Recto Verso

“Ya.” Sebotol mahal anggur putih ada di depan matamu, tapi kamu tak pernah tahu. Kamu terus menanti. Segelas air putih.

“Yes.” A bottle of expensive white wine is here in front of your eyes, but you never know it. You kept waiting. A glass of water.”

I know.

It’s been a year since this book was published.

And months since I borrowed it from my friend (maafkan saya, Fer… =p), but I didn’t touch the book until last night.

And even tough it’s not half as interesting as Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, nor as touching as Cecelia Ahern’s P.S. I Love You, I find myself unable to put it down.

Recto literally means the page on the right side of an open book, and Verso the left.

There’re eleven short stories in this…hmmm…work, with eleven corresponding songs.  It’s quite interesting, and this coming from a person who rarely reads Indonesian literature.

Dengar fiksinya, baca musiknya

The second story of this book is about a guy (in this book he is known as simply ‘Abang’ , no names) who had autism, and he has been accustomed to spending his Sundays with a girl, ‘perempuan’. Then Abang’s younger brother returned from his studies overseas, and the girl started seeing him. The boys’ mother (Bunda) had a talk with the girl, saying that she’d prefer her to date Abang, since he loves the girl not only with his heart, but with his soul. And the girl replied by saying that Bunda cannot possibly know that, since she is not an angel who can know a person’s heart. Hence the title, “Malaikat Juga Tahu” (“Even Angels Know”?). LOL
The music video tells the short story written in the book version:

Nice way of spending an idle day. I haven’t finished the book yet, Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol showed up, and you know, Brown trumps all. =)

Pride and Prejudice @ Facebook

Two of my many favorite things in the world, combined! What could be better? LOL

Check it out, especially for those who keep looking for a real-life projection of Fitzwilliam Darcy after reading Pride and Prejudice…like moi… =p
http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook/

And for those who twits:
http://madhattermommy.blogspot.com/2009/05/pride-and-twitterverse.html

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Meet Christopher Boone.

He has autism, likes (and is very good at) mathematics, likes prime numbers only, and thinks that seeing four yellow cars in a row is bad.

This book is written by Mark Haddon, it’s great and I love it.

It is Haddon’s first book, published in 2003, and have won a lot of awards, such as the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year and the 2004 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book.

The title is actually a quotation of a remark made by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1894 short story “Silver Blaze”.

The story is narrated by Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy with autism, living in Swindon, Wiltshire, UK. The book starts with his discovery of the neighbour’s dog killed with a garden-fork. Mrs Shears found Christopher holding her dead poodle, Wellington, and starts screaming, then call the cops.

Christopher is living with his father, Ed, who tells him his mother (Judy) was killed by a heart attack two years earlier. Although his father objects, Christopher sets out to find out who killed Wellington.

During his investigation, Christopher meets people whom he has never before encountered, even though they live on the same street. Eventually, Christopher finds out from Mrs. Alexander that his mother was engaged in an affair with Roger Shears, Mrs. Shears’s former husband. Ed discovers the book and confiscates it from Christopher, after a brief fight between them, though he later apologises. While searching for the confiscated book, Christopher uncovers a trove of letters which his mother wrote to him, dated after her supposed death, which his father has hidden.

***

Christopher, the book’s narrator, is gifted at and focused on mathematics: this is reflected by his inclusion of several famous puzzles of maths and logic. The book’s appendix is a reproduction of a question from Christopher’s A-level examination, with annotated answers.

Christopher likes only prime numbers, hence the book’s chapters are all numbered in prime numbers, ignoring composite numbers. So the first is Chapter 2, followed by 3, then 5, 7, 11, and so on, up to the last chapter, 233.

Cute, right? =p

Abomination!

IT IS A TRUTH universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead.

Sounds rather familiar?

It was the beginning lines of a book by Seth Grahame-Smith, called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”. Needless to say, the book was a terribly-written version of Jane Austen’s beloved classic, Pride and Prejudice.

