Film Recommendations for Austen Fans

Considering I'm not a huge lover of Austen, though I will begrudgingly admit that she's starting to grow on me, it might surprise people how often she gets mentioned on my blog; when you do a degree in English Literature she's literally impossible to pass by!

Though I'm not the biggest fan of the way Austen's books are written I do enjoy watching adaptations of her stories - they are good stories, they wouldn't still be everywhere if they weren't - and today I'd thought I'd recommend a few films that aren't adaptations of the original texts, but are still films I think any Austen fan would enjoy. I have three modern films, set in the '90s and onwards, and three period films to share with you.

I guess this is a pretty obvious one, but I love Bridget Jones's Diary so I couldn't not mention it. I still haven't read the book but I always enjoy the film, and particularly love watching it around New Year. If we're going to be technical we could argue that this is an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, in the sense that it's a modern day adaptation, but I'm still going to count it anyway. If you're after a fun film with a bad first impression and a happy ending, much like Pride and Prejudice, then you'll love this!

This is another modern day adaptation, so I'll get this one out the way with before we get onto the more obscure choices. If you're a fan of stories with semi-unlikeable protagonists who are ultimately good at heart, like Emma, you'll like this film - it's also a great film if you happen to be a lover of films like Mean Girls and 10 Things I Hate About You. If you're a huge Austen fan, however, I imagine you've already watched Clueless and Bridget Jones's Diary!

This is probably the most obscure recommendation on my list, but I think it works! Of the Austens I've read so far (I say 'read', but I've only really read two of them all the way through and others I read bits of for university) Sense and Sensibility is definitely my least favourite. I just don't find the story all that interesting, and I really hate the ending; in my opinion Elinor and Marianne both deserved better, particularly Marianne. A Royal Affair is based on a true story, of the affair between Caroline Matilda of Great Britain (sister of George III) and her husband's personal physician Johann Friedrich Struensee. Caroline was married off to Christian VII of Denmark who struggled with mental illness throughout his life, back in a time when mental illness was understood even less than it is now. Caroline and Johann's story is heartbreaking and this film is so beautiful. To me A Royal Affair has that same gloomy quality that Sense and Sensibility does; they're both fitting stories if you've just been through a break-up and you need a good cry.

Fun fact: Mansfield Park is the only one of Austen's novels in which slavery is mentioned. I guess that's not exactly a fun fact, but it's interesting, right? Mansfield Park is also one of the two Austen novels, alongside Emma, that I haven't read at all, though I admit it's also one of the ones I'm most curious about because I hear it talked about so little. Belle is another period drama based on a true story, on the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle. Dido was the mixed race daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the West Indies, and Sir John Lindsay, a British naval officer. When Lindsay returned to Britain he took Dido with him and entrusted her to the care of his childless uncle, Lord Mansfield, and his wife. The two of them raised Dido as a lady, alongside their orphaned niece Lady Elizabeth Murray. Mansfield was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, and during his time in this role he brought about the formal end of slavery in Britain. In his will Mansfield confirmed Dido's freedom (as she had been born into slavery) and made her an heiress. Pretty impressive. This is a brilliant film, and both Dido and Fanny Price have quite a bit in common as they are both sent to live with wealthier relatives and both struggle to find their place in the world.

Letters to Juliet is cheesy and predictable and, at times, pretty naff, but like Bridget Jones's Diary and Clueless, it's fun. If you're in the mood to watch something you don't really have to think about, something you want to sit back and enjoy with a glass of wine and a bar of chocolate, then this is the film for you. If you're a fan of stories about second chances, about lovers who didn't get it right the first time and want to try again, like Persuasion, then I recommend watching this film. Plus it's set in Italy, and Italy's beautiful!

Finally, we have my favourite Austen: Northanger Abbey. I love Guillermo del Toro's work - I think Pan's Labyrinth is fantastic, and I love others films he's been involved in such as the Hellboy films and Mama - and Crimson Peak is right up my alley. I love Gothic stories, love love love them, and stories about women who move to creepy new houses are right up my alley; the synopsis of this film reminds me of The Miniaturist, actually! I think the story of a young girl who moves to a spooky house inhabited by a mysterious family seems like the perfect film for any Northanger Abbey fan!

Have you seen any of these films? Are there any others you'd recommend?

