point out that Catherine went WILLINGLY on these occasions. They are little in-jokes meant as a wink at books such as Ann Radcliffe’s that employ such devices. There is a rich mine of comedy in the book that Mr. Davies seems bent on ignoring in quest of titillation, and while we are no prude by a long shot, we think that he should be ashamed of himself for that if nothing else.

Thanks to ever-Alert Janeites HeatherL, KelleyB, and SylviaM for sending the link.

The Winterthur Museum in Delaware will be holding a Jane Austen Day on Sunday, October 15, 2006.

Immerse yourself in the world of author, Jane Austen. Learn about the etiquette of taking tea, listen to selections of her novels, and try a letter box hunt through the garden. Fans will love hearing Elizabeth Steele, of the North American Jane Austen Society, present “Jane Austen, Mistress of Irony.” And more!

Admission to this event is included with general admission.

Elizabeth Steele is the regional coordinator of the Eastern Pennsylvania/Delaware Valley Region of JASNA and a Friend of AustenBlog. We are certain that her talk will be excellent.

Visitors to Winterthur at that time may also see costumes from the 1995 film adaptation of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY at the “Fashion in Film” exhibition.

Paul from KeiraWeb.com was kind enough to record the segment about Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy that aired last night on BBC’s The One Show and has made it available for download; it is a Windows Media file and is 9.46 mg, so better for the broadband crowd.

It’s quite nice, we get to see two lovely houses that Jane would have known (The Vyne and Ashe House) and there’s nothing in it to outrage a Janeite’s reason; unusual these days!

A visitor posted a link to Hanway Films’ site. The company apparently is involved somehow with BECOMING JANE, and has a summary of the film on its site. (Click on Our Films, Current Films, and then Becoming Jane–and it’s a Flash site, so one must have the appropriate equipment on one’s fancy thinking box.)

BATTER UP!

22-year-old Jane Austen is in a spot of trouble.

Isn’t this about Jane and Tom Lefroy? That would be January 1796; Jane would have been not one and twenty. (Barely twenty, actually.) Yes, we know, quibbling, quibbling; but heck, if you’re gonna P&P it up, why not go all the way?

Jane’s older sister is happily married,

WHAT? (she shrieked in stunned disbelief) (more…)

Alert Janeite HeatherL sent a link to a little article on unison.ie about nine-year-old Alana Brennan, who has been cast as one of Catherine’s little sisters in Northanger Abbey 2007. The link requires registration; you can register if you want to read it, or use BugMeNot, or just read the below–there’s not much more to it.

Cratloe primary school student Alana Brennan has been cast as a member of the Morland family in a forthcoming TV version of the novel ‘Northanger Abbey’.

[. . .]

“I’m delighted, absolutely thrilled with the part,” said Alana last night. “I found out two weeks ago and started bawling crying. My mam said, ‘You’re supposed to cry when you don’t get a part, not when you get it,’” she laughed.

Awww. She’s a little too old to play Hannah Harriet (the very youngest Morland at four) and too young to play Sarah (the next youngest to Catherine at 16) so we’ll probably see Alana running round the parsonage.

ETA: Hannah? *Editrix smacks self with Clue Trout*

As she pointed out in the interview we posted recently, Dr. Joan Klingel Ray, the author of Jane Austen for Dummies, was concerned about the many typos and errors that slipped through the editorial process into the finished book. She kindly sent us a list of errors that she has found (so far!) for anyone who has already purchased the book. (Warning: it’s a fairly large PDF file; if you can’t handle the download, e-mail the Editrix and we’ll send it to you as a Word file or try to find another way to accommodate you.) Future printings should incorporate the corrections.

Alert Janeite DeeDee sent us a scan of an article from The Week in which novelist Marisha Pessl names her best books–a list that includes Northanger Abbey.

This underestimated work of Jane Austen deserves a second look.

And a third, and a fourth, and so on, and so on…

The story follows Catherine Morland during her visit to Bath, England, with family friends. Part parody of gothic fiction, part social satire, the book probes how the books we read shape our reality, help us fabricate illustions–which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as Austen so delicately, and humorously, points out.

(But what about the Great!Coat? She didn’t mention the Great!Coat.)

