Monica Fairview, Author

Well, it's Hallowe'en, and apart from the spooky stuff, this is also the night when the barrier between the future and the present is at its thinnest, and you can try and divine who your future life partner will be. At the turn of the 19th century, there were many different traditions to determine this. Here's one of them, from Robert Burns' 1786 poem, Halloween . Jane Austen may well have read this poem, since we know she read Burns' poetry. Burning the nuts is a favorite charm. They name the lad and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire; and according as they burn quietly together, or start from beside one another, the course and issue of the courtship will be.-R.B. The auld guid-wife's weel-hoordit nits Are round an' round dividend An' mony lad an' lasses' fates Are there that night decided Some kindle couthie side by side And burn the gither trimly; Some start awa wi' saucy pride, An' jump out owre the c...

We have one additional contender so far for Mr Darcy: Eric Dane. What do you think? I picked an image where he could well be Darcy at his most arrogant. I hope people will continue to post some other ideas for either Elizabeth or Mr Darcy so I can put up the photos. Meanwhile, there was some great answers as to why more people tend to gravitate towards Pride and Prejudice rather than Jane Austen's other works: the timeless and archetypal love story which is at its centre, the witty remarks, Mr Darcy as a hero who drives the plot, the multiple themes of the novel, Elizabeth as a strong heroine, amount of exposure, its youthful energy and vibrancy, its realistic events. At the same time, in answer to the original question as to whether sequels to other novels could be successful, a number of people said that they would be very happy to read sequels to other Jane Austen novels. We're down to one more question after this one. I will be announcing our 5 winners o...

Well, we had some fun suggestions for Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, though I think we need new blood. The idea was that it would be younger versions of some of these actors that played the roles. New input would be welcome. If you can think of other actors that would work, please don't hesitate to make suggestions, and I'll put them up on a later blog. So here's what we have for Elizabeth Bennet: Zooey Deschanel, Scarlet Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet For Mr Darcy we have Jude Law, Liam Neeson, Adrien Brody, Richard Armitage, and James McAvoy. Pride and Prejudice Question 29 Publishers tend not to publish too many sequels that are not Pride and Prejudice , because they say they don't sell as well. Why is it that people generally seem to prefer Pride and Prejudice to Jane Austen's other novels?

The general consensus yesterday about Jane Austen's concept of marriage was that, though sad, it's true that Jane Austen would not encourage her heroines to marry for love if there was no money. Poor Mr Darcy may never have had the chance to marry Elizabeth if he wasn't fabulously rich, though I'd prefer to think she would have loved him anyway. It's hard for us to understand this now, when there are career opportunities out there for people who are determined to improve their lot in life (though with the economic crunch, there are certain limitations), but in Jane Austen's world, few people could aspire to move beyond their class. People like Captain Wentworth are all the more "heroic" because they actually succeeded. The general objection to the Navy was that people could rise from the ranks and advance despite not having the backing one would need in the army. (If you haven't seen/read Sharpe, that's a great place to see how hard it is to ...

I enjoyed all your posts yesterday. You've pinpointed yet another example of Jane Austen's independence of spirit and refusal to give in to what was fashionable at the time. Her refusal to allow sentimentality to cloud her characters' relationships sets her aside from earlier writers such as Richardson, whose works were a mix of lustfulness and morality, and from the Gothic writers of time, with their fainting and terrified heroines beating off evil villains, and from the Brontes with their brooding dark heroes, and even from those of our contemporary romances "teeming with throbbing passion" as Elizabeth B puts it. If Elizabeth and Darcy are soul-mates, it is only because they have changed and learned to adapt to each other, as Laura's Review points out, not because they are consumed by passion. Or, as kt says, Jane Austen isn't concerned with the "drama" of love, she's concerned with the practicality of it. My question today spr...

