Austen-itis

So, I have been on a pride and prejudice thing lately. I watched the (newer) movie, I read the book. I did a lot of research into the regency period. Fun stuff really, I thought it was funny how shocked people were when the waltz was new, how it was too intimate and stuff, and how the stiff formal waltz has nothing on that one I saw on So You Think You Can Dance. I was running out of things to read and research when I remembered that, in a book store, I had once seen an alternate version, from Mr Darcy's Point of view. I was still interested in the story and the book and movie were still finished, and I really wasn't interested in reading it again. So I thought, why not.

But then I couldn’t remember the title of the alternate version. So I tried to look it up, and there are a lot of versions out there. I had no idea which one I had seen. Once works get old enough, and their copyrights expire, you can publish fan fic, instead of just posing in on the internet. I choose a few that had pretty good reviews on Amazon, and checked them out from my local library.

I, of course, had a few problems with each, but most of them were pretty good. For me though, most of them seem to share one flaw, Mr Darcy realized that he was in love before he left Longbourne. I have always pictured it as he was interested in her, thought she was fascinating to talk with, and pretty, but didn't want to form a friendship because of her family and finances. He had himself convinced that he wasn't interested in that way. So he thought he could leave and maybe miss the conversation a bit, but that is it. He would miss her more than he realized he would but that would be it, until he talked with her again. And most of them make errors of timing. Sometimes skipping whole months. The original takes place over the course of a year. There is a lot of time there.

I will start with the last read and least favorite, which is The Private Diary of Mr Darcy by Maya Slater. I was only a few pages into this work before I was questioning whether I wanted to finish it or not. The style is very appropriate to a gentleman's diary. But I use the term gentleman very loosely in this case. I am sure that during the regency period there were men of rank who thought that any bed came with a wench to warm it, and availed themselves of the services of various prostitutes. While at the same time being adamant about preserving the honor of women of the same rank. But I never would have put Mr Darcy in that category. Too proud of himself and conscious of dignity, if nothing else. But while that was repugnant to me, it dimmed in view of introducing the historical character or Lord Byron and the dubious happenings at his estate. Byron seems just thrown in so the author can have a controversial historical figure, he adds nothing to the story that a fiction one could not. Even if I managed to put all that aside, I found the characterizations to be inaccurate, especially Georgiana Darcy. I forced myself to finish, overlooking the obvious flaws to try and see if there was anything I liked in it. And there was one thing. This was the only book that agreed with my idea that Mr Wickham had heard or guessed of Darcy's interest in Elizabeth and seduced Lydia on purpose to get to him.

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, by Pamela Aidan is a trilogy (An Assembly Such As This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain) or I suppose we can call it a three volume novel. Its main flaw is a fairly obvious one, it is way, way too long. And it has Way, WAY too many references to historical places, figures, and happenings. I feel that one of the charms of Austen's setting is that it is vague enough to be in a large range of years and in any number of small towns. By making the time obvious, it robs some of that charm, and the author was even graceless enough to mention Sense and Sensibility as an actual novel in that setting. I like to read novels that seem to be their own little world apart from my own, and I hate being jolted by references to unnecessary real happenings. As part of the political and social intrigue there is a mini mystery in the last half of the second volume that seems out of place. I likes the characterization a lot more, though I still feel that Georgiana is inaccurate, and Darcy is too obsessed. I think I could greatly enjoy it if it were a third the length.

Impulse and Initiative by Abigail Reynolds is not so much a retelling, exactly, as an adaptation. It is a dime store romance trying to take place in Austen’s setting and doing a decent job in regards to all characters save the most important. I can see no way that Mr Darcy who is so concerned with propriety would forget himself enough to seduce Miss Elizabeth, nor can I really see Miss Elizabeth reacting to him the way she does. The author tried to justify them going against the laws and social customs of the day by having Mr Darcy say "Every word I will say during our wedding vows is already true, and its every bit as solemn and holy to me now as it will be when we kneel before the altar." (After the fact of course) The author, in short, has the principal characters behaving not much better than Lydia and Mr Wickham. This is a bodice ripper, soft porn, plain and simple. And it continues past the logical end of Pride and Prejudice to the next year and the birth of their first child. If I can manage to forget that this book is massacring beloved characters, the writing is not bad.

