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.