Well, the new BBC interpretation of Emma is over. Just when I was really getting into it! As I don't want to introduce any spoilers (as if everyone doesn't know what happened!) I won't talk about it in any detail except that I found it very satisfying. Jonny Lee Miller could never rival Mr Darcy for romance, but he plays his role as Mr Knightley admirably. Certainly this is the most romantic production of Emma I've seen. I really loved the way Garai's Emma developed gradually from a really naive, overconfident young woman into a responsible adult who recognizes that people's lives are not to be trifled with, and realizes the very serious consequences of doing so. I can't help marvelling at the versatility of Sandy Welch, who can move from the dark grit of Gaskell's North and South and the intensity of Jane Eyre to produce a light and airy piece like Emma . My overall evaluation: Too slow at the beginning (personally, I'd cut the first 20 minute...

We're almost at the end of a long month of quite challenging questions. For those of you who've been following along, great job! We're in the home stretch! Don't lose energy now! For those of you who're just joined us -- feel free to jump in! Pride and Prejudice Question 25 What role does Lady Catherine play in Pride and Prejudice. Would you call her role positive or negative?

Well, there was no disagreement about Elizabeth being a very likeable heroine! I would have been shocked if there had been. Among her positive qualities people named her affection towards her sister (Laura's Reviews), her determination and ability to stand up to society and marry for love (Meredith), her lack of self-consciousness (Tracygrrrl) and her ability to laugh at her mistakes and move on (Elizabeth B). Can you think of other qualities which make Elizabeth so endearing? You can add to the answers any time. Well, it's raining here in South London. You may think that's the norm here, but in fact it always seems to take us by surprise. People turn very surly on rainy days. It's not at all like when I lived in Oregon, where there would be long stretches when you didn't see the sun at all. Over there, you get used to the on-off drizzle, and of course you have all the jokes about moss growing between your toes, and about recognizing people who weren't ...

I won't post a response to yesterday's questions here, as I posted an exceedingly long comment already. There isn't any consensus about whether Elizabeth sees Caroline as a rival. In many senses, asking whether Elizabeth unconsciously perceived Caroline as a rival goes against the time period. Since the idea of the unconscious didn't yet exist, JA herself, at least, wouldn't have thought about it that way. Still, it's fascinating to look back and see if and how writers who are so very skilled at portraying human nature were able to portray this aspect even if the concept didn't exist. I think that's part of why the production of Emma is a bit jarring at the beginning. It's trying to bring in a psychological reading of the novel by giving a background to the characters. I don't think it works initially, but as the play unfolds I can see that it brings a new dimension to the character. Should we interpret classics using modern concepts? It...

Your enthusiasm is so infectious I think I might rush off and watch Pride and Prejudice yet again, even though I did a marthon viewing just a bit more than a month ago of the Firth version. I'm glad some of you mentioned the Macfadyen version, too. Yes, those gazes are really heart melting, aren't they? My question for today is something that came up earlier in discussion. A point was raised that Caroline never really took Elizabeth seriously as a rival until the end, despite her catty behavior, because she could never have believed Darcy could  be serious about someone like Elizabeth. At the same time, Elizabeth's flawed viewpoint presents Caroline almost immediately as very disagreeable, despite Jane's protests that they were perfectly nice to her. Putting the two together, here is my question. Pride and Prejudice Question 22 How much do Caroline and Elizabeth consciously or unconsciously see each other as rivals throughout the story?

Finally caught up with Emma on the BBC iplayer, and I have to say I really enjoyed this episode. I confess that Emma grows on me. Now that I know where Welch is going with it, I rather like it. (from Shootastic) Much as I loved the previous versions of Emma, Garai's makes the most sense. It explains why she's so much into matchmaking: tied down to her father and his ailments, unable to travel and see the world, having few young people in Highbury to associate with. This is most definitely an aspect of Emma that is brought to light. The fact that she is childish and in need of guidance, too. In the past, I always wondered what she saw in Knightly (sorry, Knightly fans). But now I can see that she does need someone to keep her in check, and Knightly is perfect for her. The romance blossoms, by the way, and Knightly redeems himself as a hero. I also loved the dancing. This is the first time I've actually seen the illustrations of Regency dancing put into practice, and I w...

