Live Long and Prosper
In January 1996, the Hollywood press declared that a dead woman was the hottest writer in town. Unbelievable you might say. Not when the author in question is Jane Austen.
A clergyman’s daughter, Ms. Austen, died 179 years before leaving a legacy of six works, two of which were published posthumously.
Yet those six novels of Regency England have spawned 52 movies and TV presentations over a period of 71 years as well as a vast number of readable look-alikes and sequels. (A movie list may be found here.)
Hoping to cash in on the ever-growing Austen fervor, book publishers have accepted and issued novel after novel to satisfy the public’s thirst for more.
Three of these Austenesque works will be featured below:
Austenland
For a tribute to Jane Austen and the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice (1995) check out this slim volume of 194 pages.
(Anyone who has viewed this version of P and P will readily understand the author’s dedication and her main character’s obsession with Mr. Darcy as played by Colin Firth.)
Seeking to rid her life of this aforementioned obsession, Jane Hayes, a 33-year-old graphic artist, accepts a free, three-week vacation at Pembroke Park, Kent.
To participate in the 1816 live-action-role-play (LARP), this modern day New Yorker must exchange her purple bra and panties for a Regency costume complete with chemise, push-up bra corset, white cotton drawers, thigh-high stockings fastened with garters, a blue print day dress and black ankle boots.
Humorously, Miss Jane Erstwhile (the former Jane Hayes) fumbles her way through the exaggerated table manners and proper etiquette of the times regarding servants, the opposite sex and dancing.
While being wooed by paid actors exhibiting the best and worst traits of Austen’s leading men, Jane struggles with the dizziness of exaggerated flirting and the underlying falseness of the entire situation.
“I come for Mr. Darcy, fall for the gardener and get propositioned by the drunk husband,” she laments.
Readers will chuckle at Jane’s clumsy efforts to fit into the stifling role of an 18th century lady while striving to exist without her handy cell phone and MP3 player.
Others complained that the novel was too short and could have been expanded especially the behind-the-scenes episodes and the unexpected ending.
Kudos to Ms. Hale for sticking to Austen’s code of morality and omitting the crude language and sex scenes penned by other imitators.
Jane Austen in Boca
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Ms. Cohen set her witty adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in the Boca Festa retirement village where the main characters indulge in harmless flirtation to spark up their senior years.
Female friends, Flo Kliman, retired librarian, and grieving widow, May Newman, establish an easy rapport with fellow seniors, Norman Grafstein, a wealthy widower, and Stan Jacobs, a semi-retired professor at Florida Atlantic University.
Into this amiable mix, the author inserts Mel Shrimer, a flamboyant journalist, who pursues Flo shamelessly while defaming Stan at the same time.
At the Valentine’s Day Dance, Shrimer is a no show leaving Flo to entertain a belligerent Stan.
Meanwhile septuagenarian Lila Katz marries bon vivant Hy Marcus in an ostentatious ceremony and departs for a European honeymoon powered by Viagra.
After Norman’s family visit to North Jersey, he and May are reunited as Mel Shrimer reappears to marry Roz Fliegler, a rich widow. (Smarmy Shrimer was privy to the financial losses of Flo’s late husband.)
When Stan finally proposes, Flo’s reply is a diatribe equal to the one spoken by Elizabeth Bennett over 200 years ago. Need I say more?
Some readers may find Flo’s computer prowess and reliance on e-mail a detraction, but Jane Austen in Boca remains an entertaining read for most Austenites.
Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy
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Number eight in Ms. Barron’s mystery series finds Jane and her mother moving into Chawton House, displacing the bailiff’s widow and angering the villagers.
Privately grieving the death of fellow-detective, Lord Howard Trowbridge, Jane is baffled by the local’s cold welcome and Jack Hinton’s claim to the Hampshire estates slated to be inherited by Edward, her brother and landlord.
Add in the uproar raised by Trowbridge’s relatives when the lady detective inherits the Lord’s papers, letters and diaries, a dead laborer in the cellar plus the theft of the chest full of papers and the formerly quiet village of Chawton bubbles over with activity.
This ‘mystery of manners’ has netted high praise for Ms. Barron’s expert recreation of Austen’s prose style, setting and character portrayal.
Jane and His Lordship’s Legacy, heralded for its fast paced narration, realism and believability, should not be overlooked by any Austen fan.
No matter how talented the Austen imitators might be Pride and Prejudice remains my favorite novel by Austen herself – what’s yours?
