In our travels around the Internets, we are truly delighted by the diversity of Austen fans–nationally, racially, sexually, politically, socially, religiously. This is true even in our “real life” interpersonal relationships within the Austen fandom. We can all find common ground on Jane.

That being said, we found a couple of links that are, perhaps, better suited to the more adventurous segment of our fandom. We present them because we found them interesting and amusing, and relevant to the mission of AustenBlog, which presents the daily collision of Jane Austen and popular culture; we recognize that they will not be everyone’s cup of tea. If you prefer your Jane G-rated, we suggest you don’t click on the jump. The rest of you guttersnipes, go to it!

First up, -e from Letters to Marc Jacob (”I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love me”) wonders what Marc thinks about the casting of Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen.

It will be interesting to see the directors mouse her up again, as our beloved Jane was famously plain.

Plain? Famously? We think not. From Caroline Austen’s memoir of her aunt:

As to my Aunt’s personal appearance, her’s was the first face that I can remember thinking pretty, not that I used that word to myself, but I know I looked at her with admiration…She was not, I beleive, an absolute beauty, but before she left Steventon she was established as a very pretty girl, in the opinion of most of her neighbours–as I learned afterwards from some of those who still remained. (misspellings original)

Fulwar William Fowle, a friend of the Austen family who was one of Jane’s father’s pupils, wrote of Jane as a young woman:

…she was pretty–certainly pretty–bright & a good deal of color in her face–like a doll–no that wd. not give at all the idea for she had so much expression–

Some might find the woman pictured in Cassandra’s famous portrait plain, but we are not among them.

A voice pipes up from the AustenSphere. “Editrix, why did you hide that behind the cut tag? There’s nothing R-rated about that post.”

Agreed; we were, however, a trifle concerned about the photo of Miss Annie accompanying the post, in which she has fallen prey to the recent enthusiasm amongst young starlets for forsaking their smallclothes. (A trend that we look upon with great spinsterly asperity, as it seems unsanitary at the very least; we shall never ride in a limousine again without thoroughly Lysoling the upholstery; but we digress.) We saw BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, so Miss Hathaway’s kibbles ‘n bits are not a new sight to us, but we are amused by her willingness to go out in public so attired in light of her unwillingness to engage in fake movie smooching. (Tho’ perhaps that is a trifle unsanitary as well, especially during cold and flu season. Germphobic? Us? Oh, no. Pass the Airborne, willya?)

We also heard from the proprietor of a newish blog, It’s Not Really Happening, who is writing a Pride and Prejudice pastiche set among the community of single gay men in Paris. We loved the snark (and found the notion of giving the other drag queens time to exhibit quite hilarious) tho’ we dare say most of the jokes went over our head. However, we know that some of our readers will eat this up with a spoon, so we could not resist linking.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single gay man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a good wife. No, it doesn’t work.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single gay man in possession of a blog must be in want of a good wife. Hmmn… better, but it doesn’t sound convincing.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single gay man in possession of a good blog must be in want of a good shagging. Yes! That’s it… although… no, there’s something not quite right; it doesn’t quite set the tone I’m looking for…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single gay man in possession of a good blog must be in want of a shagging. That’s definitely it… and I bet it took her a hell of a lot longer.

Hee. We bet it did.

It’s not explicit, it’s not slash, but it’s not for the faint of heart either. Go read and have a laugh if you are so inclined. (We linked to the first chapter; to read more, look in the right sidebar for the heading “Pride and Partiality” and work your way through the chapters.)