Every bookstore has one – a rack or shelf full of little “giftie” books that fit neatly into the bag you’ve put the “real” present in. From “A to Zs of Beekeeping” to “Inspirational Quotes for Your Dog,” giftie books have covered almost every topic known to man. Now, thanks to Lesley Bolton, Jane Austen’s life, world and work have joined the ranks of these books. In The Jane Austen Miscellany Bolton covers everything from the clothes Jane wore to nth adaptation-slash-sequel of “Pride and Prejudice.”

With a layout full of faux Regency designs (and a few C.E. Brock illustrations thrown in for good measure), fancy fonts (one that looks like a knock-off of Pia Frauss’ excellent design) and categories like “Austenian Insults,” this book is not for the die-hard Janeite, but perhaps a good idea for those wishing to bring more members to our ranks. The Jane Austen Miscellany is full of trivia-bytes just obscure enough that the average non-Janeite wouldn’t be aware of them, but familiar enough to those Austen fans that have actually read all her work and a biography or two.

While some of the trivia Bolton includes in this book are novel (for example, “A lady would have never worn diamonds or pearls during the morning hours”), she also focuses a bit too strongly on the various adaptations of the novels. Linda Berdoll’s infamous Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife and “P&PUtah” are some of the few that Bolton promotes, alongside biographies by Deidre LeFaye and the recent BBC adaptations. Bolton almost takes for granted that her audience is familiar with Austen, a move that might have worked if her target audience weren’t non-Janeites.

So if you’re an Austen fan just starting out (I hear we had a new wave of them post-P&P3), or a Middle-Aged Austen Whore expanding your circle of influence, go to your nearest bookstore, find the giftie book rack (it’s usually near the registers) and pick up your copy of The Jane Austen Miscellany and your gaudy gift bag of choice (I recommend the sparkly gold ones!) today.

Speaking of YouTube…

Thanks for the heads-up to Marsha, who no doubt will take great delight in being called an Alert Janeite.

Phil Howe of Hidden Britain Tours wrote to tell us that this Friday, August 25, BBC’s The One Show will have a segment on whether Tom Lefroy was the real-life inspiration for Mr. Darcy. (If that sounds kind of familiar–it’s the premise of the upcoming film BECOMING JANE.) From the press release: (more…)

Review by Allison T.

There are now–or, perhaps I should say, there are as of this particular nano-second in time–four different published retellings of P&P from Mr. Darcy’s viewpoint: Mary Street’s The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy (1988), Amanda Grange’s Darcy’s Diary (2005), Pamela Aidan’s three-volume series with the omnibus title of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman (2003-2005), and the just-published-in-the-U.S. Darcy’s Story, by Janet Aylmer. The last, a tale that Aylmer initially self-published and that has subsequently been sold in 37 countries, is now being carried by HarperCollins. It is, however, the weakest of the four versions.

It’s not that Darcy’s Story is bad, exactly; how could it be bad when it includes massive chunks of Austen’s own dialogue? Wait, chunks is perhaps an understatement: I really mean page after page of famous scenes, recited verbatim. But it offers little that is new, especially with regard to the curious relationship between Darcy and Bingley, and is perhaps best suited for the most inexperienced of Austen-lovers. Aylmer, the pen-name of an English Jane Austen enthusiast who lives in Bath, was inspired to write Darcy’s Story after watching Colin Firth plunge into that pool at Pemberley over and over and over….and, indeed, Darcy’s Story would appeal to a young viewer of the BBC movie (which tells the story from Elizabeth’s viewpoint) who has not yet read P&P but is wild about Darcy-Firth.

The publicity information tells us that Austen shows Darcy transforming from “an arrogant and aloof fixture”–making him sound like a case of buyer’s remorse after purchasing a living room lamp–to “an ardent and humble man worthy of Elizabeth’s love,” but that Austen doesn’t show how that transformation occurred. One begs to differ–Austen shows that very well indeed: we just don’t hear Mr. Darcy’s thoughts as the process unfolds. Austen shows us that Darcy is a loving brother who lost his parents too young, a good master and landlord, and a caring, if perhaps slightly officious, friend. All four of the Darcy-P&Ps do pick up on these facets of his character. However, Aylmer’s version does not go on much further to flesh out Darcy’s character or his past; gives us few of his thoughts or words that are not verbatim quotes from the original, and even contrives to make the eventual union between the lovers almost bloodless.

