Character Assassination and Other Acts of Literary Hilarity
Okay, so this journal is having a mini-Austen fest with more to come...
So, on a sad, sad whim I picked up a sequel to Austen's Emma (although not the one where Emma is apparently madly in love with Jane Fairfax). It is called Emma and Knightley: Perfect Happiness in Highbury. The title should have been a clue. It really should have.
And, it's not even good if you imagine that the characters are just ones kinda similar to Austen's with different names.
every three pages. No I am not joking. My strong Emma Woodhouse who does things for herself(!) is very feeble here. She doesn't resolve anything until Knightley throws Frank Churchill off a balcony. An example of the terribleness of her characterization (This is after Frank Churchill has almost burnt down Donwell in order to rid himself of Jane Fairfax's terrible pianoforte):
"At some moments, Emma gave in utterly to her fears and became paler than a ghost and uttered little cries of distress; at others, berating herself for giving into her old enemy, an over-active imagination -- she did not need that now, she was too sensible --she read Pope and Dr Johnson"
Okay, you get the idea.
The eponymous Knightley of the title is often missing at Donwell Abbey and doesn't add much. He loses his good advice, speech pattern, and tends to bow...all the time. After anything he says. ALSO, EMMA CALLS HIM KNIGHTLEY ALL THE TIME AND FRANK CHURCHILL JUST FRANK! She sounds like Mrs. Elton. I even feel sorry for Mrs. Elton who is exceedingly ridiculous as to spout nonsense about Maple Grove. She, however, manages to refer to her husband with more dignity than Emma.
Frank Churchill transforms into the biggest tool out of any of the Austen rakes here. I think someone missed his good intentions and exaggerated his poor character. Also Jane Fairfax dies and he goes batshit insane and tries to molest Emma...terrible!
The plot, if we shall indeed call it that, is just recycled from the original novel. Emma still imagines Mr. Knightley is in love with Harriet Smith (how stupid can she get?) and Mr. Knightley imagines her in love with Frank Churchill. Frank Chruchill has a clandestine relationship with another, albeit brazen, musical woman who acts as a walking billboard for feminism (even recommending Emma Wollstencraft). It's as if no actual character development happened.
Not to mention that societal restrictions don't matter. Emma goes to the Coles without even a protest, when the Sucklings finally arrive at Hartfield, they don't visit people properly, proper names get mixed up...bleck!
And, on a more serious note, this is what you get when you underestimate Austen and think she has written lightweight romance novels. She's just using that, in my opinion, as a very clever veneer - she's really in the business of sociology, economics, psychology...they just happen to be related to courtship plots. Especially in Emma, which I would argue is one of the first flagbearers of the realist novel, when you take that out in favor of romance plots, it gets utterly ridiculous.
For example, here is my favorite lolzy sentences in the entire book:
"A society totally unused to dramatic events in its midst soon loses the power of recognising such events when they do occur. it would be less thought impossible to all at Highbury that handsome, rich, well-bred Frank Churchill (doted on by Mr Weston and his wife) should pounce on Mrs Knightley with the intention of making love to her -- by force, if persuasion failed, and within reach of the respectable company gathered at the Coles' -- and that furthermore the calm, sensible Mr Knightley would be so incensed that he should throw Mr Churchill over the wall, to the danger of his life.
Aside from the horrors perpetrated on Emma, what happened to Highbury? In the original novel the mysterious "Everybody" talks about everything. And Mr Knightley? A Murderer?
What? What? What? Am I reading Fruits Basket again?
Okay, time to read like...real literature. :D
And I am up to 25/250 books for the year. Although this program may discourage me from reading longer books, I am thinking...hmmm.
So, on a sad, sad whim I picked up a sequel to Austen's Emma (although not the one where Emma is apparently madly in love with Jane Fairfax). It is called Emma and Knightley: Perfect Happiness in Highbury. The title should have been a clue. It really should have.
And, it's not even good if you imagine that the characters are just ones kinda similar to Austen's with different names.
every three pages. No I am not joking. My strong Emma Woodhouse who does things for herself(!) is very feeble here. She doesn't resolve anything until Knightley throws Frank Churchill off a balcony. An example of the terribleness of her characterization (This is after Frank Churchill has almost burnt down Donwell in order to rid himself of Jane Fairfax's terrible pianoforte):
"At some moments, Emma gave in utterly to her fears and became paler than a ghost and uttered little cries of distress; at others, berating herself for giving into her old enemy, an over-active imagination -- she did not need that now, she was too sensible --she read Pope and Dr Johnson"
Okay, you get the idea.
The eponymous Knightley of the title is often missing at Donwell Abbey and doesn't add much. He loses his good advice, speech pattern, and tends to bow...all the time. After anything he says. ALSO, EMMA CALLS HIM KNIGHTLEY ALL THE TIME AND FRANK CHURCHILL JUST FRANK! She sounds like Mrs. Elton. I even feel sorry for Mrs. Elton who is exceedingly ridiculous as to spout nonsense about Maple Grove. She, however, manages to refer to her husband with more dignity than Emma.
Frank Churchill transforms into the biggest tool out of any of the Austen rakes here. I think someone missed his good intentions and exaggerated his poor character. Also Jane Fairfax dies and he goes batshit insane and tries to molest Emma...terrible!
The plot, if we shall indeed call it that, is just recycled from the original novel. Emma still imagines Mr. Knightley is in love with Harriet Smith (how stupid can she get?) and Mr. Knightley imagines her in love with Frank Churchill. Frank Chruchill has a clandestine relationship with another, albeit brazen, musical woman who acts as a walking billboard for feminism (even recommending Emma Wollstencraft). It's as if no actual character development happened.
Not to mention that societal restrictions don't matter. Emma goes to the Coles without even a protest, when the Sucklings finally arrive at Hartfield, they don't visit people properly, proper names get mixed up...bleck!
And, on a more serious note, this is what you get when you underestimate Austen and think she has written lightweight romance novels. She's just using that, in my opinion, as a very clever veneer - she's really in the business of sociology, economics, psychology...they just happen to be related to courtship plots. Especially in Emma, which I would argue is one of the first flagbearers of the realist novel, when you take that out in favor of romance plots, it gets utterly ridiculous.
For example, here is my favorite lolzy sentences in the entire book:
"A society totally unused to dramatic events in its midst soon loses the power of recognising such events when they do occur. it would be less thought impossible to all at Highbury that handsome, rich, well-bred Frank Churchill (doted on by Mr Weston and his wife) should pounce on Mrs Knightley with the intention of making love to her -- by force, if persuasion failed, and within reach of the respectable company gathered at the Coles' -- and that furthermore the calm, sensible Mr Knightley would be so incensed that he should throw Mr Churchill over the wall, to the danger of his life.
Aside from the horrors perpetrated on Emma, what happened to Highbury? In the original novel the mysterious "Everybody" talks about everything. And Mr Knightley? A Murderer?
What? What? What? Am I reading Fruits Basket again?
Okay, time to read like...real literature. :D
And I am up to 25/250 books for the year. Although this program may discourage me from reading longer books, I am thinking...hmmm.