Well, it  looks like things haven't changed that much in two hundred years. You've named most of the characters in Pride and Prejudice as people you could come across today! No one mentioned Mr Collins, I noticed. The end of November is coming closer, as is the time for the draw. I really can't believe how quickly this month has passed! As a reminder, for copyright reasons, the contest is open only to those in the US and Canada. I'm looking forward especially to seeing who the lucky person is who is going to win that Grand Prize! At the moment I'm gearing up for National Novel Writing month, a misnomer of course because it's pretty international. NaNoWriteMo, if you haven't heard of it, is a frantic month of writing in which your goal is to produce a 50,000 word novel by the end of November, and is a wonderful goal setting exercise. This will be my third year doing it. I haven't done anything with the "novels" I wrote during this month, but...

Well, I do admit it's difficult to pick out just one passage/section out of the book. I would have picked most of the ones you picked, as they're really hillarious. I like this passage, both because it's funny but also it's an unusual moment in which we suddenly see Elizabeth from Darcy's perspective. "I cannot talk of books in a ball-room; my head is always full of something else." "The present always occupies you in such scenes -- does it?" said he, with a look of doubt. "Yes, always," she replied, without knowing what she said, for her thoughts had wondered from the subject..." Exquisite! A few skilful strokes of the pen, and you have it! And now to my new question: Pride and Prejudice Question 19 Jane Austen is often praised for her knowledge of human character. If you had to choose a character in P&P who was the most “human” in the sense of being someone you could easily meet in the world today (and isn’t typi...

Today's the end of my official Blog Tour, which ends with a bang (not a whimper) since Fresh Picks have chosen  The Other Mr Darcy  as an official Pick for today! I'm very flattered because this isn't a paid ad. The Fresh Picks are chosen by a number of readers who vote for the novel. The Blog Tour has been a great experience, and I'm sure I'll be having withdrawal symptoms. I was having such a good time reading the reactions to my interviews, meeting people, and answering questions. Sigh. Now I suppose I'll have to settle down and actually write! I still have the Pride and Prejudice contest going strong here, however, which is wonderful. As usual, I loved your answers, which this time seem to be pretty unanimous. The verdict then, is that Elizabeth is every bit as proud at the beginning as she was at the end, but she has come to recognize Mr Darcy's emotional generosity and his willingness to give without return, which is much more "humbling"...

The reponses to the question yesterday about Wickham overall articulated an issue in Jane Austen that is really fascinating, and that is, her way of depicting her villains, more particularly her male villains. As Laura pointed out, even though they do terrible things that we condemn whole heartedly, they somehow seem to get away with it, perhaps because they continue to be "charming" in spite of being caught out, or perhaps because of the general attitude of Regency society towards bad boys, rakes, and sharps, who were never really held accountable, unless they did something against the nobility, in which case duels were really the only way to respond. There was the legal system, of course, but that was so slow and so public (especially when it came to a women's reputation) that it was rarely the first recourse. In fact, in my novel The Other Mr Darcy , I have a discussion about the issue of making duelling illegal at the time, in which I let my characters have their say....

                (a collection of short stories inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House) Yesterday I attended the launch of Dancing with Mr Darcy at "London's most famous bookshop," which is... Foyles, of course (established 1903). Before the event, I met up with fellow author Jane Odiwe ( Lydia Bennet's Story and soon to be released  Willoughby's Return ) in Leicester Square. I really enjoyed comparing notes and discussing our reasons for choosing less popular characters in Jane Austen's cannon to write about. We sauntered down full-of-life Charing Cross Road, narrowly avoiding being run over by the abundant bicycle rickshaws (pedicabs) on our way to Foyles. I couldn't help reimagining the scene in my mind, with the rickshaw runners carrying ladies to the theatre or a ball amidst the bustle of carriages instead of cars. At the entrance to the Gallery at...

I can't believe it, but we're already half way through the Pride and Prejudice questions, and it has passed so quickly. It's been much better that I could ever have expected. I really didn't think the discussions would be so varied and so ... long(?). Just kidding. I love the long answers. It shows how much you all have to say about Pride and Prejudice, and of course, I have a lot to say. Of course yesterday's question is in the realm of speculation, and as such there can't be any wrong or right answer because we don't know enough. By and large, most of you discarded Anne, though of course, as kt says, family wishes and duty may have prevailed, given the fact that he was very concerned with family connections when he proposed initially to Elizabeth. He certainly was not happy to have fallen in love and gone against them! He gave no sign of favoring Anne. Yet at the same time, he and his cousin Col. Fitzwilliam did make it a habit of going and staying with ...