The auther, Seth Grahame-Smith, claims that he has transformed “a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.” Good Lord!

The book focused on the Bennet sisters, who were living in the middle of a strange plague in regency England, killing the living and reviving them back to life as the undead who must feed on the living to survive. The conflict in town is fierce, spreading to the countryside and into the village of Meryton where Elizabeth Bennet and her family reside nearby at Longbourn. Mr. Bennet extricated from his library has dedicated himself instead to training his five daughters from an early age in the deadly arts, traveling with them to China to attend Ninja finishing school with a Shaolin Master. His business in life was to keep them alive. The business of Mrs. Bennet’s was to get them married.

*yawn*

I gave the book a chance. I tried to read it, but after “the pentagram of death” (everyone was at the ball where Darcy slighted Lizzie, and the a horde of zombies -wait, the correct term is ‘the unmentionables’, and Mr. Bennet called to his five daughters to form “the pentagram of death”), it was all too much and too disgusting, I cannot read on.

Grahame-Smith not only wrecked one of the finest classics, but he also took great pride in doing so.

What an abomination!

Weather Report

“Any day I’m vertical
is a good day”
…that’s what I always say.

If you ask me,
“How are you?”

I’ll answer, “GREAT!”
because in saying so,
I make it so.

When Life gives me dark clouds and rain,
I appreciate the moisture
that brings a soft curl to my hair.

When Life gives me sunshine,
I gratefully turn my face up
to feel its warmth on my cheeks.

When Life brings fog,
I hug my sweater around me
and give thanks for the cool shroud of mystery
that makes the familiar seem different and intriguing.

When Life brings snow,
I dash outside to catch the first flakes on my tongue,
relishing the icy miracle that is a snowflake.

Life’s events and experiences
are like the weather -
they come and go,
no matter what my preference.

So, what the heck?!
I might as well decide to enjoy them.

For indeed,
there IS a time for every purpose
under Heaven.

And each season brings its own unique blessings.

-B. J. Gallagher-

I like this poem. Very…optimistic, sunny, very warm, and I love it, hence I’d like to share it with you. Yes, you! You, yeah you over there… Stop looking left and right, I’m talking to you! Yes you, no, not the person beside you… =)

The Jane Austen Book Club

The Jane Austen Book Club, a 2004 book by American author Karen Joy Fowler, and also a 2007 movie adaptation of the same title, based on Fowler’s book.

The book “The Jane Austen Book Club” takes place near Sacramento, California, and centers around a book club consisting of five women and one man who meet once a month to discuss Jane Austen’s six novels. It was a critical success and became a national bestseller.

The novel takes place over the course of several months in a contemporary university town in California’s Central Valley near Sacramento. Each of the six chapters is dedicated to one of the six book club members as well as one of Austen’s six works. In turn, each of Austen’s novels parallels the individual characters’ experiences with relationships and love.

Jocelyn (Emma Woodhouse in Emma):
an independent, 50-something dog breeder and matchmaker who organized the Jane Austen Book Club. Jocelyn has been best friends with Sylvia since they were eleven and introduced her to her husband, Daniel, when they were in high school. She has never married and has no children. She originally invites Grigg to the book club for Sylvia’s sake, but ends up attracted to him herself.

Allegra (Marianne in Sense and Sensibility):
the young and impetuous daughter of Sylvia and her husband Daniel. Allegra is an artist and a thrill seeker, having been known to sky dive and rock climb, amongst other things.

Prudie (Anne Elliot in Persuasion):
a 28-year-old French teacher at a local high school. She is married to Dean, whom she loves, but she becomes confused when witnessing every-day infatuations between her students, especially when one student in particular flirts with her.

Grigg (represents basically all of Austen’s misunderstood male characters):
an offbeat 30-something, and the only male member of the book club. Grigg grew up the only boy amongst his three older sisters. He is also addicted to science fiction and coincidentally met Jocelyn at a hotel in which they were attending two separate conventions: Jocelyn, a dog breeding convention, and Grigg, a science fiction convention.

