We were amused by this video produced by the Topeka and Shawnee County Library, which appears to be part of a series of videos. The camera gives a point of view interpretation of the opening of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, which is read in voiceover. It’s quite fun; check it out!

A different kind of storytelling is going on with some Janeites who are doin’ it for themselves at lulu.com. Check out Allison T.’s reviews of Judith Brocklehurst’s novels, Maria, or the Story of a Disgraced Woman and A Letter from Lady Catherine below.

We also heard this week of a new book by Helen Baker, author of The Book of Ruth. The new book is called Connivance and is a post-Persuasion story about Mrs. Clay and Mr. Elliot. Both of Ms. Baker’s books are also available from lulu.com.

And we don’t think we remembered to link Chapter 9 of There Must Be Murder, “The Most Unpromising Circumstance.” There’s a cliffhanger ending and everything charming.

Have a wonderful weekend, Gentle Readers, and remember: Books are nice!

Reviews by Allison T.

It is with great pleasure that I bring to your attention two charming Austen sequels by Ontario region JASNA member Judith Brocklehurst: A Letter from Lady Catherine and Maria, or the Story of a Disgraced Woman, both self-published at Lulu.com.

A Letter from Lady Catherine begins when that lady, despairing that Anne will ever find a husband, swallows her pride and informs the Darcys that she and Anne will visit and they are to look out for likely suitors. A carriage accident on the journey leaves Lady Catherine with a broken arm and food poisoning and Anne is forced to take action to care for her mother and herself. She meets a pleasant young man—a reader and a thinker—and begins to find him more attractive than any gentleman she has yet met, when the Darcys arrive to take Anne to Pemberley. A burgeoning literary career, attractive new clothes and a newfound health contribute to Anne’s increased happiness, but, as a wealthy heiress, she can never marry the poor man she loves—or can she?

After her disgraceful elopement, Maria Rushworth (née Bertram) is banished by her family to a lonely, half-ruined farmhouse in the north of England. Tormented by thoughts of Henry Crawford, she appears to local society as “Mrs. Ward” and turns to horse-breeding to make money, while Aunt Norris discovers a new happiness in bringing the rat-infested house to order. Maria, or the Story of a Disgraced Woman tells the story of how the bored and lonely Maria transforms herself into a well-regarded businesswoman. But then the story of her affair leaks out, and Maria is whisked by the family back to Mansfield Park, where she must help Lady Bertram with the hard parts of her embroidery and take care of pug. Will she be stuck there forever?

The plots of these two sequels are so fresh and unusual that I can’t reveal more about them without spoiling the endings, and that, in and of itself, tells you something about the quality of the stories. And Judith’s characterizations—whether of Austen’s people or her own—are charming , though I was a little grieved to find that both Fanny and Edmund have turned into real Mr. Collins-like pills, and refuse to have Maria visit them or even talk to her. But I closed the books with a sigh of regret that they were over, and look forward to reading them again.

Great characters, great plots—but wait! There’s more! What sets these two novels apart from many historically-based Austen continuations is the elegance and precision of the prose. There are no annoying anachronisms, no violations of the Regency rules of behavior, and the language really echoes that of the period. As a bonus, Judith puts in little Austenian allusions for our amusement: for instance , when the gentleman that Anne loves gives her a King Charles spaniel, a little dog of no use whatsoever for hunting, Mr. Darcy, who is not found of little dogs, comments that at least it isn’t a pug. (What would Lady B think?)

Austenland is growing so large that it is becoming a financial challenge keep on purchasing (and housing) the sequels that appear each month, but I found these two books well worth the money.

Ms. Place at Jane Austen’s World has an exclusive interview with Robin Swicord, screenwriter and director of The Jane Austen Book Club. Part I, Part II.