In the ever-expanding pantheon of Jane Austen sequels, prequels and retellings, there are a few books that are excellent, many that are entertaining, and a handful that are pretty awful indeed. Aylmer’s Darcy’s Story falls midway in the spectrum: it is not brilliant, but it is not bad; it is just…sort of…tired.

Geetika Lizardi send a link to some photos from her musical, JANE, a biography of Jane Austen. Looks like a fun show! Geetika said that she is adding some new songs: “Manydown” and a song for Harris Bigg-Wither!

Winston Fletcher muses in the Guardian whether women really do want to marry rich men.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged,” Jane Austen famously begins Pride and Prejudice, “that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” In other words, she is saying ironically, prospective wives flock to blokes with lolly. Throughout history this has been one of the constant themes of literature, legends, myths and operas. And for much of history it may have been true - but surely it is codswallop in Britain today. Today it is a lousy cliche that stereotypes - indeed, denigrates - women.

Well! That’s refreshing!

Jane was joking, as Mr. Fletcher pointed out. Remember Maria Bertram–she married probably the richest man of all in the Austen oeuvre–Mr. Rushworth’s twelve thousand trumps you-know-who’s mere ten–and look where it got her: sharing a cottage in the country with the most unpleasant character in the Austen oeuvre. Your lesson, young ladies? Money Doesn’t Solve Everything.

But for the great majority of people, in the broad middle swathe of society, I don’t think their partners’ wealth matters a toss. Or, to be more accurate, there are countless reasons for choosing a partner, and money is one of them - but it is pretty low on the list. Yet the myth survives, and is constantly perpetuated - in the press, in novels, in thrillers, on television: when it comes to getting hitched to a chap, it says, what women want is a filthy rich chap.

Think of all your friends and decide: it’s twaddle, nowadays, isn’t it?

Ah. Bless.

DOROTHY! A hot pot of Vanilla Rooibos, directly! We have a celebration to begin!

Congratulations to Heather Laurence, whose screenplay NORTHANGER RANCH, a contemporary adaptation of Northanger Abbey, received an Honorable Mention in the screenplay competition at the Gloria Film Festival. Only five scripts out of 33 finalists (besides the winning scripts in the original and adaptations categories) were chosen for Honorable Mention, so this is the next-best thing to winning–and the first step towards production of the script! w00t!

Joan Klingel Ray, Ph.D., is in her third term as President of the Jane Austen Society of North America, a title she will hold until December 2006. A native of New York City, she is a professor of English and a President’s Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Dr. Ray is the author of Jane Austen for Dummies, recently published by Wiley. The Editrix had the good fortune to meet Dr. Ray when she gave a (wonderful) presentation at the Editrix’s JASNA region last March, and she graciously agreed to put up with our Lady Catherine-like impertinence do an e-mail interview.

Getting to Know You

When and under what circumstances did you first read Jane Austen’s novels?

Like many an Austen reader, I first read Pride and Prejudice when I was about 13. I was at summer camp and loved the book at first read. I’ve re-read it many times. Pride and Prejudice is the most approachable of Austen’s novels in terms of its wonderful plot, hero, and heroine, and wondering if they will ever get together. But I did not read all of Austen’s works until I was in a grad course that lasted two semesters and included all the novels of JA. I think this was a great time to read them as I was then 22 and had developed a strong sense of irony, myself. Not that younger readers don’t read and appreciate Austen’s novels. But the older and more experienced in life and literature one becomes, the more one appreciates the full Austen–really a very sophisticated writer. (more…)

Speaking of the Jane Austen Centre, they are seeking an illustrator for a serialized novella that will be published by the Centre. We have it on excellent authority that it will be a Northanger Abbey-inspired story that will take place in Bath, so familiarity with the characters and location will be very helpful. Unlike our last help-wanted posting, non-U.S. citizens may apply. See the link for details.

We heard from David Baldock, the director of the Jane Austen Centre at Bath, that filming will begin for PERSUASION 2007 in Bath on September 18! This is excellent news, especially in light of disappointment in another quarter.

We dare say the whole film will not be shot there, but at least we’ll get our Bath fix. This is most vital news, indeed.

All those going to Bath next month for the Jane Austen Festival, we expect full reports, preferably with PHOTOS!