AUSTEN & ADAPTATION

WITH A DISCUSSION OF PRIDE AND

PREJUDICE IN ADVANCE OF CURTIS

SITTENFELD’S ELIGIBLE.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE RECAP

• FIRST WRITTEN IN 1797, TITLED FIRST IMPRESSIONS,

REWRITTEN AND FINALLY PUBLISHED 16 YEARS LATER

• MAY HAVE BEEN AUSTEN’S FAVORITE OF HER NOVELS; SHE

REFERRED TO ELIZABETH BENNET “AS DELIGHTFUL A

CHARACTER AS EVER APPEARED IN PRINT” IN A LETTER TO

HER SISTER

• LITTLE IF ANY SIGN OF CONTEMPORARY POLITICS OR

SPECIFIC EVENTS IN AUSTEN’S WORK. RATHER,

THEMATICALLY HER WORK FOCUSES MORE ON UNIVERSAL

ISSUES: SOCIAL CLASSES, GENDER ISSUES, RELATIONSHIPS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

• NOW THAT YOU’VE FINISHED, WHAT ROLE DO

FIRST IMPRESSIONS PLAY IN THE NOVEL?

• HOW DO THE THEMES OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

IMPACT ALL THE VARIOUS COUPLES? CHARLOTTE

AND MR. COLLINS, JANE AND BINGLEY, ELIZABETH

AND DARCY, LYDIA AND WICKHAM?

• CAN YOU THINK OF A VIEW YOU HAD OF

SOMEONE THAT CHANGED AND WAS INFLUENCED

BY YOUR OWN PARTIALITY?

EPISTOLARY

• AS WE’VE DISCUSSED BEFORE, EPISTOLARY

NOVELS—NOVELS WRITTEN IN THE FORMS OF

LETTERS—WERE VERY POPULAR IN THE 18TH

CENTURY

• NEARLY TWO DOZEN LETTERS ARE QUOTED IN

WHOLE OR IN PART IN PRIDE AND

PREJUDICE, AND NUMEROUS OTHER REFERENCES

TO LETTERS AND LETTER—WRITING. HOW DO

YOU THINK LETTERS FUNCTION IN THE NOVEL?

HOW DO THE LETTERS—A NARRATIVE

ELEMENT—INTERACT WITH THE DRAMATIC

ELEMENT (MANIFESTED IN THE DIALOGUE)?

DARCY’S LETTER

• CHAPTER 35:

• WHY DOES DARCY’S LETTER

IMPACT ELIZABETH AND MAKE

HER CHANGE HER MIND?

• DOES THIS REDEEM EARLIER

CONCERNS ABOUT ELIZABETH’S

“HYPOCRISY” TOWARD

WICKHAM?

• NOW WITH THE BOOK

FINISHED, WHAT DO YOU

THINK ACCOUNTED FOR

ELIZABETH’S PREJUDICE?

THE BENNET’S MARRIAGE

• CHAPTER 42, PARAGRAPH

ONE

• HOW MIGHT THIS TYPE OF

MARRIAGE INFLUENCE

THE DAUGHTERS IN THE

FAMILY?

• DOES THIS CHANGE YOUR

VIEW OF MR. BENNET?

• WHAT IS THE SEXUAL

INFORMATION PROVIDED

IN THIS GRAPH?

WHAT’S MISSING

• PRIDE AND PREJUDICE HAS BEEN CRITICIZED

BECAUSE IT APPEARS UNCONCERNED WITH THE

POLITICS OF AUSTEN’S DAY. FOR EXAMPLE, IN A

LETTER (WRITTEN BEFORE WORLD WAR 1) TO

THOMAS HARDY, FREDERIC HARRISON REFERS

TO AUSTEN AS A "HEARTLESS LITTLE CYNIC"

WHO COMPOSED "SATIRETTES AGAINST HER

NEIGHBORS WHILST THE DYNASTS WERE

TEARING THE WORLD TO PIECES AND

CONSIGNING MILLIONS TO THEIR GRAVES."

