Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Persuasion: An Annotated Edition, edited by Robert Morrison
 Before I get started, let me clarify something: this isn't a review of Jane Austen's Persuasion. It's more an extended hissyfit about the annotations featured in this particular edition of Persuasion, and therefore I'm going to assume it's only going to interest my fellow hardcore Austen nerds. (Sorry, non-hardcore-Austen-nerds. Try again tomorrow.) Anyway: VAGUE SPOILERS AHOY. I received this edition of Persuasion for my birthday, and—seeing as I'd suggested it to practically everyone I know as my ideal potential present—I was totally stoked about it. I read all of the annotations first, independent of the text, and then went back and re-read the book, finding at least 80% of editor Robert Morrison's notes both relevant and interesting. Unfortunately, that left the remaining 20%, which ranged from immaterial to incorrect to simply baffling. Examples include, but were not limited to: IMMATERIAL STUFF: Morrison's fondness for defining common Regency-era words: "'Consequence' is 'social status'"; "'Intelligence' is 'news' or 'information'", etc. I suspect most people willing to shell out $35 for an annotated edition of one of Austen's less popular books are already familiar with these terms.
INCORRECT STUFF: I really started to worry when Morrison defined "to be vain of" (used in Vol. II, Ch. 3 to describe Sir Walter, who found "much to be vain of" despite the "littleness" of Bath) as "to disregard, to treat with contempt". Uh... I'm pretty sure it means "to be vain about", at least in this context.
SIMPLY BAFFLING STUFF: There was a lengthy explanation of a minor change Morrison made to the text (replacing she with he in the line "she was at this present time... wearing black ribbons for his wife"). The original line refers to Elizabeth, Anne's older sister, wearing mourning for her cousin Mr. Elliot's recently deceased wife. Morrison's change switches the focus to Elliot himself, arguing that Elizabeth disapproved of the marriage in question, and therefore wouldn't be wearing black. Now, I'm no expert on early-19th-century social mores, but the Jane Austen Centre points out that "a show of respect was expected even for distant relatives". Wearing mourning for a relation (even despised one) was customary, particularly for upper-class women like Elizabeth. Sincerity was not required. Why on earth would Morrison tweak a nearly 200-year-old text in order to "correct" a phrase that is equally plausible in its original published state? Don't get me wrong: I'm still really happy Nathan paid attention to my subtle-like-a-brick hints and gave me this book for my birthday. It's a handsomely illustrated and beautifully bound edition, and I learned quite a bit from it. But I can't help but wish the annotations featured in this book had been blessed with a red-pen-wielding editor of their very own. Labels: Book Reviews, Jane Austen
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
She must be joking.
 You guys reckon this will go way, way on sale after Christmas? Because I would only pay $325 for a clutch (even a super-cool one, like this) if it came stuffed with at least $250 in cash. Note: According to this helpful site, there's a Romeo and Juliet clutch, too. [ Source] Labels: Fashion, Jane Austen
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Gasp!
 We're with AustenBlog on this one: regardless of British crime novelist Lindsay Ashford's claim that " Jane Austen was poisoned by arsenic", Austen is still dead, Sanditon and The Watsons are still unfinished, and they're all likely to remain that way... so it's tough to care much one way or the other. Labels: Jane Austen, mysteries
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
At least it's not a monster mash-up
 According to the Times, HarperCollins has commissioned Joanna Trollope to write a contemporary reworking of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Trollope's book will be the first in what is described as a "major" new series; HC is planning to ask a variety of current authors of "global literary significance" to re-imagine each of Austen's six novels in contemporary settings. I'm a little confused by the hoopla surrounding this announcement (surely HarperCollins is aware that modern Austen adaptations are a dime a dozen?), but here's hoping the books are readable. Labels: Jane Austen
Thursday, July 28, 2011
National treasure
 AWESOME: I skipped over to AustenBlog to see what happened with the partial manuscript of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel The Watsons that was auctioned off earlier this month. I was delighted to see that it was sold for a whopping £993,250 ($1.6 million USD) to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. More importantly, the manuscript will be available to the public as early as this autumn, as it is expected to be a star attraction at the forthcoming "Treasures of the Bodleian" exhibition. Labels: Jane Austen, Libraries
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Been there
 According to The Hollywood Reporter, Keri Russell has signed on to star in the upcoming film adaptation of Shannon Hale's novel Austenland. The movie will be directed by Jerusha Hess (best known for co-writing Napoleon Dynamite with her husband Jared Hess) and produced by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. Setting aside the truly ghastly-sounding premise, Hale, Meyer, and Hess are prominent members of the Mormon Church, making me wonder what impact (if any) their faith will have on this project. Didn't someone already make a critically panned Latter-day Saints-themed movie about Pride and Prejudice? Labels: Jane Austen, Such wrongness
Friday, June 24, 2011
Leading lady material
 Well, this makes me slightly more inclined to see it: Emma Stone has apparently been offered the lead role in the upcoming film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (Admittedly, this only raises the odds from "No Chance in Hell" to "Maybe I'll Rent It", but that's still a big step up. I like Stone a lot more than either Natalie Portman or Scarlett Johansson.) Labels: Jane Austen, Movie Adaptations, Parody
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Charming!
 Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul has announced that there is no female writer whom he considers his equal. He specifically dismisses Jane Austen's claim to literary fame, saying he "couldn't possibly share her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental sense of the world". Yes, Jane Austen—a woman who once wrote "Mrs. Hall, of Sherborne, was brought to bed yesterday of a dead child, some weeks before she was expected, owing to a fright. I suppose that she happened unawares to look at her husband..." in a letter to her sister— was a master of sentiment, wasn't she? Labels: Jane Austen, Sexism
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Generous millionaires take note:
 My birthday is in January. A handwritten and incredibly rare manuscript of Jane Austen's unfinished novel The Watsons is going up for auction this summer. The manuscript (the only one still in private hands) has been valued at £200,000 to £300,000 and will be sold at Sotheby's in London on July 14th. It consists of most but not all of Austen's work-in-progress; the first 12 pages were sold by during World War I to benefit the Red Cross, and additional pages were actually lost by the London University that was entrusted with the manuscript's care. Labels: Jane Austen
Monday, May 09, 2011
Pride and Prejudice: A Musical
 I'm told that the first production of the Pride and Prejudice musical in Washington State is currently running at a high school about an hour away from my house. I'm not sure I'll have a chance to see it (the final show is on May 15th, and musicals, no matter how delightful their source material, really aren't my thing), but if you're in the Seattle/Edmonds area tickets are only $5. [Via AustenBlog] Labels: Jane Austen, music, Theater
Monday, April 25, 2011
Deplorable
 AustenBlog informs me there's another Sense and Sensibility update in the works, this one apparently destined for TV Movie-of-the-Week status. The whole production looks pretty bad, but I was particularly concerned by three things: one, the "brooding into buckets of ice cream" scene appears to feature off-brand ice cream (what, they couldn't shell out for Ben and Jerry's?); two, the voiceover sounds almost comically low-budget, like they just asked the camera grip with the clearest voice to read it through; and three, why did they wait to introduce the whole "scents" pun until the last ten seconds of the trailer? Labels: Jane Austen, Movie Adaptations
Monday, April 11, 2011
The real undead
 And speaking of Jane Austen, did they really need to write a sequel (as well as a prequel, and a comic book book adaptation, and an upcoming movie version) to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? Like zombies themselves, WHY WON'T THIS TREND DIE? Labels: Horror, Jane Austen
Well, maybe.
 Hmm. I am not the Amanda Grange fan that the fine people at AustenBlog are (mostly because I found Captain Wentworth's Diary a sad disappointment), but their review of her newest book, Wickham's Diary, does make it sound intriguing. Plus, it seems that she has finally scraped the bottom of the barrel when it comes to Austen's heroes, and has moved on to the inner lives of her less-noble characters. I, for one, can hardly wait for Mr. Collins's Diary. Labels: Amanda Grange, Jane Austen, Sequels
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A thorough knowledge of drawing
 AustenBlog is giving their readers a heads-up about another Jane Austen-related contest: there's going to be an art competition focused on Stoneleigh Abbey, an English estate that belonged to Austen's relatives for four hundred years and *may* have inspired elements of Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. Aspiring artists have been asked to draw or paint either the house's west wing or its 14th century gatehouse, with the winners' work ending up on a line of postcards to be sold at the house. The contest is free, it closes September 29th, and the winners will be announced on October 10th. Labels: Art, contest, Jane Austen
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Role-playing Jane Austen
 According to AustenBlog, the fine people at Reflexive Entertainment have produced a video game inspired by Jane Austen’s novels called Matches & Matrimony. There is a trial download available for Windows (with a Mac version coming soon), and I'm totally excited to play it. Nothing says "Jane Austen" to me like a hokey, low-budget, mid-90s-style adventure game with some inexplicable anime influences tossed in, you know? Labels: Jane Austen, Video games
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Pride and Prejudice goes R-rated
And speaking of Jane Austen-related pain, check this out:  The above is what its publisher describes as a "deliciously naughty updating" of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, making it "the story you love, with the heat turned up to high". Unfortunately, a disgruntled reader review sounds less appealing: "[The book is] literally Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice word-for-word with several sex scenes and sporadic, unnecessary sentences added mostly in bold. I kid you not. You will pay $7.00 for a few extra unamazing sex scenes and/or sexual dialogue embedded in the original Pride and Prejudice." Sadly, the second quote has the ring of truth to it, so I won't be buying this sucker. But I confess, I am totally curious: are the sex scenes scattered throughout the book? How does that work? Do Elizabeth and Darcy, say, have sex during her stay at Netherfield, and then resume their previous relationship? I'm really hoping someone (read: Megan) will flip through this at the bookstore and find out for me. Labels: Jane Austen, Sex, Such wrongness
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday, January 03, 2011
Finally, a chance for all that Jane Austen fanfic to pay off...
 The fine people at The Republic of Pemberley are hosting a writing contest focused on Jane Austen-inspired short stories. If you are an unpublished author of legal age, your Austen-esque story could be included in the upcoming anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It, tentatively scheduled to be published by Ballantine next fall. Manuscripts must be submitted between January 1, 2011 and February 13, 2011, and the grand prize is both publication in the anthology and payment of $500. Click here for the complete rules, and good luck! Labels: contests, Jane Austen
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Smelling like Charles Dickens
 Artisan candlemaker Paddywax has released a line of author-inspired candles. At $25 per 9oz. glass container, you can now scent your home with candles named after Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Charles Dickens. I'm assuming the scents aren't inspired by the authors themselves (something tells me that ol' Edgar A. Poe didn't always smell like a delicate blend of cardamom, absinthe, and sandalwood), but rather by the themes of their work. Labels: Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Home Decor, Jane Austen, Shopping
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Before I get started, let me clarify something: this isn't a review of Jane Austen's Persuasion. It's more an extended hissyfit about the annotations featured in this particular edition of Persuasion, and therefore I'm going to assume it's only going to interest my fellow hardcore Austen nerds. (Sorry, non-hardcore-Austen-nerds. Try again tomorrow.) Anyway: VAGUE SPOILERS AHOY. 
