Jane Austen Icons

Austen Icons has among some of the best icons I've found. The site includes all the recent Jane Austen movies. Other fabulous sites for downloading icons are P & P 1995, which provides six pages of icons, and this one, which provides screen caps for P & P 2005 . Find both these sites on Cap It!

I love this banner from Austen Icons. Seeing Lizzie like this would make Darcy fall in love with her all over again.

This blog provides a list on the side bar of a large number of sites with icons and screen caps. Why not stay a while and find out what and where they are?

The C's have it

Fans have voted for their favorite photo of Colin as Mr. Darcy and "C" was the favorite by far. The image now proudly sits on my sidebar. Thank you everyone for participating! I am still recovering from the flurry of activity that the Firth/MacFadyen/Darcy battle engendered. Here are two more images for those who just can't see enough images of these two handsome men.

Undressing Mr. Darcy

Be still my beating heart! I found another article about Mr. Darcy. Read this wonderful 2005 online article from Parameter Magazine about the clothes Mr. Darcy would wear and how they are made. Here is a quote from the website:

Do not remove your waistcoat, Mr Darcy! To be seen in shirtsleeves was considered positively indecent; a shirt, after all, was the man’s last undergarment. And yet we are very familiar with those shirts: white linen, large floppy collar, and voluminous sleeves. The sleeves gather at the wrist, leaving a fluting around the hand, whilst the shoulder panel extends down to mid bicep. The huge sleeve, therefore only balloons out for three quarters the arm length. There is a deal of pragmatism gone into the dress: all had to able to fold small and neatly beneath the over layer without ridge or (too much) discomfort.

In fact, this text came directly from a performance of The History of Wardrobe troupe, which developed and originated this fabulous presentation, and which Parameter Magazine quotes. The group performs all over England wearing authentic costumes and giving lively readings. For more information about The History of Wardrobe, click here.























Oh, how lovely to contemplate Mr. Darcy's wardrobe - and the man wearing it - if even for a moment.

Top photo: David Rintoul. Middle photo: Colin Firth. Last Photo: Matthew MacFadyen & Simon Woods

Seen over the Ether

Eric and Charlus, two of my blog friends, forwarded items of interest about David Lassman, director of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, who had submitted several chapters from three of Jane Austen's novels to a score of publishing houses. They were summarily rejected. In fact, only one editor among the lot spotted the hoax and recognized that the submission had been lifted from Pride and Prejudice. This is more an indictment of how layered the submission process has become, since most query letters and submissions from authors don't make it past support staff unless the writer has signed up with a well regarded agent or has been invited to submit a proposal.

Interestingly, although the news is only a few days old, this story has already made it into the Museum of Hoaxes website. As always, I found the post on Austen Blog to be the most comprehensive and illuminating. The Daily Mail article is interesting as well, mostly because it includes a photo of Mr. Lassman. My take on this brouhaha is simple: Would Jane Austen's 19th century prose attract today's editors? I think not. Let's face it, literary tastes have changed and Jane's language is too old-fashioned for today's market. The test was unfair and not well thought out, but it does point out how difficult it is to attract an editor's notice. However, the query letter would not have attracted my interest had I been its recipient. There was something too immature and girlish about its tone.

A Jane Austen Play
Changing the subject, Karen Eterovich, who has written a play about Jane on the eve of the publication of Emma titled Cheer from Chawton: a Jane Austen Family Theatrical, is gearing up to show her production around the U.S. as well as in England. Her first stop will be on September 29-30 in Columbia, S.C. Click here to find the rest of the schedule of productions on her website.

Two Pride and Prejudice Musicals
Several weeks ago I place a link on my sidebar to a P&P musical written by Dorothy Lees-Blakey, a professional actress and composer. Click here to listen to 30 seconds samples of her songs. The recording quality is tinny at best, but the songs are fun. Or go to Austen Blog, which links to a site that features songs from another Pride and Prejudice musical written by Rita Abrams and Josie Brown. You can listen to a full song for one week on this site before a new song is posted. The production and quality of these songs is better, but as far as I'm concerned I am glad both musicals exist as I can never get enough P&P!

Vote for Jane Austen
The Book Mine Set is still running a Wednesday Compare, this time pitting Jane Austen against Dr. Seuss. If Jane wins five times in a row, she will be 'retired' as undefeated.This is a close race, so place your vote before Tuesday if you are a Jane fan. When you click on the website you will need to scroll down to the Wednesday July 18th post. Update: Our Jane ceded to Dr. Seuss by the slimmest of margins 21-20.

Quiz: How well do you know your Jane Austen trivia?

Gentle, Readers, these questions are designed to tickle the fancy of a Jane Austen fan who has read her books recently or often. The answers sit backwards at the bottom of this post.