Bernadette (Mrs. Gardiner in Pride and Prejudice):
a 67-years-young yoga enthusiast and the most talkative of the members. Bernadette has been married multiple times and is determined to “let herself go” with style. Although she is the oldest of the members, she is the most satisfied with her lifestyle.

Sylvia (Fanny Price in Mansfield Park):
Jocelyn’s best friend, Sylvia is also 50-something years old and is going through a troubling separation with her husband Daniel, who has left her after thirty years of marriage for another woman. Their daughter, Allegra, has come to live with her for the time being.

The idea of the book club comes from Bernadette (six times divorced), who has this inspiration when she meets Prudie, a prim, married high school French teacher in her mid 20s, at a Jane Austen film festival. Bernadette’s concept is to have six members dicuss all of Austen’s six novels, with each member hosting the group once a month.

Also inducted into the club are Sylvia, a fortysomething housewife who recently has separated from her philandering lawyer husband Daniel after more than two decades of marriage; Sylvia’s 20-year-old lesbian daughter Allegra; Jocelyn, a happily unmarried control freak and breeder of Rhodesian Ridgebacks who has been Sylvia’s friend since childhood; and Grigg, a science fiction fan who’s roped into the group by Jocelyn with the hope he and Sylvia will prove to be a compatible match.

As the months pass, each of the members develops characteristics similar to those of Austen’s characters and reacts to events in their lives in much the same way their fictional counterparts would. Bernadette is the matriarch figure who longs to see everyone find happiness. Sylvia clings to her belief in steadfast love and devotion, and eventually reconciles with Daniel. Jocelyn denies her own feelings for Grigg while playing matchmaker for him and Sylvia. Prudie, encumbered with her inattentive husband Dean and a free-spirited, pot-smoking, aging-hippie mother, a product of the 1960s counterculture, finds herself desperately trying not to succumb to her feelings for her seductive student Trey. Allegra, who tends to meet her lovers while engaging in death-defying activities, feels betrayed when she discovers her current partner, aspiring writer Corinne, has used Allegra’s life as the basis for her short stories. Grigg is attracted to Jocelyn and mystified by her seeming lack of interest in him, marked by her failure to read the Ursula K. Le Guin novels he has hoped will catch her fancy. He also serves as the comedic foil to Jocelyn and Prudie’s very serious takes on the books.

Cast:
Maria Bello as Jocelyn
Emily Blunt as Prudie
Kathy Baker as Bernadette
Hugh Dancy as Grigg
Amy Brenneman as Sylvia
Maggie Grace as Allegra

Jane Austen #6: Persuasion

Persuasion is Jane’s Austen’s last completed novel, which she began soon after she finished Emma. It was completed in Auguts, 1816. Austen did in 1817 (aged 41), but Persuasion was not published until 1818.

Persuasion is a story about two people who used to love each other. Then they were separated, and met again and found their way back into love again.