A variety of reactions here to Longbourn in comparison to Netherfield, though overall, everyone seems to agree that Longbourn is more chaotic, while Netherfield is more proper and well kept. If you're like Meredith and Laura Hartness, you find that the chaos adds as sense of warm and family. Others, like jnanj, think the chaos as a humorous reflection of the dysfunctional inhabitants. Certainly, as people pointed out, the two households, especially the number of servants, are far apart. I should point out that in the 1995, Netherfield is accurately shown to have a lot of male footmen and servants. Male servants at that time were much more expensive, so they indicated wealth and status. On to the next question: Pride and Prejudice Question 14 Knowing Mr Darcy's snobbish attitude before he met Elizabeth, would Mr Darcy have have married his cousin Anne or Caroline Bingley? Why/Why not? 

On Sunday I watched the second episode of the new production of Emma, staring Ramola Garai. I have to say it's growing on me. The first episode grated. It took such a long time to introduce the characters and set the background (including Emma's mother in a coffin) that I found it difficult to get involved in it. (Blake Ritson) This second episode, however, shows a great deal of promise. Two characters in particular stand out. Blake Ritson as Mr Elton provides such a wonderful mix of smooth sensuality (he can certainly use his voice to good effect!) and creepy calculation that I'm beginning to think he's the best Mr Elton so far. And Mr Woodhouse's fretfulness, which I usually find quite irritating, is so well done that I find him adorable. I'm actually looking forward to seeing the next episode. As for yesterday's question, high scores for those of you who answered yesterday, for originality at the very least. JaneGS, I love your comparison of Pride an...

What happened to you all? How did such perfect accord happen? jnaj, what did you do to them? Is it possible that there is absolutely no controversy about the question: did Elizabeth love Darcy?? I suppose, given that Pride & Prejudice provided the blueprint for one of the most basic plots upon which many romance novels afterwards were based, it makes no sense to question whether the hero and heroine really love each other. So, without much ado, on to the next question, which is related, but which requires a little more work. [I did give you a break]. In my Fallen Angels Review guest blog, I talk about Pride and Prejudice as a blueprint, and compare it to the Cinderella story (scroll down the page to find it). In what way is Pride and Prejudice an archetypal love story, one that we see over and over in romance, and in what other ways is it totally unique? (reading the guest blog will give you a starting point, I hope).

To judge by the discussion yesterday, I was (perhaps mistakenly) taking for granted the fact that Elizabeth does fall in love with Darcy. But reading your comments, especially jnaj's, made me wonder if this is something which needs to be discussed. So, at the risk of being a sacreligious here, I'm going to ask this as my next question. Meanwhile, this has been an eventful week for me. As well as having several guest appearances on blogs as wonderful and diverse as Books Like Breathing, The Burton Review, Bloody Bad Books, Austenprose, The Long and Short of It, and Love Romance Passion, I've had a couple of new reviews. In her review on Bloody Bad, Katrina picked up on an added dimension of Robert Darcy: his position as an American on British soil during the war, and his reliance on Caroline for the nuances of English polite society. Her conclusion: "just what I needed on a rainy Saturday night." Marie Burton provides a detailed review of the plot and cast of...

What wonderfully diverse answers, as always. You're right, jnaj, I did work you too hard for a Friday. But I'm so glad I did. I love all the different opinions. Meredith, your point about Eliza bottling everything in and perhaps being too independent strikes a cord with me. Funnily enough, that's exactly what Caroline says to Elizabeth in The Other Mr Darcy , at a moment when the two of them bury the past behind them: "I thought you were too self-sufficient," she remarks. As for Mr Bennet, as several of you indicated, he is quite a mixture of things. Though in many ways he doesn't seems to be the traditional patriarchal figure who rules the household with an iron fist, he enjoys his position of privilege in the household and makes the best of it in many ways. The opening scene where he pretends he will not go and visit Bingley is a typical example. He holds the upper hand, because they are all completely dependent on him paying Bingley a call, yet he pretend...