When John Calley asked me to read Karen Joy Fowler’s novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, I was at work on an original screenplay about a dysfunctional family of Jane Austen scholars, which I planned to direct for Sony Pictures. I had spent years immersed in Austenalia, not only reading Austen’s novels repeatedly, but also absorbing her letters and juvenilia, and making my way through various academic treatises which explored Austen’s life and work from every imaginable angle. I joked to my Sony executive that I was on the way to making the only light Hollywood comedy ever to need a bibliography appended to the credits. However, in reading The Jane Austen Book Club, I found myself no longer in the company of sparring intellectuals. Here were ordinary people more like me; readers, seeking shelter and companionship in books. That contemporary readers have found refuge in Jane Austen’s well-ordered novels isn’t surprising, given what we’re seeking shelter from—congested traffic, ringing cell phones, squealing security wands, waiting rooms with blaring televisions. Recently I noticed that four of Austen’s six novels were for sale at the newsstand at the Seattle airport. Spend a couple of hours trapped in a terminal waiting for a flight that’s been delayed, and you’ll be only too happy to withdraw into a semi-rural English village, two centuries in the past. When you begin to love Austen, her world doesn’t seem that antiquated. Her characters worry about money, deal with embarrassing family members, cringe at social slights, and spend more time than they should hoping to fall in love, even when the local prospects don’t seem that promising. In short, her people are just like us—but without the commute and the twelve-to-fourteen hour workday.

Also, there’s a video at Hollywood.com with several of the actors in the film: Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman, Maggie Grace, and Hugh Dancy (if you’re interested in hearing his real accent).

Alert Janeite Helen B. found a Region 2 DVD of P&P Utah at a Dutch site–click on the icon on the upper left part of the page to translate the site to English. The film is in English with Dutch subtitles. At least, we’re guessing it’s Region 2…

Looks like Becoming Jane is being released in European countries; last week we saw trailers in several languages, and now Alert Janeite Sylvia L. sent us a review of Becoming Jane in German, though in Germany it’s called Geliebte (Beloved) Jane.

We were a little surprised when we heard that filming was going forward on The Jane Austen Club. Not because we didn’t like the novel that inspired it; on the contrary, we loved the novel, but were at a loss as to how the plot, with its timeshifts and flashbacks, could be rendered on film without severe evisceration, which, if not done with due care (as we Janeites certainly know), can have some ugly results. We were further alarmed by the casting of actors who all were at least a decade younger than the characters in the book. Fortunately, we are delighted to report that The Jane Austen Book Club is a funny and smart film that keeps the spirit of the original even while it takes some severe departures from it.

For the benefit of those who have not read the book, the six members of the group are brought together by mutual acquaintances, each of them grieving or confused or lonely, to read Jane Austen as “the perfect antidote to life.” They read and discuss and argue and flirt and fall in and out of love, using Jane Austen’s novels as emotional touchstones as her stories pop up in their lives in the most surprising ways. It’s not a modern-set version of a Jane Austen novel, like Clueless or Bride and Prejudice; Jane’s work is present and informs the proceedings, but the touch is light, almost ghostly. You probably won’t be getting any new insights into the novels. It’s more like the audience is the seventh member of the book club, listening to the others approach the novels through their own experiences, and, well, prejudices.

For those who, like us, read and loved the novel, we were pleased how much of the original six stories were preserved. The flashback scenes were excised, but in some cases the characters were able to tell part of their backstories. Allegra’s story in particular is almost intact, and Maggie Grace has managed to repeat Kate Winslet’s astonishing feat of making Marianne Dashwood likable. The rest of the cast also is excellent, without a single weak link; no flavor of the month starlet casting, thank Jane. Kathy Baker renders Bernadette almost perfectly from the book as the warm-hearted, sweet-natured, ever so slightly ditzy Earth Mother of the group. We’ve already waxed gushy about Hugh Dancy’s hilarious turn as Grigg, a single geek in possession of a good fortune, who is enthusiastic about reading–especially about reading whatever Jocelyn tells him he should read. Jimmy Smits plays Daniel against type, dumping his wife cruelly and bringing his new love to “her” Whole Foods, and oh! How we detest him for his perfidy! Not unlike how we detest a certain sea captain when he is cruel to a certain Miss A— E—–; but like that other gentleman, he makes up for it. (And when he was sitting on the beach discussing Persuasion both of our ovaries pretty much exploded simultaneously. Ow.)