Darcy's Passions, by Regina Jeffers was also in the romance section and after reading the last one I was concerned it would also be far too steamy. The characters were pretty spot on, but too intense. Mr Darcy is far to physically affectionate to his sister, How often he hugs her, seems a bit excessive for even this age. And the dialogue is not on either, it varies far too much from the original. In the introduction she references the movies quite a bit, so it is possible that is her inspiration. I do not want to read an interpretation of an interpretation, I wasn’t my own interpretation. If that makes any sense. It also continues on past the ending of Pride and Prejudice until their first Christmas together, and the author seems intent on pairing as many leftover characters off as she can.

Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer sticks pretty well to the original plot line and characters, but it also quotes far to much from the original. If you quote dialogue it needs to be verbatim, but not descriptive text. And you can paraphrase dialogue from the book, and expand on dialogue that has been summarized. There is really nothing to annoy me, but also nothing to thrill me, it is too much like an echo of the original.

Amanda Grange's Mr Darcy's Diary, does not follow the time line of the book exactly, but then I am really OCD about this. If the book says that a certain event took two weeks, you had better make very certain that it takes two weeks. not two days. in the other books timing errors didn't bother me as much, but then this one is a diary so has to be very specific about dates. But the diary entries do not read all that much like diary entries they read like descriptive text with dates. It also fleshes out the ending up until the Christmas following the wedding, that seems to be a popular time to finish, and Lady Catherine is there, and I am under the impression that there is no way that they would possibly forgive each other that quickly. The dialogue matches about as well as the time line. Some bits slightly altered. I really like the characterizations and it seems to be a good fit with the original. but all the other minor inconsistences annoyed me.

I saved the best for last. My favorite was The Confessions of Fitzwilliam Darcy by Mary Street. There are, of course, some continuity errors. But, nothing in this life is perfect. The characters seem to be pretty close to what they appear in Austen. All motives and actions make sense. The new dialogue meshes fairly well with the old

After all of this looking and criticizing, I am tempted to write my own novel. But not really foolish enough to actually do it. Or at least if I am I will spare the rest of the general public. I am really just hoping that after a weeks worth of effort I will have a deeper appreciation for the novel that inspired all of these.

Romance, revisited

K, so I have never thought I was into romances. Yes, there were romantic themes in a lot of books and movies I like, but they are only a part of the whole. Yet, I keep writing about them. Puzzling, puzzling

I lump romantic fiction into three broad categories.

In Cinderella, a man meets a woman once (Actually in the old story it is three times) and finds her so irresistible that he scours the land in a quest to find her, and when he does she is a servant in someones home. Doesn't matter, he risks everything to marry her anyway. Pride and Prejudice is similar, he meets her a few times, gets to know her and wants her even though she is so much lower in riches and rank. She rebukes him, they both learn humility and wind up happily together in the end. Honestly most romantic themes fall loosely into this category. love at first sight, or after a brief relationship. One or both of them need to learn more about themselves, and make a great sacrifice so they can be together. There is, of course, the reverse of this category. The girl falls for the guy and does everything she can to win him. But it is so common it is hard to think of just one example.

Sleeping Beauty, he has never even seen the girl, she has been asleep for 100 years. But there is something so special so compelling about her that he will go on a quest to find her. Snow white is similar in theme, he sees her once, after she is asleep, and has to have her, then once she wakes up he marries her in direct challenge to her old kingdom. This is pure romance. There is something so special so wonderful about this girl that he will make any sacrifice, make any changes, go to any lengths he needs to to get her. There is the dark variation of this theme, the idea of he wants her he has to have her so he takes her, against her will. Either she is overcome by that level of devotion or she is rescued and it goes back to the original theme. The reverse is typified by The Little Mermaid, she sees him once, never even talks to the guy, but sacrifices everything to be with him, and even then, he does not see her that way so she sacrifices her very life to make way for him to be happy.