I was just over at Marilyn Brant's page (author of According to Jane ) and spotted a JA quote I didn't know (oh, how did I miss this one?) "Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not disguised, or a little mistaken." JA It's so perfect for the discussion, and I think it's crucial to bear it in mind as we're going through Pride and Prejudice. As for your responses yesterday, what can I say? You're outdoing yourselves. Pretty much everyone brought up something to think about. Of course, Charlotte is the perfect example, particularly since the she and Elizabeth seem to be close friends. You'd think she'd realize that Charlotte needed to get married and wouldn't turn down an opportunity. Which goes along with what Lori and Kt say about Eliza not understanding her mother, either. Mrs Bennet is silly, but she knows how important it is to secure Longbourn, yet Eliza ne...

Oh, I absolutely loved your responses. Tracygrrl, if you're being dorky, long live dorkiness! Every one of you brings in a slightly different angle, which reminds me again of the complexity of Jane Austen's characters, because even Caroline, who is really generally seen as quite one-sided, does things that can be interpreted differently by different people. Of course, I wrote about Caroline, so I can't possibly think that she's bad all the way through, but I would be blind not to see that Caroline's sneering way of approaching the whole issue was obnoxious. If she meant it in any positive way, she certainly didn't handle it very well! It's almost as if, by telling Elizabeth about Wickham, she accomplished a number of things: she could be "helpful," while at the same time showing Elizabeth how mistaken she is to favor Wickham, pointing out that Wickham's background wasn't good enough for Elizabeth (which is fascinating, because no one object...

What great responses we had yesterday! It made me want to jump in and make a comment myself. I restrained myself, however. Funny how we take for granted a term like "passion" when two major writers who are so different have almost opposite concepts of what it is. I really liked the way both Laura and Tracygrrl expressed the contrast between the stormy passions of Bronte and the "uber-polite" world of Jane Austen. But do you really not see Mr Darcy hiding a madwoman in Pemberley? Hmm, I'll have to think about that. What do the rest of you think? I do agree, though, that a common theme in Jane Austen is tempering excess. Thank you all for your insightful comments. And thank you, jnaj, for your link. Today's question is about Caroline : ) Why does Caroline warn Elizabeth about Wickham? You would think she would be pleased to have Elizabeth out of the way with someone other than Darcy, so logically speaking, she should encourage the connection and let El...

Yesterday's question clearly wasn't challenging enough. Too easy. Still, the answers were good. I perhaps should have asked it another way: does Jane Austen create a real character in Georgiana, or is she just a prop intended to show the positive side of Darcy? This is a discussion question I've encountered a few times, and it came up again recently on a small group I was in, though I can't for the life of me trace it back. It's a general JA question, but since we're discussing Pride and Prejudice, I'd would appreciate examples from the novel. It's a long question, and might elicit some long answers, but hopefully some enjoyable ones. Pride & Prejudice Question 6 Many people think of PandP as the epitome of romance. Yet Charlotte Bronte's famous criticism is that: "Anything like warmth or enthusiasm, anything energetic, poignant, heartfelt, is utterly out of place in commending these works: all such demonstrations the authoress would h...

Yesterday's question was a tough one, but some of you had some very perceptive answers. Well done! Recognize the village from my previous blog? I watched Emma last night, as I said I'd do in my last blog. I'll give you a quick summary of how it went, and my general impressions. The mini series starts with a review of Emma's childhood. We see Miss Bates as a fixture in Emma's childhood, constantly reading out letters detailing Jane Fairfax's accomplishments. We see her as she grows up, with Mr Knightly another fixture. Knightly seems inclined to reprimand both Emma and Miss Taylor. We catch a glimpse of John Knightly and Emma's sister, whose marriage Emma believes she engineered. And then Miss Taylor's marriage with Mr Weston. The action starts after Miss Taylor's wedding, where Emma is left quite lonely in a big house with her father. Consequently she seeks out a companion, and she chooses Harriet, who is very pretty but quite empty-headed. K...