Let’s talk about talking. Not just any kind of talking but talking in Jane Austen’s novels to be precise. There are numerous ways authors use dialogue. The most obvious way is to drive the plot forward. Darcy’s overheard insult to Elizabeth at the Assembly Ball in Pride and Prejudice is an easy example of this.… more goodness …
While watching a video clip from The Devil Wears Prada the other day, I was struck with how powerfully the clothing of the characters provides visual insights into both the nature of the people and the internal arc of the protagonist, Andy. Having studied so many Austen adaptations over the past few years, I began… more goodness …
Happy Easter Monday! I think today is a perfect day to talk about Easter in Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice. Since Jane was the daughter of a rector, we can infer certain things from her use of Easter in the plot, a context that was obvious to her contemporary English readers, since she lived… more goodness …
If you’re a regular reader of the Austen Authors blog, you know that for the past couple of years my posts have been primarily dedicated to Austen adaptations. I create a matched set for each title. I start with a “goofs” post, and four weeks later, the “trivia challenge” post on the same production. A… more goodness …
I have spent a month immersed in EMMA. content online. There is such an abundance of information about the film and its cast available that picking just 10 was more challenging than Mrs. Bate’s limiting herself to just 3 dull things. There are promotional videos, interviews, articles, behind-the-scenes details, and reviews galore. I predict that… more goodness …
Some might say that the topic for this post is too soon. It hasn’t even been a year since Emma temporarily made it to the big screen. Its theatrical debut was cut short in the United States after seven days when theaters closed in the wake of the COVID-19 national emergency. It opened in February… more goodness …
Jane Austen celebrated Christmas, but much of what I say in this post could apply to other faith traditions, so if that applies to you, please interpret through the lens that suits you. 2020 has, by all accounts, been a strange year on a global scale. Here we are at the end of it, in… more goodness …
Austen’s pen was a fountain of wisdom full of insights on behavior told in her particular brand of satirical wit. Each tale includes cautionary revelations on character flaws and features the types of mistakes we humans make in the course of navigating life, love, and relationships. Today we’re going to extract twelve rules – a… more goodness …
Northanger Abbey with Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland was one of three ITV Austen adaptations made as a set in 2007. Mansfield Park with Billie Piper as Fanny Price and Persuasion with Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot were the other two productions in the set. They served as the foundational pieces of what was dubbed… more goodness …
Discovering goofs in Austen adaptations can be a challenging endeavor, especially as production quality rises, requiring repeated viewings. This can become something of a chore, keeping an eye on background details and questioning everything repeatedly rather than relaxing into an enjoyable suspension of disbelief. I admit that this time around, I enjoyed every viewing of… more goodness …
If you can get past the oddities of this adaptation, there are plenty of fun and fascinating scenes and facts to enjoy. Jane Austen clearly enjoyed satirizing, nay, skewering, the Gothic fads of her day in Northanger Abbey, so perhaps it’s understandable that the screenwriter, Maggie Wadey, took the liberty of upping the Gothic ante… more goodness …
Just as the exact timing of the novel of Northanger Abbey is not precisely known, the designated year of this adaptation is a bit unclear. Some references say 1986 while others say 1987. I went with 1987 for the production and 1798-1799 for the setting, since that is when Austen originally wrote the manuscript. If… more goodness …
If you were alive in 1983, you probably recognize that other than being filmed on video, it seems that there is no trace of 1983 in this Austen Adaptation, something that can’t be said of many other adaptations of similar vintage. Reviews of Mansfield Park (1983) take note of both it’s historical accuracy and faithfulness… more goodness …
