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Every day.....if possible, speak a few sensible words"
DOROTHY: "Arnie, I love the quotation that began your researches."
Glad you enjoyed it, Dorothy! DOROTHY: "I think the closest JA came to the idea you were looking for comes at the return of Jane and Elizabeth from Netherfield, early in the novel: "They were not welcomed home very cordially by their mother. Mrs. Bennet wondered at their coming, and thought them very wrong to give so much trouble, and was sure Jane would have caught cold again. But their father, though very laconic in his expressions of pleasure, was really glad to see them; he had felt their importance in the family circle. The evening conversation, when they were all assembled, had lost much of its animation, and almost all its sense by the absence of Jane and Elizabeth." Bravo, Dorothy! Your excellent catch makes it clear that Davies imported that narration about their return from Netherfield, and then turned it into dialog about their return from London and Hunsford, respectively. DOROTHY: "As for adaptations getting it right, I can think of a couple. In the 1995 P&P, someone on Austen-L pointed out at the time that only a portion of the novel¡¯s text depicting the famous proposal scene is given in dialog; much is simply described. Of course, the screenwriter didn¡¯t have that luxury! Someone printed a transcript of the scene for a side-by-side comparison, and it was impressive how Andrew Davies managed to convey the scene in dialog." Indeed, that was brilliantly done by him and/or whoever else was on his screenwriting team. DOROTHY: "Another beautiful example, from another film, is Emma Thompson¡¯s "Sense and Sensibility," which smoothly covered some of the novel¡¯s flaws and rounded out characters who would otherwise have little screen time ¨C Edward Ferrers and Colonel Brandon." I agree that Thompson created brilliant, memorable dialog for Edward and the Colonel - however I don't consider that a flaw of the novel - I believe Austen deliberately rendered them both un-eloquent. ARNIE |
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Every day.....if possible, speak a fwe sensible words"
The other day, a random quotation in my Twitter feed caught my eye:
¡°Every day, we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.¡± ¨C Goethe, Book 5, Chapter 1, *Wilhelm Meister¡¯s Apprenticeship* I don¡¯t know about you, but that immediately reminded me of a memorable line in *Pride & Prejudice*, spoken by Mr. Bennet to Elizabeth, just before she leaves for Hunsford in Chapter 27. I could hear in my mind¡¯s ear that line spoken by Mr. Bennet, to the effect that, with both Elizabeth and Jane traveling, he would not hear two sensible words spoken together during their absence. So I wondered, might this be allusion to Goethe¡¯s famous 1795 novel? However, I then learned that it was apparently not translated into English until after JA¡¯s death. So, how could that have happened? I went looking for that line in the text of P&P, and I couldn¡¯t find it ¨C- and that sent me to the transcription of the 1995 film adaptation, where I found it: MR. BENNET: Well, Lizzy, on pleasure bent again. Never a thought of what your poor parents will suffer in your absence? ELIZABETH: It is a pleasure I could well forego, father, as I think you know. But I shall be happy to see Charlotte. MR. BENNET: What of your cousin Mr Collins and the famous Lady Catherine de Bourgh? As a connoisseur of human folly, I thought you impatient to be savouring these delights. ELIZABETH: Of some delights, I believe, sir, a little goes a long way. MR. BENNET: Yes. Well, think of me, Lizzy. *Until you or your sister Jane return, I shall not hear two words of sense spoken together.* You'll be very much missed, my dear. Very well, very well. Go along then. Get along with you. I went back to that same point in the text of P&P, and that¡¯s where I found the following parallel narration: ¡°The only pain was in leaving her father, who would certainly miss her, and who, when it came to the point, so little liked her going, that he told her to write to him, and almost promised to answer her letter.¡± It made me realize that this was one of the few instances in which I have found an adaptor of Austen doing such a great job, that they equalled Austen¡¯s gift, especially in P&P, for dialog. So I finish by throwing a question to the group ¨C- can you think of any other instances in which you have taken note of an adaptation getting it just right in dramatizing a scene? Cheers, ARNIE |
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Re: Can no longer do blog in one night
Thank you, Nancy. I think I am trying to live a life I can enjoy that is within reach. Not easy. Ellen
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On May 7, 2025, at 11:47?AM, Nancy Mayer via groups.io <regencyresearcher@...> wrote: |
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Re: Can no longer do blog in one night
