Janeite Eyewitness-on-the-Spot-News-Reporter Adrienne was vacationing in Ireland this past August when she happened across the filming of the new NORTHANGER ABBEY adaptation in Glendalough, County Wicklow. She shared a couple of photos from the filming with AustenBlog.

Henry dispenses wisdom to Catherine

Miss Tilney lags a bit behind

We are stunned at the verisimilitude achieved by filming next to the big lake. It’s just like the one at Beechen Cliff!

Review by Heather L

I approached this play as a fan of Northanger Abbey and an observer of its dramatic adaptations. When considering various radio, film, or stage productions, I ask the following: How does this adaptation approach the original text (faithfully, or does it offer a different interpretation)? Does it encourage a first-time viewer to read the novel? Will it enhance the enjoyment of those who are already familiar with its source?

I’m happy to report that Northanger Abbey: A Romantic Gothic Comedy, dramatized by Lynn Marie Macy and directed by David Scott, provides a faithful yet innovative interpretation which can be enjoyed by all viewers. Their attention was well spent on a close reading of both Northanger Abbey and The Mysteries of Udolpho, careful depiction of the characters, and witty interpretation of Jane Austen’s original dialogue. While very few scenes from Northanger Abbey have been left out, so many favorites have remained that the inevitable omissions are forgivable. New scenes honor the spirit of the novel; for example, the charming conclusion brings to mind that “to begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen is to do pretty well.” (more…)

Alert Janeite Karenlee sent us a link to a blog post about a talk on chick lit and literary genres at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

She began by reading some extracts from a number of clearly romance novels and asked the audience if anyone could identify which books they were from. The quality of the writing varied, the purpleness of the prose varied, but they all involved a love story of some description. It turned out she had read us extracts from a modern literary novel, modern chicklit, great European literature (Anna Karenina), great English literature (Jane Austen), ‘classic fiction’ (DK Broster), and finished with some modern Mills & Boon. In simply listening to the extracts there was really no way of telling which was which. There are good books and bad books everywhere.

Hear hear! Though we are on record as becoming twitchy when Jane Austen is referred to as “the godmother of chick lit” or “the grandmother of romance novels” or similar, we think this speaker had an excellent point. We don’t like these sort of ersatz titles because we feel that they put Jane Austen’s work into a box unnecessarily. Certainly there are elements of chick lit and/or romance novels in her work, but it’s the labeling that annoys us–and we would be equally annoyed if her work were labeled as science fiction, or fantasy, or mystery, or anything else (with perhaps the exception of “classic literature” because, let’s face it, they ARE 200 years old). The Janeite diaspora is extraordinarily diverse. That chick lit and romance authors find inspiration in her work surprises us not at all; no more than authors who write books about dragons, or about magicians, or high school students, or a hundred other subjects. The beauty of Jane Austen’s books is the universality of their themes. We would not be reading and discussing and blogging about them 200 years after they were written were that not the case.

(And while we’re here, let us put in a good, albeit off-topic, word for Naomi Novik’s wonderful Temeraire series–they are fantastic!)

Alert Janeite Spring wrote to tell us about a review of Jane Austen in Scarsdale by Paula Marantz Cohen in the Plano Profile.

The similarity to Jane Austen’s novels is the way those in love fail to understand their own feelings and wishes. After some misunderstandings, a resolution to all problems occurs in this witty, heartwarming novel.

That sounds about right!

We received word that IMDB was listing June 15, 2007 as the U.S. release date for BECOMING JANE. March 16, 2007, is listed for the UK release date, and Alert Janeite Carmen wrote to tell us that a Spanish site lists October 19, 2007 as the release date in Spain.