A season of Jane Austen adaptations on both sides of the pond begins tomorrow with the broadcast of a new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility on the BBC. The Times has an interview with Andrew Davies; the author amused us with her skepticism.

Ah, yes, the famously impudent manner in which Davies invents minor characters to “round out the plot” of the sacred Austen canon, and to make it work better as a screen dramatisation. He does the same by adding sequences that he hopes will give body and motive to the story. These are, of course, the bits that everyone remembers.

Perhaps his former career as an English teacher and university lecturer (at Warwick University) has given him the authority to rewrite Austen, as if she were one of his undergraduates whose work needed sprucing up.

As. If.

Darcy coming out of the lake was Davies’s most famous sexing-up moment; in this latest Austen adaptation, he has the rather weedy Edward Ferrars (played by Dan Stevens) feverishly chopping wood in shirtsleeves and a downpour. It’s a bit like a Georgian Abercrombie & Fitch advert.

Does he hope drenched period beefcake will once more get the ratings soaring? Of course, though he claims some of the more eye-popping moments happen by accident – the firm axe coming down on the pliable wood, and so on. And in the rain, for goodness’ sake. “I never thought about it as a Freudian metaphor,” he says. Oh come on! “I’m shocked,” he says, delighted. “It just happened to be pouring with rain.” Just as the wet-shirt scene with Darcy just “happened”? “That wasn’t deliberate either.” What? “I didn’t think he would keep his shirt on. I never thought a wet-shirt scene would be such a turn-on.”

(Incidentally, we think we stumbled across the wellspring of The Pond Scene a week or two ago. Let’s just say our John Thorpe jokes haven’t been as far off as some might think.)

The Western Mail also has an interview with Mr. Davies that covers much the same territory and gives us a clue as to the marketing frame that has been chosen.

Restrained and rational Elinor, and the wildly romantic, impulsive Marianne are respectively played by newcomers Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield.

“It’s thrilling to have such young, vibrant talent as the Dashwood sisters – and to have actresses much nearer their ages,” enthuses Davies.

“The sisters are 16 and 18 in the book, and 17 and 19 by the finish. Now Emma Thompson gave a great performance in the movie, but she was too old. And I think it was really just hope that casting Alan Rickman would do the trick for Colonel Brandon.

We’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating: Kate Winslet was 18 or 19 when she made S&S95. Charity Wakefield is 25, so presumably was 24 when she made this film. If that’s all you got, look out.

“Nobody who reads the book ever remembers that this schoolgirl gets seduced and has a baby.”

No, really, we can read. Really.

Davies is clearly happy with the space afforded by a three-part adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, the first episode of which transmits on New Year’s Day – perfect chocolate-box telly after all the festive exertions of late.

“Jane Tranter, the head of BBC Drama, asked me if I could get four hours out of it, and I said I’d try, but it makes a very natural three hours, in truth,” says Davies. “We did six 50-minute episodes for Pride and Prejudice, but there’s more story there. And the speed of narration gets quicker on television, almost every year.”

And yet there’s room for duels and seductions! Oh, there better not be anything important or interesting left out.

“Edward is dull, he’s hesitant. And Colonel Brandon just seems old, serious, and not very glamorous. Jane Austen doesn’t really convince us that Marianne would move from being so crazy about the young Willoughby to suddenly being in love with Brandon.

“So those two guys needed a lot of work, they both needed to be made to look much sexier, really. We needed to butch them up! Otherwise you’ll never believe that our lovely young heroines would fall for them.”

Interestingly, we very clearly remember sitting in the theater watching S&S95 for the first time. When Alan Rickman rode up, came up to the door, and sat watching Marianne play the pianoforte, we thought: Oh good, they made him sexy! Because we liked Colonel Brandon in the book very much. Because (it bears repeating) we can read.

“This is partly why I continue to do so well. The producers go, ‘This is a famous book, we’ve got Andrew Davies, that’s two parts of the equation – get a sexy-looking cast and we’re on our way’!”

*buries head in hands*

The Telegraph has an article focusing on the cast on the last day of shooting.

