{"id":1310,"date":"2021-12-16T01:05:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T01:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/?p=1310"},"modified":"2021-12-16T01:05:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T01:05:51","slug":"jane-austen-reimagining-the-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/2021\/12\/16\/jane-austen-reimagining-the-text\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Austen: Reimagining the Text."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any blog post about Jane\nAusten must begin with an awkward homage to her best-known novel, Pride and\nPrejudice <\/em>(1813). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also a truth universally acknowledged that, since her death on 18\nJuly 1817, aged only 41, many writers have sought to capture the magic of\nAusten\u2019s writing, and to pay tribute to her through imitations, sequels,\nretellings, and reimaginings of her work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in honour of Austen\u2019s birthday (16 December 1775), I wanted to share\nsix of my favourite literary reimaginings and retellings of her most famous\nwork. For keen readers of Austen, I hope these will share new light upon a\nfavourite novel. For those yet to become acquainted with her, maybe these will\nserve as a means of introduction? For me, the versatility and variety of the\nfollowing books demonstrates the genius of Austen\u2019s characterisation and\nplotting, the timelessness of her themes, and the resonance that the stories\nshe told continue to have for thousands of readers today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Other Bennet Sister <\/em><\/strong>by Janice Hadlow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Published in 2020, Janice Hadlow\u2019s The Other Bennet Sister<\/em> tells\nthe story of Mary, middle of the five Bennet girls, plainest of them all and,\narguably, the most overlooked by both her family and her creator. An introvert\nin a family of extroverts, Mary is very much a peripheral figure within Pride\nand Prejudice<\/em> \u2013 and is usually depicted alongside Mr Collins as a figure of\nfun in the many film and TV adaptations. Hadlow, however, manages to convey the\ndepth of Mary\u2019s character, showing us a young woman who, though different from\nher siblings, has no less passion and no fewer dreams. For those new to Austen,\nthis lively modern novel may encourage you to read Pride and Prejudice <\/em>the\nfirst time whilst, for Austen-lovers, seeing Lizzie, Darcy, Jane, Lydia et al. from\nMary\u2019s point of view provides a chance to reflect on the value of wealth and\nbeauty from the perspective of a young woman without either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayesha at Last<\/em><\/strong>\nby Uzma Jalaluddin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Set in modern-day Canada, Uzma Jalaluddin\u2019s Ayesha at Last<\/em> takes\nthe plot and themes of Pride and Prejudice<\/em> and combines them with a\nmodern Muslim romance. Heroine Ayesha Shamsi has set aside her dreams of\nbecoming a poet to pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. Adding to her\nproblems, she\u2019s still single whilst, as her boisterous family are always\nreminding her, her flighty younger cousin Hafsa is close to rejecting her one\nhundredth marriage proposal. When Ayesha meets Khalid, she finds herself\nirritatingly attracted to someone whose conservative and judgemental nature\nmeans he looks down on her choices and dresses like he belongs in the seventh\ncentury. Yet unbeknownst to Ayesha, Khalid is also wrestling with what he\nbelieves and what he wants. Despite announcing a surprise engagement to\nAyesha\u2019s cousin Hafsa, Khalid just can\u2019t get the outspoken Ayesha out of his\nmind. Ayesha at Last<\/em> is a lot of fun and, for me, demonstrates that the\nthemes and concerns of Austen\u2019s novel resonate not only across time but also\nthrough cultures. Another modern re-telling worth a shout is Curtis\nSittenfeld’s Eligible<\/em>, which moves the action to modern-day Ohio and\nadds in a dash of reality TV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death Comes to Pemberley <\/em><\/strong>by P. D. James<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pride and Prejudice<\/em>…and\nmurders! Queen of Crime P. D. James brings her expert plotting and fine eye for\ndetail to Pemberley in this elegantly gauged tribute to Austen\u2019s vitality. Set\nin 1803, the orderly world that Darcy and Elizabeth have created for themselves\nis threatened when, on the eve of their annual ball, Lydia Wickham \u2013\nElizabeth’s unreliable sister \u2013 stumbles out of a carriage screaming that her\nhusband has been murdered. James\u2019s pastiche of Austen is laced with authentic\nsmatterings of Austen\u2019s trademark wit, combining this with a thoroughly\nresearched portrait of Georgian law and