I'm going to revise the blog altogether. Have it just onTodd's Living with
Austen. I discovered over the past couple of days this is another book & series I thought I watched & read, but I did not take it in for real enough to write about it. This has happened since the first stroke; after these 2 stroke events I am worse. I must rewatch & reread when my brain is truly working at a point I am actively engaging and can writ about it. It is worth the effort, even if the film has flaws which I think there because the art was dumbed down and distorted in order to keep ratings up. It must've been felt you had to have a happy heterosexual romance when part of the point of the book was to show us Ausen's world from the POV of its young to middle aged women. Anyone who has bthered to read my emails is seeing someon struggl with the effects of a major strke and 2 minor ones. |
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Miss Austen, Episode 2
Brief in comparison to the notes I took, I went on to watch Episode 2
and want to say my strictures are minor in comparison with my deep enjoyment of the film and book. I think I should reread it, a part at a time, so-speak, watching its match in the serial, as I go. There are two actresses for Cassandra, one 30+ years ago and one in 1840. At one time, the same actress would play both ages -- with much make-up. But the younger one is very good too. like the continual time shifts in the book and film. That's part of its depth for me. Cassandra now, remembering back. I very much liked the actor playing Mr Lidderdale. I had forgotten there is something Cassandra is hiding and a specific erasure of Jane and her pst beyond her depression -- in the book that's what Cassandra wants to erase I do have a DVD set from England which enables me to watch carefully, and snap stills. I'll leave my blog a partial draft until I've reread the book & watched the series a couple of more times. I do not know Isabella's sisters from what I've read ... I include a still of Patsy Ferran meant to allude to one of the portraits of Jane which I think is a misattribution and one of Keeley Hawes as the older dignified grave Cassandra. This film, like the recent Wolf Hall (2nd season, literally 10 years later) shows me film-makers can still make films from good books I can enter into (a quiet dramaturgy) Ellen |
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Episode 1 of Miss Austen on Masterpiece
Let me concede other problems with the film, more than the book,
Dorothy. Earlier today I suggested the film-makers are aware to present Austen as depressive and you add non-glamorous unprettified, tart tongued will not produce high ratings so they marginalize the stealth heroine. They also don't articulate Cassandra's choice to stay single and make Isabella's traditional romance ending the center -- Isabella is not in the book its center. I am now covering the later episodes without giving away anything. We all know by now Cassandra has come with the aim of destroying the majority of Jane's letters and we have seen her find one packet. She will find others. I won't give away why Isabella and Mary Austen (the bullying dense sister-in-law, now widow of James perversely proud of what she berated him for in life (being a gentle poet) don't want Cassandra there and seek to stop her from finding, hiding, and probably destroying the letters. But I can say Cassandra succeeds in her aim. Partly it's the problem of transferring a semi- or heavily epistolary novel into a film. It can be done. The 1991 Clarissa succeeded. Andrew Davies He Knew He Was Right is a triumph out of a semi- epist;ary npvel What I want to critique as a flaw is how lugubriously the final scene is treated, as well as half-crazed over the top as Cassandra sits there ecstatic over burning the letters and "keeping Jane's secret, which in both book and film i the affair with the young man one summer. In the book she's not ecstatic nor lugubrious, but quietly intent, maybe relieved but not happy. After all Jane is dead, Tom Fowle is dead, and she is alone. It's a sombre ending. I suppose again the film writers worried about ratings so were overly-emotional altogether for the watchers and ludicrously upbeat. I felt sorry for Keele Hawes sitting there with a frozen smile on her face, Presumably the actress knew this was all wrong. Ellen On Mon, May 5, 2025 at 8:26?PM Dorothy Gannon via groups.io <dorothy.gannon@...> wrote:
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Re: Episode 1 of Miss Austen on Masterpiece
Elaborating jut a little, The script writer and director are two women whose names I repeatedly observe on the best TV dramas. One aspect of both book & film is Cassandra Is presented with having chosen not to remarry, and content with her choice. At least to her no other is possible, and that's largely because she loved Jane. Her grief is having lost Jane.
