Wednesday Ways of the World

[evelyn_b]

What I've Just Finished Reading

Sense and Sensibility! It's great, what can I say? I think I have more mixed feelings about Col. Brandon than about any of Austen's other primary suitors. The problem is, [Spoilers for Sense and Sensibility, which you really should read]I feel obligated to have misgivings about pairings where one partner is a teenager and the other is almost twenty years older, especially

Comments

[egelantier]

...can i possibly interest you in a truly epic fantasy tetralogy with no sexual violence whatsoever, fascinating worldbuilding, an ensemble of wonderful characters and a truly epic sweeping narrative arc? because i could :D

[evelyn_b]

PLEASE DO.

[egelantier]

inda by sherwood smith! it's possibly you've read it, since i'm always the last to the reading train, but if you didn't, i'm ready to do the song and dance.

[evelyn_b]

I have not read it! You can tell me more if you like, or I can just pick it up and discover it for myself -- your call!

[silverflight8]

the thing I really hate about the Marianne and Col Brandon is that she just doesn't want to date him (ok that's not the right term but whatever) and everyone's like no, your preferences don't actually matter. Whatever. It bugs me probably anachronistically because of how and when I live, but no one owes anyone a romantic interest or relationship and women especially get this - oh give him a chance, why such a bitch, etc. Argh. I also am not a fan of huge age gaps with teenagers. Marianne is so sheltered. So sheltered.

Anyway. FJSHDGJH. After the Dashwoods' unbelievable horribleness (the reams I could write about them can be more easily summarized as NOOOO YOU SUCK) I dislike the secondary romance the most.

[evelyn_b]

I don't think it's anachronistic to expect the Dashwoods to respect Marianne's preferences, especially considering that a reluctance to marry outside one's inclination is treated sympathetically in several other Austen novels. I don't mind them laughing at her a bit because she thinks no woman past the age of 25 could possibly feel or excite love, but the fact is, a man in his mid-thirties IS old to her, and she isn't wrong to notice the difference, because she is very, very young.

[silverflight8]

Maybe anachronistic isn't quite the right word for it, but what women can do for a living at her social position is very limited (at least if she wants to continue to stay at that level) and I think that drives some of that. Older men are more established, can provide for their wives, etc. She has to marry or live off her relatives basically and we already know Mr and Mrs Dashwood won't lift a pinky to help her.

[gillo]

I don't love S&S as I love P&P, but Emma Thomson did a fine job with it. (It's also when she shacked up with Greg Wise and broke up with Kenneth Branagh, I believe, so there was much fought RL stuff going on.)She was definitely too old for the part really, though one can understand why she wanted to do it, and Ang Lee was an amazing director.

I love Alan Rickman, which reconciles me to the Brandon/Marianne thing a bit. I think Austen was a little too concerned with neat wrapping up of themes in this book, so that Elinor marrying for love when all seems hopeless is counterbalanced by Marianne learning to be sensible. In many ways it's as much a commentary on contemporary popular fiction as Northanger Abbey is - the heroines are as subject to the ironic authorial gaze as any other character, which is not quite true in the later books. (Except Emma. And I love her dearly.)

[evelyn_b]

Hah. I thought it was a bit worse in the movie, because Alan Rickman looks even older than Col. Brandon is supposed to be, and they never seemed to develop much chemistry, which could have sold me grudgingly on it. He has a nice nose, though; I will give him that :)

Emma Thompson is visibly too old in some scenes, but it didn't hurt anything as far as I could tell.

That's a good point about the ironic authorial gaze. The trouble is, Austen is just too damn good at characterization! I felt too protective of Marianne to even think about popular fictional norms and themes and things.

[osprey_archer]

How does a Holistic Detective Agency work? You come in with one problem, and Dirk Gently steeples his fingers and says, "I'm sure you think your wife's infidelity is your biggest problem, but let's take a look at the big picture, shall we?"

...Also, because apparently I can't help myself with plugging the S&S miniseries at every opportunity - I should really watch it again myself; it's been a few years - but I thought they did a better job with Colonel Brandon there. There's still the age gap, but he doesn't seem as ill-suited to Marianne as in the movie version.

[evelyn_b]

That's the basic idea! "Specializing in the fundamental interconnectedness of things -- we solve the whole crime, we find the whole person." It's primarily a bit of a scam in which Dirk is engaged to find missing cats etc. and later bills the client for his trip to Bermuda, on the basis of the aforementioned fundamental interconnectedness. But eventually he ends up helping to solve a larger mystery in which many things really are interconnected, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, aliens, and the origin of life on earth. It's a comedy sci-fi ghost story that has very little to do with detection in the traditional sense.

I'll have to take a look at the miniseries!

[lost_spook]

Aw, glad you liked both S&S and the film, even with your reservations! (I am okay with Colonel Brandon for lots of reasons, especially narrative structure, but also character ones too. You're not alone, though - an awful lot of S&S fic and requests are for Elinor/Brandon instead. Which causes me problems, because the way Austen constructs stuff I just can't take alternative pairings because in my head that breaks the book

[evelyn_b]

I mean, Elinor and Brandon are good friends and it could work I guess, if Brandon wasn't set on Marianne, but. . . I don't know. The only alternate Austen pairing I could see myself committing to is Mary Bennet/Mr. Collins, and even there I don't feel quite right about it because they would just bring out the worst in each other.

Is Alan Rickman a big deal? I don't think I've seen him in anything else except as Snape in Harry Potter, so maybe there's some context I'm missing?

Luckily, there shouldn't be much awkwardness about the book; I only ever see the author at book events and it's not like she asked me to critique it or anything (she is, or presents as, very confident in the reception of her work). If she asks, I'll just say it wasn't my thing after all. There's some evidence to suggest she may interpret this as prudishness, but that's all right with me.

We'll see! Jonathan Strange etc. definitely sounds worth trying.

[lost_spook]

Alan Rickman is a fairly big deal; or at least he's a very good actor & well-known film actor. I like him (he is indeed a very good actor) but I am a little bemused by quite how generally attractive everyone seems to find him. (Mind, I think a lot of it's the voice, and I can get that, it's true.) But, yes, pretty much. I saw S&S in the cinema with a friend who spent the whole time raving just about his boots, so you can understand my amusement at your lack of enthusiasm for him! ;-)

He's been in a few things with Emma Thompson, actually.

Oh, I'm very glad to know the author isn't going to be demanding much feedback from you!