Thanks to Alert Janeites Belle de Jure and Lisa for the links!

Alert Janeite Laurie wrote to tell us,

Last night while visiting my friendly neighborhood Barnes & Noble (got to love them) my mom said in a careless manner “Oh, did you see this?” and she thrust a copy of Good Housekeeping’s Quick & Simple magazine towards me. It wasn’t anything in side, no article on after New Year’s weight loss or recipe for veggie bean dip, that caught my notice and made me buy the magazine. No, it was simple the huge advertisement for The Jane Austen Season on PBS that graced the whole of the back cover! There they were in bight vibrant colors, Anne and Captain Wentworth close up, with cameos across the bottom of various main characters from the six adaptations.

Laurie could not fit the magazine on her scanner, so she took photographs of the advertisement instead.

Complete Jane Austen - Advertisement Photo 1 - Advertisement Photo 2

The Frugal Duchess has related “10 Smart Career Moves” that she has made in her life to lessons learned from Jane Austen. See, you CAN do a lot with a major in English!

1. In Praise of Typing 101: In high school during the 1970s, typing class represented an academic detour usually reserved for future typing pool candidates of America. I was in the Honors Track, with no intention of joining the Pink Collar Ghetto. But Jane Austen taught me to have a broader mind. Many of her heroines– even the wonderful Elizabeth Bennet — had practical skills. So in a fit of practicality, I tapped into my inner typist during my teen years by enrolling into Personal Typing 101. I didn’t take the class seriously; I underperformed, but I acquired a very marketable skill that I use every day.

The Editrix took typing for TWO years in high school, and all the academic-track students taking calculus looked down on her for it and complained that she was “being lazy” and “getting away with something,” ergo, not working as hard as the others. It should be pointed out that we won a district-wide typing award our senior year, once word about that got out had a tidy side business going typing tests for the teachers, and are now constantly pestered by those who took calculus to show them how to use Word; proving, once again, that learning a skill, whether typing or calculus, is NEVER a bad thing.

The ever-Alert Baja Janeite sent us links to three stage productions of Pride and Prejudice for 2008. Mark your calendars!

Lafayette College in Easton, PA, will be staging the Jon Jory adaptation at Williams Center for the Arts from March 5-8, 2008. Tickets are $6 and available via mail.

The Cleveland Play House will be staging a new adaptation by James Maxwell from March 21 through April 13, 2008, at the Bolton Theatre. Tickets are on sale now starting at $39.

The Santa Rosa Junior College Theatre Arts Department will be staging Jon Jory’s adaptation from April 25 through May 4, 2008, at Burbank Auditorium. Tickets are available online and by phone at $8-16. We dare say it will NOT be starring Matthew and Keira.

As always, our readers who are fortunate enough to see these productions are encouraged to send reviews for publication on AustenBlog.

Alert Janeite Jenny let us know that the Kansas City Public Library is about to start a “Jane-uary” program, with a month-long series of events, including lectures, films, and group discussions. Reservations are required for many of the events, so check out the site and send ‘em in! They also have a Jane-uary blog.

Alert Janeite Cate wrote to ask if we had heard of a series of young adult novels by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer set in the Regency and incorporating a school of magical training, sort of like Jane Austen meets Harry Potter or, as Cate put it, “a junior version of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.” Don’t think they’re derivative, though; a reviewer pointed out that the first book was published in 1987, long before either J.K. Rowling or Susannah Clarke pulled out their own wands and started writing. The series includes Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, The Grand Tour: Being a Revelation of Matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, Including Extracts from the Intimate Diary of a Noblewoman and the Sworn Testimony of a Lady of Quality, and The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After. We had never heard of these books but plan to look them up, once we’re a little more caught up in our to-do list!

Speaking of upcoming reading, some of us who hang out at Molland’s will be reading The Midnight Bell by Francis Lathom. If that title sounds familiar, it’s one of the “Northanger Novels” that Isabella Thorpe lists for the benefit of her new friend Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey:

“Dear creature! how much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.”

