Discover this podcast and so much more

Podcasts are free to enjoy without a subscription. We also offer ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more for just $11.99/month.

014: chapters 42-44 - Pride and Prejudice

014: chapters 42-44 - Pride and Prejudice

FromCraftLit - Serialized Classic Literature for Busy Book Lovers


014: chapters 42-44 - Pride and Prejudice

FromCraftLit - Serialized Classic Literature for Busy Book Lovers

ratings:
Length:
62 minutes
Released:
Jul 20, 2006
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Chapters 42-45! WRONG WRONG WRONG! 43 was much longer than it said on the tag. This week we only have 42-44...but its an hour long episode regardles... Next week, chapters 44-??... Sorry about that! Well, I'm in the homestretch! This week and next week are the last two I'll be podcasting from Croton-on-Hudson...boy I'll need to change the intro, huh? I'll be podcasting from the road the week of August 1st, then from Tucson the next week. IF I can, I'll get my son in on the 'cast...but no guarantees. He's quite the ball-o-goof. So this week! A little discussion of ChickLit and Austen... Jane Austen's novels have been repackaged as chick-lit to reflect our modern conception of her as a romantic novelist. But her world is less comforting than we think, argues Laura Thompson... On 07/09/2006, Laura Thompson created a bit of a stir in the literary world when she said that Chicklit--the girlie romancified summer book lit that's gotten to be so popular among the young--had co-opted Jane Austen, and specifically, Pride and Prejudice. ...It all started in fine non-literary style: with Colin Firth. The scene in the 1995 television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in which Colin got his shirt wet was, almost certainly, the moment that opened the door and let the modern world in upon the quiet, oil-lit writing desk at Chawton Cottage. And when Firth played Mark Darcy in the film of Bridget Jones's Diary, the deal was sealed: Pride and Prejudice was on its way to fame and fortune. Which brings her to a point we've discussed on this podcast: ...What on earth would Jane Austen have made of it all? Well, she would certainly have laughed - "I dearly love a laugh," says Elizabeth Bennet, in the voice of her creator - and she would have enjoyed all the money, because nobody was more aware of its importance. Elizabeth and her sister Jane might have charm to spare, plus wit and good temper to keep fear of the future at bay, but their genteel poverty means that the men who marry them are not just lovers; they are personal relief missions from lives beyond contemplation. And this acute alertness to the significance of money - to the humiliating gulf between the shillings that buy Elizabeth's hair ribbons and Darcy's £30,000 a year - is just one of the many aspects of Jane Austen that has been lost to a contemporary audience. She goes on to say that too often, readers today just think it's neat that Elizabeth wound up with a rich guy--rather than noting that it was her job to find a rich husband or live a life of drudgery. In reality, loving Darcy is the bonus. The real marriage is that of money. ....Actually, there is rather more to Elizabeth than the perfection we behold in her (and ourselves). What, for example, is one to make of her ambiguous joke that she began to love Darcy on "first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley"? Sir Walter Scott, for one, thought she meant exactly what she said; and I think he had a point. ....But the novels as a whole are rather less comforting. Indeed, they are, in some ways, terrifying. There is something appalling about the lack of illusions with which Jane Austen viewed her little world. To censor out such a judgment - or to condemn it as "male" - is to do her an extreme disservice. And the point she makes next made me feel bad for not making a bigger deal out of what Charlotte did, and why: Take, for example, the character of Charlotte Lucas, one of Austen's finest, who cuts through the nonsense now waffling round Pride and Prejudice like a particularly acid lemon. Her presence lurks sombrely behind Elizabeth's lovely lightness: the two girls are faces of the same coin, expressions of their creator's joyful esprit on the one hand and cold eye on the other. Like Elizabeth, Charlotte has a lively mind, but, unlike her friend, she has no physical allure. A quirk of nature has taken her out of the orbit of men such as Darcy. And, because she is plain, she sees the world plainly. She calmly
Released:
Jul 20, 2006
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

***Annotated Audiobooks for Busy Booklovers*** Since 2006 CraftLit has released serialized classic literature weekly—the way Dickens did it—but as an audiobook with audio annotations. Host Heather Ordover gives you some context and juicy tidbits before playing the next chapter of the current book. *** Listeners regularly call in to share their thoughts to be played in the next episode, which keeps the "book club" vibe going. *** The podcast has been in continuous production since 2006. Our current book, "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery begins with episode 473. ***Audiobooks-with-Benefits for Busy People*** * As seen in What's Hot on iTunes * * As heard on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday | FiberHooligans | Podcast 411 | Marly Bird's Yarn Thing Podcast | Math-4-Knitters | Eddie's Room | Libsyn's Podcasting Luminaries | Chilling Tales for Dark Nights | WEBS podcast *