Classics & Contemporaries | Romance (Jane Austen Edition)

Last month I said I was going to start a new five part series titled "Classics & Contemporaries", to try and help anyone who feels intimidated by classics find another way of getting into them - you can find the initial blog post I wrote about the series here!

As I said then I promised the first installment would be Romance, but I did tell one little fib: I said for each genre I'd be talking about two classics and their contemporaries, but just this once I'm going to talk about four instead! Why? Why not! Well when I was narrowing down the classics I could talk about and finding their 21st century equivalents, I was torn between talking about some of the world's most famous love stories and some equally well-known modern reads, or talking about classics with some less obvious, and perhaps even lesser known, contemporaries.

So instead I decided to talk about both, and I suppose having double the amount is a good way to celebrate the start of this little series!

Two of the classics I ended up choosing for Romance were written by Jane Austen - one of the most famous romance authors of all time - so I thought I might as well split Romance into two separate posts, and centre one of them around the two Austen picks.

First up, let's start with one of the most famous, and most popular, love stories in the world...

Jane Austen's most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice, was first published in 1813 and is still widely read today. In fact to date the novel has sold 20 million copies worldwide!

When it comes to Jane Austen I can completely understand why someone may struggle to read one of her novels because I'm not one of her biggest fans myself, and I think a big reason for that is that I was simply introduced to her in the wrong way. For years I have said I will always dislike her novels, but recently I've thought about giving her a second chance. She must be well-liked for a reason, and perhaps now that I'm older I will have more patience with her work.

I had to read Pride and Prejudice during the second year of my degree but I just couldn't force myself through it, and yet I can watch an adaptation of any Jane Austen novel and enjoy it. And, in all honesty, I want to like her. I feel like I'm missing out on something!

The story of Pride and Prejudice is the kind of story I should love; give me a story about two characters who hate each other only to grow to love each other and I'm sold. And if you're the kind of reader who enjoys those kinds of love stories but feels too intimidated to jump straight into one of Jane Austen's novels, I have just the book for you!

I'm sure this doesn't come as much of a surprise to most of you; those of you who haven't read Bridget Jones's Diary have probably seen the film, and if Colin Firth playing the part of the modern Mr Darcy isn't enough of a clue that this is a modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice then I don't know what is!

Though I was still pretty shocked when I realised the connection. I'm dumb.

Just like Elizabeth Bennet, Bridget Jones is a single woman whose mother is desperate for her to be married; so desperate that she tries to set her up with Mark Darcy, a lawyer and old family friend, but Mark and Bridget don't get off to the best start...

This story is so much fun, and because it's basically a direct retelling of the original story I think reading this before you try reading Pride and Prejudice will make reading the classic much easier, and therefore less intimidating!

Next up we have one of Austen's less famous works, and the novel that first introduced me to her when I was 18: Persuasion.

Like Northanger Abbey, Persuasion was published posthumously in 1818 and is the shortest of Austen's novels. You might think that would make it the ideal Austen novel to start with, but this is the novel that made me dislike her work so much as a teenager (although it's also the one novel of hers I'd most like to reread now that I'm older). Having said that, if you are the kind of reader who finds the size of classics more intimidating than their content, this could be the ideal read for you!

Persuasion tells the story of Anne Elliot, an intelligent, 27 year old spinster, who was persuaded to break off her engagement to Captain Wentworth 8 years before because of his poverty and uncertain future. However, due to his success in the Napoleonic Wars, Wentworth is now wealthy and much sought after, and still hurt by Anne's rejection years before. While Wentworth seeks out a suitable bride, Anne struggles with the decision she made all those years ago and the feelings she still has for Wentworth.

If a story about people who are already in love - people who need to work through their troubles rather than try and get together in the first place - is one that interests you, then Persuasion is the novel for you, and I've managed to find a contemporary equivalent. A very recent equivalent!

Rainbow Rowell has quickly become one of the most famous authors of contemporary romance since the success of her YA novel Eleanor & Park. Her second YA novel, Fangirl, took the book community by storm, and this summer she released her second adult novel, Landline.

(I reviewed her first adult novel, Attachments, here!)

Landline tells the story of Georgie McCool and her husband, Neal, who are going through some marital troubles. They decide to spend Christmas with Neal's family in Omaha, but Georgie's job as a TV writer is hectic and something comes up at work. She has to stay in Los Angeles. Neal, however, takes their children and leaves for the airport.

