We got about a squillion hits tonight from people looking for more information about the film, Billie Piper, Blake Ritson, yada yada, so somebody must have liked it, though AustenBlog readers we’ve heard from so far were not impressed. The owner of the Cricket Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness, Kathleen, sent an e-mail stating she could barely finish watching it. We are hoping for a longer review.

Alert Janeite Caroline sent us a link to a review in The Herald; the reviewer liked the film, much to his astonishment, because after all bodice-rippers and Mills and Boon-type films are not his style. What such might have in common with Jane Austen we’re sure we do not know, but one can guess from the reviewer’s comments his general familiarity with the source material.

So go ahead, let us know what you thought. Let us know if you are familiar with the novel as well.

ETA: There’s a pinned thread at Molland’s for ongoing discussion. A lot of folks on this side of the pond will join in once their DVDs arrive, we dare say.

There looked like a perfectly fun deathmatch of Janeite vs. Jane-hater in The Telegraph magazine, but the link to the anti-Jane article doesn’t seem to work. We shall chalk it up to Jane’s spirit being mischievous. The pro-Jane article is quite good, except:

The stories are still capable of keeping us in a state of ecstatic suspense. Indeed, whenever the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, is repeated I know that I only have to look at it for about 30 seconds and I’m hooked again. If all six episodes are being shown back-to-back on UK Gold, that’s me done for the night. Jane Austen is the authorial equivalent of crack cocaine.

That’s all very well, but…what about her books?

(We still want to read the anti-Jane article…Cluebat at the ready if some enterprising reader manages to find a working link!)

A review of a book about sisters in The Herald contains the following very strange item:

It’s the one jarring element in an otherwise perfect work of literature. How could someone like Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice - a woman with a fierce independence of spirit, quick wit and keen intelligence - be so devoted to a sister like the bovine Jane? A more insipid creature you’d be hard pressed to find, even parodied by French and Saunders, and yet Elizabeth dotes on her and coos over her and wants “only her happiness”. In real life, surely, Elizabeth would roll her eyes in exasperation at Jane’s long-suffering meekness; would urge her to flash some steel at that bitch Miss Bingley. “Dear, sweet, kind-hearted Jane,” you can imagine her thinking, “pleeease would you get a grip!”

Shall we review?

Jane Austen wrote the book.

Jane Austen created the characters.

Therefore, Jane Austen could NOT have been “wrong” about their relationship.

*puts on Amateur Psychologist cap* (Hey, the Editrix DID score an average of 112 in her Introductory Psychology class including her extra credit project, so there.)

Clearly the author of the piece has issues with the character of Jane Bennet, and, like many of us, has projected herself onto Elizabeth Bennet. The author does not like Jane Bennet; ergo, Elizabeth Bennet could not like Jane Bennet; which is just silly. For one thing, we are told that Elizabeth turned to Jane, and became closer to her, after Charlotte Lucas married Mr. Collins, and Elizabeth no longer trusted Charlotte. Jane never did anything to lose Elizabeth’s trust. Yes, she thinks the best of everyone, but when faced with incontrovertible evidence of malfeasance–fake-nice letters from Caroline, or Wickham taking Lydia to London instead of Gretna Green–she doesn’t set sail down that river in Egypt, she faces up to the unhappy truth. She doesn’t jump to conclusions based on first impressions, which is Elizabeth Bennet’s principal failing.

(For those who are confused by the title of this post: Annie Wilkes is a character in Stephen King’s novel Misery. She holds the author of her favorite book series captive and forces him to write the heroine back to life after he kills her off. He says, “I can’t do that, she’s dead.” Annie says, in essence, “You can do anything. It’s your story. You are God to those characters.” Within reason, of course…Annie doesn’t appreciate authors “cheating” with cheesy plotlines, either. When she was taking her meds and not being, you know, homicidal, Annie probably would have loved Jane Austen. )

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune has a rundown on the upcoming stage production of Pride and Prejudice at the Asolo Repertory as well as the other “Beyond the Book” activities, which include lectures, readings, movies, all kinds of fun stuff. We would love a review of any or all of these events if any of our Gentle Readers attend.