order. As a crime story, Death Comes\nto Pemberley <\/em>is deeply enjoyable in its own right but, for me, it also\ndemonstrates the versatility of Austen\u2019s imagination and the way in which her\nsharp observations of society and wicked sense of humour underpin a genre so\nseemingly disparate as crime fiction. For more genre-bending Austen, fantasy\nfans might also like to look up Heartstone<\/em> by Elle Katherine White for Pride\n& Prejudice<\/em> with additional dragons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies<\/em><\/strong> by Seth Grahame-Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Okay, so I mostly put this one in here because it\u2019s Pride and\nPrejudice<\/em> WITH ZOMBIES. And what isn\u2019t to love about that as a concept? Look\nbeneath the parodic swordfights and ignore the ninjas for a moment (because\nyes, there\u2019s also ninjas in this one), however, and you\u2019ll find a wry\ncommentary on literary expectations and Regency-era society. The academic\nliterature on this adaptation of Austen\u2019s classic is, honestly, very\ninteresting and considers everything from the meaning behind Charlotte Lucas\u2019s\nzombification to the importance of sword-wielding heroines for modern female\nreaders. For those seeking to move beyond Darcy and Elizabeth, Grahame-Smith\nadded a kraken and some pirates to Austen\u2019s first published novel to create Sense\nand Sensibility and Sea-Monsters, <\/em>and wrote a sequel called Pride and\nPrejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Matters in Jane Austen<\/em><\/strong> by John Mullen<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mullen is a Professor of English at University College London and has taught Austen to university students for over a quarter of a century. Distilling that knowledge into a lively and accessible piece of literary criticism, What Matters in Jane Austen<\/em> endeavours to answer twenty crucial puzzles about Austen\u2019s work including, How Much Does Age Matter?, Do We Ever See the Lower Classes?, and Is There Any Sex in Jane Austen? Mullen is an entertaining and knowledgeable guide \u2013 especially to Austen\u2019s lesser-known works \u2013 and his book is the perfect primer for revisiting the novels with a fresh critical eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Longbourn <\/em><\/strong>by Jo\nBaker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of the lower classes, who does <\/em>wash the mud of Elizabeth Bennet\u2019s skirt after she troops over to Netherfield Park to appal polite society? The answer, for Jo Baker at least, is Sarah: one of the housemaids at Longbourn, the Bennet family home. Baker\u2019s eye for detail undercuts the televised romanticisation of Austen\u2019s era, depicting not only the lives of those who do the dirty work that enable Austen\u2019s polite heroines to take tea or go to balls, but also reflecting on the turbulent politics of the era and, poignantly, on the aftereffects of the Napoleonic Wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are just a smattering of many adaptations and appropriations of Austen\u2019s work but, hopefully, they\u2019ve given you a flavour of just how resonant her writing remains. More than 200 years after her death, Austen\u2019s novels and short fiction continue to be read and enjoyed by readers across the globe. And whilst F R Leavis saw Austen as one of the cornerstones of the \u2018canon\u2019 of English Literature, for me, her work resonates not because of its universality or intrinsic brilliance (although I do think Austen is brilliant) but because of the way that her intricate examinations of love, marriage, family, society, and commerce invite new perspectives, new approaches, and new imaginings that encourage us to reflect not only on the period in which she lived and wrote but on our own experiences and society today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amy Blaney<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any blog post about Jane
\nAusten must begin with an awkward homage to her best-known novel, Pride and
\nPrejudice <\/p>\n

It is also a truth universally acknowledged that, since her death on 18
\nJuly 1817, aged only 41, many writers have sought to capture the magic of
\nAusten\u2019s writing, and to pay tribute to her through imitations, sequels,
\nretellings, and reimaginings of her work. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":313,"featured_media":1315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[202912,56992,202913,202916,202914],"class_list":["post-1310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-austen","tag-literature","tag-novel","tag-otd","tag-prose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1317,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions\/1317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.staffs.ac.uk\/ecw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}