So True

A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.

This is one Jane Austen quotation that has always stuck with me perhaps because it's so true. I know my mind jumps quickly. I meet a man; I think I like him and then I start to imagine. The thing is the imagination is always better than the real thing. Recently I have met several men and thought that maybe something could work out and yet the more I get to know them the less I think of them.

Maybe that's what we learn from Pride & Prejudice. First impressions are rarely accurate. Although in Lizzie and Darcy's case they find each other repulsive and then realize they were wrong. I think that's what I need. I need to Lizzie Darcy first impression instead of the ones that I'm starting with. Ha!

Although I guess I'm in good company. In my formal life I was single and did well for myself although I feel I was lonely then. Perhaps this time around things will turn out better.

Calgon, Take Me Away!

I remember this commercial from when I was little and I say "who needs Calgon when they can have Captain Wentworth, Mr. Darcy, or Mr. Tilney?" I'm having a bad day at work. So I took my lunch a little early and started reading the favorite parts of my books. The letter in Persuasion. The scene where Darcy proposes to Elizabeth the second time. When Henry Tilney comes to find Catherine after she's been kicked out of Northanger Abbey. No longer do I need a bubble bath, just some time with a Regency hero.

The only thing is that I don't have a real Regency hero of my own. I have no Mr. Darcy or Captain Wentworth or Mr. Tilney in my life. No, I have a dog who adores me, but no man who adores me. All in all that's fine for now. I'd rather find Mr. Right as opposed to Mr. Right Now, but I'll admit that when things get bleak I would like to be able to call someone. Instead I read my Regencies. I read the heroes that have stood the test of time and hope that one day too Mr. Darcy or Captain Wentworth will take me away from the shrillness and loneliness that is my life.

12 Step Program

I have been receiving Amazon.com updates about books that I might be interested in. Most of them are P & P related.

What's the fuss? Why do we need to know what happens after Darcy and Elizabeth get their happily ever after? Isn't it enough that they have a happily ever after? I know we love Darcy and Elizabeth and we want more. Everyone wants more.

But I'm beginning to think that I just like the way I wrote it. I don't want new information. I don't want to read about the sex life. I don't want to read how Elizabeth can't get pregnant or can't have a son. I don't want to read about tragic illnesses or attempted rapes or anything. I just want a normal life, which I'm sure publishing companies would think that this would not make for good reading or good money, but seriously why does bad stuff have to happen?

I know bad things happen to everyone and life isn't perfect, but there are times when I think just a little too much happens to the Darcys. It's like an episode of some TV show that you know is blowing everything out of proportion. Really? You have four bombs in your hospital in one year and a helicopter crash?

So I might stop my quest to read everything Pride & Prejudice related. I could still read the updates that have the story taking place in modern times, but I might be done with the sequels and then again I might be a big fat liar...I'm an addict and I know I want to stop, but I can't.

Is there a 12 step program I can enter to get over my P & P addiction? Then again I probably don't really want to join anyway....I'd just fall down the steps!

I Repeat! A Pride & Prejudice Contest

And yes! There is a prize!!

So first off, Dan I'm breaking the rules. I'm making more than five posts this week. However since I have already completed 28 posts I feel this will be okay. I am not trying to make up any I am trying to listen to your lectures by only asking my readers to identify 7 quotations a day (Okay, so I'm using the long bit on the whole 5 +/- 2 memory scale).

Here's how the contest works:
You must identify 49 quotations from 7 Pride & Prejudice movies.
E-mail me you answers at mrdarcyatpemberley@gmail.com (And yes, that really is my e-mail address....obsess much Jane?)
There will be a bonus question.
Only one person will win.
The person with the most correct answers wins.
You will win a copy of the book "The Making of Pride & Prejudice" if you have this I will send you another Jane Austen prize!
I will post 7 quotations at once. E-mail me the seven and then continue as such. You must identify the movie and the year it was made. If you really want to impress me tell me who said it, but that won't count toward the prize. It will definitely count to your own Jane Austen and P & P pride.!

Here are you movie choices:

Pride & Prejudice starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier (1940)
Pride & Prejudice starring David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie (1980)
Pride & Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle (1995)
Bridget Jones's Diary starring Colin Firth and Renee Zellweger (2001)
Pride and Prejudice starring Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale (2003)
Bride and Prejudice starring Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson (2004)
Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFayden (2005)

Bonus Question

1. In what version or adaptation does Mr. Darcy lose his pants?

Seventh Set of Seven Quotations

1. "Perhaps we're very lucky we didn't drown any of them at birth, my dear."

