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Archive for the ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Category

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the DK Illustrated Classics Edition

Posted in Book review, jane austen, Jane Austen Novels, Pride and Prejudice, tagged on May 14, 2010| 5 Comments »

The full unabridged text of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the DK Illustrated Classics Edition is a revelation. It is a heavy trade paperback, made with a substantially thick cover and white semi-gloss paper. And it is very attractive, filled with photographs of locations, dress, and paintings. The back cover boasts: “Classics designed for the modern reader”. Translation: “Classics designed for the visually spoiled person who needs some oomph to make traditional reading pallatable”. The book, short of providing podcasts and videos, offers everything else – background information for context; explanation of major themes; an illustrated glossary; timeline of the story; and a biography of Jane Austen. Questions for discussion were included at the very end. Within its pages, certain phrases and words are bolded and explained in more detail at the bottom.

Sample page, with colorful border on side and annotated explanations at the bottom.

Illustrated glossary

(Click on images for larger versions)

This edition of Pride and Prejudice is the perfect gift for someone who has fallen in love with the films but who has never read Jane’s words. I began the treasured opening sentence last night after ripping the package from the book seller open, and before I knew it I  was spellbound again,  immersed with the goings on of the denizens of Meryton.

I give this edition 3 out of 3 regency fans.

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Jane Austen in Comics: Artists Liz Wong, Kate Beaton, and Sonny Liew

Posted in art, jane austen, Popular culture, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, tagged , , , , , on May 11, 2010| 10 Comments »

Gentle Readers: Jane Austen has inspired many people to comment on her novels, including comic artists. The recent Jane Austen/Monster Mash Ups provide a fertile field for visual satire. Jane Bites Back and other mash-ups are the inspiration for “Austen’s Revenge” by Liz Wong. (Click on images to enlarge them.)

A comic inspired by the recent Jane Austen Paranormal trend (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monters, Jane Bites Back, The Immortal Jane Austen, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, Mr. Darcy’s Hunger… yes, these are all actual published books…).

This is Jane’s revenge for taking such liberties with her work.
The ever popular Kate Beaton is well known for her historical satires, and I have showcased her work before. Most recently she jumped on the monster mash-up bandwagon! I must say that these are pretty funny.

Don’t forget that a new Sense and Sensibility graphic novel will be released by Marvel Comics on May 26th! Sonny Liew drew the illustrations for this new graphic treatment of Marianne and Elinor Dashwood’s story.

Read an interview with Nancy Butler, the master mind behind this comic and Pride and Prejudice, which was published last year and became a huge hit.

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How Helen Jerome’s ‘Pride and Prejudice: A Sentimental Comedy in Three Acts’ Ties in With Anna Massey, Mrs. Norris of Mansfield Park

Posted in jane austen, Jane Austen Novels, Jane Austen's World, Popular culture, Pride and Prejudice, Regency World, tagged , , , , , , , on January 14, 2010| 4 Comments »

The 1935 production of Pride and Prejudice: A Sentimental Comedy Written in Three Acts, written by Helen Jerome and played on Broadway, featured Adrienne Allen, an English actress, as Elizabeth Bennet.

Miss Allen, a slender blonde, had been successful in London and Broadway stage productions, such as Private Lives with Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, when she was signed to a contract by Paramount. She was married to actor Raymond Massey from 1929 to 1939 and is the mother of Daniel and Anna Massey.

Private Lives, 1930, Laurence Olivier, Adrienne Allen, Noel Coward, and Gertrude Lawrence

Best known for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, Canadian-born Massey also portrayed the character of “Jonathan Brewster” in the film version of Arsenic and Old Lace. He played Dr. Leonard Gillespie in Dr. Kildare during the 1960’s.  Raymond Massey Massey died in 1993.

Young Anna Massey’s career might have been decided as early as her christening, for her godfather was the film director John Ford.

Celia Johnson as Elizabeth Bennet in Helen Jerome's Pride and Prejudice

Anna made her stage debut at the age of 17 in the West End hit The Reluctant Debutante with Celia Johnson and Wilfred Hyde-White. Celia, coincidentally, also played Elizabeth Bennet in the Helen Jerome play of Pride and Prejudice (1936).

Janeites know Anna Massey best as Mrs Norris in the 1983 BBC mini-series of Mansfield Park.

Anna Massey as Aunt Norris

In recent years she has played Mrs. d’Urberville in Tess of the d’Urbervilles (left), and as Mrs. Bedwin in Oliver Twist (2008) right.

“If I’d had an education, I’m not sure that I would’ve been an actor,” she once said. “My education ended when I was 15 and it was assumed that I would go into the theatre and I did.” –  Anna Massey The Plain Girl’s Lament

More on the topic:

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First Impressions: A Documentary About Pride And Prejudice

Posted in jane austen, Jane Austen Novels, Jane Austen's World, Popular culture, Pride and Prejudice, tagged , on March 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

Mr. Bennet and his daughters

Mr. Bennet and his daughters

This 50-minute, 1999 documentary from Roundabout Productions about Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, narrated by Donald Sutherland, who played Mr. Bennet in 2005’s Pride and prejudice, features authors and Jane Austen scholars discussing love and first impressions, Pride and Prejudice, and the author.  Film clips from the 1939 and 1980’s film adaptations are used in this special, which is based on the commentary of Nora Ephron (director and writer of When Harry Met Sally), Helen Fielding (author, “Bridget Jones’s Diary”), Fay Weldon (author, screenplay for “Pride and Prejudice” 1980), Roger Rosenblatt (Editor), Prof. Marcia Folsom (Wheelock College), Edith Lank (Collector and JASNA member), Thomas Carpenter (Trustee at Jane Austen’s House, Chawton) and Judith French (author/performer, “The Woman).

Click on the image below, which will lead you to all five videos.

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Seen Over the Ether: Mr. Bennet’s Library in Pride and Prejudice

Posted in jane austen, Jane Austen Novels, Jane Austen's World, Pride and Prejudice, tagged , on February 25, 2009| 4 Comments »

libraryThe abstract of What Was Mr. Bennet Doing in His Library and What Does it Matter? by H.J. Jackson states:

In this article, Jackson uses the familiar example of the Bennet household in Pride and Prejudice to outline some of the practices associated with the establishment and maintenance of a library about 1800. Besides gathering clues from the novel itself and providing information about the resources likely to have been available in or near a market town like Meryton, this essay speculates that Mr. Bennet might have been writing in his books and surveys some of the ways of writing that would have been available to him.

This vastly interesting essay, part of a series of essays on Romantic Libraries, is filled with insights like these:

The possession of a library—of a dedicated space, as well as of a private collection of books—is a clear indicator of status in the novel, reflecting relatively recent social developments. The Bingleys, renting Netherfield, have a room but not many books; their new money will be put to use in this generation by the purchase of property and the beginning of a collection. Darcy has a fine library at Pemberley, “the work of many generations,” to which he is constantly adding. His idea of a “truly accomplished woman” is one who would put it to use, a goddess capable of improving “her mind by extensive reading”. “I cannot comprehend the neglect of a family library in such days as these,” he says. His is the standard to which all aspire. The Bennet library is one of the bonds between Elizabeth’s family and the one that she will marry into: “He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter,” as she defiantly but rather disingenuously declares to Lady Catherine. They have the same social values.

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