Emma 2009

Romola Garai: The perfect Emma?

pollcode.com free polls

Romola Garai: The Perfect Emma?

Yes Perhaps No Way!

Dolls 19th Century Style

Emma 2009 shows the young Emma playing with her dolls underneath a table and a grown up Emma fingering her dolls on a fireplace mantle.

Up All Night Studio at Etsy sells handmade reproduction of dolls that were typically found in early 19th century European and American households. "Head, hands and feet are constructed of a durable composition clay. The primitive body is made of muslin. The entire doll has been treated to a stained and antiqued finish. Hands and feet are attached with ecru ribbon, the arms are unstuffed and attached to the dress separately. All clay parts on the doll are hand sculpted using no molds."

Antique Bisque Dolls: This Collectors Weekly site discusses antique bisque dolls.

Blaise Castle: This site features a history of toys.

Faith's Regency Doll Ballgown

Wooden Doll Hants Web: "Her head and body are made from one piece of wood, which has been turned on a lathe and then carved. The separately-made legs are jointed at the hips and knees. Although her hands are delicately crafted out of wood, her upper arms are made of either soft linen fabric or kid leather, attached to the torso. For her eyes, the doll maker would have carved diamond-shaped holes into the head, and then added drops of blown glass.

The wooden parts of her body and head are painted with cream-coloured paint, over a coating of gesso (a mixture of plaster of Paris and glue). Less fine dolls of the period were only painted on the face and neck. The painter’s final touch is to add her eyebrows, lips and cheeks. She has a wig of real hair."

McCall's Wooden Peg Doll: These dolls were also popular during the era.

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

Every time I take a Jane Austen character quiz I turn out to be Marianne Dashwood - impetuous, impulsive, dramatic, and emotional Marianne. Through Marianne's reckless behavior, Jane Austen showed just how different she was from her more sensible sister, Elinor. Several of her actions flew wildly in the face of convention. This week we pose the question: which of these two movie scenes was most effective in showing her reckless behavior?

Marianne's Reckless Behavior

1. Allowing Willoughby to cut a lock of her hair. This action had Mrs. Dashwood and Elinor Dashwood thinking that Willoughby and Marianne had a tacit agreement. They therefore went along with her forward behavior, shocked to find out later that Willoughby had made no long-term promises.

2. Walking recklessly in the rain to see Willoughby's house, Combe Magna, and almost catching her 'death' of cold. This scene was not in Jane's book, but both recent movie adaptations featured this change, which led to the dramatic sick scene.

Most reckless scene
	Allowing Willoughby to cut a lock of her hair
	Walking to see Combe Magna in the rain
pollcode.com free polls

Emilia Fox, Mr. Darcy's Little Sister All Grown Up

Emilia Fox, who played Georgiana Darcy in Pride and Prejudice 1995, is gorgeous, all grown up, and sadly divorced. Read about her current life in this Daily Mail article.

Emilia's next project will be playing Queen Elizabeth in a 5-part Channel 4 docudrama series.

"One of five actresses playing the Queen at pivotal points in her life, Emilia will appear as the 29-year-old monarch in the first hour-long episode. It deals with the moment the affair that the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, had with Captain Peter Townsend - a divorcé, and therefore deemed unsuitable for a princess - became public knowledge just after the Coronation."

Emilia's also the narrator of Naxos's unabridged Pride and Prejudice audio book and does a splendid job reading Jane's superb novel. Learn more about the audio book in this link.

Modern image: Walter White, UK Portraits

Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World

Masterpiece Mystery Inspector Lewis Preview: Quality of Mercy Airs Sunday

The second season of the Inspector Lewis mysteries continues with ‘Quality of Mercy’ Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 9:00 pm - 10:30 pm ET on PBS. Here is a brief description from the Masterpiece Mystery website. This episode has a Shakespearean slant, with drama, daggers and death!

A student production of The Merchant of Venice takes real-life deadly turn when a cast member is killed using a prop knife. Apart from the jealous ensemble cast who can't even muster fake tears over the loss of their colleague, there is an audience of suspects to consider — a career con man, an egotistical television personality and a young man who just might have killed to get a part in the play. Lewis and Hathaway methodically try to make sense of the murderous plot, but before they do, another death occurs with a Shakespearean sensibility. As the final act is about to unfold, the case takes an intensely personal turn for Lewis, bringing back traumatic memories and invoking a lesson in mercy.

