Showing posts with label Cambridge University PRess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cambridge University PRess. Show all posts

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Recreating Jane Austen

Recreating Jane Austen by John Wiltshire
Cambridge University Press, 2001
139 pages
Non-fiction; Jane
3/5 stars

Source: Library

Summary: An academic look at how film adaptations of Austen's novels inspire us to look anew at the novels.

Thoughts: If I was more organized, I would have published this last week with the Bedside Companion Book but I'm not so here it is.  While I love Austen's novels, I'm also really interested in the films, hence my decision to pick up this book.

It was my fault for picking this up because it's a very scholarly look at Austen; this means many big words, many theories, and many examinations of other scholarly works.  I was expecting a more fun look at the movies that have been adapted from Austen's novels.  I shouldn't have because it looks like a skinny academic tract rather than a fun jaunt.  He looks at three movies inspired by Austen: Metropolitan, Jane Austen in Manhattan, and Clueless.  He looks at the relationship between Austen and Shakespeare. He looks briefly at some 90s adaptations of her films; as you can see it was published before that great spate of Austen films in 2005-7. I'm really not the best person to read this and I found it too boring.

Overall: For the Austen scholar rather than the more casual fan like me.
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