Persuasion mostly tells us about Anne Elliot, the middle daughter of the vain Sir Walter Elliot, a baronet who is a little too concious of his good looks and rank, and spends excessive amounts of money. Anne’s mother was a fine, sensible woman who is long dead. Her elder sister, Elizabeth, resembles her father in temperament and delights in the fact that as the eldest daughter she can assume her mother’s former position in their rural neighborhood. Anne’s younger sister, Mary, is a nervous, clinging woman who has made an unspectacular marriage to Charles Musgrove of Uppercross Hall, the heir to a bucolic but respected local squire. None of her surviving family can provide much companionship for the elegant-minded Anne, who, still unmarried at 27, seems destined for spinsterhood. Soon after her earlier commitment to Wentworth, at age nineteen, Anne had been persuaded by her mother’s great friend –and her own trusted confidante, the widow Lady Russell– to break the engagement to the man she loved deeply. Lady Russell had questioned the wisdom of Anne marrying a moneyless young naval officer without family or connections and whose prospects were so uncertain. Wentworth re-enters Anne’s life when Sir Walter is forced by his own profligacy to let the family estate to none other than Wentworth’s brother-in-law, Admiral Croft. Wentworth’s successes in the Napoleonic Wars resulted in his promotion and enabled him to amass the then considerable fortune of £25,000 from prize money awarded for capturing enemy vessels. The Musgroves, including Mary, Charles and Charles’s younger sisters, Henrietta and Louisa, are delighted to welcome the Crofts and Wentworth to the neighborhood. Both Musgrove girls are attracted to Wentworth, though Henrietta is informally engaged to clergyman cousin Charles Hayter. Hayter is viewed as a merely respectable match, being a bit beneath the Musgroves, socially and financially. Charles, Mary, and the Crofts continually speculate as to which one Wentworth might marry. Captain Wentworth’s visit to a close friend, Captain Harville, in nearby Lyme Regis results in a day-long outing being organized by those eager to see the resort. While there, Louisa Musgrove sustains a concussion in a fall brought about by her own impetuous behaviour. This highlights the difference between the headstrong Louisa and the more sensible Anne. While onlookers exclaim that Louisa is dead and her companions stand around dumbfounded, Anne administers first aid and summons assistance. Wentworth’s admiration for Anne reawakens as a result. Louisa’s recovery is slow and her self-confidence is severely shaken. Her newfound timidity elicits the kind attention and reassurance of Wentworth’s friend Captain Benwick, who had been mourning the recent death of his fiancée. The couple find their personalities to be now more in sympathy and they become engaged. Meanwhile, Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s scheming friend Mrs. Clay, the widowed daughter of Sir Walter’s agent, have relocated to Bath. There they hope to live in a manner befitting a baronet and his family with the least possible expense until their finances are restored to a firmer footing. Sir Walter’s cousin and heir, William Elliot, who long ago slighted the baronet, now seeks a reconciliation. Elizabeth assumes that he wishes to court her, while Lady Russell more correctly suspects that he admires Anne. Although William Elliot seems a perfect gentleman, Anne distrusts him; she finds his character disturbingly opaque. She is enlightened by an unexpected source when she discovers an old school friend, Mrs. Smith, living in Bath in straitened circumstances. Mrs. Smith and her now-deceased husband had once been Mr. Elliot’s closest friends. Having encouraged them into financial extravagance, he had quickly dropped them when they became impoverished. Anne learns, to her great distress, of his layers of deceit and calculated self-interest. In addition, her friend speculates that Mr. Elliot wants to reestablish his relationship with her family primarily to safeguard his inheritance of the title, fearing a marriage between Sir Walter and Mrs. Clay. This helps Anne to understand more fully the dangers of persuasion –in that Lady Russell pressed her to accept Mr. Elliot’s likely offer of marriage– and helps her to develop more confidence in her own judgment. Ultimately, the Musgroves visit Bath to purchase wedding clothes for their daughters Louisa and Henrietta (who has become engaged to Hayter). Captain Wentworth and his friend Captain Harville accompany them. Anne and Harville discuss attachments with Wentworth writing a note within earshot of the discussion. This causes him to write a note to Anne detailing his feelings for her. In a tender scene, Anne and Wentworth reconcile and renew their engagement. The match is now more palatable to Anne’s family — their waning fortunes and Wentworth’s waxing ones have made a considerable difference. Also, ever overvaluing good looks, Sir Walter is favorably impressed with his future son-in-law’s appearance. Lady Russell admits she has been completely wrong about Captain Wentworth, and she and Anne remain friends.

***

I haven’t watched any adaptations of Persuasion, but I heard there’s a great TV drama aired in 2007, starring Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot and Rupert Penry-Jones as Captain Frederick Wentworth.

