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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Lost in Dragonwyck

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 2:01 pm by Cristina in , ,    5 comments
Sinead Gleeson, writing for the Herald (Ireland), makes it clear that she is not at all liking Lost in Austen, but doesn't yet despair completely of the ITV:
ITV may well redeem themselves with their imminent Wuthering Heights adaptation, but I'll be sticking with Tess and the upcoming Little Dorrit on BBC.
We think it's unfair to compare Lost in Austen with those other three series, as it is completely different to them - it's a light sort of entertainment for those who enjoy period dramas but - as far as we can see - it doesn't seem to take itself very seriously, which is good.

It is not the first time that the film Dragonwyck (1946) is compared to Jane Eyre. Today it is the Deseret News that draws the comparison:
• "Dragonwyck" (1946). This is the prestige picture in this collection [Fox Horror Classics, Vol. 2], an adaptation of Anya Seton's bestseller, which marked the directing debut of Joseph L. Mankiewicz (who went on to win Oscars for "A Letter to Three Wives" and "All About Eve"). Gene Tierney stars as a young woman hired to be a companion to the child of a distant relative (Vincent Price), then she falls in love with and eventually marries him, despite his brooding dark secrets. Sound familiar? Not quite up there with "Rebecca" and "Jane Eyre" but nonetheless a worthwhile gothic yarn. Bolstered by great support from Jessica Tandy and Walter Huston. (Chris Hicks)
On the blogosphere: Marie's Blog has a couple of interesting posts on the Brontës in general but Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in particular: Script Act Theory, Anne Bronte Again (With an Emily Bronte Insert) and The Paratext in Anne Bronte's 'The Tenant'. Shangols posts about Jane Eyre 1944 in French.

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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/16/2008 04:36:00 pm

    Exactly what i thought. Lost in Austen is not comparable to any serious adaptation. It's supposed to be a bit o fun and shouldn't be taken as anything else. I bet the writer of that article is an Austenie, they do seem to be the ones objecting to it. I;m enjoying Tess, but i wont be watching Little Dorrit. Mostly, due to the fact that i don't like it.

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  2. Anonymous9/16/2008 05:47:00 pm

    Most of the Janeites over at AustenBlog seem to have warmed up to the series and are enjoying it by now. It's pretty harmless to the actual novel and it lets you wallow in your own Janeite-ness freely, which is nice.

    You would have thought that Downtown scene the other day meant the series wasn't supposed to be taken very seriously.

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  3. Anonymous9/16/2008 06:42:00 pm

    Faye, you MUST watch Little Dorrit!

    Why don't you like it? It includes - amongst suffering; poverty; heartache; undertones of homosexuality, neglect and abuse - one of THE most charming love stories I 've ever read, infact there's a passage towards the end that will always remind me of Jane Eyre.

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  4. Anonymous9/17/2008 10:06:00 am

    Cristina, thanks so much for the mention.

    There's no harm in LIA at all, it's just not for me, alas. There's enough humour and fluff in Austen, alongside the more serious stuff obviously, that this adapation could have still been something light and humourous that worked.

    I wouldn't say I'm an "Austenie", just a big classics fan who knows what she likes. :)

    Would definitely urge checking out Little Dorrit, it's years since I've read it but I loved it. I'm holding my breath on Wuthering Heights though...

    Delighted to have found this blog btw.

    Best,
    Sinéad

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  5. Anonymous9/17/2008 10:18:00 am

    Hello Sinéad,

    Thank you for stopping by. I find LiA to be what it must have set out to be - I don't think they ever tried to do anything else, and - in this day and age - that alone is praise-worthy. I do find it light and humourous and it does work for me, especially after a few years of 'uptight' Austen adaptations that take themselves too seriously and forget exactly what you said: that Austen also has fluff and humour.

    We're all holding our breath for Wuthering Heights! :)

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