More for entertainment

I've been watching Lost in Austen, a mini-series that grew out of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. My sister missed the first half of the series and came in to watch the last one. She had questions at the end.

Johanna: "Of all the books by Jane Austen..."
Me: "There were only like seven, Johanna." [I don't know for sure, there may have been six or more.]
Johanna: Yeah but that's still a lot of books. But anyway, of all her books, why that book? Why do people say it's her best?"
Me: "Johanna, it's like, the classic Jane Austen. I don't know if it's her best, but it's the one people think about."
Johanna: "Yeah, but how do you know, she could still write more."
Me: "Johanna, Jane Austen is dead."
Johanna: "Is she? Wow. I didn't know that."

2 comments:

Queen Anne said...

You know, I'm glad your sister saw some of it, hope she enjoyed it too. And sometimes its hard to know if the author who wrote the book you're reading or the book based movie, you're watching... how are you to know if they're alive or dead? They've just written a book... You don't know their life history.

Also, in less defensive news. QueenslandTheatreCompany has this play thing... called "That Face" and the pamphlet it very compelling. Tickets: Under 30 $30. $36-$56 Bring your sister! Its from 23 March to 18 April

littel-philow-cat said...

Oh I agree with you on that one, it's hard to tell, but when they're writing so convincingly about things of the past and when their name is Jane Austen (she's actually READ Pride and Prejudice, for fun, too - I'm so proud of her), there's a sort of expectation that you at least know roughly how long ago it was written.

OOh. I shall check that out and get back to you when I can!