2. "You should be stirring your husband's dinner, not trouble."

3. "Let us not say fairwell, but as the French have it au revoir!"

4. "As much as I love being insulted by you; I think you'd be much happier at a table for one."

5. "Lizzy don't sit there. Your nose will peel and your cheeks will burn and Mr .Wickham will not like that."

6. "Though she may well perish with the shame of having such a mother."

7. "Off they run. Weeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sixth Set of Seven Quotations

1. "I am most seriously displeased."

2. "I find mountains to be very dull. They lack refinement."

3. "I guess your guitar playing can't really compare to your sister's snake dance."

4. "Tricky. Very tricky."

5. "Oh if you want to be really dignified you must be dead."

6. "I can't help thinking that at some point someone is going to produce a piglet and we'll all have to chase it."

7. "Sometimes being alone is my only chance of good company."

Fifth Set of Seven Quotations

1. "Oh, I forgot. Wicky, Papa."

2. "But as Gloria Estefan says the rhythm is gonna get you."

3. "First I must tell you, I've been the most unmitigated and comprehensive ass."

4. "I do not think I can be very sensible."

5. "Elizabeth, we've been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth."

6. "I was sure you could not be so beautiful for nothing."

7. "Ding dong. Maybe this time mom had got it right."

Fourth Set of Seven Quotations

1. "She's been 80 for the past 50 years."

2. "Are you...are you laughing at me?"

3. "Do you know who I am?"

4. "Marry him. Then divorce him right away and then give me half."

5. "Circulate, oozing intelligence."

6. "Lydia, there's perspiration on you nose. Don't get too hot; it's very unladylike."

7. "The first wish of my heart is to never be in the company of Mr. Bingley or Mr. Darcy again."

Third Set of Seven Quotations

1. "Wait a minute. Nice boys don't kiss like that."

2. "Shelves in the closet. Happy thought indeed."

3. "It's against the principles of the Magna Carta."

4. "It's been many years since I had such an exemplary vegetable."

5. "I am sure I wish I smiled more, but at what? Life is so dull."

6. "I'm a good looking, relatively disease free animal."

7. "No life without wife."

Second Set of Seven Quotations

1. "Jane has beauty. Elizabeth has... well. And Mary has intelligence."

2. "You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."

3. "Pride, let's just say it's contagious and someone in our congregation has a fever."

4. "He may prefer a stupid wife as others have before him."

5. "It looks like you pat the dog with one hand and screw in a light bulb with the other."

6. "If you ask me there isn't enough blue food."

7. "If the dragon returns, St. George will know how to deal with it."

First Set of Seven Quotations

1. "You cannot expect turtle soup until the engagement is announced."

2. "Precisely. As it is I wouldn't dance with him for all of Derbyshire, let alone the miserable half."

3. "Fuck me. I love Keats!"

4. "If Mr. Darcy were not such a quite tall fellow I would not pay him half as much deference."

5. "Do you have something against books?"

6. "Leave. Now."

7. "They have arms and legs enough between them and are three of the silliest girls in England."

A Pride & Prejudice Contest

And yes! There is a prize!!

So first off, Dan I'm breaking the rules. I'm making more than five posts this week. However since I have already completed 28 posts I feel this will be okay. I am not trying to make up any I am trying to listen to your lectures by only asking my readers to identify 7 quotations a day (Okay, so I'm using the long bit on the whole 5 +/- 2 memory scale).

Here's how the contest works:
You must identify 49 quotations from 7 Pride & Prejudice movies.
E-mail me you answers at mrdarcyatpemberley@gmail.com (And yes, that really is my e-mail address....obsess much Jane?)
There will be a bonus question.
Only one person will win.
The person with the most correct answers wins.
You will win a copy of the book "The Making of Pride & Prejudice" if you have this I will send you another Jane Austen prize!
I will post 7 quotations at once. E-mail me the seven and then continue as such. You must identify the movie and the year it was made. If you really want to impress me tell me who said it, but that won't count toward the prize. It will definitely count to your own Jane Austen and P & P pride.!

Here are you movie choices:

Pride & Prejudice starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier (1940)
Pride & Prejudice starring David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie (1980)
Pride & Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle (1995)
Bridget Jones's Diary starring Colin Firth and Renee Zellweger (2001)
Pride and Prejudice starring Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale (2003)
Bride and Prejudice starring Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson (2004)
Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFayden (2005)

Next post will be your first seven quotations and so on and so forth. I hope you enjoy and participate!

