Jane Austen fest

Over the holidays I set myself up with my own little Jane Austen fest – I read Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Sense and Sensibility as well as watched two films, the new Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly and then Emma Thompson’s wonderful adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.

In terms of comparing films with the original texts, I have to admit I didn’t much enjoy this most recent version of Pride and Prejudice. I think most of the problem was that I had just finished the novel and so Austen’s actual words and scenes were fresh in my mind. I guess it would be difficult not to, but the movie takes some significant liberties with the text and dialogue and leaves out entire chunks of the story. So it felt half-finished to me. Having said that, I did really like the visual aspect of the film – the texture of it was a bit grittier and grayer than my longstanding favorite adaptation (the BBC series with Colin Firth) and so felt very true to the time period. Unfortunately, I didn’t find Keira Knightly particularly suited for the part, she does a lot of pouting and smirking and I just don’t see Elizabeth Bennet as a pouter.

For Sense and Sensibility, I watched the film first (which has been a favorite for years) and then read the book. About a third of the way into the novel, I realized I have actually never read this! At least I don’t think so because I kept expecting it to follow Thompson’s film more closely, which it doesn’t. Most of the scenes and early dialogue in Thompson’s film are purely invented from segments of exposition in the novel. But unlike the Pride and Prejudice adaptation, in which the alterations left me wanting, these additions and changes seemed to work much more organically for Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility.

When comparing the two novels, I can see why Pride and Prejudice has had so many more screen adaptations – it is really filled with much more direct scene. Sense and Sensibility (along with Mansfield Park) accomplishes much of its story in exposition. I found this a little frustrating as a reader. And I might go so far as to say that Elinor and Edward hardly have time to fall in love (on the page) before Austen gets the rest of the story moving quickly. I was a little shocked at Elinor’s absolute assurance that Edward loved her when it didn’t seem to me they’d even spent any time together.

That little complaint aside, I did come to the conclusion that although Pride and Prejudice will remain my favorite Austen (because it is just so perfectly entertaining), I did happily discover that Sense and Sensibility is much more pyschologically complex. The entire Willoughby story asks a lot of the reader in terms of understanding and compassion, as does the eventual relationship between Marianne and Colonel Brandon. Emma Thompson’s adaptation of the novel doesn’t go nearly as deep into those two issues and the complicated emotions and personal transformation behind their ultimate resolution. But in the actual novel, Austen asks the reader to consider some intriguing suppositions about how love and fidelity work in the real world.

And finally, yes, I did read Northanger Abbey for the first time. Am I wrong in thinking this the most overtly satirical of Austen’s work? In her other books, she satirizes certain personality types, but in Northanger Abbey the entire plot centered on making fun of gothic novels. It was a fun, light read with a perfectly good twist at the end. Catherine was an interesting heroine, very unsure of her self in certain matters but quite fixed in what she believed was right and wrong. I loved her tendancy to let her imagination run away with her and all the back and forth about whether “reading novels” is good or bad. I also liked the sly and impish Mr. Tilney and of course wanted to smash a blunt object over Mr. Thorpe’s ridiculous head.