Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

[The Queen]

I saw the Bollywood version and we've got the DVD for the Keira Knightly version, and I was feeling guilty, because I'd never read the original. OK, I feel better about myself now, but honestly, major yawner. I get the point and I suppose it might have been the "Crash" of its day, but hey, that wasn't that great of a story either. If I'm going to get stuck in that era/genre; I'd much prefer Bronte and a brooding melancholy "hero" with an insane wife locked away on a third floor that no one is allowed to visit while he seduces the nanny any day over this, "oh dear, whatever shall we think of to do to fill our empty hours and pointless existence until the next party but speculate about the quality of the character of our neighbors" manure. Sigh. I guess I'm a little to picky about my romance novels having a little actual *romance.*

[King Bob]

I recently read (hence the slow reply to the Queen's post) that Austen put the P&P manuscript in a drawer for years, only pulling it out and revising it for publication after Sense and Sensibility was a success. So I'd consider it as a draft for S&S, which is a much better book (and better film in my opinion, although I did enjoy the Keira Knightley P&P).

I'd also recommend Wuthering Heights, my favorite of the Bronte sisters' books.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

We rolled and fell in green
You had a temper
like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy.
How could you leave me,
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you. I loved you, too.

I spent two years in High School (Crescent College Comprehensive) studying Wuthering Heights. I think I prefer the song version by either Kate Bush or Pat Benatar better.

[Drunk Monk]

So Mrs Dm has taken it upon herself to read P&P to T, as well as to rent every single version of P&P she can find on netflix. The extraordinary sedative power P&P has on me has become a running joke in our household. Mrs Dm starts reading. Dm falls asleep. Another P&P DVD is played. Dm falls asleep. Hell, I'm getting sleepy now just posting about it. Bride & Prejudice was fun (there was better dancing) but beyond that, tQ nailed it when she said "major yawner". Next time I get a bout of insomnia, I'm reaching for P&P.

[Drunk Monk]

First zombies and now Lost in Austen?

I must confess - I like Lost in Austen.

[Drunk Monk]

...it makes Lost in Austen hecka funny. I was especially struck by the 'show my pubs' and 'landing strip' lines.

[Drunk Monk]

An East L.A. spin on Sense and Sensibility. We play this new game with Austen reduxes - it's called 'spot Mr. Darcy'. It's sort of like Monty Python's 'Spot the looney'. FPtN = Darcy spotted immediately.

[King Bob]

I just read almost all of Jane Austen (actually re-reading a couple of them). Including my take here rather than starting another thread. Beforehand I read a book on that time's manners etc. and it made them much better - manners are a big subject of the books although very little is actually said about it. We see the character of each person in the ways they conform and don't to etiquette. Anyway...

P&P is one of the better ones. I think my second favorite. I disagree with DM; I thought it moved along pretty well (for a 19th century novel that is).

This time I found that Sense and Sensibility is just not that good; the pacing is not good and it felt like it would have been better if it were shorter. I love the movie though; it's one of my favorites. Emma Thompson definitely deserved the oscar for the screenplay since it streamlines the story quite well.

Mansfield Park is pretty good but long (note that the film adds a lot of things which aren't in the book); Persuasion was good but didn't have anything to make it really stand out. I couldn't get through Emma because the title character and her father got too annoying. And it's a bit weird that she is 17 and the guy who she ends up with is 37 or 38.

My favorite is Northanger Abbey. The main character is naive so she can't see what's going on while we can. Also Austen is playing some games with the form - the main character loves Gothic novels and Austen sends that up in asides to the reader, contrasting the novel's events and situations with what they should be in a Gothic novel. It's also the shortest one if anyone wants to read just one.

[Drunk Monk]

To be fair, I am unduly hard on Austen. It's a marital thing. Stacy disses my Kung Fu flicks; I diss Austen. In truth, I have tremendous respect for her writing style. No one can string together such a sentence as she, so eloquent, proper and precise. I'm in awe of her grammatical command. 

But sometimes I don't make it to the end of her loquaciously constructed sentences before nodding off. Austen wouldn't make in the age of tweets and memes.

[El Dingo]

I have never read the original (or any Jane Austen books) but really enjoyed this. Zombie invasion + Victorian dialogue = Not-unplesant passtime.

[Drunk Monk]

Pride & Prejudice - Santa Cruz Shakespeare - 7/27/19

We had seats in the front row of the newly built seats as the SCS continues to grow.  We are members now.  

This play version of P&P is a comic farce and yet loyal to the source material.  What made this performance special was that several actors took on dual (and a tri-al) roles - Bingham=Mary, Mr. Bennet=Charlotte, Collins=Wickham=Caroline Bingley, Lydia=Catherine De Bourgh.  The staging for that led to lots of comic cross-dressing.  Extra points to Collin=Wickham=Caroline who was so good that we didn't quite put together he was in three roles until after.  Stacy made a lovely picnic basket, which is tradition for the SCS groundlings - bring wine & snacks.  

The downside was that I suffered a wicked allergy attack during the show.  I had taken a sense-dep float the day before, and aggravated my left eye with the salt, then rubbed it just prior to the show with some arnica essential oil that I've been using on my busted wrist, which triggered a reaction that brought on a full on debilitating attack where I had to wash out my eyes before and after and during intermission.  I've been slack with my qigong since the TC office move - I don't have the luxurious privacy I did in the mornings like before and haven't figured out how to replace it - and was anticipating an attack.  It was a major bummer but I still enjoyed the show.