As in the novel, the Austen references shift and sneak up one. Some will likely go over the heads of non-Janeite audiences, and probably they will never miss them; they are little treats for Janeites. Yes! This film does not forget the Janeites! Shocking, we know, after suffering a series of directors and screenwriters and actors who said publicly that they did not care what Those Austen People thought. Robin Swicord, who wrote the screenplay and directed, is one of us, and we are not forgotten. Although not all members of her cast are Janeites, she gets them to buy into the Janeness, and yet manages to avoid major eggheadedness that would make the Great Unwashed run screaming for the exits. Non-Janeite friends, family, SOs, and spouses need not fear this film. Janeites, for that matter, need not fear this film, even if one has been disappointed by recent efforts in her name. We laughed a lot, we cried a little, and we enjoyed the way the ending wrapped up all the stories harmoniously–just like Jane.

Those who have not read the novel should have no problem following the film, and those who have read the novel will enjoy it, we think, whether or not you liked the book. It’s witty and clever, much like Jane herself, and celebrates her novels and the community of readers who have loved them for 200 years. You, Gentle Reader, are part of that community; go and celebrate.

Alert Janeite Sarah sent us a link to a conference on “Jane Austen and Endings” sponsored by the Institute of English Studies and the Jane Austen Society on Saturday, 17 November, 2007, at the University of London. The speakers include Elizabeth Eger, David Selwyn, Ashley Tauchert and Emma Clery, who “will investigate Jane Austen’s often ambiguous and knowing endings.” The registration fee is £30, £20; for members of the Institute or the Society.

A conference on “Jane Austen and Comedy” will be held on 29-30 November at LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Australia. The speakers include Germaine Greer, John Wiltshire, Jon Spence, Susannah Fullerton, and many more. There are several registration options to fit all budgets.

We have been very naughty…but these just called out for macros.

(ETA: Yes, they’ve been swapped out for new versions using the approved lolcat font.)

Alert Janeite Lisa sent us a link to an article in the Bath Chronicle about some controversy over a reenactment of a public hanging that was part of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath.

Major John Guest has labelled a mock hanging that took place during the launch weekend of the Jane Austen Festival an “appalling spectacle”.

Major Guest, from Stonehouse Lane in Combe Down, was in the city centre when he saw the dramatic stunt in Queen Square and decided to challenge organisers.

He told the Chronicle: “A public execution was staged in Queen Square, complete with gallows and a realistic body hanging from a noose.

“The public were encouraged to witness this foul recreation and I observed several instances of children, with re-enactors dressed as soldiers, posing for photographs in front of the swinging corpse.

“This was a foul obscene stunt, with as far as I can recall absolutely no connection with Jane Austen’s books.

“When I intervened and challenged the organisers during this sickening display I was asked to leave.”

The Festival organizers pointed out, quite correctly, that theft of as little as one shilling’s worth of goods was a hanging offense in Jane Austen’s day; indeed, her aunt, Mrs. Leigh Perrot, stood trial for shoplifting some lace and could have been sentenced to hanging as a result (though because of her age and wealth, such a sentence would likely have been changed to transportation to Australia). It seems to us like a not terribly pleasant though definitely a part of life in Jane Austen’s time.

And a note to Major Guest: Jane would not have approved of your being a buttinsky and disrupting the event, either. Next time, try writing a strongly-worded letter after the fact.

Alert Janeites Chantel and Franka let us know about these photos from S&S08, including the promised wet-shirted wood chopping scene.

Willoughby makes us feel old. What is he, twelve? And we don’t think it’s completely accidental that New!Edward bears a striking resemblance to Old!Edward.

Well, snark and drool away.

Sony Pictures Classics will give posters from The Jane Austen Book Club to ten AustenBlog readers. If you would like to be added to the drawing, send your full name and mailing address to editor@austenblog.com by 10 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, September 27, 2007. If you like, tell us about “your private Austen.”

Nine winners will receive a copy of the poster; one grand prize winner will receive a poster, a copy of the movie tie-in edition of the novel, and a copy of The Jane Austen Handbook, A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World signed by the Editrix, which we are including because we are so happy to end our drought of Jane Austen-related films that we didn’t like! (If you would like to be in the drawing for the poster only, just let us know in your e-mail.)

