Pride and Prejudice discussion

Jane Austen's books have been revised numerous times, authors add zombies to the story, or change an important plot point and write a different narrative, or they write another book about a character, (like Georgina Darcy, Mary Bennet, or Caroline Bingley).

I think it's great that Jane Austen' books are still so popular. But, with the exception of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which sounds ridiculous, I'm not sure what to think of the rewrites and story continuations. Since the authors borrow Jane Austen's ideas and characters, I'd forever be thinking about what she would have done differently when writing them. Jane Austen's books have a subtlety that would be hard to match, I fear the rewrites/borrowed characters would be somewhat disappointing when compared to the original works.

What do you think about the revisions?

As a writer of JA fanfic, I never thought I was improving on her work. I was just having fun more with the characters I loved so much and learning to write while I was at it. No fanfic, not even the published stuff, is ever as good, but some of it's good fun.

They drive me crazy, they're never as well-written as the original book. And it seems lazy to me. If you want to write a book about zombies in the Edwardian era, just make up your own story line and characters. It's one thing to do it for fun online, but publishing it something else altogether. It's really just an easy way to get readers. She has a huge fan base to capitalize on. Authors do this w/ other novels too, like Wuthering Heights. Every time I see one in the book store I have to roll my eyes.

Not being a JA fan, I was surprised but I actually liked http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...

Kressel wrote: "As a writer of JA fanfic, I never thought I was improving on her work. I was just having fun more with the characters I loved so much and learning to write while I was at it. No fanfic, not even th..."

I can't argue with that, although I don't write fan fiction, I must agree that writing is a lot of fun!

I'm a big Jane Austen fan, and because of that, friends and family often give me books (like P and P and Zombies) or "sequels"/"fan-fic" etc. I read them and they're okay but kind of annoying. It just feels like writers trying to make a buck by exploiting something popular. I can't help thinking that if Jane Austen were alive today she'd be appalled rather than complimented. Adding zombies to her masterpiece? She's got to be rolling over in her grave.

Oh, I don't know. Her writing has a succinct, dry humor about it. I like to think she'd likely be writing zombies into her own works just for fun.

Hayley wrote: "I'm a big Jane Austen fan, and because of that, friends and family often give me books (like P and P and Zombies) or "sequels"/"fan-fic" etc. I read them and they're okay but kind of annoying. It just feels like writers trying to make a buck by exploiting something popular. I can't help thinking that if Jane Austen were alive today she'd be appalled rather than complimented. Adding zombies to her masterpiece? She's got to be rolling over in her grave."

You know, there's actually a book that touches on this subject - Jane Bites Back, by Michael Thomas Ford (a novel in which Jane Austen is actually still here on earth, having been changed into a vampire by a romantic interest & hiding her true identity ever since).

I have only read a few fanfic attempts - one elaborating & than tacking an ending onto Sanditon, the other a mystery story featuring Liz (formerly Bennet) & Fitzwilliam Darcy as detectives. I was not a fan. The characters are so well loved, and it's nearly impossible for modern authors not to color the characters with current viewpoints/etc. that feel inauthentic.

I do, however, sometimes like spin-offs that involve Jane Austen or her works in a different context - such as The Jane Austen Book Club.

I enjoy the revisions, but as others have said it's all in fun, and I don't have high expectations.

I enjoyed P&P&zombies, as it was done satirically and was very comical. I also liked Death Comes to Pemberly (murder mystery) and Pamela Aidan's trilogy that revisits P&P from Darcy's perspective. As long as the author shows respect to the characters and doesn't make them act in unbelievable ways, then I'm able to enjoy it well enough.

Sandition was horrible; JA's chapters were fantastic but everything following it (diff author) just undid JA's whole setup.

I actually quite enjoyed Sanditon, but it was very obvious where Ms. Austen stopped writing.

This is a topic that I've thought about and when browsing a bookstore irritates me. In some ways, it is flattering to an author to be well loved and read, that after death, their storylines/characters remain alive and well written by another. Yet, it seems to be an infringement on their work. I haven't read the Jane Austen take-offs because I loved her work and didn't want or need any other "spins" on or off it. I've read Pride and Prejudice several times. It is one of my favorite books.

I sense that part of my feelings on the subject stem from the sequel to Gone With The Wind. With GWTW, so many yearned to have a conclusion. Was the conclusion satisfying. No!

This is a topic that I've thought about and when browsing a bookstore irritates me. In some ways, it is flattering to an author to be well loved and read, that after death, their storylines/characters remain alive and well written by another. Yet, it seems to be an infringement on their work. I haven't read the Jane Austen take-offs because I loved her work and didn't want or need any other "spins" on or off it. I've read Pride and Prejudice several times. It is one of my favorite books.

I sense that part of my feelings on the subject stem from the sequel to Gone With The Wind. With GWTW, so many yearned to have a conclusion. Was the conclusion satisfying. No!

Linda wrote: "This is a topic that I've thought about and when browsing a bookstore irritates me. In some ways, it is flattering to an author to be well loved and read, that after death, their storylines/charac..."

Linda, I think you're right about the yearning for a conclusion. Austen books do conclude with happy endings, but as per the decorum of the times, her happy endings are subtle. The sexual tension she brilliantly builds up is never really addressed, or at least isn't addressed in the usual modern way where they fall into bed together. Often, there's not even a kiss. She leaves it up to our imaginations. It's understandable that people want to extend that ending, but I agree with you that doing so, in a sense, does a disservice to the brilliant subtlety of her work.