Jane Austen #5: Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey was actually the first novel finished by Jane Austen, although the fifth published. It was written by Austen in 1798, revised in 1803, and sold in the same year for £10 to a London bookseller, Crosby & Co., who decided against publishing the novel. The bookseller was content to sell it back to the novelist’s brother, Henry Austen, for the exact sum that he had paid for it at the beginning, not knowing that the writer was already the author of four popular novels. The novel was further revised before being brought out posthumously in late December 1817 (1818 given on the title-page), as the first two volumes of a four-volume set with Persuasion, Austen’s last published novel.

Northanger Abbey follows Catherine Morland and family friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen as they visit Bath, England. Seventeen year-old Catherine spends her time visiting newly-made friends, such as Isabella Thorpe, and going to balls. Catherine finds herself pursued by Isabella’s brother John Thorpe (Catherine’s brother James’s friend from university), and by Henry Tilney. She also becomes friends with Eleanor Tilney, Henry’s younger sister. Henry captivates her with his view on novels and his knowledge of history and the world. General Tilney (Henry and Eleanor’s father) invites Catherine to visit their estate, Northanger Abbey, which, because she has been reading Ann Radcliffe’s gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho, Catherine expects to be dark, ancient and full of fantastical mystery.

The story’s heroine, seventeen year old Catherine Morland, is invited by her neighbours in Fullerton, the Allens, to accompany them to visit Bath for a number of weeks. While, initially, the excitement of experiencing such a place was dampened by her lack of other acquaintances, she is soon introduced to an intriguing young gentleman named Henry Tilney, with whom she dances and converses. She does not see him again for a few days however, though her attention was quickly taken upon meeting a young lady named Isabella Thorpe. Isabella tries to make a match between Catherine and her brother John. Catherine is not too interested in this, and tries to maintain her friendships with both the Thorpes and the Tilneys. John Thorpe continually tries to sabotage her relationship with the Tilneys, which leads to many misunderstandings.

Meanwhile, Isabella becomes engaged to Catherine’s brother James, though Isabella is dissatisfied that James is not as rich as she had previously thought. At a ball, when James is away, she meets Henry’s older brother, Captain Tilney, who is dashing and charming; Isabella and Captain Tilney immediately start flirting. Innocent Catherine cannot understand her friend’s behavior, but Henry understands it all too well. The flirtation continues even when James returns.

The Tilneys (Henry, his sister Eleanor, and their father General Tilney) invite Catherine to stay with them for a few weeks at their home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine, who has read too many Gothic novels, expects the abbey to be large and somewhat frightening, and Henry encourages her fears in order to tease her. Her first night there is very stormy; she discovers mysterious manuscripts in her bedroom, and her candle suddenly goes out. The next morning, she reads the papers and discovers they are only laundry lists. She is disappointed that Northanger Abbey is pleasant and positively un-Gothic. However, there is a mysterious suite of rooms that no one ever goes into: Catherine learns that they were Mrs. Tilney’s, who died nine years earlier. Catherine, with her overactive imagination, decides that since General Tilney does not seem affected by his wife’s death now, he must have been indifferent or perhaps hostile to her. Perhaps he murdered her. Or she may still be alive and imprisoned in the house.

Catherine persuades Eleanor to show her Mrs. Tilney’s rooms, when General Tilney suddenly appears. Catherine flees, sure that she will be punished. Later, Catherine sneaks back to Mrs. Tilney’s rooms, but is startled by Henry, who is passing in the corridor. Panicked, she admits her speculations about his father. He is horrified but, surprisingly gently, corrects her wild notions. She leaves crying, fearing that Henry will want nothing to do with her. James informs Catherine, via letter, that he has been deceived by Isabella, and that he broke off their engagement because she flirted with Captain Tilney. The Tilneys are shocked; Catherine is disenchanted with Isabella. Catherine passes several more enjoyable days with the Tilneys; the General goes off to London and Eleanor becomes even more fun. One night, he returns abruptly, and Eleanor tells Catherine that the whole family has an engagement that prevents Catherine from staying any longer. Catherine must go home early the next morning, in a shocking and inhospitable move.