Is Your First Pride & Prejudice Movie Automatically Your Favorite?

I'm doing some homework this weekend for my final graded blog post. I am still undecided as to whether or not I will continue once the class is over. I am watching all the Pride & Prejudice movies...all seven of them that can be purchased on DVD that is.

I have sat through the 1940 version and the 1980 version and am now on my favorite version: 1995. I will openly admit that this is the first movie that made me love Jane Austen. When I was a senior in high school I read Mansfield Park and was very disappointed. I thought it was an awful love story. Austen was a thing of the past. Then I watched the BBC/A&E version and fell in love. I wanted to know what happened. I was riveted for five nights. I read TV Guide to see what the next episode would bring. I thought surely the trouble was Lizzy's father died and could not imagine it was Lydia running off with Wickham. It was delightful. The music. The costumes. The actors. I adored it all. While I was studying in Wales I am almost ashamed to admit how many hours I spent watching this film with my two good friends. I will whole heartily admit though that Colin Firth on the big screen is amazing. When he proposes to Lizzy the first time it is almost like he is proposing to you.

When I returned from Wales I contacted my godmother and let her know about my Austen love. She too loves Austen and it is because of her that I am such an avid reader. I raved about the 1995 version and she said I had to watch the 1980 version. David Rintoul was amazing as Darcy and his facial expressions could not be touched. So I spent 4.5 hours watching it with her and could not help but compare it to my first P&P. I found fault with everything. It was not as I wanted it to be.

I have even heard older women say that there was no Darcy like Laurence Olivier, who starred in the 1940 version. Do the youth of today prefer Keira Knightly to Jennifer Ehle? Do they want Matthew McFadyen instead of Colin Firth? Are they bewitched body and soul?

What about those that were introduced to Austen through means that did not keep the book in Regency England? Do some women prefer the Bridget Jones update? Are some women keen on Darcy singing and dancing like he does in Bride & Prejudice, the Indian musical version of P & P? Or do people like the Darcy from Pride & Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy. Do they find that whimsical update to be what they need? I do find that their Mr. Collins is wonderful. Very Mr. Collins like.

So my godmother and I are at an impasse. I love Colin Firth and she David Rintoul. I love Bride & Prejudice, Bridget Jones's Diary and Pride & Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy, but the 2005 version I find fault with. It cannot live up to the 1995 version.

Do you have a favorite version? I am interested to see what Lost in Austen has to bring and that will be available the day before taxes are due. I must buy it and see. Another four hours of my life gone to Austen. I do not miss them though or think that they were not well spent. Regardless of which verison I am watching I enjoy the timelessness of the characters and the costumes (except for the 1940 version). I will always prefer the 1005 version, but five hours is sometimes too long to commit to Austen.

So my 16.5 hour Pride & Prejudice marathon continues. I hope I shall finish it all this weekend, but fear I will not. I can always continue it into the next week. Keep reading to see my final graded post....it will be a contest and if you win, you will get a prize! A Jane Austen prize. So look forward and have your own marathon. I must admit you will need it in order to win.

I am excessively diverted.

Truly Tacky

Trust and Triumph is probably one of the most ridiculous books I've ever read. It has a seven-foot detective, an exorcism of a ghost of Pemberley (performed by Mary and Kitty), and a trip to Georgia during the War of 1812. Oh and did I mention the mirrors on the ceilings of Colonel Fitzwilliam's palatial Southern belle plantation? This book, which is touted, by the author, as the BEST Pride & Prejudice sequel available. And you know, it might just be right. It's not really the best out there, I've read better. But for a quick laugh and a "I can't believe this book was published" moment it really is the perfect book. I have given it to some Pride & Prejudice fanatics and they couldn't finish it. They felt that it was so off they just couldn't read it. I think you can't take Pride & Prejudice so seriously. I know I'm sort of contradicting myself because earlier I said I hated to read sex scenes between Darcy and Elizabeth, but you know when it's just ridiculous without the whole sex thing, it can actually be sort of funny. One thing I'd like to know though: why does the detective have to be seven feet tall? And the mirrors? And how did the Darcy's make it to Georgia during the War of 1812? Okay, so there's a lot of things I want to know, but that doesn't mean I didn't laugh.