“Have you, indeed! How glad I am! — What are they all?”

“I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocket-book. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.”

“Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?”

Attentive Janeites also will remember that Mr. Austen read The Midnight Bell, as Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra on 24 October, 1798:

My father is now reading the ‘Midnight Bell,’ which he has got from the library, and mother sitting by the fire.

One presumes he enjoyed it; as Jane once wrote, the Austens were novel-readers and not ashamed of it. It sounds like a real corker, too!

Young Alphonsus Cohenburg enters his mother’s bedroom and finds her covered in blood. She tells him his uncle has murdered his father, and orders him to flee Cohenburg castle forever to save his own life!

A disconsolate exile, Alphonsus wanders the earth seeking the means of survival, first as a soldier, then a miner, and finally as sacristan of a church, where he meets the beautiful Lauretta. They wed and establish a home together, and everything seems to promise them a happy future. But their domestic tranquillity is shattered, when a band of ruffians kidnaps the unfortunate Lauretta! Alphonsus must solve the mystery of Lauretta’s disappearance and the riddle of his mother’s strange conduct. And when he hears that ghosts inhabit Cohenburg castle, tolling the great bell each night at midnight, the mystery only deepens….

Horrid indeed! The schedule for our reading is not yet determined but likely will start the second week in January, er, Jane-uary, so there’s plenty of time to get a copy and join us! We will be sure to let you know when the final schedule has been determined.

That’s it for this week’s Friday Bookblogging, and always remember, Gentle Readers: Books Are Nice!

Alert Janeite Sylvia sent us links to a few clips that PBS put up on YouTube that have interviews with Andrew Davies and some clips from the films. Sylvia warns that there are some new clips from S&S08 that might be considered spoilers, though if you’ve read the novel and have been reading the blog they shouldn’t be a surprise. However, one reported scene that caused some bewilderment seems to have been incorrectly reported in part (the name of a lady).

Novels are all so full of nonsense and stuff

Real men don’t talk

Amusingly, Andy D. and the Editrix have the same favorite scene in P&P95

(Though if asked our favorite scene from any of the novels–which, if someone asked “what is our favorite scene,” we would have assumed was the question–we would pick The Letter from Persuasion, because that is the scene that transformed us from a casual enjoyer of a couple of Jane Austen’s novels (Emma and P&P) to a frothing at the mouth fanatic.)

As a bonus, we spotted a little trailer for the series as well.

Discuss, because we’re sure we can’t stop you and wouldn’t dream of trying.

T.C. Boyle is not only a Friend of Jane, he dated her! He tells the whole story in “I Dated Jane Austen,” now available to read on his website, with some funky woodcut illustrations. Check it out, it’s a riot.

Found via Knowledge Problem

Norm Geras at Normblog is holding a Jane Austen-themed Boxing Day Quiz with some nice prizes. (So don’t post answers here or there!) Answers due to Professor Norm by midday GMT, December 31, so make haste!

We heard from Julie Wiseman, the director of the Newton Country Players’ production of Pride and Prejudice. The auditions will take place on January 14 and 15 from 7-10 p.m., with callbacks as needed on January 17. Auditions, rehearsals, and performances will be at MassBay Community College. They also are looking to fill production positions, so if you aren’t an actor and want to be involved, check it out. Contact and casting information is on the Newton Country Players’ website.

Performances will be March 14 through 23. Boston-area Janeites, mark your calendars!

Alert Janeite Lisa sent an article from the North Devon Gazette with a photo from the filming of S&S08, which was shot in Hartland, Devon.

The BBC spent three weeks on the Hartland Abbey Estate filming at a 15th century cottage.

It was used as the setting for Barton Cottage to which Mrs Dashwood moved with her three daughters on the death of her husband.

The film, which will be shown in three parts on BBC 1, features stunning scenery around the coastal footpath between Hartland Quay and Hartland Point.

It does look like pretty, wild country. Miss Marianne must have been in raptures.

We did a quick update to the latest version of WordPress due to technical issues, though we’ve been meaning to do it for a while anyway!

