JANE AUSTEN. A GREAT WRITER UNIVERSALLY KNOWN

14/8/22. So for this part of my blog I shall be exploring the world of Jane Austen both in print and on screen. I intend to read or re-read Jane Austen's novels and watch cinema and TV adaptations of which there are many and also explore blogs and websites about her.

Bit slow getting going on this one. I have read the introduction to Sense and Sensibility and ordered copies of Emma and Sanditon which I thought I had but didn't, so now I have all she wrote which will be read and discussed in the order they were written which is as follows:

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

MANSFIELD PARK

EMMA

NORTHANGER ABBEY

PERSUASION

SANDITON/LADY SUSAN

I shall be endeavouring to watch film and TV adaptations of these novels and reading critical analysis as I go along and commenting about that too.

25/8/22. A quick blog entry for today by way of an update. I have started reading Sense and Sensibility and have read the first six chapters. These chapters are taken up with the Dashwood women's move from their home at Norland Park to Barton Park in Devon after after the death of husband and father Henry Dashwood leaves them in financially straitened circumstances as Norland is inherited by Henry's son John and of course in those days women had little or no property and inheritance rights. So the widowed Mrs Dashwood has to move herself and three daughters Elinor, Marianne and Margaret to the smaller more affordable Barton Park. I have also dug out some literary criticism books on Austens so I will be making entries about them too.

08/09/22. I am now more than halfway through Sense and Sensibility. I know the story quite well having read the book when I was younger and also having seen the And Lee film adaptation of it plus the BBC adaptation of 2008 and I intend to watch the film and BBC series again as I get closer to the end of the book. The film is a particular favourite of mine and has Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet as the two Dashwood sisters at the heart of the story. Emma Thompson plays Elinor who represents the 'Sense' in the title being the sensible, grounded sister. who keeps her feelings about things (especially her feelings for Edward Ferrars) in check. Younger sister Marianne played by Kate Winslet is altogether more romantic and open about her feelings (in modern parlance 'in touch with her feelings') and one of the main delights of re-reading the book is observing the interplay between two sisters with such differing characters.

14/09/22. Just a brief entry, an update if you like. I am now into Volume 3 of the novel and have about nine chapters to read. So I hope over the course of the next week to complete the novel and watch the Lee film and also the BBC classic serial and make a longer entry to sum up my feelings about the book, film and TV series.

22/09/22. I have now finished reading Sense and Sensibility. As in all Austen novels the heroine or in this case heroines got their men. Marianne of course did not get the man she initially wanted ie Willoughby and got the more reliable Colonel Brandon. Elinor, thanks to a convenient plot twist at the end ends up marries Edward Ferrars. As I have seen pointed out on a couple of occasions the Sense and Sensibility of the title that the two sisters represent is slightly upended in the book's finale as Elinor (Sense) ends up with her first object of desire and Marianne (Sensibility) ends up with her romantic worldview shattered by Willoughby's untrustworthiness and also her near fatal illness and marries the trustworthy and wealthy Brandon. I think it is Marianne who goes through the biggest change in the book. Does that make her the person the book is most about. I will leave that one in the air for now. I now intend watching the BBC TV adaptation and also the 1995 film adaption and will write about them when I've done so then I shall move onto Pride and Prejudice.

30/09/22. So a final few thoughts about Sense and Sensibility before I move on to Pride and Prejudice. I watched the Ang Lee film earlier in the week and am also reading a book called What Matters In Jane Austen? which gives some historical background about the social mores of Austen's time. For example there is a chapter about how age matters in the time of Austen's novels detailing things to do with at what age a woman would expect to marry and women getting married is a big thing in Austen's novels. In films and adaptations of course it can be easy for the casual viewer who may not have read the books to assume characters are older than they are in the book. For example in Sense and Sensibility Elinor is nineteen years old and in the film is played by thirty six year old Emma Thompson. Maybe all is required is a little suspension of belief. After all it would be difficult to find an actress of nineteen with enough experience to play such a demanding role. So goodbye Elinor and Marianne Dashwood and hello to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy.

26/10/22. ' Oh my' as Dorothy Gale might say. And well you might nearly four weeks and no entry. Struggling a bit at the moment so watch this space and there may be comeback.

9/6/23. 8 months later still no entry. Perhaps it's time to read some Austen.