Is a treat in store for Jane Austen fans? A movie of her novella, Lady Susan, is out now.
Lady Susan is one of my favourite Austen works, not least because its eponymous anti-heroine is so unlike any other of Jane's characters in her more mature works. (It's believed that Jane probably wrote Lady Susan in her late teens). I haven't seen the movie yet, but the
official website has a trailer, and the frocks and locations look lovely.
I have not been able to update my blogs for ages as I've been busy writing a new book, but I hope to resume normal service very soon and continue my literary theme on Jane Austen's predecessors as promised
earlier this year.
Illustration: A satirical print of 1796 showing the latest fashions. Courtesy Library of Congress.
I have just recently seen the film and read the novella, Sue. I cried laughing in the film and the novella , which I read after the film, is wonderful. A few differences in the film. Sir James is brought more to the fore in the film with hilarious results. Whit Stillman had to create a film script from the letters.He does a brilliant job I think. Lady Susan in the novella is a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the Austen heroines. Totally amoral or perhaps even immoral, of course. Kate Beckinsale plays the part extremely well.The arch manipulator. I am smiling as I think back. I keep remembering her Dad, Richard Beckinsale, in Porridge with Ronnie Barker.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tony. I first read the novella many years ago and loved it! It is very interesting to speculate why Jane Austen didn't return to the theme of a female villainess.
ReplyDeleteEmma, is a benign, almost caring version of Lady Susan I suppose. At least she thinks she is doing good, if a little deluded. Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a lesser form of Lady Susan. A mitigating element with regards to, Lady Susan, is that she is a woman controlling a male chauvenist world. The 18th century woman could only dream of controlling the world around her and dominating the male of the species the way she does. Maybe Jane Austen, in her teenage years was fulfilling her wildest dreams through Lady Susan.
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