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Darcy Fever
November 11, 2005
How many film versions of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride & Prejudice can there be? Apparently not enough. Arriving in theaters today is the latest adaptation starring Keira Knightly as the witty, if prejudiced, Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew MacFayden as the handsome but prideful Mr. Darcy. As Austen fans compare the merits of previous Darcy incarnations Lawrence Olivier and Colin Firth with MacFayden, they can further indulge their Darcy fever with several new novels appearing next year. From Sourcebooks in May comes Linda Berdoll's Darcy & Elizabeth: At Home at Pemberley, a sequel to her best-selling Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife. In March Elizabeth Aston follows up on her Mr. Darcy's Daughters and The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy with a new romance set in Jane Austen territory, The True Darcy Spirit (Touchstone). And Amanda Elyot's By a Lady (Three Rivers Pr., March) chronicles the adventures of a modern-day New York actress transported back to turn of 19th century Bath where she meets the dashing cousin of Jane Austen. While reviews of the new movie version have been mostly positive, the New Yorker's Anthony Lane takes a more sardonic perspective, wryly noting that " Jane Austen has been Brontefied" and that Darcy is a "britches-busting Heathcliff in the making." If that puts you in a dark Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre kind of mood, try Villette, Charlotte Bronte's lesser-known but marvelous final novel about unrequited love.--Wilda Williams
Posted by on November 11, 2005 | Comments (27)
