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Austen fans will approve
By Liesl Schillinger |
December 16, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ASPIRING writers, take heart: One of the most beloved novels of all time was rejected when it was fluttered in front of publishers in 1797 - or so the historical record suggests. Called "First Impressions," it was written by a country girl whose father was so impressed by his daughter's sage and vivacious creation that he sent a letter of inquiry to a publisher, who refused even to look at the manuscript. Never mind. Sixteen years later, the book appeared under a different title. Perhaps you've heard of it: "Pride and Prejudice."
Here's a quick recap. A proud, clever girl named Elizabeth Bennet - who has four sisters; a silly, social-climbing mother; a smart but passive father; and no family fortune to speak of - is pursued, reluctantly, by a dashing, arrogant, wealthy man named Fitzwilliam Darcy, who loves her but considers her beneath him. "Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections?" he rudely asks, grudgingly confessing his love and demanding her hand in marriage. He's stunned when she refuses him. Eventually, Lizzy teaches him more "gentlemanlike" manners, and they marry in a double wedding with Darcy's friend Bingley and Lizzy's sister Jane, whom Darcy had initially striven to keep asunder. How did the marriages work out? Almost 200 years later, we have an answer in the form of a satisfying sequel called "Death Comes to Pemberley," a mystery by P.D. James.
This has been an excellent year for Jane Austen buffs, marking the 200th anniversary of her first appearance in print, with the anonymously published novel "Sense and Sensibility." Austen had begun writing that book years earlier, and its success meant that publication of three other works followed quickly. But so, unfortunately, did her death in 1817 at the age of 41. Nonetheless, her fame has lived on, magnified in recent decades by films and websites inspired by her novels.
It's surprisingly gratifying, while turning the pages of P.D. James' homage, to find oneself laughing not at the characters but with them. Baroness James, 91, a retired British civil servant, former magistrate, BBC governor and author of 20 previous books (many featuring the poet detective Adam Dalgliesh) is far too wise to overstep her authorial license. Her innovation has been to transplant the dramatis personae from Austen into her own suspenseful universe, preserving their likenesses and life force. James clearly understands that many readers feel as close an attachment to Austen's characters as they do to their own relatives and friends. So she cannily begins by furnishing answers to the natural question: "Where are they now?"
James will delight Austen's devoted fans by showing Darcy and Lizzy to be (if anything) more in love and better matched than anyone might have hoped, six years into their marriage. But can their union withstand the stress of a murder on the grounds of Pemberley, occasioned by the unwelcome appearance of Lizzy's sister Lydia, who gate-crashes the estate in a careering coach on the eve of the Darcys' annual autumn ball, having left a body or two behind in the Pemberley woodland?
But can these dark doings in Derbyshire be resolved without blotting Pemberley's escutcheon and blighting the Darcys' marital felicity? Soon enough, coroners, magistrates, witnesses, peers and plebeians will all make their way to London ... and tell it to the judge.
The greatest pleasure of this novel is its unforced, effortless, effective voice. James gives the impression that it is Austen herself writing, and you can't ask for much more than that.
Here's a quick recap. A proud, clever girl named Elizabeth Bennet - who has four sisters; a silly, social-climbing mother; a smart but passive father; and no family fortune to speak of - is pursued, reluctantly, by a dashing, arrogant, wealthy man named Fitzwilliam Darcy, who loves her but considers her beneath him. "Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections?" he rudely asks, grudgingly confessing his love and demanding her hand in marriage. He's stunned when she refuses him. Eventually, Lizzy teaches him more "gentlemanlike" manners, and they marry in a double wedding with Darcy's friend Bingley and Lizzy's sister Jane, whom Darcy had initially striven to keep asunder. How did the marriages work out? Almost 200 years later, we have an answer in the form of a satisfying sequel called "Death Comes to Pemberley," a mystery by P.D. James.
This has been an excellent year for Jane Austen buffs, marking the 200th anniversary of her first appearance in print, with the anonymously published novel "Sense and Sensibility." Austen had begun writing that book years earlier, and its success meant that publication of three other works followed quickly. But so, unfortunately, did her death in 1817 at the age of 41. Nonetheless, her fame has lived on, magnified in recent decades by films and websites inspired by her novels.
It's surprisingly gratifying, while turning the pages of P.D. James' homage, to find oneself laughing not at the characters but with them. Baroness James, 91, a retired British civil servant, former magistrate, BBC governor and author of 20 previous books (many featuring the poet detective Adam Dalgliesh) is far too wise to overstep her authorial license. Her innovation has been to transplant the dramatis personae from Austen into her own suspenseful universe, preserving their likenesses and life force. James clearly understands that many readers feel as close an attachment to Austen's characters as they do to their own relatives and friends. So she cannily begins by furnishing answers to the natural question: "Where are they now?"
James will delight Austen's devoted fans by showing Darcy and Lizzy to be (if anything) more in love and better matched than anyone might have hoped, six years into their marriage. But can their union withstand the stress of a murder on the grounds of Pemberley, occasioned by the unwelcome appearance of Lizzy's sister Lydia, who gate-crashes the estate in a careering coach on the eve of the Darcys' annual autumn ball, having left a body or two behind in the Pemberley woodland?
But can these dark doings in Derbyshire be resolved without blotting Pemberley's escutcheon and blighting the Darcys' marital felicity? Soon enough, coroners, magistrates, witnesses, peers and plebeians will all make their way to London ... and tell it to the judge.
The greatest pleasure of this novel is its unforced, effortless, effective voice. James gives the impression that it is Austen herself writing, and you can't ask for much more than that.
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