Saturday, March 04, 2006

Jane Austen: fact or fiction?


Anne Hathaway will star in Becoming Jane.



There was an interesting post at Austenblog yesterday (Summer loving . . . ) about a forthcoming film called Becoming Jane.

'Becoming Jane focuses on a life-changing romance during one summer in the life of the young Jane Austen,' reads the film copy.

Austenblog comments: "Sadly, no! The 'romance' with Tom Lefroy actually took place in December 1795 through January 1796. Not summer. Not even close."

I'm as eager as the next Jane Austen fan for a film about her life, but I like to know if I'm watching fact or fiction. Whilst the film intends to focus on Jane's relationship with Tom Lefroy, building it into something 'as passionate as any scenario from her works of romantic fiction. . . he was the big love of her life, her first and her only love . . . '

Austenblog comments: "Let us not forget the Mysterious Suitor-by-the-Sea."

For everyone else who likes to know whether they're watching fact or fiction, the Austenblog post is essential reading.

As for the film, the sooner the better, I say!

Amanda Grange

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think people sometimes forget (or deliberately overlook) how anti-Romantic Jane Austen was. Sense and Sensibility is about the pitfalls of Romanticism and excessive romantic sensibility. Austen's heroines aren't swept away by uncontrollable grand passions (well, maybe Catherine Moreland, but then again, she's shown to be overly influenced by the gothic novels she's been reading). Like Jane, Anne Elliot was able to live a productive, happy life without the man she loved. Clearly Anne was much happier with him, but she didn't behave like Marianne Dashwood. Jane herself was, I'm sure, much, much more like Anne than she was like Marianne.

Kate Allan said...

Definately will be interested to watch the film. Jane Austen's life and the fact she did not have a 'happy ever after' is what inspired me to write Perfidy and Perfection, a romance about a lady novelist in Regency times who does have a happy ending.