Death Comes to Pemberley New BBC Mini Series

A few months ago, I posted about a 2011 novel that conjectured a mysterious sequel to P&P called Death Comes to Pemberley. Now, P.D. James’s Pride and Prejudice mystery spin is currently being filmed as a three part BBC series. Shooting began in July after the cast was announced in May.

Mr. Darcy sporting his Ray-bans on set

The series is set to star Matthew Rhys as the new Mr. Darcy  and Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth/Mrs. Darcy. Also included in the cast is Matthew Goode who will play the wily Mr. Whickham. Rhys laughs that “The Beauty of Pemberley is that it is an entirely new and different Darcy six years on. (And also, I don’t have to appear from a lake in a white shirt and breeches)” referring of course to Colin Firth’s portrayal in the 1995 version.

Filmed on location at England’s historic Harewood House in Yorkshire, the mini series should air on BBC One sometime early next year.

Image from news.yahoo.com

Kelly Clarkson and Jane Austen's Ring

Jane Austen graces the news yet again this summer, this time in connection with the American pop star Kelly Clarkson.

Earlier this month, the British minister of culture Ed Vaizy placed a temporary export bar on a turquoise and gold ring which belonged to Jane Austen. Kelly Clarkson, the American Idol and Grammy winner, had purchased Austen’s ring at auction last year for $232,700. However, Vaizy hopes that the “national treasure” can be “saved for the nation.”

Kelly Clarkson is an avid Austen fan who also owns a first edition of Persuasion. The star has been seen sporting a replica of Austen’s turquoise ring at both the recent presidential inauguration and the 55^th Grammy awards.

Potential English buyers have until September 30^th to match the price tag. Two weeks after the export bar was put in place, an anonymous donor gifted ₤100,000 (which adds to roughly $155,000) to Jane Austen’s House Museum in an effort to help keep the ring home in England.

With this serious move towards reclaiming the artifact, the export ban has been stretched to December 30^th. The museum will have until the end of the year to gather the rest of the purchase price. In an interview with The Associated Press, the museum fundraiser Louise West commented that “it is very good for Jane Austen PR that a young, famous American pop star expresses a love for her.”

The ring is one of three pieces of jewelry known to belong to the iconic British novelist Jane Austen. Until Clarkson’s purchase at auction, the ring had stayed in the family passing from Jane to her sister Cassandra. Cassandra then presented the ring as an engagement gift to her sister-in-law Eleanor Austen.

Images from www.abebooks.com and www.mirror.co.uk

Jane Austen Takes Over the Bank of England

It is being called a win for both women and authors in general. Late last month, the Bank of England confirmed its choice to grace the 10-note with the face of its beloved female novelist Jane Austen beginning in 2017.

Along with Jane’s portrait, a drawing of her brother's home Godmersham park, her writing desk and a picture of Elizabeth Bennet, the redesigned 10-pound note will also include a quotation from Pride and Prejudice’s Miss Bingley, saying, “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”

“Jane Austen certainly merits a place in the select group of historical figures to appear on our banknotes,” stated the bank’s governor Mark Carney. “Her novels,” he continued, “have an enduring and universal appeal, and she is recognized as one of the greatest writers in English literature.”

In celebration of her 200 years defending the integrity of the novel, Jane will bump Charles Darwin’s face, which has appeared since 2000, from the bill. After the announcement to use Winston Churchill on the note in 2016 caused a general outcry, Jane’s face was instead selected.

Image from www.thejaneaustensocietyofireland.com

Is it Harder to Be Elizabeth or Jane?

Image from www.fanpop.com

Despite complex courting rituals, long dancing parties and uncomfortable stays, I am beginning to suspect that discovering regency matrimony is entirely less complicated that just falling in love in the 21st century. Pinning down an amiable man with a substantial fortune sounds a lot more complicated. But recently, I've been feeling that that would be a lot easier than attempting to identify your best friend for forever.

Maybe it's because we place ridiculous expectations on modern relationships and we have advances in psychology to back us up.  Maybe, and this is perhaps the more probable hypothesis, it's because I think too much and usually want to take more from life than it is supposed to give.

To illustrate, I present exhibit A Jane Bennet and exhibit B Elizabeth.

A: Jane faces more than she would probably care for of ache and heartbreak. She finds exactly what she was hoping for, thinks she's lost it before it was hers but then gets it in the end. As a result she is rendered completely deliriously happy without a thought or care otherwise.

B: Elizabeth, on the other hand, doesn't quite believe that what she requires actually exists in human form. Perhaps that's why when she runs smack into him, she comes away with the impression that he's exactly the opposite. While we hope that clinging to a standard or a dream--whichever you want to call it--will result in happily ever after, the ride there is sometimes a roller coaster of frustration, excitement, disappointment, confusion and wondering what on earth we really do want and how to wait.

There is probably not one best way to go about the matter because every story will be as unique as every person. But when waiting for happily ever after, expect pain as well as your allotted smattering of joy.

Why the Dashes?

      

         Throughout Pride and Prejudice, multiple em dashes appear in place of real names and dates. A sweet friend recently asked me why, and I had no real clue which prompted a bit of research this morning.   
          One research article speculating on the actual locations uncovered a city called Harpenden which sits in just about the right distance from London described in the book as the town of Meryton. Just to the south of that town is a village called Redbourn which the article tied to the fictional Longbourn.
          The author suggested that these fictional names would help Austen be careful to be discreet. However, their are copious other details in the novel about particular places and time frames. An address of the Gardiner home is even provided, Gracechurch Street in London.
           Perhaps the occasional "in the town of -- in Hertfordshire" was part of the secrecy Austen felt necessary when publishing as an anonymous woman. In a book full of copious details, there is still an em dash worth of imagination required.

Image from www.ukga.org

Marvelous Mondays .

         Since beginning this blog project in which posts are technically scheduled to generate themselves sometime on the first day of the week, Mondays have grown less odious and surprisingly significant at times. Case and point, today is a Monday on which this blog was finally updated, this writer's family embarked on a vacation adventure and said writer was blessed with employment at last (in a real job over which her parents heartily rejoice).

Poem and Persuasion

A short break from P&P for another Austen Classic
           Though Anne Elliot graces the pages of a different Austen novel, I think she is right when the novel comments, "She thought it was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and that the strong feelings which alone could estimate it truly were the very feelings which ought to taste it but sparingly."
           I'm not much of a poet but it's easiest to read and write when in one of two extremes: either deliriously ecstatic or profoundly melancholy. With that said, here is something I wrote last spring. It tends towards something Captain Benwick might enjoy. That is before he meets Louisa Musgrove.

Time and Tribute
By Alexandra Harmening

Time marches past,

A greedy tyrant.

“You think you’re busy now. Ha!”

They say, “Wait Until.”  

Time marches past,

Collapsing infinite possibility

Into one swift reality,

Absorbing precious bits of eternity

With tasks and choices. Steadily,

I mourn. Goodbye to creativity.

So long my sleepy daydreams.

Busy is the name of my god.

At his throne I pay tribute:

Emails, errands, exams.

Sacrifices of freedom, rest and sanity,

All in the name of productivity.

But my lord promises me rest eventual.

That grass turns greener right over near hill.

After this assignment

or through that door

just as soon as this thing finishes

once that job’s completed,

A rest will come.

The madness ends.

But I’m beginning to think it never does.

Time’s troops will not halt.

Not Until

         All your tribute is gone,

Not Until

        The madness has seeped up inside you,

Not Until

        You lie in your bed,

Not Until

        You wake up dead.