Terrified that she has ruined their marriage for good, Georgie calls him, but the Neal that answers is the Neal from the past. Perhaps Georgie can use this strange connection to fix their future, or perhaps she should end their marriage before it even begins.

Obviously Landline and Persuasion are very different novels, Landline isn't a direct retelling in the way Bridget Jones's Diary is, and yet they share a lot of similar themes. Both feature a heroine who has made a mistake concerning the man she loves, and both include a mixture of maintaining an existing relationship while also including a small dose of 'will they, won't they'. If you're interested in Jane Austen's novels and you like Landline, I see no reason why Persuasion wouldn't be the perfect classic for you!

So there we have it: my 21st century suggestions for a 21st century reader who wants to read some Jane Austen. I really hope this has been useful (or at least fun!) and I'll be back on Monday with my non-Austen Romance installment!

J.

Jess Suggests | Postmodern Fiction

Ah, postmodernism, a term many English students are very familiar with even when they don't know what it means, and it's not surprising so many people don't as postmodernism doesn't exactly have a set meaning.
     One of the most confusing aspects of postmodernism is that it didn't come around after modernism, but during. Why postmodernism, then? I have no idea. While modernism tried to prove that literature could be completely new, postmodernism arose with the argument that new literature is impossible; stories will always come from other stories. The argument was often given rather sceptically - after all Angela Carter's fairy tale re-tellings aren't particularly charming - but as postmodernism has developed it has become more of a celebration of our oldest stories by giving them new life.
     It is this aspect of postmodernism I will be looking at today by showing you five books which would never have been written if it weren't for an older text to act as inspiration. There are hundreds of postmodern novels out there today so these are just five examples from a very, very long list:

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Haroun's father is the greatest of all storytellers. His magical stories bring laughter to the sad city of Alifbay. But, one terrible day, everything goes wrong and his father runs out of stories to tell.

Haroun, determined to return the storyteller's gift to his father, flies off on the back of the Hoopoe bird to the Sea of Stories - and so begins a fabulous, exciting and dazzling adventure.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories has to be one of the ultimate postmodern reads. There are references from stories all over the world in this book - which makes sense, given that the main character's father is a storyteller - but the main inspiration has to be The 1001 Nights, perhaps better known as The Arabian Nights; the series of tales which originate from Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and from which we have famous stories like Aladdin and Sindbad the Sailor.
     After Haroun's mother runs away with their upstairs neighbour - as she no longer believes that being married to a storyteller is practical - Haroun's father Rashid begins to lose his ability for storytelling. With the help of Iff the Water Genie and Butt the talking Hoopoe bird, Haroun travels to the bizarre and fantasical Land of Gup, where the soldiers wear pages from Shakespeare and there are Plentimaw fish in the sea, to defeat the evil Khattam-Shud, who is so boring he is poisoning the stories.

     This book is an absolute delight to read no matter how old you are, and it's a wonderful book to read if you're looking to rekindle your love for some of the world's oldest stories. It's also a fantastic celebration of postmodernism and of the way that we reuse stories to keep storytelling alive. As far as I'm concerned this underrated book is a must read.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Let's face it as far as stories go you can't get much older than Greek mythology. Yeah it can be pretty messed up - Athena burst out of Zeus's forehead fully clothed and poor Persephone was the daughter of a brother and sister who then married her uncle - but we love it all the same. 

     What's great about this novel - and this series - is that Riordan hasn't tried to rewrite the mythology or tame it, he's simply taken the idea of demigods and brought them forward into the present. Not only has he given the mythology the feeling of never having gone away, but he's also made it fun and accessable for younger readers; in a way Riordan is the bridge between mythology and children as Terry Deary is the bridge between children and history. 

     After finding out that he is in fact the son of Poseidon our protagonist Percy is sent to Camp Half-Blood, where all demigods are kept safe and are able to learn how to control their abilities. Throughout the story he encounters a satyr in the form of his best friend Grover, Annabeth the daughter of Athena, a centaur, a minotaur, Medusa, and even Hades and Persephone. This is an ideal book for any lover of Greek mythology and indeed for anyone with an interest in the mythology who feels a little intimidated by the original tales.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Meet Bridget Jones—a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could:

a. lose 7 pounds

b. stop smoking

c. develop Inner Poise

Bridget Jones' Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud daily chronicle of Bridget's permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement — a year in which she resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult, and learn to program the VCR. 