To see a larger version of the poster, click on the smaller version at left.

Alert Janeite Lisa sent us this article, which had us scratching our head. It’s a typical “O Hai, Jane Austen Is Teh Hawt Right Now” sort of article, but he mentions the two P&P musicals; then at the end, a list of Friends of Jane that sounded, well, awfully familiar, as most of them had been mentioned at one time or another on AustenBlog.

We were a little put out at first that an article that had so clearly used AustenBlog as a source could not be bothered to mention us, but then on a re-read we realized that the list of F.O.J.s actually had come from Carrie Rickey’s article from earlier this summer, for which we were interviewed, and some information for which came from AustenBlog (which was, of course, mentioned in the article and was the reason we were invited to the screening and interviewed for the piece). Ms. Rickey is not credited, either.

The other curious thing about the article was the person quoted within it, “author and Austen fan Patricia Kennealy-Morrison.”

As Lisa wrote to us, “Who’s Patricia Kennealy-Morrison?”

We wondered, too; her name sounded vaguely familiar, so we thought she must have written a book related to Jane Austen at some point, and doesn’t the article sort of make it seem that way? We wielded our ninja-like Google-fu and discovered that Ms. Kennealy-Morrison’s main claim to fame is that she married Jim Morrison over the anvil. (The marriage ceremony performed at Gretna Green and other Scottish locations for the benefit of British lovers on the run in Jane Austen’s day was basically handfasting.) (And not that one could blame her. Dude. Jim Morrison. We wouldn’t wait for the banns to be cried, either.) (more…)

(We’re working on our review, we swear!)

Lots and lots of reviews rolling in for The Jane Austen Book Club; it’s at 61% at Rotten Tomatoes, and we especially liked this bit from Michelle Orange’s review at The Reeler.

Time was clearly taken here to do better than fine with material that had a sizeable no-brainer audience built right into the title.

Thank you. THANK YOU. With all the new adaptations and films we’ve snarked in the four three years of this blog, our main complaint has been the complete disregard for the sensibilities of the main audience for such adaptations–Janeites. And the thing is, are our sensibilities that much different from the rest of the world’s? We don’t really think so; and what’s wrong with challenging the public to stretch a little? Director Robin Swicord even noticed a renewed interest in Austen among her cast.

Still, when Swicord tried to get her cast into the spirit by hosting a book club meeting to discuss “Emma,” she was a little surprised at the response.

“Maggie Grace was the only one who’d done her homework,” Swicord said, citing the actress who plays book clubber Allegra. “Everyone else had pulled stuff off the Internet. But as we talked, people began to say, ‘I wish I’d read the book.’ It was so funny to watch their interest in Austen ignite.”

Uh huh. And even still,

But Swicord was clear on her desire not to take “a strong intellectual approach.”

And the film doesn’t, not really; the discussion by the book club is average, like any group of reasonably intelligent people reading good books might have, with differences of opinion and built-in prejudices (and, referring back to the first article we linked, “competitive hosting and eating.” Oh yes).

“There are some people who are very dedicated to the cult of Jane,” Swicord said. “I appreciate those people enormously, and I am a hair’s breadth away from that myself.” Swicord invited some of them — members of the Jane Austen Society of North America, a group Swicord has been tempted to join — to the “Book Club” set.

hee hee. Wait till Vancouver, Robin. We are JASNA. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. The Hollywood Reporter also has an article about Ms. Swicord’s journey in bringing the novel to the screen, which includes, among other things, the fascinating information that the editor’s name is Maryann Brandon. She makes it seem all “I picked her because of her great work on Alias” but we Janeites know the truth! She also talked to All Things Considered.

Roger Ebert liked it, unsurprisingly, as he is an F.O.J., despite his troubling affection for MP99. (more…)

Hee. Alert Janeite Lisa sent us a link to an article about Colin Firth in which he talks about his relationship with Mr. Darcy.

But Firth’s life really changed when he emerged, sodden-shirted, from the lake as Mr Darcy in the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The screenwriter Andrew Davies recently revealed the plan had been for Darcy to be naked. Firth had “a bit of the usual tension about getting your kit off” but thinks it remained sexy because we “rerobed, not disrobed, Austen”.