In Beauty and the Beast, he changes and becomes humble and kind, all because she is so wonderful, he will change his very nature to become what she needs him to be. Or at least this is how it is in some versions. Some versions the long transformation changed him and she just needs to see the wonderful man hiding under the shaggy coat of the beast, also typified by the Frog Price. The old theme of a troubled soul with a good heart, who is reformed through love of a virtuous woman. More women come to trouble through this idea of romance than any other. In real life, the man usually just pretends to be reformed so he can get into her pants. But we are talking about romantic fiction here, and it is a very common theme. Twilight falls into this category in that, a "man" will deny his essence his deepest nature, because the woman is so wonderful, so compelling, he will do everything he has to in order to be with her. Strangely Twilight is also the reverse, where she gives up her humanity to be with him. But my favorite example of the reverse is Howl's Moving Castle. He falls in love with her while she is under a spell as a wrinkled old woman.

In the end, it all comes down to the denying of self because of another person. . That you can love someone enough to deny your base nature and selfish desires for riches, position, comfort, whatever, and become whatever that other person needs you to be. (True Love is not one sided, the other person is denying and changing and sacrificing just as much.)

Unpopular

A couple months back, I wrote to my congressman, and was waiting to post until I got a response. I had no idea it would take quite this long.

I have never before written a political letter, and am still not too sure why I did this one. Especially since it seems to have been a waste of my time. I am, sadly, not one of the popular kids. My family is too poor to contribute to political funds or foundations and not poor enough to elicit much public sympathy. Like most people in this country I was more than a little upset that corporations were being rescued after they had done a terrible job. Maybe I am just weird but in my little world if you make a mistake you need to face the consequences.

Anyhow I wrote a letter, all about how there were millions of little people who could use that money and if every person got just a few thousand how big a difference that would make. Who knows I might finally be able to afford a house after over ten years of marriage, to a brilliant engineer. and so on and do forth.

It seems to have not made a very big impression. I got a form letter back, everyone is concerned in these tough economic times, blah, blah, blah. I felt invisible before, but I find that feeling preferable to feeling insignificant.

In a world of my own...

I am slightly OCD, this is well established. I am also a bit of an over achiever and a micro-manager. Combine all of that with a love of fantasy and, yes you have it, my very own fantasy world. In which to write bad stories and theoretically, someday, play dungeons and dragons. I just have a few more details to hammer out first...

Which of course means never, since I will never be able to hammer out all the details I want. It is on the same scale as the earth. I have mapped out and named all of the continents and major islands, I am in the process of trying to figure out prevailing wind directions and ocean currents so I can then map out the climactic zones. Yes I am that bad, it gets better, I also need to plan out the tectonic activity so I can plan for volcanoes and seismic zones. I do have one sub-continent in the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere that I have just kinda made up. After all I did need a relativly fleshed out zone for those bad stories. Once I get through with all that other junk, if I have made any grievous errors I think I can correct them.

Besides this is supposed to be a fantasy setting, if I stick a desert in the wrong place the explanation need not be any more complex than "the Gods decree it" or "there was a major magical catastrophe there hundreds of years ago." Speaking of Gods, I have the major human pantheon worked out. I envision religion on this world being similar to the Greeks or Romans. A whole bunch of Gods, each with his or her (or it's) holy days, and each with its own little ceremonies. If you worship the Gods you worship all of them. Some you love, some you fear, some you may even hate, but all are treated with respect. Because after all, the one time you get frustrated and mouth off about that stupid God of the Hunt, he just MIGHT be listening, and you get zapped into a deer, for someone else to hunt.

