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Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

February 19, 2015 09:41PM
James,

Re your comments:

> You never see a fault in any body. All the
> world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never
> heard you speak ill of a human being in my
> life.''


That doesn't make her weak. It does, I grant you, make her vulnerable to people who don't deserve her good opinion (i.e. Caroline Bingley), but thinking well of everyone is (and I speak as one who falls into the other category more often than not; I'm a cop and it's common failing of policemen) a far more admirable trait than thinking badly of everyone.

> I do but be realistic in saying all the Bennets
> girls lead very sheltered lives. Apart from the
> odd walk/shopping trip to Meryton, some gossip and
> socialising at a couple of close neighbours and a
> monthly assembly, nothing much seems to happen
> beyond a rousing family chat about Fordyce's
> Sermons, a backgammon battle occasionally and
> maybe a bit of terpsichore to Mary's pianoforte,
> oh, and Lizzie hurdling a style or two whist
> walking. Upper/middle-class, no employment to
> trouble them and, in Jane's case, seemingly a real
> home-bird who is the one who looks after the
> children. Mary is studious, Kitty and Lydia
> senseless and Lizzie fiesty and with a little more
> "quickness" than the rest. Jane, at twenty two and
> five times prettier than anyone else has
> presumably had some male interest besides the
> sonnet scribbler with a taste for fifteen year
> olds. That said, Bingley apart there is little
> romantic activity in her life mentioned anywhere.
> Darcy accepts she is pretty but "smiles too much"
> and Wickham doesn't give her a second look. Mr
> Collins considers her for all of thirty seconds
> before moving on to Lizzie. Lolita she isn't.
> Bingley appears to be the love of her life.
> Personally, I think she and he would make a fine
> pair of Staffordshire pot figures for the
> mantlepiece. (-; Anne Elliot is much more mature
> and we do get to know a lot about her character.
> Jane Bennet is far more a background figure. We
> finish up glad for her happy ending, but in my
> case, little more.

But Anne was only 19 when she and Wentworth first became engaged. When we meet her she's 27, still young, but on the shelf as far as society is concerned, and, yes, she's had eight years of a lost love to mature her, compared to Jane's few months. And as a daughter of the aristocracy, living in a similar rural community, is she really any less sheltered than Jane. As the ignored middle daughter, she's never even had a London season, as far as can be determined from the book. She describes herself as sheltered in her pivotal conversation with Capt. Harville.

"We live at home," she tells Haville, "quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us." Sounds kinda like the same situation you describe the Bennet sisters as having been raised in.

Of course she's more mature. But she was roughly where Jane is (minus a loving, if rambunctious family) when she first met Frederick. And yet he was the man for her. If anything, it was her lack of maturity, and her confidence in her own feelings, that led to their separation.

I don't say she's a clone. She's more accomplished (i.e. piano, languages), probably a little more polished, being from an aristocratic (if minor aristocracy) family. But her main character traits, kindly, gentle, quiet, accommodating, firm on matters of principle, all mirror Jane's.

We do;t know how Jane would perform in a crisis, while we do know that Anne rises to the occasion, but that's at least partly a plot point. Had the story called for it, I think Jane might be able to handle an emergency, too.

As you point out, she's a supporting character, so she's not as richly developed as Anne. Moreover, P&P is, IIRC, Miss Austen's first novel-length work. Persuasion was her last, and it shows the maturing of both her talent and her outlook.

I don't say that Bingley's a bad match for Jane. And, of course, it's the match Miss Austen planned for her, which disposes me to approve it, and be happy when it happens (exactly, I suspect, as Miss Austen hopes her audience would feel). It doesn't follow, though, that Jane, or a real person very much like Jane, couldn't be happy with someone who was more forceful.

> As to fanfics, they are but the product of modern
> imaginations and little to do with anything. Jane
> Austen's book/books is/are the only unarguable
> canon. I read P.D. James's Death Comes to
> Pemberley
( which I though awful) and watched
> the BBC miniseries (with a blue-eyed Lizzie)
> unimpressed. Lost in Austen was harmless
> and quite hilarious and I've seen it twice because
> it never attempts to be anything but spoof and
> Amanda Root is brilliant in it. None of it is
> relevant in any way. To me, fan-fic is just
> jumping on the Austen bandwaggon. Sorry if that
> upsets anyone. It isn't intended to.

I was disappointed in DCtP, too; less in its TV adaptation, though that, too, was disappointing. This quite surprised me since I'm a great admirer of the Baroness's cop novels featuring high-ranking Scotland Yarder Adam Dalgliesh.

But as for fan-fics in general, it strikes me that you've joined an odd group if you don't like Austen fan-fiction. Don't take that as sharp as it might read. Sometimes the words sound friendlier in my head that they turn out to be on the page. If this is one of those times, it's just meant as an observation, not an insult.