1) Name the sixth mother mentioned in Sense and Sensibility: Mrs John Dashwood, Mrs Henry Dashwood, Mrs Jennings, Lady Middleton, Mrs. Palmer, and __________.

2) At the ball in her honor, Fanny Price wears a necklace, along with a chain that holds an amber cross. Who gave the necklace? Who gave the cross? And who gave the chain? For a bonus point: Who actually gave the necklace?

3) In Pride & Prejudice, what relationship is Mr. Phillips to Elizabeth Bennett?

4) How many siblings does Catherine Morland, the heroine of Northanger Abbey, have?

5) In Emma, what is Robert Martin's occupation? Who does he wish to court?

6) In Persuasion how did Mrs. Smith and Anne Elliot first meet each other? Who wronged Mrs. Smith? And who helps her regain her husband's investment in the West Indies?

7) Who is the actress who portrays Lizzie Bennett in the photo above?

8) The photo on the right portrays which family in what ITV film of a Jane Austen novel?


1) srarreF srM
2) a) drofwarC yraM, b) dnumdE, c) mailliW, d)yrneH
3) egairram yb elcnu lanretaM
4) eniN
5) a) remraF b) teirraH
6) a) loohcs tA b) toillE mailliW c) htrowtneW niatpaC
7) eivraG htebazilE
8) noisausreP, stoillE ehT

Questions inspired by So You Think You Know Jane Austen? A Literary Quiz Book, John Sutherland & Deirdre Le Faye.

Jane, A Tribute to A Too Short Life

On the anniversary of Jane Austen's death - she died 190 years ago today - I thought I would put a different spin on things and celebrate her life. Jane means so many things to so many people, and her popularity, instead of diminishing, increases each year. What is it about Jane that attracts so many to her? It seems that every time we turn around, another book about Jane's life sits on a shelf in a book store and she is more popular than ever.

In her new book, A Walk With Jane Austen, author Lori Smith describes the first time she encountered Jane Austen in college. She discovered Pride and Prejudice in a used book sale, and so, over Christmas break, her love affair with Jane Austen began. My own relationship with Jane's novels started during my fourteenth summer. Like Lori I have read Jane's marvelous words ever since. But I digress. This post is meant to be a review of Lori's quest to strengthen her relationship with Jane and, in doing so, gain a better sense of her own life, which was whirling out of kilter.

During a critical juncture in Lori's life when she faced a personal crisis, she chose to do what many of us yearn to do but few actually dare, which is to leave everything behind and embark on a life altering journey. Lori's account about her search for Jane is written on several levels, as a memoir and personal journey of faith and discovery, as a search for the places where Jane Austen lived and trod, as a straightforward history of Jane's life, and as a way to deepen her understanding of the author.

One January not long ago Lori gave her notice at work. "In February I walked away from meetings and coffee breaks and lunch breaks and paid vacation and health insurance to the gloriously terrifying world of writing full-time." Lori did not choose an easy road when she decided to walk with Jane Austen. Writing a memoir might seem straightforward on the surface, but...

There are enormous difficulties in reconstructing anyone's life, for however copious the evidence of letters, diaries, journals, and eye witness accounts, there is always the problem of interpretation, of the subjectivity of witnesses, and of the basic contradictoriness of the human being. Moods and emotions are volatile, but when recorded on the page are often forced by posterity to carry a much greater weight than was ever intended by their author. The Art of Writing Biography

Lori's journey is deeply personal, but one she willingly shares with her readers. The first chapter ends with her heading for Oxford, the city where Jane's parents met and married.

I plan to review Lori's book chapter by chapter. The book, published by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., will be available this fall. Click here to visit Lori's blog.

Click here for my post about Jane's last illness.

Rain Scene: Darcy and Elizabeth

I'm sure most MM fans have seen this clip of Matthew MacFadyen and Keira Knightley when, as Elizabeth, she rejects Mr. Darcy's proposal. Click on this link, and then the "hot rain scene" link. You will need Real Player or a Windows Media Player.

The author of this post was only 13 at the time she wrote it. Cute.

As we await the Mr. Darcy Battle outcome

...for your delectation, the BBC Drama Pride and Prejudice site provides fans of the 1995 P&P version with a complete and comprehensive site of the series. Indeed, Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle fans would be proud. Click here to enter the site. Here is the Internet Movie Database Site with more of Colin and Jennifer.

For the fans of the 2005 version, here is your site: Every Girl is Looking for Her Mr. Darcy. And if you think you have seen everything about Matthew, here is a flipbook about Matthew as Mr. Darcy created on June 17, 2007.

At this moment we are at 50-50%. So VOTE! (Frankly, I like them both, but I'll keep that secret to myself.) Want to vote? Click here and scroll down to the poll.