At home, Catherine is unhappy. Several days later, Henry visits her and explains what happened. General Tilney was enchanted with Catherine and wished her to marry Henry, but only because John Thorpe (who was infatuated with Catherine at the time) had misinfomed him that Catherine was an heiress. In London, he ran into Thorpe again, who, disappointed with Catherine, said instead that she was nearly destitute. He returned home to kick Catherine out. Henry says that he still wants to marry Catherine despite his father’s disapproval. Eventually, General Tilney agrees to the marriage, because Eleanor has become engaged to a wealthy and titled man, and he discovers that the Morlands, while not extremely rich, are far from destitute.

***

There’s a great adaptation of this novel in the form of TV drama aired in 2007, starring Felicity Jones as Catherine Morland.

Jane Austen #4: Emma

Emma, published in 1815, is the fourth published novel by Jane Austen. It is a story of misconstrued romance, and is one of my two favorites, since its characters are very colorful.

The story opens with:

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

It turns out our heroine, Emma Woodhouse, is rather spoiled. She also overvalues her personal judgment and skills at human match-making; and, she is naive —clueless, even— about the effects of her social machinations on others.

Emma Woodhouse lives in Surrey in the village of Highbury with her father, a hypochondriac who is excessively concerned for the health and safety of his loved ones. Emma’s friend and only critic is the gentlemanly Mr. Knightley, her neighbour from the adjacent estate of Donwell, and brother of her elder sister Isabella’s husband. As the novel opens, Emma has just attended the wedding of Miss Taylor, her best friend and former governess. Having introduced Miss Taylor to her future husband, Mr Weston, Emma takes credit for their marriage, and decides that she rather likes matchmaking.

Against Mr. Knightley’s advice, Emma forges ahead with her new interest, and tries to match her new friend Harriet Smith, a sweet but simpleminded girl of seventeen—described as “the natural daughter of somebody”—to Mr. Elton, the local vicar. However, first she must persuade Miss Smith to refuse an advantageous marriage proposal from a respectable young farmer, Mr. Martin, whom Emma believes is too socially inferior for Harriet. Against her own wishes, the easily-influenced Harriet refuses the proposal. However, soon her schemes go awry when Mr. Elton, a social climber himself, declares he wants to marry Emma —not the socially inferior Harriet. After Emma rejects Mr. Elton, he leaves for a while for a sojourn in Bath, and Harriet fancies herself heartbroken. Emma now tries to convince Harriet that Mr. Elton is beneath her after all.

An interesting development is the arrival in the neighbourhood of Frank Churchill, Mrs Weston’s stepson, whom Emma has never met, but in whom she has a long-standing interest. Also, Mr. Elton, who will reveal himself to be more and more arrogant and pompous as the story continues—much like Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice—returns with another newcomer, a common, vulgar but rich wife who becomes part of Emma’s social circle, though the two women soon loathe each other. A third new character is the orphaned Jane Fairfax, the reserved but beautiful niece of Emma’s impoverished neighbour, the talkative Miss Bates. Miss Bates is an aging spinster, who is well-meaning but increasingly poor; Emma strives to be polite and kind to her, but is irritated by her dull and incessant chattering. Jane, who is very accomplished musically, is Miss Bates’ pride and joy; Emma envies her talent and initially dislikes her for her apparent coldness and reserve. Jane had lived with Miss Bates until she was nine, but Colonel Campbell, a friend indebted to her father for seeing him through a life-threatening illness, welcomed her into his own home where she became fast friends with his unfortunately plain daughter and received a first-rate education. On the marriage of Miss Campbell, Jane returned to her relations, ostensibly to regain her health and prepare to earn her living as a governess.

