Austen and Dickens

Okay so I am really late in joining this, but in my defense technology hates me. Anyway as most people who know me can attest I am a huge Jane Austen fan. Pride and Prejudice is, naturally, my favorite, but Northanger Abbey is a close second. Her witty comments on the state of society and propriety are hilarious. One of my favorite lines from Northanger is, "A woman especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing any thing, should conceal it as well as she can." I find this especially amusing as Jane herself was of course quite intelligent and very clever. I also like the line, spoken by Catherine to Tilney when he is twisting words a bit to much and shows how she is increasing in her own wit, that says, "I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligable." Jane is probably my favorite author and I am a bit disappointed to be moving on, but am glad if we must that it would be Dickens. I love Tale of Two Cities and am excited to read more.

Charles Dickens

Currently Masterpiece Theater is showing Charles Dickens' pieces from now until May. This Sunday they are finishing the tale of Oliver Twist. The website breaks the tale down by chapters in the book, so one could watch their favorite chapters, or just parts of the tale. The next two weeks are devoted to David Copperfield, the version starring Dan Radcliff (of Harry Potter fame). The final two tales showing during this season of Masterpiece Theater are Little Dorrit and The Old Curiosity Shop.

I can't recall if I have ever read a Dickens novel or not. I might have read A Christmas Carol, or I just might have seen film interpretations enough to have a grasp on the jist of the story. A childhood favorite of mine pertaining to that story is A Muppet's Christmas Carol.

Just like Austen's novels, Dickens tales have been made into many different films. Disney used the names of characters in Oliver Twist to characters in one of my favorite cartoon movies, Oliver and Company. Another recent telling of the same story was adapted to New York City being the center of the story. August Rush had some similarities to Oliver Twist; for instance, Robin Williams' character is similar to that of Fagin. Though the ending of the movie was up to the audience, about whether or not the family got together and had their happy ending, the tale of a talented young boy left to live in an orphanage is classic Dickens.

Charles Dickens

This is a background and history of Charles Dickens I found online. Thought it would be useful to know a little something about the Author of our book Great Expectations while reading it.

BBC's Interpretation

After finishing Northanger Abbey, I popped in the BBC film version of the novel. I had a feeling that this version would be very dry and to the point. It was infact...just that. It had the feel of a 1970s film, with the filming technique and the film used, the quality is not what I am use to. The BBC version did not follow the novel as I would have liked. Things were skipped over and the order kind of muddled. The filmmakers had the Allen's and Catherine drive by Northanger Abbey on the way to Bath, which isn't that big of a deal but it bothered me nonetheless!

I am eager to find and watch the Masterpiece version of this Austen classic. I may have the bar set high, but I am hardly ever disappointed by Masterpiece Theater. Currently they are running a Charles Dickens' set, which is the next author we will be studying! I am very excited.

Northanger Abbey

Movie This is the trailer for the movies on PBS I thought I might be interesting for people to watch.

Love for the Austen novels brings...

I was browsing the selection of fiction at Barnes and Noble on Sunday, trying to decide if I really needed to add to my pile for "To Read" books, when I noticed a large section dedicated to sequels of many of Jane Austen's classic tales. I knew that some sequels existed, because my mother collected a few. I have even read a sequel to Pride and Prejudice called Darcy's Daughters.

So far, 68 sequels were written at the time this site was last updated. I am certain there are more on the way. Every Jane Austen lover has their own interpretation of how certain characters go on after the happy wedding.

Qoute of the Day

Since Jane Austen has some pretty hilarious and insightful qoutes, I thought it would be fun to find a website that had quite a few of them. Not only does this website include qoutes, it has everything Jane Austen. This is a blog so I just had fun searching around on it, and I thought maybe someone else would so I'm sharing it.

Northanger Abbey and Jane Austen

The edition of Northanger Abbey that I am reading from gives about three different "About the Author"s along with the novel. The one from the publisher I found to be the most helpful in my research of Austen's life. Not all of her novels were published during her life; Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published posthumously with help from her brother, Henry.

Though Northanger Abbey was one of the last published works from Austen, it was actually the first completed story she sent to be published. She sold the manuscript to a firm in London, Benjamin Crosby and Co., for ten pounds; the company advertised for the publication of the novel, but never published it. Austen wrote a "tough" letter to the firm six years later, under a psuedonym, inquiring why the novel 'Susan' had not been published and offering another copy, if the original had been lost. She also threatened to publish the story with another firm. To that the firm responded by stating they would take legal action against her; then offering to sell the novel back for the same price it was bought.

What caught my attention is that the titles we know and love were not the original ones sent to publishers. Pride and Prejudice was originally entitled 'First Impressions,' Sense and Sensibility was 'Elinor and Marianne,' 'Susan' became the novel we are reading, Northanger Abbey. Austen also had a few unfinished pieces of work that she dappled with while publishing all her classics, one of which being The Waltons.

Northanger Abbey was published as four different volumes including Persuasion, thus the two volumes of Northanger Abbey and two volumes of Persuasion. There is a lovely "Biographical Notice of the Author" at the begining of our novel, it gives her life story based on those who actually know her.