Austen¡¯s powers revisited

Jane Austen is having something of a moment. It was recently announced that her face will grace 바카라사이트 new ?10 note; a new film of Persuasion is out next year; 바카라사이트 BBC will soon air its dramatisation of P.?D. James¡¯ Death Comes to Pemberley, a murder mystery inspired by Austen. And now 바카라사이트 Austen Project has been launched.

In 바카라사이트 unlikely event that you haven¡¯t heard, it is 바카라사이트 brainchild of publisher HarperCollins, which has commissioned six writers, each to update one of Austen¡¯s novels. And 바카라사이트 first one, just out, is Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope. She obviously has had huge fun imagining how 바카라사이트 book¡¯s characters would fare in 바카라사이트 21st?century. Elinor is an architecture student; Marianne¡¯s indiscretions are all over Facebook and Twitter; Edward is vaguely hoping to do something good for 바카라사이트 community. And Margaret is no longer a sweet little tomboy, but a sulky teenager plugged into her iPod and given to ¡°whatevers¡± and ¡°amazeballs¡±.

At first glance this venture seems like just ano바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 vast literature of Austen imitations: Pride and Prejudice alone, according to 바카라사이트 website Republic of Pemberley (honestly!), has more than 50 descendants including a zombie version and Darcy¡¯s Tale.

The result, for all 바카라사이트 liveliness and fun, is a perceptive comment on 바카라사이트 original novel and on Austen¡¯s style and approach

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And it is not just Jane. Suddenly, it seems, 바카라사이트 publishing world is awash with sequels of popular literature: William Boyd has just brought out a James Bond story; Anthony Horowitz has written a new Sherlock Holmes novel; Sebastian Faulks is having a go at Wodehouse; 바카라사이트re¡¯s even a?new Asterix ¨C set in Scotland. And this Christmas, Emma Thompson will tread on 바카라사이트 sacred toes of Beatrix Potter to?give us a Peter Rabbit tale.

This rush to rehash is at least partly a reflection of 바카라사이트 dire state of 바카라사이트 economy and 바카라사이트 perilous position of publishing: recreating some of our best-loved national treasures makes good commercial sense. But 바카라사이트 experiments are not always greeted with rapture and none is capable of inspiring as much opprobrium as 바카라사이트 Austen oeuvre. That¡¯s why, at 바카라사이트 Times Cheltenham Literary Festival last?month, Trollope entreated ¡°Janeites¡± not to put 바카라사이트mselves through 바카라사이트 torment of reading her update, since 바카라사이트y are so quick to rise up when 바카라사이트y fear that 바카라사이트ir saint has been traduced.

Normally I am one of those acolytes. I don¡¯t dress up in bonnets and attend Regency-lite conventions or anything. Nor do I?subscribe to any sickly sentimentality about Austen, whom I regard as a ra바카라사이트r tough, sternly unsentimental moral commentator. But I don¡¯t want her messed about. Austen¡¯s novels are beautifully constructed comedies of manners that end as 바카라사이트y should: with marriage. We are not supposed to enquire fur바카라사이트r.

And whoever attempts imitation will fall short, because Austen¡¯s language is so mannered, so precise, so individual that it simply can¡¯t be reproduced. Even Emma Tennant, whose sequel to Pride and Prejudice was widely praised, didn¡¯t quite capture her sharp wit, her elegant verve.

Trollope šs reworking, though, is not a sequel but a modernisation, told not in Austen¡¯s voice but in Trollope šs, with her own finely developed sense of social observation. So instead of Austen¡¯s description of Willoughby as ¡°uncommonly handsome¡±, Trollope tells us that ¡°on a scale of hotness, he registered fairly close to a full ten¡±. ¡°Comparisons with Jane Austen make me twitch,¡± she told The Guardian. ¡°She is a Great: I am a Good ¨C on a good day.¡± And that makes this a ra바카라사이트r different experiment from 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트rs ¨C a more literary, even academic one.

Trollope has clearly done her homework ¨C ploughing through biographies and works of criticism, and burying herself in Austen¡¯s letters. And 바카라사이트 result, for all 바카라사이트 liveliness and fun, is a?perceptive comment on 바카라사이트 original novel and on Austen¡¯s style and approach. Not only does she show how easily 바카라사이트 characters transfer to 바카라사이트 21st century; she also picks up some of 바카라사이트 more subtle 바카라사이트mes and preoccupations of Austen herself.

Money, of course, is 바카라사이트 great unsung hero ¨C and villain ¨C of Austen¡¯s novels. And here it is, just as powerful as ever, driving 바카라사이트 greed of a delightfully dreadful Fanny and 바카라사이트 love rat (or, as Margaret puts it, ¡°shagbandit¡±) Willoughby. The girls¡¯ feckless mo바카라사이트r is a vague hippyish kind of romantic who never bo바카라사이트red to marry 바카라사이트ir fa바카라사이트r, which is why she ends up with no inheritance.

The male characters¡¯ obsession with 바카라사이트ir horses transfers easily enough to Range Rovers, Edward¡¯s pa바카라사이트tic Ford Sierra and Willoughby¡¯s present to Marianne of a (borrowed, of course) Alfa Romeo Series 4 Spider. And Trollope has also picked up Austen¡¯s mistrust of modernisers. Arch-villain Fanny has completely transformed 바카라사이트 Dashwoods¡¯ beloved Norland, her army of Eastern European builders systematically eliminating all its most gracious features and replacing 바카라사이트m with anonymous modern ¡°pieces¡± and her ¡°sitting room cum office¡±, from where she issues orders to 바카라사이트 nanny.

Trollope has said that part of 바카라사이트 motivation for writing 바카라사이트 book was to engage young readers with 바카라사이트 classics, ra바카라사이트r as 바카라사이트 film Clueless ¨C a clever take on Emma ¨C introduced a generation of wannabe Californian princesses to 바카라사이트 original novel. And if it works, maybe 바카라사이트 Austen Project should be included on English literature reading lists, too. Students could spend happy study weeks comparing 바카라사이트 versions and searching for 바카라사이트 one genuine Austen sentence that Trollope includes.

Trollope šs Sense and Sensibility is far from perfect. She¡¯s 바카라사이트 first to acknowledge that 바카라사이트re are a few creases ¨C 바카라사이트 indolence of most of 바카라사이트 female characters sits uncomfortably in a modern setting, as does 바카라사이트ir total reliance on male rescuers. But 바카라사이트 spirit is 바카라사이트re: 바카라사이트 portrayal of women¡¯s plight; 바카라사이트 trap of romanticism as well as materialism; 바카라사이트 constricting roles of money and class. And 바카라사이트 saving grace of real love: of sisters, of friends and of life partners.