A fantastically vast and witty companion to everything you need to know about Jane Austen, presented in a wonderfully fun and entertaining style which will appeal to all readers. Whether you’ve read Jane Austen once or read her yearly, or if you simply yearn to be Elizabeth or Mr. Darcy, this new Bedside companion will be a perfect match. Janeite and newcomer alike will revel in the entertaining capsules of each of Austen’s beloved novels, along with information on such important subjects as white soup, carriages, what happened at the ha-ha, and, of course, all those characters we love to hate. In the spirit of Austen, maps, puzzles and quizzes are provided—including the one and only Jane Austen Aptitude Test. The reader is taken on location to Steventon, Jane Austen’s childhood home, to Bath, the city she was happy to leave, and elsewhere. Also included is an interview with Karen J. Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club. An Austentatious work, indeed! Table of Contents
- First Impressions: Letting Jane Austen Into Your Life - Capsule: Pride and Prejudice - THE Sentence. No other sentence in English literature has suffered the flattery of imitation as has the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice. Besides a discussion of why the sentence is so scintillating, we will describe the ways others have borrowed it for their own purposes. - The Importance of a Good Carriage: Traveling in England, circa 1812. Mrs. Elton’s ideas about coaches, Lady Catherine’s equipage, and why heroines needed a ride. - Sidebar: Why I Married Her. By Mr. Bennet. - Admirers: An Interview with Joan Klingel Ray, author of Jane Austen for Dummies - Capsule: Sense and Sensibility - Willoughby v. Brandon. Is Willoughby equally sinned against as sinning? Is Brandon the hero or the villain? We consider the accusations against each of them. - Sidebar: The Clergy in Austen’s Fiction - The Lives of Jane Austen. An annotated chronology shows us what we know – and don’t know -- of Jane Austen’s life. - Capsule: Mansfield Park - Sidebar: What Does Lady Bertram Do? - Sidebar: What Happened at the Ha-ha? - Raiders of the Early Works: The Juvenilia - Capsule: Love and Freindship: “Beware my Laura” - Excerpt from the Juvenilia: The Adventures of Mr. Harley. We provide a capsule of one story from the juvenilia to entice readers to the writings themselves. Monty Python meets the Eighteenth Century! - If She Could See Them Now. Austen’s Relationship with Her Publishers. She suffered every author’s nightmare: a book that lay unpublished for years and books remaindered after her death. She enjoyed success as an author, as well, and since her death, the editions keep coming. - Capsule: Emma - Sidebar: Mr. Knightley, Detective. Was Mrs. Churchill’s death merely convenient or something more sinister? We speculate on the possible speculations of Mr. Knightley, a man for whom suspicions of Mr. Churchill’s behavior is nothing new. - Emma’s Dream: Austen and Shakespeare Meet on a Midsummer Night - Initial Impressions or, “I’m Missing Your Letters”: An Austen Crossword Puzzle - Capsule: Northanger Abbey - Say Cheese!: Picturesque Beauty and Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey: The Graphic Novel. A discussion with Anne Timmons, graphic artist. - The Ideal Jane Austen Tour. We talked with Mary Lou White about visiting the places associated with Jane Austen and the importance of place for both the writer and the reader. - Sidebar: More than a Constitutional: Heroines Who Favor Walking. - Capsule: The Watson’s and Lady Susan - Cinderella and Evil Witches: Myth-Placed Affections - On Reading Jane Austen. We offer up a song to celebrate “there’s no one I’d rather be reading than Jane.” Forgive us a pun, but it does announce the end. - What’s Up with White Soup?: Understanding Food in Jane Austen. We clear up questions about white soup and other very important matters to Netherfield Park, Longbourn, Northanger Abbey, Highbury, Uppercross Cottage, and Mansfield Park. - Jane Austen Film Chronology - Jane Austen at the Movies. What does Aldous Huxley have to do with it? From the 1940 treatment of the story to one of the most-watched programs in British broadcasting history to “The Complete Jane Austen,” we explore what happens when Austen meets the celluloid age. - Admirers: An Interview with Karen Joy Fowler, the author of The Jane Austen Book Club. - Larping and Jarping: That’s right, Live Action Role Playing meets Jane Austen Role Playing. Our movie critics introduce you to the idea, and identify its manifestations. - Homage to Jane. Movies that Echo Austen. No need to be Clueless in this matter, with a stop in India (Bride and Prejudice) and of course, a word from Bridget Jones. - Music in 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice. How does the music in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice influence our feelings? What happens, exactly, when Colin Firth arises from the waters and encounters Elizabeth at Pemberly? Our resident musicologist explains what’s going on with the French horns and bassoons and other chamber instruments. - Pride and Prejudice II, by Kentuck - Pride and Prejudice The Rejected Screenplays - Capsule: Persuasion - Mrs. Bennet was Right: The Marriage Plot in Austen Novels - Sidebar: Was Lady Russell Wrong? - “You Should Be in Pictures:” Jane Austen’s Portrait - The Best Gifts for a Janeite - Capsule: Sanditon - Sidebar: Winchester Cathedral - Sleuthing Regency Dresses. Sleuthing is done piece by piece and so is assembling a Regency wardrobe, so reports Baronda Ellen Bradley, an expert on creating Regency Dresses in the twenty-first century. - The Jane Austen Aptitude Test. Test your Austen knowledge with our analogies, true and false questions, word matching, math questions, and multiple choice offerings. Thirty questions to test and entertain you. Here’s the bonus: no essay questions! - What Makes a Janeite? Do you have what it takes? We will provide a barometer to measure whether the reader is a fair-weather friend or not. - Jane Austen in the 21st century. From a DNA code breaker who tested his theory on Jane Austen’s text, Emma, to counting the number of times an actress wears the same dress in Pride and Prejudice, to a list of our favorite websites. - If Jane Austen Had Been a Man. Just think how many things would be different if Jane had been John. - Austen the Novelist - Acknowledgments - Answers to the Crossword Puzzle - Answers to The Jane Austen Aptitude Test
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