He groans at the very mention of Darcy, whom he regards as “a part-time burden. It got my name recognised but it also put me in a box. Things were going well; I was building a diverse working life.”

Darcy made him feel “a bit of a star” (he smiles pleasurably at that thought), his wife Livia Giuggioli would greet the sight of him dishevelled every morning with an ironic, “Oh look, it’s Mr Darcy”. But, Firth says, “12 years on it feels like a school nickname you can’t shake. It occurred to me the other day to change my name to Mr Darcy and be done with it.” I laugh but he is serious, despite parlaying the Darcy image to his advantage in the Bridget Jones movies, playing Mark Darcy, much obsessed over by Helen Fielding’s lead character.

“The frustration is anything I do not on a horse looks a stretch,” says Firth, smiling yet serious. “When I did Fever Pitch, to get into my own jeans to play a guy living in North London where I lived, to play a character from my own background – people considered that a stretch.”

Discuss. We know you want to.

(On Saturday once again! We are determined to be caught up today.)

There are not just new Austen-related sequels and biographies and other works coming out these days, there also are new editions of her novels. Premier Books has released a set of the novels in Canada (they seem to only be available at Chapters) that have covers with a modern feeling: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey. One might also say they echo the film posters for P&P05 and Becoming Jane. Also, the Adventures in Reading blog posted new covers for the Vintage Classics Series editions that are taken from period fashion plates. We like those very much, even though the periods displayed might not match the setting of the book.

What do you think of these new book covers? And how many editions of the novels do YOU own? (We have: one set, Chapman editions; one set, softcover Everyman Library editions given out by the Daily Telegraph earlier this year, courtesy of Dear Friend of AustenBlog Kathleen; several Brock illustrated antique editions of various novels; assorted paperbacks that we pick up at the book swap to lend/give away, which are currently all with a co-worker; e-books in eReader and Mobipocket versions.) (more…)

Jeffry Denman, who played Charles Bingley for the demo CD of the musical adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs, has posted one of the songs on his website. It’s called “Isn’t She Wonderful” and is a duet with Laura Griffith, who played Jane Bennet. (And thanks to Lori Bajorek for the demo CD of the play that we received today!)

A while back we posted about an older adaptation of Sense and Sensibility that would be released by a Dutch film company. Alert Janeite Maisy let us know that a poster at the Republic of Pemberley has ordered and seen the film, and reports that, despite the cast information on the DVD listing that relates to the 1980s BBC production, the DVD is indeed the 1971 version with Joanna David (Mrs. Gardiner in P&P95) as Elinor and that the film is in English. Please remember that the DVD is coded for Region 2, so you must have the proper equipment to view it (please refer to this comment by Tony A. for information about that).

The TheaterWorks production of Emma has broken the company’s box office records.

It seems being Jane has never been more popular. This world premiere musical has grossed the highest number of single ticket sales in the company’s 38 year history. Zounds!

The show has been extended through September 23–that’s tomorrow!

Thanks to Alert Janeite Lisa for the link!

Tomorrow (almost today, over there!) Emma Campbell Webster, author of Lost in Austen/Being Elizabeth Bennet, will be at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath. She will lead a Jane Austen adventure around Bath and then sign copies of her book.

On Wednesday, September 26, Patrice Hannon will be speaking at the 92nd Street Y (at Lexington Ave) in New York City from noon until 1 p.m. Her program is titled “Ask Jane: Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen and Her Heroines.”

…as she brings to life the “world according to Jane” from the point of view of Austen and her heroines. Hannon also shares some lesser known facts about the beloved novelist’s life.

Tickets are $16 and available online.

As a companion piece to the trailer en español the other day, today we have it en français, courtest of Alert Janeite Paola.

Paola also supplied a bit of the the dialogue, some of which we couldn’t quite catch on the Spanish version: C’est le plus désagréable, le plus insolent et le plus arrogant des hommes!

P.S. We have lots and lots to report but have been kind of busy the past few nights–we’ll catch up tonight, that’s a promise, including a TJABC poster giveaway and very possibly our review of the film.