Live Comment Preview does not seem to be working and we’re not sure why. Will look into it. Please use the comments of this thread to report any weirdness.

ETA: Having some issues with the categories list in the menu, number one being it’s fugly.

Wishing our readers a safe and happy holiday season!

In case you’re wondering how Jane Austen and her family might have celebrated Christmas, Alert Janeite Baja Janeite sent us a link to Regency Christmas traditions. Ms. Place has some more at Jane Austen’s World.

And for those of us who long to spend Christmas in Bath, here’s a post from Ripple Effects with lots of photos of Bath in December.

ETA: And how could we forget? Julie T. sent us a little Janeite holiday cheer…

Nothing like waiting till the last minute, is there?

The Adventures in Reading blog is delighted by Northanger Abbey, but then, aren’t all right-thinking people? (more…)

We heard from Ellen Eley, whose website is Regency by Design, let us know that she makes Regency and Napoleonic-era historical costumes and also that she is hoping to have a Jane Austen weekend in her area (Lincolnshire) possibly as soon as 2009!

Alert Janeite Alisha tells us that Jane Austen has a Facebook. As we don’t have a Facebook (already have enough blog-like things to tend) we can’t check it out, but those of you who do have a Facebook certainly may.

No kidding.

(Reference here.)

Mansfield Park (2007) will be broadcast on TVO tonight at 9 p.m. Let us know what you think!

The Winter 2007 issue of JASNA’s online journal, Persuasions On-Line, has been published and is available to read for free on the JASNA website.

We haven’t had a chance to read all the articles yet (or even close to it) but can’t wait to dig in. We can recommend two papers related to breakout sessions that we attended at the Vancouver AGM, Jane Fairfax’s Choice: The Sale of Human Flesh or Human Intellect by Lynda A. Hall and Reading Elegant Extracts in Emma: Very Entertaining! by Susan Allen Ford, who also is the editor of Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line. (Especially cool at that breakout: an actual copy of Elegant Extracts dated possibly from the eighteenth century!)

Another article which we knew about in advance and really looked forward to reading is Joan Klingel Ray’s essay about the extent of the relationship between Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen, which acts as a much-needed counterpoint to a lot of romantic speculation that’s been bandied about (and filmed!) in the past few years. Whether or not you liked Becoming Jane or the book that inspired it or the eye-sporking insanity that has surrounded it, we suggest you read that article!

And like the past few years, the Winter issue contains Barry Roth’s valuable Jane Austen Bibliography for 2006. Check your library and reading list and make sure you didn’t miss anything!

We would love to discuss this issue with anyone who is interested, and have started a discussion at Molland’s.

We received a copy of the JASNA Wisconsin Region’s “A Year with Jane Austen” wall calendar, and we have to say it is an amazing piece of work. Not only does it feature a full-color illustration by Henry or Charles Brock with accompanying quotations from the novels for each month, nearly every day of the calendar has a notation of an event either from Jane Austen’s life or from one of her novels. For instance, June 8 lists Robert Martin’s Birthday (!) and the birth of Henry Austen in 1771 (how interesting that Jane gave Henry’s birthday to Robert Martin! And her own as Charles and Mary Musgrove’s wedding anniversary!). 20 out of 30 days for the month have at least one entry, many have two, and there are four general entries for the month when no particular date is available; for instance, the death of Captain Benwick’s fiancée, Miss Harville. The other eleven months are similarly populated. It’s practically a dissertation in itself!

Liz Philosophos Cooper, Wisconsin’s regional coordinator, sent a note stating that her mother, the late Joan Philosophos, began the calendar project in 2001, which must have been quite a labor-intensive project. The calendars have been on hold for a few years, but they are back now and with color illustrations for the first time. The calendar is $15 plus S&H and can be ordered from the JASNA website–just print out and mail the page with a check or money order.

While you’re at the JASNA site, check out some of the other lovely merchandise available from JASNA regions. It’s a little late for Christmas, but once you get all your shopping done, treat yourself!

