Attention, Austenacious community: Are you in San Francisco this Saturday? Are you going to WonderCon?
If so, keep an eye out for your sisters in Jane-ity!
Miss Osborne and Miss Ball will be cruising Moscone Center all day, performing ultra-scientific field research regarding two significant and commendable hypotheses: 1) the technical and possibly universal nature of the single man in possession of a good fortune, yet in want of a wife (it’s not what you think!), and 2) the difficulty of scoring face time with Jake Gyllenhaal (it’s . . . exactly what you think). If you happen to spot us across a crowded room (hint: here’s what we look like), do say hi!
You won’t find us in Regency costumes, Avatar-blue body paint, Sailor Moon costumes, or Storm Trooper masks—we’ll be undercover as incredulous civilians—but you might find us behind a video camera, working on a Very Special Episode of Austenacious (finally: we learn about our changing bodies!). Either way, don’t be shy—we’d love to meet you.
Otherwise, you know, it’s just us and Jake. And I don’t think anybody—least of all Jake—wants that.
OK, we’re getting down to it now. I refer to the movers and shakers, the players who will not go away, obnoxious as they may be. I refer of course to those social climbers and dribbling slam-dunkers, the Bennet family. Will they be unstoppable? Only time and you, our beloved voters, will tell.
Sweet 16 went pretty much by the smart money. See the Austenacious_MarchMadness_Sweet16_Official bracket for the official results. Voting highlights:
- Colonel Fitzwilliam finally found his match in the redoubtable Mr. Bennet. Sarcasm wins the day! (Well, duh. . .)
- 29% of you gave your love to Henry Tilney, but it was not enough. No, not nearly enough. Next up, Mr. Darcy battles his prospective father-in-law, who, remember “has talents which even he cannot deny.”
- John Knightley squeaks by Frank Churchill, in another overtime match. Veddy interesting! Jane Fairfax, are you listening to this?! John Knightley may be kind of surly, but at least he doesn’t flirt with another girl in front of his fiancée. There’s words for that where we come from!
- And Mr. Bingley takes down Robert Martin (nice, gentlemanly, and rich beats nice, gentlemanly, and middle class) to face John Knightley in the coming round.
- As we all expected, the UNSTOPPABLE FORCE that is Elizabeth Bennet dealt quite handily with Miss Bates, as we know she would have had they ever met face to face. Emma’s little comment just isn’t in with what Lizzie could say! Though I don’t think Lizzie would ever be as unsubtle as Emma, do you? Miss Bates did get one sympathy vote, though, which I’m guessing was our own Miss Woodhouse on the flip side.
- In another 27-million hour game, Lady Catherine went down to Mrs. Bennet by just one vote! Both those ladies can talk, as you know, but Mrs. B did outscore Lady C in the marriage market by a handy 3 to 0, so I see this as her victory by rights, anyway.
- Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, got ousted by Anne Elliot, faded, unblooming, and silent. Is this the Emma haters at work, or the Anne lovers? Or both?
- Catherine Morland took down Mrs. Elton with no trouble to win the final spot at the Elite 8 table. I do think Harriet Smith is pleased about that! However, she now faces Anne Elliot is both nice (take that, Henry Tilney!) and smart. Hmm. . .
Who will advance to the rarefied air of the Final Four? Only you can tell! Elite 8 voting ends THURSDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT, April 1/2.
Once again, peerless voters, in a battle of wits, in a duel to the death, in a love fest for the ages, who would win?
Well, kids, thanks for playing in the Second Round! We are now on to the Sweet 16, which is sort of funny, since our one 16-year-old (Lydia) got taken out by her own mother. This is war, ladies! Check out the Austenacious_MarchMadness_Round2_Official bracket for the standings. Voting highlights:
- Hello, Colonel Fitzwilliam! Where did you come from?! I guess not saying much is a way to get yourself liked in Austenland. Maybe Mr. Bennet will prove more of a challenge than Mr. Palmer? Mr. Bennet took out Edmund Bertram quite handily. Do we see him as a Captain Picard sort of figure? Or is Edmund just that annoying?
- Mr. Darcy collected 2/3 of the votes, so Captain Wentworth put up a decent fight. I do hope the captain tries again in eight years! Mr. Darcy now faces Henry Tilney. . . You know, I think Lizzie would like Henry. They would get on so well!—I’m just saying.
- No real surprises in the rest of the men’s match-ups, though I do think Jane Austen would be pleased that Robert Martin took down Mr. Elton. He may not be a gentleman, but he isn’t a douchebag either. We’ll just see what he and Mr. Bingley make of each other!
- On the women’s side, Eliza Bennet once again trounced her opponent—this time our own lovely Miss Bennet. I do think beloved sisters fighting is sad, don’t you?. . . Well, we’ll see what Lizzie and Miss Bates make of each other—yes, Miss Bates took down Kitty. Go Miss B!
- In a weird mother-daughter match-up, Mrs. Bennet ousted Lydia, so she’ll face Lady Catherine in the next round. Sort of inevitable that Lady Catherine would deal with poor Charlotte, I suppose.