In her eagerness to find some sort of fault with Jane—and also to find something to amuse her in her pleasant but dull village—Emma indulges in the fantasy, apparently shared with Frank, that Jane was an object of admiration for Miss Campbell’s husband, Mr. Dixon, and that it is for this reason she has returned home, rather than going to Ireland to visit them. This suspicion is further fueled by the arrival of a piano for Jane from a mysterious anonymous benefactor.

Emma tries to make herself fall in love with Frank largely because everyone says they make a handsome couple. Frank seems to everyone to have Emma as his object, and the two flirt together in public, including on a day-trip to Box Hill, a local beauty spot. Emma ultimately decides, however, that he would suit Harriet better after an episode where Frank ‘saves’ Harriet from a band of Gypsies. At this time, Mrs. Weston wonders if Emma’s old friend Mr. Knightley might have taken a fancy to Jane. Emma promptly decides that she does not want Mr. Knightley to marry anyone, but rather than further explore these feelings, she claims that this is because she wants her nephew Henry to inherit the family property.

When Mr. Knightley scolds her for a thoughtless insult to Miss Bates, Emma is privately ashamed, and tries to atone. Mr. Knightley approves deeply of Emma’s recognition of her wrongdoing and attempt to atone, revealing a foreshadowing of more meaningful affection for Emma. Meanwhile, Jane reportedly becomes ill, but refuses to see Emma or accept her gifts. Emma believes that Jane’s behavior stems from Emma’s previous neglect of Jane and/or coldness towards Jane. Jane also suddenly accepts an offer for a governess position from a friend of Mrs. Elton’s.

Emma soon thereafter learns the reasons for Jane’s odd behavior: Jane and Frank have been secretly engaged for almost a year. Frank had pretended to admire Emma in order to disguise his clandestine relationship with Jane. Jane’s distress was due to the fact that she and Frank had quarrelled over his behavior towards Emma and his unguarded behavior towards Jane, which Jane believed could put them at risk for discovery. The death of Frank’s overbearing aunt/adoptive mother frees Frank to marry Jane, and the engagement becomes public.

When Harriet confides that she thinks Mr. Knightley is in love with her, jealousy forces Emma to realize that she loves him herself. Mr. Knightley has been in love with Emma for the duration of the book and after the engagement of Jane and Frank had been discovered, he proposes to her. Shortly thereafter Harriet reconciles with her young farmer Mr. Martin and Jane and Emma reconcile and everyone lives happily.

***

For your considerations, we have a 1996 movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, and a 1996 TV drama starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma.

Also, a 1995 movie, Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone as Cher. Clueless is a modern adaptation of Emma; it is based loosely on Emma.

Jane Austen #3: Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park is published in July 1814, is controversial and is considered the least popular of Jane Austen’s novels.

The book tells us about Fanny Price, a young girl from a poor family, who is brought to live with her uncle and aunt, the rich Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram of Mansfield Park. Fanny’s mother, Lady Bertram, and a widowed Mrs. Norris who lives near Mansfield Park (the late Mr. Norris was the parson of Mansfield Park), are sisters, and while Lady Bertram made a succesful marriage (by succesful, I mean she married a rich man), Mrs. Norris an honourable marriage with a clergyman, their sister, Fanny Price née Ward (Fanny Price’s mother), married a lowly Marine officer and subsequently her sisters shut her out.

Fanny Price then grows up in Mansfield Park with her four cousins, Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia, but is always treated as inferior to them (especially by their aunt Norris); only Edmund Bertram shows her real kindness. He is also the most virtuous of the siblings: Maria and Julia are vain and spoiled, while Tom is an irresponsible gambler. Over time, Fanny’s gratitude for Edmund’s kindness secretly grows into love.