I do agree that everyone puts their own spin on it. But matching Jane with a dashing military man isn't a big stretch. It just didn't suit the plot (not the characters, but the plot) of the story Miss Austen spun. And most people who write, or read, fan-fiction do so because they've come to know the characters, and the stories, so well.

Frankly, for me, the wild card in a Jane/Colonel match isn't Jane. It's Fitzwilliam. He's the real tabula rasa. We don't know if he's Regular Army, Royal Marines, or Militia. We don't know if he's cavalry, infantry, artillery, or engineer. We don't even know if he's a serving officer, or if, like Colonel Brandon, he's returned to civilian life, but continues to use his military title.

And es, Jane'd make a fine mother, and that's what her character seems to best fit her for. But the same could be said for Anne Elliot.

Finally, no offense to the ladies, but it's kinda fun to have these discussions with another guy!

JIM
SubjectAuthorPosted

The missing eight months

Jim G.MFebruary 13, 2015 01:37PM

Cracked up over this one

Femme MalheureuseFebruary 17, 2015 09:42PM

Re: Cracked up over this one

Jim G.MFebruary 18, 2015 01:48PM

Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Femme MalheureuseFebruary 18, 2015 06:38PM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim G.MFebruary 18, 2015 09:02PM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim D.February 19, 2015 05:52PM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim G.MFebruary 19, 2015 07:57PM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim D.February 19, 2015 09:41PM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim G.MFebruary 19, 2015 10:32PM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim D.February 20, 2015 01:25AM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim G.MFebruary 20, 2015 12:20PM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim D.February 20, 2015 05:50PM

Re: Jim: the circle around the arts; Charles: the circle around Darcy

Jim G.MFebruary 20, 2015 08:24PM

Someone like Willoughby, for example?

GracielaFebruary 19, 2015 12:49AM

For every Willoughby...

Jim G.MFebruary 19, 2015 02:39PM

Re: For every Willoughby...

Little NellFebruary 19, 2015 03:40PM

Re: For every Willoughby...

Jim G.MFebruary 19, 2015 04:49PM

Re: For every Willoughby...

Little NellFebruary 19, 2015 05:12PM

Re: Someone like Willoughby, for example?

Jim G.MFebruary 19, 2015 12:12PM

Brilliant, Graciela!

RedsonFebruary 19, 2015 01:20AM

Perfect! Well done! (nfm)

Sandy CFebruary 18, 2015 03:57PM

Re: Cracked up over this one

RedsonFebruary 18, 2015 12:39AM

Re: The missing eight months

MichelleAnne--February 14, 2015 06:41PM

Re: The missing eight months

AlanFebruary 15, 2015 12:31AM

Re: The missing eight months

Harvey S.February 14, 2015 04:52PM

Re: The missing eight months

Suzanne OFebruary 15, 2015 03:41PM

Re: The missing eight months

Harvey S.February 24, 2015 05:57PM

Re: The missing eight months

Jim G.MFebruary 24, 2015 10:19PM

Re: The missing eight months

AdelaideFebruary 27, 2015 12:11PM

Re: The missing eight months

Jim G.MFebruary 27, 2015 02:32PM

Re: The missing eight months

Agnes BeatrixFebruary 15, 2015 10:10PM

Georgiana's establishment

TashaFebruary 15, 2015 05:52PM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Agnes BeatrixFebruary 16, 2015 12:03PM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Jim G.MFebruary 15, 2015 07:13PM

Why Georgiana would (or might) live separately from her brother

RedsonFebruary 15, 2015 10:22PM

Re: Why Georgiana would (or might) live separately from her brother

AlanFebruary 16, 2015 08:34AM

Re: Why Georgiana would (or might) live separately from her brother

RedsonFebruary 16, 2015 04:49PM

Re: Why Georgiana would (or might) live separately from her brother

Jim G.MFebruary 16, 2015 07:22PM

Re: Why Georgiana would (or might) live separately from her brother

RedsonFebruary 17, 2015 04:29AM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Debra McFebruary 15, 2015 10:19PM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

BeatriceFebruary 21, 2015 01:47AM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Jim G.MFebruary 21, 2015 12:37PM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

BeatriceFebruary 21, 2015 01:08PM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Renee BFebruary 21, 2015 03:49AM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Jim G.MFebruary 16, 2015 12:20AM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Suzanne OFebruary 17, 2015 03:31AM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

RedsonFebruary 16, 2015 12:52AM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Jim G.MFebruary 16, 2015 02:03PM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Rosie J.February 17, 2015 05:51AM

Re: Georgiana's establishment

Jim G.MFebruary 17, 2015 01:11PM

I agree, Debra Mc (nfm)

RedsonFebruary 15, 2015 10:26PM

Re: The missing eight months

Jim G.MFebruary 15, 2015 01:50PM

Re: The missing eight months

Jim G.MFebruary 14, 2015 07:04PM



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