Watch a preview of the Masterpiece Mystery season
Read the full synopsis (spoilers ahead)
Read the full cast and crew listing

Last week’s episode ‘Allegory of Love’ included Laurence Fox’s (DS James Hathaway) father James Fox in the role of Norman Deering, and Louise Dylan as Melanie Harding who is in the current BBC One adaptation of Emma as Harriet Smith. You can catch up with the season and watch it online through Sunday, October 18th, 2009, ET.

Totally hooked on the series, I am charmed by the enigmatic DS Hathaway. This is definitely my favorite series of the Masterpiece Mystery season. Not only is it smart, reflective, with excellent casting, you get to see great views of Oxford. I hope you enjoy it also.

Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Janeites in Philadelphia!

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"Jane Austen's Brothers and Sisters in the City of Brotherly Love," the 31st-annual general meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America, runs today through Monday at the Society Hill Sheraton. It will bring more than 600 Janeites to the city that burned bright when she did.

Philadelphia, as it happens, is something of an Austen living history museum. The Historical Society of Philadelphia is home to letters Austen wrote. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Pennsylvania Hospital house Benjamin West paintings she much admired. Publisher M. Carey (now defunct), with offices at Fourth and Chestnut Streets, printed Emma, the first U.S. edition of an Austen novel. The Library Company of Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, and Van Pelt Library at the University of Pennsylvania hold first editions of her novels. (Austen had an Aunt Philadelphia, too.)" - The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Buzz On Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan's first role was as Kitty Bennet (l) in 2005's Pride and Prejudice. Young and raw, you could detect a glimmer of her talent. Four short years later, she's become tabloid fodder and has been linked romantically to Shia LeBeouf. More importantly, she is poised on the threshold of stardom. The on dit is that her latest role as a naive 16-year-old girl in An Education has put her in line for an oscar nomination. Janeites can say proudly: we saw her first.

• Carey Mulligan Gets an Education in Movie Stardom

Carey Mulligan in a New York Times interview.

Emma 2009: Episode 1 Slideshow

The first episode of BBC One's adaptation of Emma aired on Sunday, October 4th. The jury is still out on my opinion until I can see the complete production. In the meantime, check out the slideshow of screen caps from episode 1 on Austenprose and join the discussion.

Cheers, Laurel Ann

Win a copy of The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview

A new Pride and Prejudice spinoff The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview has just been released. This new novel focuses on Jane Austen's secondary character Caroline Bingley and was a surprising and refreshing continuation of her story. You can read a great interview of the author and enter a contest to qualify for one of two copies of this book by following this link and leaving a comment on Austenprose. The details on how to enter and when the winners will be announced is also listed. Monica is also on her Grand Blog Tour and many other blogs are giving away copies too, so don't miss out on your chance to read this great new Austenesque novel.

Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Emma 2009, Episode One

Gentle reader, this Guardian UK.Com article discusses the first episode of Emma 2009. Click here to read it. (See snippet below)

Each character's choice of cranial accessory came with a helpful clue as to the nature of her/his personality. Hence Emma's hats were floppy, hugely brimmed jobs either loosely knotted or bedecked with dangly, daringly untied ribbons (thus reflecting her free spirit and a certain laxness in the attention-to-common-sense department). Elsewhere: Miss Bates's bonce bore a succession of unyielding Regency coal scuttles (creature of habit + sod all imagination), Harriet's green silk bonnet was so saggy, it appeared her brains had tried to escape from the back of her skull during a particularly tricky thought about buns or something (idiocy), while Knightley's vast stovepipe/top hat contraption succeeded in dominating his every scene (implication: he has an erection. Hopefully).

The initial critiques from viewers are not overwhelmingly positive. And what were they thinking giving Emma a modern hairdo? (See below). Click on Jane Austen's World Poll and Austenblog for comments.

Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World

Darling Mr. Darcy: Why is the Unattainable so Irresistible?

Teresa Medeiros, bestselling romance author, recently published a post about Mr. Darcy on her blog, Squawk Radio.