Niceness

I just saw the Greer Garson Lawrence Olivier version of P & P. The costumes are Victorian and Lady Catherine de Bourgh is nice! I'd love to know why the 1930s and 1940s decided to niceify their characters. I love the movie Rebecca and the movie is different from the book. The studio felt that Lawrence Olivier couldn't be a murderer so they changed the book. In this version of P & P Lady Catherine acts mean to see if Lizzy really likes Darcy. Then she goes out into the carriage and laughs with Darcy and says she hopes to visit Lizzy and Darcy at Pemberley soon. Where is the great scene where Lady Catherine cries "Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?!" I love Olivier and so I will watch the movie again, but I cannot feel that it is the best P & P movie out there.

Famous First Lines

It was the best of times it was the worst of times. I was born. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

The first two are Dickens, but the last is mine. I recently came across is in an article about natural gas in Pennsylvania. I thought it strange that my work had worked its way into natural science. In fact I recently made a friendship through this line in a very unexpected area.

So I'd like to hear from you. Tell me how you've seen this famous line used! Post your comment.

Elizabeth and Darcy Sing? Totally Love It!

Several years ago the director of Bend It Like Beckham came out with an Indian musical version of Pride & Prejudice. I LOVE it. The characters still maintain their identities and the store is transported to beautiful India. Plus there's singing and dancing. More than anything this movie made me wish I had a cultural tradition like India does. I know Great Britain (and now the US since that's where I'm residing) has a culture, but Great Britain can be...well a little stuffy and the US has so many cultures in one area sometimes US culture gets lost. This movie makes me want to go to India. Although with the release of Slumdog Millionaire it would seem that not all of India is quite as fun as the movie makes it out to be. Maybe that's what I love about it. It's like my novels. I never really brought up the poverty or problems of the time. It was just about the lives and loves of insignificant people...well insignificant to some, but I would like to think that some of my characters have lived on and had some significance to people. They must, otherwise I wouldn't be so popular.

Mr. Kholi, or Mr. Collins, is perfect. Especially when Elizabeth and her sisters sing a song about how "There's no life without wife". Truly funny stuff. The one thing that bothers me is why does Elizabeth's family fly from India to Los Angeles via London? That seems like going east to go west. Of course Bingley is in London and we need the story to move on, but it just didn't make sense to me.

I highly recommend this movie. I know some people think it's sacrilegious to make P & P a musical, but trust me it's amazing. It almost makes me want to write a Regency English musical of Pride & Prejudice.

Is It All Just a Cinderella Story?

As I'm watching Wives and Daughters I see a little Cinderella involved and as I was thinking about that I saw a little Cinderella in Pride & Prejudice as well. Sense and Sensibility could also be a Cinderella story. So could Jane Eyre and Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park and Persuasion. Emma is not a Cinderella story. However I started to wonder about our famous romances and our favorite fairy tale. A Cinderella story exists in almost every culture. Similar to the flood story that exists in every culture. Do we love the idea of the underdog, the witty girl, the nice girl, the shy girl, the steady girl getting the great guy so much that we read and write it over and over again? A few days ago I spoke of Thomas Hardy. Now here was a man who did not believe in Cinderella. Wuthering Heights and Bronte definitely not a Cinderella. Anna Karenina and Tolstoy not Cinderella. But how many of our great love stories are Cinderella? Sent me a comment and let me know what your favorite love story is and if it is a Cinderella or if it's not.

Thomas Hardy Meets Jane Austen

In recent years Thomas Hardy has been making his way into Jane Austen movie adaptations. My question is why? Hardy is well for lack of a better word: hard. His characters face hardships and poverty is openly seen. Austen is different. Her world is a world of manners and social situations. The Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice has the girls feeding chickens and shows the muck and the mire of Regency England. Jane and Elizabeth even share not only a room, but a bed. The thing is, Mr. Bennet's estate is worth around 2000 pounds a year. This may make him poor because of the entailment and having no sons, but he by no means needs to use his daughters to help run the farm. Plus the actual farm would be away from the main house.

The Kate Beckinsale version of Emma also shows the poverty and the muck and the mire. This is why I prefer the Gwenyth Paltrow version. Besides Jeremy Northam just looks yummy in Regency clothing.

It's not that the movies are bad, it's just that they aren't Jane Austen. In today's world we seem to want reality in our historical dramas. While it's historically accurate that's not the point of Austen's books. They're character studies, not poverty studies. So give me my genteel world.