When the children have grown up, the stern patriarch Sir Thomas leaves for two years so he can deal with problems on his plantation in Antigua. Henry Crawford and his sister Mary arrive in the village, which begins a series of romantic entanglements. Mary and Edmund begin to form an attachment, though Edmund often worries that, although her manners are fashionable, they hide a lack of firm principle. However, she is engaging and charming, and goes out of her way to befriend Fanny. Fanny fears that Mary has enchanted Edmund, and love has blinded him to her flaws. Henry plays with the affections of Maria and Julia, despite Maria being already engaged to the dull, but very rich, Mr. Rushworth. Because Fanny is so little observed in the family circle, her presence is often overlooked and Fanny sees Maria and Henry in compromising situations several times.

Encouraged by Tom and his friend Mr. Yates, the young people decide to put on Elizabeth Inchbald’s play Lovers’ Vows; Edmund and Fanny oppose the plan, believing Sir Thomas will disapprove, but Edmund is eventually drawn into it, offering to play the part of Anhalt, who is the lover of the character played by Mary Crawford. In particular, the play provides a pretext for Henry and Maria to flirt in public. Sir Thomas arrives unexpectedly in the middle of a rehearsal, which ends the plan. Henry leaves, and Maria is crushed; she marries Mr. Rushworth and they leave for their honeymoon, taking Julia with them. Fanny’s improved looks and pleasant temper endear her to Sir Thomas, who pays more attention to her care.

Henry returns to Mansfield Park and decides to amuse himself by making Fanny fall in love with him. However, her genuine gentleness and kindness cause him to fall in love with her instead. When he proposes marriage, Fanny’s knowledge of his improper flirtations with her cousins, as well as her love for Edmund, cause her to reject him. The Bertrams are dismayed, since it is an extremely advantageous match for a poor girl like Fanny. Sir Thomas rebukes her for ingratitude. Thereafter she soon returns to her impoverished family where she wishes to return to Mansfield Park. Sir Thomas is hopeful that she will realize the usefulness of a rich husband. Henry goes to visit her there, to demonstrate that he has changed and is worthy of her affection. Fanny’s attitude begins to soften but still maintains that she will not marry him.

Shortly after Henry leaves, Fanny learns of a scandal involving Henry and Maria. The two met again in London and began an affair that, when discovered, ends in scandalous elopement and divorce. To make matters worse, the dissolute Tom has taken ill, and Julia has eloped with Mr. Yates. Fanny returns to Mansfield Park to comfort her aunt and uncle and to help take care of Tom. Although Edmund knows that marriage to Mary is now impossible because of the scandal between their relations, he goes to see her one last time. During the interview, it becomes clear that Mary doesn’t condemn Henry and Maria’s bad behaviour, only that they got caught. Her main concern is covering it up and she angrily implies that if Fanny had accepted Henry, he would have been too busy and happy to flirt with other women. This reveals Mary Crawford’s true nature to Edmund, who realises he had idealised her in to something she is not. He tells her so and returns to Mansfield and his living at Thornton Lacey. “At exactly the time it should be so, and not a week sooner” Edmund realises how important Fanny is to him, declares his love for her and they are married. Tom recovers from his illness, a steadier and better man for it, and Julia’s elopement turns out to be not such a desperate business after all.

Austen points out that if only Crawford had persisted in being steadfast to Fanny, and not succumbed to the affair with Maria, Fanny eventually would have accepted his marriage proposal – especially after Edmund had married Mary.

***

My favorite adaptation of Mansfield Park:
The 1999 movie starring Frances O’Connor as Fanny Price, Jonny Lee Miller as Edmund Bertram,  Harold Pinter as Sir Thomas Bertram, Lindsay Duncan as Lady Bertram, Sheila Gish as Mrs. Norris, James Purefoy as Tom Bertram, Victoria Hamilton as Maria Bertram, Justine Waddell as Julia Bertram, Alessandro Nivola as Henry Crawford, Embeth Davitz as the bewitching Mary Crawford,  Hugh Bonneville as Mr. Rushworth, Charles Edwards as Yates, and Sophia Myles as Susan Price, Fanny’s younger sister.