• WHAT’S YOUR RESPONSE TO THIS CRITICISM?

PEMBERLEY

• CHAPTER 43: ELIZABETH SEES PEMBERLEY

• WHAT ROLE DOES PEMBERLEY PLAY IN CHANGING ELIZABETH’S MIND ABOUT DARCY?

• AUSTEN IS ACKNOWLEDGING, ALBEIT SUBTLY, AN AESTHETIC MOVEMENT AT THE TIME: THE “PICTURESQUE,” ESSENTIALLY BRITISH LANDSCAPE DESIGN THEORY—IN WHICH LANDSCAPING EVOKED A SENSE OF NATURAL TERRAIN RATHER THAN THE OBVIOUSLY DRAMATIC LANDSCAPES OF EARLIER ERAS.

• AS WITH MANY ASPECTS OF AUSTEN, THE QUESTION OF WHICH BRITISH ESTATE SHE BASED PEMBERLEY ON HAS BEEN CONTROVERSIAL.

THE NOVEL’S TURNING POINT

• “THE CHAPTER DESCRIBING ELIZABETH BENNET'S VISIT TO

PEMBERLEY (P&P, 3, 1) IS DESIGNED TO FLOOD HEROINE

AND READER WITH AN ALMOST OVERWHELMING NEW

POSITIVE VISION OF DARCY. FROM EVERY POINT OF

VIEW-AND MANY ARE PACKED IN -DARCY APPEARS AS A

VIRTUAL MODEL OF PERFECTION; THERE IS NOTHING

VERY SUBTLE ABOUT AUSTEN'S TREATMENT OF THE

NOVEL'S TURNING POINT. IN THIS CONTEXT THE

DESCRIPTIONS OF LANDSCAPE ACQUIRE METAPHORICAL

RESONANCE LARGELY THROUGH A RELATIVELY SIMPLE

SCHEME IN IN WHICH SPATIAL TERMS FUNCTION ALSO AS

PERCEPTUAL AND EMOTIONAL ONES.” —” LOOKING AT

THE LANDSCAPE IN JANE AUSTEN” AUTHOR: ROSEMARIE

BODENHEIMER

FATHER AND DAUGHTER

• MR. BENNET AGREES THAT DARCY

MAY MARRY ELIZABETH BEFORE HE

UNDERSTANDS THAT ELIZABETH

ACTUALLY LOVES DARCY. DOES

THIS SCENE CHANGE YOUR VIEW OF

THEIR RELATIONSHIP? CHAPTER 59

THE CHARACTERS

• PRIDE AND PREJUDICE IS ESSENTIALLY ABOUT TWO

PEOPLE CHANGING THEIR MINDS AND RECOGNIZING

THEIR FEELINGS, BUT IT’S ALSO IN GENERAL ABOUT THE

WAY IN WHICH PEOPLE JUDGE ONE ANOTHER.

• CHARACTERIZATION, AS A TECHNIQUE, IS THE WAY IN

WHICH AUTHORS IMBUE FICTIONAL CREATURES WITH

VERISIMILITUDE, I.E. MAKE THEM SEEM REAL.

• WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF CHARACTERIZATION?

• ON THE BOARD, WRITE DOWN AS MANY TRAITS AS YOU

CAN FOR THESE CHARACTERS. YOU CAN ALSO ADD

CHARACTERS I HAVEN’T MENTIONED IF YOU LIKE.

WRITING PROMPT: PICK TWO CHARACTERS’ TRAITS

• LOOKING OVER THESE LISTS, WE CAN SEE THAT FOR THE MOST

PART, THESE CHARACTERS FALL INTO THE “COMPLEX” AND

“ROUND” DESCRIPTIONS OF CHARACTERS. FOR INSTANCE, MR.