- In a rare display of spirit, Anne Elliot took care of Caroline Bingley, so she’ll face Emma this round. This will be an acid test of our voters, I think!
- Mrs. Elton defeated Mary Musgrove by the narrowest of margins (in overtime, one might say). I guess bragging is marginally less annoying than whining? She’s up against Catherine Morland, who defeated Fanny Price. Ditz who likes clothes beats sweet know-it-all! Next on Geraldo!
OK, enough of these preview chat shows. Bring on the madness! Sweet 16 voting ends MONDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT, March 29/30. (I know the other MM has moved on to and past Elite Eight at that point, but we do this our way.)
Once again, fearless voters, in a battle of wits, in a duel to the death, in a love fest for the ages, who would win?
Photo credit: ©2010 by Heather Dever. All rights reserved. OK, only some rights reserved. You can copy if you credit!
Okay, internet. Let’s talk about the next big thing. The trending topic. The thing all the kids are talking about, or would be if they were that cool and/or not frittering away their precious youths on ChatRoulette. We’re talking early 19th-century literature, the birth of the modern novel…sung. Yeah, that’s right. I’m talking Pride and Prejudice and that automatic pop-culture dynamite, the opera.
This Saturday, Mrs. Fitzpatrick and I did what all hot young things would on a sunny California afternoon: put on our enormous sunglasses, leggings, and gladiator sandals and hoofed it over to a Jane and the Arts seminar at San Francisco State University, hosted by the Jane Austen Society of North America, Northern California chapter, and partially featuring composer Kirke Mechem and his new Pride and Prejudice opera. Awww, yeah. Work it.
Mechem was, in fact, fascinating (and very enthusiastic when accosted at tea time to discuss Jane Austen March Madness), and spoke at length about the process of adapting Austen. From the perspective of a seasoned writer and composer, he spoke of the appeal of diverse characterization in Pride and Prejudice (and why he’d be unlikely to adapt, say, Persuasion in the same way), the humor and poignancy that attracted him to her work in the first place (see: Bennet, Jane and Mrs.), and tough decisions in the area of cutting (he left out Lizzy’s trip to Pemberley, but hear him out before you storm off in a huff). He spoke about incorporating—or not—the music of the day into his score, and about a single instance of borrowing from another artist’s work.
And then the singers came out.
And it was awesome.
It turns out that Pride and Prejudice practically begs to be set to music—not slavishly, not without edits and rearrangements, but in a way that explores the text in a new and totally entertaining light. Most striking was the way in which the music coordinated with and then illuminated each character in his or her turn—a spot-on aural representation of the people and universe of the novel. Mrs. Bennet as high (not to say shrill) soprano? Check. Darcy as graceful-yet-manly baritone? Also check. Mr. Collins as hilariously imperious bass baritone? Check check check check check. We heard Lizzy and Darcy’s awkward dance at the ball and Lizzy’s rebuttal of Collins, and capped everything off with an aria for (soprano) Jane Bennet, embellished slightly with the Sara Teasdale poem “Let It Be Forgotten”—which we loved for highlighting both the sweetness of Jane’s character and the sorrow of her situation. In terms of accessibility, there are no Viking helmets here; as opera goes, this is relatively light and totally approachable (and sung in English). If you think Jane Austen is funny, you’ll think her opera’s funny, too.
The Pride and Prejudice opera has yet to premiere professionally, and the internet has not seen fit to grace us with a video sample (we looked!), but consider this the Austenacious stamp of approval: we loved what we saw and heard, and we just can’t wait to hear Lizzy’s takedown of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. In fact, we take it back: Lady Catherine just might wear that Viking helmet.
Hey, y’all, we got game! Thanks to everyone who voted; yes, your responses are important to us. 
The First Round is over: here’s the Austenacious_MarchMadness_Round1_Official bracket if you want to follow along. Voting highlights:
- Of the Sense and Sensibility crowd, only Mr. Palmer and John Dashwood made it past the first round. OK, we were mean to put Marianne up against Eliza Bennet, who slammed her, but Elinor was only barely edged out by Anne Elliot.
- Mr. Darcy wiped the floor with Colonel Brandon (maybe if Jane Austen had known Alan Rickman this would have been a closer fight?), and Captain Wentworth soundly defeated Mr. Knightley. I’m excited to see which of them will hoop it more in the next round!
- All the Bennet women made it through their matches, all except Mary, who fell to Miss Bates. That has got to hurt! Still maybe she’ll have more time to study this way.
Enough talk, more play! Second round voting ends WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT, March 24/25.
Once again, fearless voters, in a battle of wits, in a duel to the death, in a love fest for the ages, who would win?
Hello, all you Austen lovers, and pitters of Austen against Austen. Thank you to everyone who sent in a bracket—and may I say, we can expect an exciting two weeks!
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines! I declare these Games of the first Jane Austen’s March Madness open! You may commence voting when ready. The polls will close at midnight on March 20/21. If you submitted a bracket, good luck! If you didn’t, we know you still have an opinion!
Out of all of Jane Austen’s characters, in a battle of wits, in a duel to the death, in a love fest for the ages, who would win?