Unlike the other books listed here Bridget Jones's Diary is a modern day re-telling of a much more recent classic: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Unlike the previous two novels mentioned this is a direct re-telling of its original, yes there are some differences, but the story is in fact very similar to that of Austen's novel.

     We have Bridget Jones, our modern day Elizabeth Bennet, Mark Darcy, our modern day Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Daniel Cleaver, our modern day George Wickham. Through her wonderfully witty diary entries we see the world through her eyes as she struggles under the pressure of being a singleton in her thirties in a world full of friends and family who are desperate to see her settled and married. Sound familiar? Of course. The entirety of Pride and Prejudice is centered around the Bennet family trying to marry off their five daughters to good husbands.

     What's brilliant about this book is that it doesn't jump out as an Austen re-telling or try to shove the 200 year old story down your throat. You don't need to be a fan of Austen's works to enjoy this, but if you are then consider it an added bonus. This book is funny and charming, Helen Fielding has done a wonderful job of bringing a famous story to a modern-day audience.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Following Bridget Jones's Diary we have another re-telling of a classic story, one that every child knows well: Cinderella. Originally Cinderella was one of the many fairy tales collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, more commonly known as the Brothers Grimm. It's a story which has been told again and again in many different formats including  operas, ballets, pantomimes and film versions such as Disney's Cinderella, Ever After, A Cinderella Story, Another Cinderella Story, and literary re-tellings such as Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted, Amber T. Smith's If the Shoe Fits and Gregory Maguire's Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Obviously there's something about this story that we just can't get enough of, whether it's our adoration of true love at the stroke of midnight or simply our desire to root for the underdog, either way Cinderella is not going anywhere.

     And now? Now we have Cinder, a fantastic posthuman re-telling of the classic tale in which our Cinderella is a cyborg. Marissa Meyer has managed to give a well-known, age old story an utterly fresh spin and modernised it for an audience of people who are now obsessed with technology. Meyer has even opened up the fairy tale genre for sci-fi fans all over the world which can only be a good thing because this year sci-fi is huge, particularly with  the completion of Beth Revis's Across the Universe trilogy this January and upcoming films such as Man of Steel, coming this June, and an adaptation of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game set to be released in November.

     No longer is Cinderella a meek girl who sweeps the floors and waits for her fairy godmother, Meyer's Cinderella is a mechanic who really drives the novel forward by leading the plot in the way that all great protagonists do. Like Bridget Jones's Diary you don't need to be a fan of Cinderella to enjoy Cinder, for while it is indeed a re-telling it has been re-told in such a way that the story and characters feel brand new. This is a delightful book.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...

You know what would have made Romeo and Juliet better? Zombies, of course! William Shakespeare is credited with writing possibly the most famous love story ever, but it's Isaac Marion who has made the story dead cool. See what I did there?

     Yes apparently a rose by any other name really would smell as sweet, even if it was covered in rotting flesh. Warm Bodies is full of familiar characters disguised by tweaked names; we have our hero R (Romeo), our heroine Julie (Juliet), her boyfriend Perry (Paris), her friend Nora (the Nurse) and R's friend M/Marco (Mercutio). R is a zombie, and after he kills Perry and eats his brain he begins to develop feelings he no longer realised he had for Perry's girlfriend Julie. When Julie learns that R isn't quite what he seems her belief that a cure for the undead can be found is reignited.

     This story is very much a marmite kind of a story. You don't have to be a fan of Romeo and Juliet to enjoy it, but there is a very clear cut line between people who like it a lot and people who don't like it at all. One thing that can't be denied, however, is that it has brought zombie fiction to women; that's not to say that women can't enjoy zombie films and fiction filed under the horror genre - I'm a woman myself and I love a good zombie story just as much as the next person - but in creating a piece of YA zombie chick fiction Marion has introduced a lot more women to the undead in literature, and that can only be a good thing. Try it for yourself, and give the movie a watch too!

So if postmodernism is now something which interests you go and check it out! There are plenty of postmodern texts to be had.

     Thanks for reading! J.