BENNET IS SARDONIC BUT WE SOON LEARN THAT HE ALSO HAS

DEEP FEELING FOR HIS DAUGHTER AND REGRETS ABOUT HIS LIFE,

AS WELL AS REAL CHARACTER WEAKNESS.

• PICK TWO CHARACTERS ON THE BOARD AND CHANGE THEIR

NAMES. WRITE A SCENE USING CHARACTERIZATION TO

DEMONSTRATE THE QUALITIES. THIS CAN BE FICTIONAL OR SEMI-

REAL, MODERN OR NOT. YOU CAN CHANGE ANYTHING YOU

WANT BUT HOLD ON TO THE BASIC CHARACTER QUALITIES

ASSIGNED. WE WILL READ THEM AFTERWARD AND SEE IF OTHERS

CAN IDENTIFY WHICH CHARACTERS YOU CHOSE.

TODAY’S MORES

• WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF WAYS IN WHICH

WE JUDGE AND ASSESS OTHER PEOPLE THAT ARE

COMPARABLE TO PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

• TAKE A MINUTE AND WRITE DOWN:

• TYPES OF FASHION THAT INFLUENCE HOW YOU

SEE PEOPLE

• HOW PEOPLE LIVE IN GENERAL

• TYPES OF MANNERS

INHERENT CHALLENGES TO ADAPTATION

• LACK OF SUSPENSE

• EMPHASIZES THE SKILLS OF THE STORYTELLER

VERSUS THE STORY ITSELF (RETELLING STORIES

IMPORTANT PART OF THE LITERARY TRADITION)

• CHALLENGES AUTHOR (AND READER) TO

CONSIDER THE UNIVERSAL VS. SPECIFICS OF THE

WORK (THE PSYCHOLOGY/EMOTION VERSUS THE

HISTORICAL CONTEXT, FOR EXAMPLE)

ADAPTATION CHALLENGES

• “REWORKINGS ARE ALWAYS POLARISING, SEEN

EITHER AS HERESY OR HOMAGE, AND VERY

RARELY AS WHAT THEY ALSO ARE: NEW BOOKS.”

• —THE UK GUARDIAN, OCT. 24, 2013, REVIEW OF

JOANNA TROLLOPE’S ADAPTATION OF SENSE AND

SENSIBILITY

ADAPTATION STRATEGIES (NOT COMPLETE)

• SAME PLOT, DIFFERENT TIME PERIOD

• CHANGE ONE KEY ELEMENT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS (EXAMPLE ON

FORTHCOMING SLIDE)

• WHATEVER THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE

• CHANGE LOCALE

• CHANGE GENRE (I.E. ZOMBIES)

• THESE IDEAS

DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

• MYSTERY WRITER P.D. JAMES’ NOVEL DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY, WHICH TURNS AUSTEN’S HAPPY ENDING FOR DARCY AND ELIZABETH ON ITS HEAD.

• “SIX YEARS AFTER ELIZABETH BENNET AND MR. DARCY HAVE PREVAILED OVER PRIDE, PREJUDICE, THE CADDISH MR. WICKAM AND THE FRIVOLOUS MRS. BENNET, A COACH RACES UP TO PEMBERLEY, DARCY’S PALATIAL ESTATE, WITH AN HYSTERICAL LYDIA SHRIEKING, “MURDER!” SO CONTINUES JANE AUSTEN’S TIMELESS CLASSIC, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, IN DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY, A STAR-STUDDED ADAPTATION OF CRIME-WRITER P.D. JAMES’ BESTSELLING WHODUNIT.”

NEXT WEEK

• READ ALL OF ELIGIBLE BY CURTIS SITTENFELD, IT

IS A MODERN ADAPTATION OF PRIDE AND

PREJUDICE THAT WAS COMMISSIONED AS PART

OF THE AUSTEN PROJECT (MAJOR AUTHORS

REWRITING AUSTEN’S WORK)

• JOANNA TROLLOPE REWROTE SENSE AND

SENSIBILITY