Unlike ancient Earth civilizations, religion and language are the same through, nearly, the entire world. My thinking is that with magical modes of transport and communication, things should stay pretty even. There are, of course, barbarian/savage tribes with weird totemic Gods and spirits, but only because that makes for fun story-telling. You know the type, the frog-God has decreed that the foreign man/woman get dumped into the volcano to appease the Earth spirits, or whatever. (I told you my stories were bad.)

Mirror, Mirror

I have just finished reading Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. It is a retelling of Snow White, Like Ella Enchanted is a retelling of Cinderella. Fun books, I highly recommend them. This book got me thinking, about beauty and the pursuit thereof.

Strange as it may sound but I never really put much thought into whether or not I was good looking until I was in my 20s. While I was in school most of my doubts and fears were in regards to my intelligence and personality, I somehow managed to miss the appearance based crisis. Probably because I was such a complete social outcast, that my peers had no chance give me doubts. My family never really gave me much in the way of praise, and what criticism I got was not about looks.

After careful thought I have decided that I was, and am, passably pretty. Not ravishing by any means, but passable. I have decided this based on a few experiences. The most vivid in my mind happened in my junior High School Dance class, one day a group of girls approached me and one of them told me that she liked how I had done my make-up that day. Being the naive twit that I was, I said thanks but I am not wearing any. I never do, it is too much bother. Naturally, they didn't try making friends again. My second most memorable is from my high school art class. The teacher would sometimes do caricatures, and I asked if he would do mine, and his response puzzled me, still does. he said that he wouldn't do it and explained that caricatures pick out a certain prominent feature and exaggerate it. (Not his exact word but I can't remember them.) I just shrugged it off at the time, but I still wonder if he thought my fragile ego couldn't take it or if there was nothing to make fun of... The final, is not an incident so much as a lack thereof. I was never, not once asked out on a date during all of high school. Asked out once during junior high and I turned the poor kid down because I was too young. (Couldn't date until I was 16) At college I had two guys ask me out, but only because I had asked them out first. There is also the dubious addition of Psycho Boy, but I don't really count him since first, he was Psycho and second I was hos 13th choice for that particular dance. (NEVER tell a girl that she is your second choice, let alone 13th)

So in conclusion, I am not ugly because no one ever told me I was. Kids can be very cruel, and if they had seen something to make fun of they would have, I was an easy mark. I am at least passably pretty since some people thought I was wearing make-up when I wasn't. I am not gorgeous otherwise someone would have asked me out, at least once.

The only reason why I started trying to puzzle all this out is because I have a daughter now, and I want her to have a better image of herself then I ever did. I want her to have better habits and more opportunities to learn. I do not want her to have a bunch of challenges because of her opinion of herself. But I think she needs to have an opinion, I never did.

Gah

Okay so one a week is a completely unreasonable deadline for me. I give up. It has been a month, I suck.

So Romantic

I have just finished reading the Twilight series once again. I mention this only because they are the only novels I own that can be lumped into the category of "romance." I have juvi fiction, I have fantasy, I have sci-fi, I have mysteries, I have classics, but only those few romance.

Or at least that is how my husband classifies them. It is amazing how much of a difference just that one little word means to him. To him a romance novel is the spiritual equivalent of girl porn. He feels threatened by the fact that I find them so interesting. He seems to be convinced that they are filled with all kinds of gushy romantic stuff, and that it will somehow make me want him to be all gushy and romantic. That I will fantasize about fictional characters now, when I never have before. That i will hold him up to the measure of these characters and find him wanting or something ridiculous like that. Yet, he refuses to read them himself, because what kind of vampire story doesn't have all kinds of blood and stuff.

I love Pride and Prejudice but would never want to be in that kind of a relationship, I am hardly Elizabeth Bennet, and I do not want a Mr. Darcy. I love to read about characters, different people, but I hardly identify with them, nor do I covet their life. I just find them interesting that is all. I have read numerous fantasy and sci-fi novels with more sex, that are far more titillating then any romance I have ever read. (Maybe that is because I avoid the bodice-ripper, dime store variety)