Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: I recently read Havisham, a prequel and retelling of Charles Dickens Great Expectations, one of my favorite Victorian novels. The choice to expand the back story of the minor character Miss Havisham, the most infamous misandry in literary history, was brilliant. Jilted at the altar she was humiliated... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: In the 41 years of producing television adaptations based on classic literature, Masterpiece Classic (formerly known as Master Theatre), has had a very productive relationship with author Charles Dickens. We have enjoyed two Bleak House’s, two David Copperfield’s, A Tale of Two Cities, Hard Times, Martin Chuzzlewit, Great... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Charles Dickens’ classic novel Great Expectations has been adapted no less than fourteen times for the screen. Like Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, every ten years or so it gets trotted out for a new interpretation; and, for good reason. The tale is... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Br. Paul Byrd, OP Hidden like gems among the pages of [Dickens’] novels are numerous religious images and biblical references: in Great Expectations, Pip praying for the Lord to be merciful to Abel Magwitch, a sinner and formidable criminal; in Bleak House, the image of Christ ‘stooped down, writing with his finger... Continue Reading →
We are basically a tried and true Janeite, but quietly confess to admiration of another nineteenth-century novelist also born in Hampshire; - Charles Dickens. His style is entirely different than the witty underpinnings of our beloved Miss Austen, but one cannot ignore his fabulous characterizations and amazing plot twists. Today is the bicentenary of Dickens’... Continue Reading →
Affairs of the heart populate episode two with hopes and aspirations for all of the unattached characters in Masterpiece Classic's miniseries of Little Dorrit. The episode opens with a wrenching blow to John Chivery (Russell Tovey), when Amy Dorrit (Claire Foy) rejects his tender marriage proposal. The touching scene played out with chilling sadness as... Continue Reading →
And so the mystery begins as the opening episode of Masterpiece Classic's Little Dorrit puts us on the trail of whodunnit. Arthur Clennam (Matthew Macfadyen) the anti prodigal son returns home from abroad after several years to fulfill the mysterious death bed wish of his father "to put it right" by promising to place his... Continue Reading →
"A comparison (of Elizabeth Gaskell) to Jane Austen for its combination of humor and moral judgment in the observation of character and conduct is often made, not unjustly, though Mrs. Gaskell's canvas is larger than Austen's bit of ivory." Edgar Wright Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) has been said to have a "wit to challenge... Continue Reading →
