Austen Emulator Alert: You've Been Outed

It is well established fact that Oregonians are proud free thinkers, but we are astonished at their also being SO frightfully amusing! And to burst yet another provincial stereotype, they read literature!

Better and better, is the notion that one of them has read Jane Austen! Reporter Bill Varble of the Mail Tribune newspaper claims in his article, Yet more days at Pemberley and the like, to be an “old English major”. Can we assume Mr. Varble that Jane Austen was required reading in your college courses? We can sense some of her gentle acerbic wit as you poke fun at those prolific Austen emulators, and their numerous prequels, sequels and other such inspirations published for us “jonesing Austen junkies”.

"When Austen had the poor marketing sense to die at age 41 in 1817 after writing just six books, she left a huge unfilled need out here in the 21st century. The market got even hotter after the success of the 2005 film version of "Pride and Prejudice" with Keira Knightley".

Gentle correction Mr.Varble. ‘Hot’ is a colloquial metaphor expressed by insipid hotel heiresses, not by one educated in the mores of plot and characters created by an eminent authoress such as Jane Austen. We will concede to her being fashionable, and overlook the slight.

"So now they've leapt into the breech caused by Austen's inconsiderate demise in order to feed the jonesing of Austen junkies. The book that caught my eye is "Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley (Pride & Prejudice Continues)" by Linda Berdoll, which is a sort of sequel to "Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife" by the same writer, which was a sequel to Austen's story".

We will admit to being an Austen enthusiast, but a junkie? Sir, we do not believe that we have been formally introduced. Furthermore, if we may be so bold, writing “leapt into the breeches” would have been more opportune to the spirit of this parody of Austenesque writers.

"Didn't you ever wonder what happens to the spunky Elizabeth after she blows off mean Lady Catherine and gets engaged to the reticent but passionate Darcy? Well, now you can find out (consumer warning: doing so requires you to wade through prose such as, "As plush a coach as it was, recent rains tried even its heavy springs ... " )".

We dare say, the correct form is “after she blew off mean Lady Catherine”. Blow implies something altogether, ahem, - - different.

We are most seriously amused Mr. Varble and heartily send our complements to your editor.

You can read more of what that ‘wit of the wild west’, Bill Varble wrote about Austen inspired writers and the other literary works he feels worthy of a good sequel here. And, if you would like to know what all the Austen sequel fuss is about, try author Linda Berdoll’s, Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, available at a super market check-out line near you!

Posted by Laurel Ann