"It’s not what we know about Darcy that intrigues us from his very first appearance on the page, but what we don’t know. Jane Austen could have made us privy to every one of Darcy’s thoughts and motivations long before they are revealed to Elizabeth. But she wisely realized that a hero stripped of his inscrutable nature is also a hero stripped of appeal."

Click here to read Theresa' article, and check out her recent (and fabulous) novels at this link.

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

For the next seven days, Laurel Ann and Vic will devote Austenprose, Jane Austen's World, and Jane Austen Today to Jane Austen's siblings. This event is in celebration of JASNA's general annual meeting in Philadelphia, whose erudite discussions will center on Jane Austen's sister and brothers. Our first post will be about Cassandra, Jane's devoted sister. Two recent movies about Jane's life featured Cassandra. This week we ask you: which actress did you prefer in the role? Greta Schachi played Cassandra towards the end of Jane's life, and Anna Maxwell Martin portrayed Cassandra when she was young and grieving over the death of her fiance.

Which actress do you prefer as Cassandra?

Greta Scacchi, Cassandra, Miss Austen Regrets

Greta plays a world weary Cassandra, who is the mainstay of the women at Chawton Cottage, helping to run the household with her mother, including gardening, sewing, and cooking. These activities enabled Jane to concentrate on her writing. The Times Online offered this description of the character as supportive sister: "As the elder, wiser sister to the fiery Jane (Olivia Williams), her Cassandra is a bedraggled bread baker, chicken plucker and general rural dogsbody without a dusting of make-up or a single bonnet change in ten years of screen life." Cassandra nurses Jane through her terrible final illness, and Greta's scenes with Olivia Williams as a critically ill Jane Austen were among the most touching of the Jane Austen movie adaptations as I have ever seen.

Anna Maxwell Martin, Cassandra, Becoming Jane

Anna plays a younger Cassandra, one who is deeply in love with her fiance Thomas Fowle. When he dies on a trip to the West Indies, Cassandra's grief is profound and lasting. (Cassandra never married and received an annuity for life from his small estate.) Anna's sensitive portrayal of a woman in love and who has lost the love of her life is quite moving, and brought me to tears. In this BBC podcast, Anna spoke about her role as Cassandra and her interpretation of Jane's sister: " she was very much a levelling force for Jane – Jane was the misfit of the family really – very ambitious, wanted to be a writer. Whereas Cassandra was very aware of her duty to her family, which was a hugely prevalent thing at the time - marrying for the right reasons, to the right person. Jane didn’t feel any of those obligations because she had another passion, and Cassandra was really the one who tried to …she was a sounding-board for Jane, but also she tried to level her a bit and that didn’t really work!"

pollcode.com free polls

Actress I prefer as Cassandra Austen

Greta Scacchi in Miss Austen Regrets Anna Maxwell Martin in Becoming Jane

Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World

BBC One's Emma: Behind the scenes preview

Regency promenade film clip of world record event

Watch a 30 second BBC clip of the Guinness Book World Record success of the largest promenade of people wearing Regency garb.

Watch a slideshow of the event on Austenprose.

Jane Austen Sibling Week

Next week Janeites will be converging in Philadelphia to attend the Annual General Meeting and discuss all things Jane Austen, concentrating on her siblings. In honor of that event, Laurel Ann at Austenprose and Vic at Jane Austen's World will devote their effort and time to discuss:

Sunday: Cassandra Austen
Monday : James Austen
Tuesday: Henry Austen
Wednesday: Edward Austen
Thursday: Sir Francis William Austen
Friday: Charles John Austen
Saturday: George Austen
Sunday: Biographies we recommend

New P&P Film? Not!

Imagine my excitement when I thought for a nano moment that a new irreverent Pride and Prejudice, in the manner of Lost in Austen, was in the works. Then I noticed the other headlines on News Biscuit - "Man arrested after answering airport check-in questions honestly"; "Afghan warlords ‘still not doing their share of the housework’"; "Downing Street denies UK and US are 3,500 miles apart" - and I laughed out loud, realizing that this site was the British version of The Onion.

Not that 30 second episodes consisting of "explosive yet compact scenes of sexual suggestion and aspiration" in between commercials wouldn't be a hoot, BUT ... like most fans, I like my Mr. Darcy in long slow takes.