The Other Austen

Guaranteed to Bring Out the Bitch In You

  • 1st May
    2012
  • 01
feigningnormalcy: I’ve been thinking about what I want to say about this book for a couple days now. Though I enjoyed it very much, I think Eugenides was trying to do too many things at once, leaving me dissatisfied by the end. -The “marriage plot” is a 19th century literary device. It refers not only to the plot of the novel itself in the Austenian sense (coming-of-age story culminating in a marriage) but also to the “scheme” or the “plot” the heroine and her friends partake in to nab husbands. Like the protagonist—Madeleine Hanna—I’ve enjoyed studying the “marriage plot” novels of 18th and 19th century authors, written at a time when women were literally classified as idiots. Intellectually, they were considered children. Despite this, these brilliant women picked up a pen and wrote books, publishing their big “fuck yous” for everyone to see. Novels by women for women revolve around the marriage plot, producing my favorite opening line of all time: “It is a truth generally acknowledged, that a single man…” We’ve all heard it before. So witty, so sarcastic, so perfect. Eugenides wants to follow in this great tradition and give us a modern “marriage plot” novel. And at first it works, and I love it. It appeases my narcissism to read about a girl much like me: studying literature simply because she loves to read, taking a class on Victorian love stories and writing about the marriage plot, and fighting with her pretentious classmates in her honors seminar about semiotics. But after the first few “Madeleine chapters” we lose sight of this unifying thread completely… Read more! Summer reading list!!

feigningnormalcy:

I’ve been thinking about what I want to say about this book for a couple days now. Though I enjoyed it very much, I think Eugenides was trying to do too many things at once, leaving me dissatisfied by the end.

-The “marriage plot” is a 19th century literary device. It refers not only to the plot of the novel itself in the Austenian sense (coming-of-age story culminating in a marriage) but also to the “scheme” or the “plot” the heroine and her friends partake in to nab husbands. Like the protagonist—Madeleine Hanna—I’ve enjoyed studying the “marriage plot” novels of 18th and 19th century authors, written at a time when women were literally classified as idiots. Intellectually, they were considered children. Despite this, these brilliant women picked up a pen and wrote books, publishing their big “fuck yous” for everyone to see. Novels by women for women revolve around the marriage plot, producing my favorite opening line of all time: “It is a truth generally acknowledged, that a single man…” We’ve all heard it before. So witty, so sarcastic, so perfect.

Eugenides wants to follow in this great tradition and give us a modern “marriage plot” novel. And at first it works, and I love it. It appeases my narcissism to read about a girl much like me: studying literature simply because she loves to read, taking a class on Victorian love stories and writing about the marriage plot, and fighting with her pretentious classmates in her honors seminar about semiotics. But after the first few “Madeleine chapters” we lose sight of this unifying thread completely…

Read more!

Summer reading list!!

(Source: dearestdeadbeatrice)

  • 26th January
    2012
  • 26

theotherausten:

darlingmagpie:

Regency Dating Reality Show? WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED OF THIS!?

Anyone see Regency House Party? I have to admit I’ve seen it about 10 times. I’m ashamed to say that this old school hetero courtship is somehow comforting—like leave me the hell out of it, but it’s sure fun to watch! If you want to watch some depressing shit, find Manor House. Wow SO sad. Playlist for Regency House Party: http://www.youtube.com/user/affectiveideologeme#p/c/A41E10951CB748DD/0/xgZlGrTbZHg

  • 21st January
    2012
  • 21

Mysteries of Lisbon is a 2010 film adaptation of Camilo Castelo Branco’s 1854 novel Misterios de Lisboa. I meant to post about this sooner, back when I saw that it was chosen as a NYT Critic’s Pick…and when I saw the purdy costumes! The novel/film takes place over the course of a few decades, so the Portuguese equivalent of the Regency may be included!

Description: Raul Ruiz’s masterful adaptation of the eponymous nineteenth-century Portuguese novel (by Camilo Castelo Branco) evokes the complex intertwined narratives of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. The core story centers on Joao, the bastard child of an ill-fated romance between two members of the aristocracy who are forbidden to marry, and his quest to discover the truth of his parentage. But this is just the start of an engrossing tale that follows a multitude of characters whose fates conjoin, separate and then rejoin again over three decades in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy.

I have yet to see it but it looks promising!

Here’s the trailer. Oh, and it’s available on Netflix (not Instant, unfortunately).

Here are some links to watch it online!

  • 14th January
    2012
  • 14
  • 11th January
    2012
  • 11
  • 7th December
    2011
  • 07
  • 7th December
    2011
  • 07
  • 2nd December
    2011
  • 02
  • 1st December
    2011
  • 01
  • 1st December
    2011
  • 01

Not Jane Austen, but E.M. Forster was a Janeite so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

Check out A Room with a View and Howards End on instant Netflix. And read the books, o’ course!

ETA - Edwardian gay pick-up lines always do the trick.

  • 29th November
    2011
  • 29
  • 27th November
    2011
  • 27
  • 25th November
    2011
  • 25
  • 25th November
    2011
  • 25
ragbag: phenakistiscope party did you hear about this thing called animated gifs? it turns out that they’re excellent for reanimating the persistence of vision phenakistiscope discs of the 1800s. in this disc created by john dunn in the 1830s (and reanimated by yours truly 179 years later), we get a chance to see the idyllic scene of a mom working on her biceps and a dandy dad demonstrating his jazz hands and rejecting the embrace of his eager baby over and over and over forever. __ original disc image provided by room 26 cabinet of curiosities. a legit 19th century gif. amazing!

ragbag:

phenakistiscope party

did you hear about this thing called animated gifs? it turns out that they’re excellent for reanimating the persistence of vision phenakistiscope discs of the 1800s. in this disc created by john dunn in the 1830s (and reanimated by yours truly 179 years later), we get a chance to see the idyllic scene of a mom working on her biceps and a dandy dad demonstrating his jazz hands and rejecting the embrace of his eager baby over and over and over forever.

__

original disc image provided by room 26 cabinet of curiosities.

a legit 19th century gif. amazing!

(Source: ragbag, via democracyoftouch)