In the spirit of the holidays, AustenBlog is giving away a copy of the calendar AND a package of Jane Austen’s Lace Notecards to an AustenBlog reader. To be entered in the drawing, send an e-mail to austenblog@gmail.com and let us know how you’re celebrating the season with Jane Austen by 10 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, December 23, 2007.

You all are doing such a splendid job finding goodies we’ve been doing nothing but lying about eating bon-bons. (Not really!) Alert Janeite Cinthia found the BBC’s official S&S08 page and the synopsis of Episode 3, which gives away a big honking SPOILER, thanks for nothing, BBC; Alert Janeite Boris posted a longer trailer for the S&S08 DVD in comments, and Alert Janeite Reeba also e-mailed us with the link.

My goodness, we’re all angst and melodrama, aren’t we? Does anyone except us remember that Jane Austen is funny–and S&S is one of her six funniest books?

“Dear, dear Norland,” said Elinor, “probably looks much as it always does at this time of the year. The woods and walks thickly covered with dead leaves.”

“Oh,” cried Marianne, “with what transporting sensation have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are seen only as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.”

“It is not every one,” said Elinor, “who has your passion for dead leaves.”

“I have a notion,” said Lucy, “you think the little Middletons rather too much indulged; perhaps they may be the outside of enough; but it is so natural in Lady Middleton; and for my part, I love to see children full of life and spirits; I cannot bear them if they are tame and quiet.”

“I confess,” replied Elinor, “that while I am at Barton Park, I never think of tame and quiet children with any abhorrence.”

On ascending the stairs, the Miss Dashwoods found so many people before them in the room, that there was not a person at liberty to tend to their orders; and they were obliged to wait. All that could be done was, to sit down at that end of the counter which seemed to promise the quickest succession; one gentleman only was standing there, and it is probable that Elinor was not without hope of exciting his politeness to a quicker despatch. But the correctness of his eye, and the delicacy of his taste, proved to be beyond his politeness. He was giving orders for a toothpick-case for himself, and till its size, shape, and ornaments were determined, all of which, after examining and debating for a quarter of an hour over every toothpick-case in the shop, were finally arranged by his own inventive fancy, he had no leisure to bestow any other attention on the two ladies, than what was comprised in three or four very broad stares; a kind of notice which served to imprint on Elinor the remembrance of a person and face, of strong, natural, sterling insignificance, though adorned in the first style of fashion.

And the line that wins all the Internets for Miss Dashwood and Miss Jane Austen:

“For my own part,” said he, “I am excessively fond of a cottage; there is always so much comfort, so much elegance about them. And I protest, if I had any money to spare, I should buy a little land and build one myself, within a short distance of London, where I might drive myself down at any time, and collect a few friends about me, and be happy. I advise every body who is going to build, to build a cottage. My friend Lord Courtland came to me the other day on purpose to ask my advice, and laid before me three different plans of Bonomi’s. I was to decide on the best of them. ‘My dear Courtland,’ said I, immediately throwing them all into the fire, ‘do not adopt either of them, but by all means build a cottage.’ And that I fancy, will be the end of it.

“Some people imagine that there can be no accommodations, no space in a cottage; but this is all a mistake. I was last month at my friend Elliott’s, near Dartford. Lady Elliott wished to give a dance. ‘But how can it be done?’ said she; ‘my dear Ferrars, do tell me how it is to be managed. There is not a room in this cottage that will hold ten couple, and where can the supper be?’ I immediately saw that there could be no difficulty in it, so I said, ‘My dear Lady Elliott, do not be uneasy. The dining parlour will admit eighteen couple with ease; card-tables may be placed in the drawing-room; the library may be open for tea and other refreshments; and let the supper be set out in the saloon.’ Lady Elliott was delighted with the thought. We measured the dining-room, and found it would hold exactly eighteen couple, and the affair was arranged precisely after my plan. So that, in fact, you see, if people do but know how to set about it, every comfort may be as well enjoyed in a cottage as in the most spacious dwelling.”

Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.

And yes, we know, it’s just a trailer…and that’s the only thing that has kept us from calling for the Official AustenBlog Titanium Spork™.