The authors all keep to the edges any disapproval of her choices. Where there is a problem is the book presents Jane as depressive -- a mature perhaps accurate reading of the letters, and fans don't like that. In the book you have letters which contain this and the darkness is therefore contained (not not explored even in the book). In the film we are given little of Jane and encouraged to see Isabella as our heroine, who does travel the trajectory, from unhappy to conventional happiness. More practically I suspect many Austen fans will not recognize these more distant relatives. They are there in the Austen papers and wuld, should be there on biographies, but romance ever rules, and women don't matter even here -- but for this book :) |
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Bella da Costa Greene
Have I said I bought a book about Bella da Costa for Izzy on her 1st birthday, May 8
... A review which tells her life An obsessive theme of black women writers of the 1920s is passing as white. I used to research Richardson there. I've seen original manuscripts of Grandison. They are having a week's worth of events on Jane Austen for her 250 birthday. If I could really walk, I'd go. There are online classes. I have to sign up. Alas, it's Eventbrite and I often fail to reach their online stufh. I can't get the hang of it Ellen |
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Episode 1 of Miss Austen on Masterpiece
I've just watched Episode 1, and I give it an A, it was surprisingly
excellent. How close it is to actual history, I am not so sure, but Gill Hornby has done such a brilliant job, and the acting in all the roles is pitch perfect, so it's worth watching regardless of how accurate it is. I eagerly look forward to seeing the whole series. ARNIE |
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Just to say
Soon I'll be rereading John Wood Sweet's Sewing Girl's Tale and may
reread Judith Moore's The Appearance of Truth for the upcoming 4 week course I'm teaching at OLLI at AU Not far behind Winifred Holyby's outh Riding, to be followed by Vera Britain's The Dark Tide, for the summer 6 week course I'll be teaching at OLLI at Mason Andrea and I are exploring Anna Seghers and Christa Wolf in our weekend zoom. It is a genuine wonder to me why so few courses in women's literature are taught at any of the OLLIs I teach at or attend. Or Politics and Prose? The people at OLLI at York keep trying, but classes have too low enrollment and are cancelled. Why do most women seem indifferent to literary feminism? I stand out for continuing to do them frequently I try to get to Austen Variations blog I'm reading onwards ever so slowly Ellen |
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Re: Janet Todd's Living with Austen
Yes it is.It shows the family were a literary bunch. Letters &
documents also survive when there is a huge house, with an attic that no one is using. James Austen regarded himself as a poet & writer; George, the father, was a scholar with a private library pof his own, the mother wrote social verse ... Ellen. On Mon, Apr 28, 2025 at 10:24?AM Nancy Mayer via groups.io <regencyresearcher@...> wrote:
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Re: Janet Todd's Living with Austen
Austen wrote to other people. We are told there were 3 packets between
her & Frank, the older sailor brother. The granddaughter, we are told, without asking permission, early one morning destroyed the lot. The tone in which that is told suggests disapproval, what of it's not clear.. There was a correspondence between her and Martha Lloyd, her and Ann Sharp, some few to Eliza, to other friends, her nephew, to the nieces Fanny and Anna. Most of all this destroyed, -- or never kept. Scattered business letters we may call them. Maybe to Edgeworth with that gift of a copy of Emma. Ellen On Sun, Apr 27, 2025 at 10:28?PM Nancy Mayer via groups.io <regencyresearcher@...> wrote:
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Arnie Perlstein
Ellen Moody
