Brontëana Index
Firstly, long-time readers will notice a slight change to the Brontëana layout. I have been trying to find an efficient way to organise the archives for some time and have finally met with some limited success. This is only a start, but now for the first time you can search the archives from the bottom of the sidebar under 'Brontëana Index'. So far I have only indexed the primary works of the Brontës and the immediate family members themselves- although the archives contain information about the extended family as well. All of that and more will be more readily available in time. But it is a step in the right direction! Check back soon, I intend to keep working on it over the week.
Secondly, I have been following the progression of a musical 'Emma' by Paul Gordon, the composer of the Broadway musical Jane Eyre, for Austenblog. I am not entirely sure what to make of this comment, however:
How plays are born: Central Works' collaborative method is only one of many script development models in use in the Bay Area. TheatreWorks has been attracting increasing national attention in the new musicals field following a more traditional scheme. Its Spring Festival of New Works, expanded to two weeks (April 25 to May 7), features first-time staged readings of four new musicals: "Emma," adapted from Jane Austen by Paul Gordon (moving up the literary ladder from "Jane Eyre")...
Humph! Not that I mean to demean Miss Austen and her works... But humph! all the same!
And thirdly, I don't know what to make of the Mystery of Irma Vep either!
The Mystery of Irma Vep finds two actors performing eight sizable roles in a tale that's a wildly improbable mix of melodramatic literature and film, from Wuthering Heights to The Wolf Man, The Mummy and vampire legends.
5 comments:
Ha! Oh, you have every right to be indignant over that. It amuses me though, since Charlotte herself seems to have very little use for Miss Austen's writing. As expressed in one of her letters:
"Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. What induced you to say that you would have rather written Pride and Prejudice, or Tom Jones, than any of the Waverley Novels?
I had not seen Pride and Prejudice till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book. And what did I find? An accurate, daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face! a carefully-fenced, highly-cultivated garden, with neat borders, and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses. These observations will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk."
I actually referenced this quote in one of my posts about the recent Pride and Prejudice film, and the accusations that it was too 'Brontësque' (it was, but that's why I liked it.)
I can only imagine Charlotte's contempt at having Jane thus compared to Emma...
I tend to agree with Miss Brontë, although her point is not really that Jane Austen is not a proper writer. She dislikes her style, and what she says is true- it is finely polished and confined to a particular view of society. Nothing wrong there, but for some this doesn't appeal. I for one was turned off of Emma by the first description of our heroine's happy position in life. I couldn't sympathize. I have worked hard to appreciate Jane Austen's works primarily because I am inclined towards Romanticism and have a problematic relationship with Neo-Classicism in general! I have not read many of her novels so I will not make general statements.
This quote is part of a longer discussion which I find very funny. If I'm not mistaken, he eventually demands that she acknowledge the superiority of Jane Austen with so much determination that Charlotte, being Charlotte, fires back at him something to the effect that Miss Austen knew how to make money but that she wasn't a poet. ;)
You know that Charlotte wrote her own 'Emma', do you not? It is a novel she started shortly before her death. There are about 3 chapters extant, and they are wonderful chapters. One thing about Charlotte's writing is how immediate her characters are. These three chapters are probably some of her most economical and effective- I might even say this is the best beginning we have.
The 'Emma Fragment' was recently made into a novel called 'Emma Brown.'
Lastly, my mother cannot tell the difference between Jane Eyre and Emma, thus I Brontë blog! :D
OMG hahaahahah
I think I'd like to meet your mother :P She seems an entertaining personage!!!
"An accurate, daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face! a carefully-fenced, highly-cultivated garden, with neat borders, and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses. These observations will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk."
Do you think the director of the new Pride and Prejudice movie deliberately sought to make it more Bronte-esque? The new film (I thouht) was really different in setting than the BBC version with Colin Firth. Now the BBC one could be found guilty of the abscence of " glance of a bright vivid physiognomy.. open country...fresh air..blue hill,..bonny beck" but the newer one did indeed seem much more dark and ground in nature.
hmm..is this what you meant too by it being Bronte-esque mythosidhe?
I would still prefer a Bronte work any day, though.
My mom is great. But she will NOT read anything! It's so vexing. And it makes her inadvertently say terrible things, as when she confused Emma and Jane Eyre. I bought her a copy of Emma once to encourage her to READ something (she actually loves to read but just... won't!). She said 'we already saw the movie'. 'no, we didn't...' 'Yes, we DID!' 'No...' 'Yes, the one with the fire? And the girl married that old man in the end?' Owww...!
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