Some of these books are written better then others of course but what is fun is that you have so many creative people joining in the 'what if' of "Pride and Predjudice. I think the sincerely clever titles are the contemporary ones such as "According to Jane" by Marilyn Brant. This is a story where a young high student, Ellie Barnett, inadvertently discovers in English class as she is assigned to read "Pride and Predjudice that Jane Austen shows up as her new inner voice. No one else can hear her. Ellie goes on to make a series of errors in her high school dating life that so many of us do. She is bright but not always aware of her awkward social flaws until it is too late to recover with the dignity she strives for. As she endeavors to try to make the right choices, Jane Austen, Ellie is often annoyed and argues with Jane over what matters and what doesn't in current time. However Jane Austen is timeless and even if manners aren't judged so strictly in contemporary life, Jane chimes in with her Edwardian manners, coaches Ellie for and against her ways in relationships and it is quite humorous to observe to repartee between character and her inner voice. If you are a fan of both Austen and Ellie midway through the book, it is most amusing to ready their dialogue. I won't spoil the book for you but it does reveal itself to show how a young and often impulsive woman like Ellie can grow and become a respectful and admired one. Ellie learns her way through the world in her academic and career potential and then to hope for love in the least expected places. At the end of the book, the Author almost continues the character development as you are now fully engaged and she has the characters interview her(Marilyn Brant.) It is so clever and it gives more depth to both the story and the writer and her characters. It might appear as if it were a young adult novel given the age of Ellie, however you go along with her, supporting her or chiding her for her embarrassing mistakes and by the end you do not want to say good bye. This is just one example of how a particular spin off of Jane Austen's beloved novels can take an interesting perspective on listening to your inner voice to guide you. According to Jane

Caroline wrote: "Some of these books are written better then others of course but what is fun is that you have so many creative people joining in the 'what if' of "Pride and Predjudice. I think the sincerely clever..."
That sounds like a good read. I'll definitely check that out. But that's different than playing around with the Austen's characters. By all means, bring Jane to life, but let Elizabeth Bennett and Anne Eliot and all the rest of them stay where they belong: in Austen's books.

I was not a fan of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It felt like a rip-off. However, I thought Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts by Mitzi Szereto was hilarious.

Hayley wrote: "Caroline wrote: "Some of these books are written better then others of course but what is fun is that you have so many creative people joining in the 'what if' of "Pride and Predjudice. I think the..."

True, there are others that don't mess with the characters too much and keep with the sense of who they are and what they would do or wouldn't do pretty closely to Austen's depiction. Memory is a 3 part example that has you reading almost 15 pages but it ties it up very nicely and not so predictably. It explores Elizabeth's complex relationship with her family, her mother and Jane. It gives you pause to consider that Jane might have actually been a little too passive in her pursuit of Mr. Bingley and that it would not be so awful if they didn't ever marry. Like I said, some are better than others, it is fun to suppose that things happened differently or to give more depth and possibility to other characters, like Mary or Colonel Fitzwilliam. It seems all of Austen's novels end in a wedding and it is probably good that they ended there because it's always good to leave your readers wondering. It's 250 + years later and we are still talking about her. I don't think she ever would have imagined that!

I guess I didn't realize there were so many! I've only read two to date.

P&P w/Zombies was just silly fun. When a book title announces it's combining zombies with a Jane Austin classic, you don't expect anything other than a satirical romp and that's what I got. Now granted, I found myself occasionally doing a "...now wait a minute, that can't be..." or a "...oh, come on now, seriously?" and yet the moment passed when I remembered why I was supposed to be reading this book - just for fun and nothing but the fun...

As for JA Jance's "Death Comes to Pemberley", I don't know why, but I expected a bit more from it. Maybe it's because the writer is also an Austen fan? I don't know. I thought Jance did a nice job of taking you back to the era through language and setting so revisiting the era and the characters was enjoyable in that regard, but that's where my admiration stopped. I know I probably over thought this, but my book group read it so I feel like I was almost obligated to overthink. ;-)
The story itself wasn't bad... at first. I won't ruin it for anyone, it really was worth the read as I actually enjoyed most of it, but at the end I felt it very long and very contrived.

It was nice to see the characters a few years following P&P and most fared as you would have expected.
Mrs. Bennett was sadly absent in the book except through letters. I say sadly because I think she could have been hilarious comedic relief in a murder mystery.

Lady Catherine was dead-on - I think Jane Austen herself could have written a few of those Lady Catherine lines.

My biggest complaint would be about Lizzie. Elizabeth Bennett was a strong character throughout P&P, but as Elizabeth Darcy in Jance's book she seems to fade in to a wife and mother role, waiting by the window for something to happen... No, I didn't like that at all, but maybe that's just me.

As for the entire genre, why not?! So many of us know these characters as if they are old friends and what's more fun than meeting up with old friends to find out how they've fared over the years? Throw in a zombie or a murder mystery to make it a bit more fun and it's just a bit of escape to mix into my "to-read" pile!
I think Jane Austen would be a bit overwhelmed at first, but once her sense of humor had a bit of time to acclimate, I think she'd enjoy every minute of this. Imitation is just the sincerest form of flattery after all, right?