A quick reminder:
Jane Austen’s March Madness brackets are due THURSDAY, MARCH 18! Tip-off (see what we did there?) for the big tournament takes place that day, and we wouldn’t want anybody to miss the chance to enter. Otherwise you might, like, have to follow actual basketball, and where’s the fun in that?
If you’ve already sent your bracket in, you’re good to go. Get your voting fingers ready!
If you haven’t sent your bracket in, what are you waiting for? Download, fill out the e-form, return it, and watch the magic happen! Who knows? You might win the pool, and how often does that happen? (Come on, be honest.)
You can follow the action here on the site and via Twitter (find us here!)—join the party, and bring a friend!
Thursday. Let’s do this.
Oh, for the sake of mothers everywhere, I hope this is wrong: today, the Times Online named Lady Catherine de Bourgh one of the great literary matriarchs.
I don’t know about this.
First of all, I don’t think Lady Catherine is totally successful, in the strict sense of the word, as a matriarch: in Pride and Prejudice, she digs deep into her personal bag of tricks to hook poor, long-suffering Anne de Bourgh up with Mr. Darcy—a member of her own family, even!—and fails. A true matriarchal victory would have placed all the best eligible country gentlemen at Anne’s feet, possibly without her knowledge, and Lady Catherine would have spent the rest of her life with a smug eye on the grandkids (who, remember, still wouldn’t have her name—there’s no heir to the de Bourgh throne, so to speak).
Second of all, I like to think that, in another time and place, Lady Catherine might put her (still considerable) powers of manipulation to work in a more public—and possibly more productive—forum. CEO? Head of state? Glenn Close? She’d have her pick—she’s Lady Catherine de Bourgh, bitch!
If nothing else, she might find more challenging people to boss around: nothing against lording it over Mr. Collins, but surely a woman of Lady Catherine’s status and vast personal resources could put on her best power suit and Madeleine Albright brooch and get stuff done, if you know what I mean. She clearly understands the power (theoretical, if not always practical) of both the home-court advantage and the surprise back-door meeting; give the woman a powdery wig and a black robe, and I see her duking it out on BBC Parliament with the rest of them. Let her run the board meeting, and she might harangue the competition into the ground. Give her a work force, and she’ll give you an army. If nothing else, maybe she’d leave poor Anne alone and put her stink-eye—and, let’s be honest, her passion for getting her way—to work somewhere else.
What do you think, readers? In a perfect world, is Lady Catherine the supreme leader of all, or just Lucille Bluth before her time? Might any other Austen moms take the title instead?
Cue movie preview voice: In a world filled with madness, tall men dueled sweaty duels with balls . . . and baskets!
Ahem. Let’s try again.
In a March filled with Austen, brave men and witty women dueled for the hearts . . . and minds . . . of you!
Yes, that’s right.
Austenacious.
Presents.
JANE AUSTEN’S MARCH MADNESS!!!
Who the heck cares about college basketball geeks? (Settle down, Lydia.) Let’s kick this old-school. Out of all of Jane Austen’s characters, in a battle of wits, in a duel to the death, in a love fest for the ages, who would win? We’ll settle this NCAA style.
How it works:
Download the Austenacious_MarchMadness bracket marked with the opening match-ups of Austen characters. Fill out your picks for all the matches, down to the Champion, in Adobe Reader. Save the file with your name, and email your completed bracket to us at postmistress [at] austenacious [dot] com BY THURSDAY, MARCH 18. Guess the outcome of the greatest number of matches, and you could win a small prize!
Then, vote! Over the coming weeks—corresponding with each round of the NCAA tournament—we’ll post the character match-ups in a poll. Pick your favorite character from each pair. Follow along with your bracket to see who’s been knocked out and who makes it to the next poll! On April 5, the Champion will be decided. The Austenacious judging committee will pick a winning bracket randomly from those with the greatest number of correct matches.
Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Tell everyone in the whole world!
It’s time to play.
Basketball photo credit:
So, why do women like the world of Jane Austen?
I do hope some mannered yet virile gentleman will arrive to enlighten us!
Is it because, having both boobs and X-chromosomes (two of each, generally), we just can’t get enough of the “structured undergarment eaten by ruffles” look? Maybe it’s to do with the steady diet of finger cakes—mmm, nutritious!—and pianoforte music! Surely we’d rather spend the day embroidering in poorly lit rooms than work hard at careers we love, and obviously, we live to obsess over the socio-romantic dynamics of our neighborhoods—or we would, if Jane didn’t use such gosh-darned big words! Golly!
You’ve shown me, good sir, that “the ideals of civilized and refined living these stories represent” must be what keeps me coming back for more of Austen’s work. Do you think I could grow up to live in a world where women can dance, draw, sing, play now-obsolete musical instruments, and spend their energy worrying about the fact of their own financial dependence? Do you really think so?
I always thought women loved Jane Austen because she tells the truth about the human experience. I thought women loved Jane Austen because her characters are timeless. I thought women loved Jane Austen because she offers insight into what it means to love and be loved, as a lover or as a friend or as a sister or as a member of the community at large. I thought women loved Jane Austen because her novels are funny and poignant and deceptive in their simplicity.
I thought men loved Jane Austen, too.
Guess I was wrong.
