Pride and Prejudice Class Presentation 2
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Transcript of Pride and Prejudice Class Presentation 2
AUSTEN & ADAPTATION
WITH A DISCUSSION OF PRIDE AND
PREJUDICE IN ADVANCE OF CURTIS
SITTENFELD’S ELIGIBLE.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE RECAP
• FIRST WRITTEN IN 1797, TITLED FIRST IMPRESSIONS,
REWRITTEN AND FINALLY PUBLISHED 16 YEARS LATER
• MAY HAVE BEEN AUSTEN’S FAVORITE OF HER NOVELS; SHE
REFERRED TO ELIZABETH BENNET “AS DELIGHTFUL A
CHARACTER AS EVER APPEARED IN PRINT” IN A LETTER TO
HER SISTER
• LITTLE IF ANY SIGN OF CONTEMPORARY POLITICS OR
SPECIFIC EVENTS IN AUSTEN’S WORK. RATHER,
THEMATICALLY HER WORK FOCUSES MORE ON UNIVERSAL
ISSUES: SOCIAL CLASSES, GENDER ISSUES, RELATIONSHIPS
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• NOW THAT YOU’VE FINISHED, WHAT ROLE DO
FIRST IMPRESSIONS PLAY IN THE NOVEL?
• HOW DO THE THEMES OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
IMPACT ALL THE VARIOUS COUPLES? CHARLOTTE
AND MR. COLLINS, JANE AND BINGLEY, ELIZABETH
AND DARCY, LYDIA AND WICKHAM?
• CAN YOU THINK OF A VIEW YOU HAD OF
SOMEONE THAT CHANGED AND WAS INFLUENCED
BY YOUR OWN PARTIALITY?
EPISTOLARY
• AS WE’VE DISCUSSED BEFORE, EPISTOLARY
NOVELS—NOVELS WRITTEN IN THE FORMS OF
LETTERS—WERE VERY POPULAR IN THE 18TH
CENTURY
• NEARLY TWO DOZEN LETTERS ARE QUOTED IN
WHOLE OR IN PART IN PRIDE AND
PREJUDICE, AND NUMEROUS OTHER REFERENCES
TO LETTERS AND LETTER—WRITING. HOW DO
YOU THINK LETTERS FUNCTION IN THE NOVEL?
HOW DO THE LETTERS—A NARRATIVE
ELEMENT—INTERACT WITH THE DRAMATIC
ELEMENT (MANIFESTED IN THE DIALOGUE)?
DARCY’S LETTER
• CHAPTER 35:
• WHY DOES DARCY’S LETTER
IMPACT ELIZABETH AND MAKE
HER CHANGE HER MIND?
• DOES THIS REDEEM EARLIER
CONCERNS ABOUT ELIZABETH’S
“HYPOCRISY” TOWARD
WICKHAM?
• NOW WITH THE BOOK
FINISHED, WHAT DO YOU
THINK ACCOUNTED FOR
ELIZABETH’S PREJUDICE?
THE BENNET’S MARRIAGE
• CHAPTER 42, PARAGRAPH
ONE
• HOW MIGHT THIS TYPE OF
MARRIAGE INFLUENCE
THE DAUGHTERS IN THE
FAMILY?
• DOES THIS CHANGE YOUR
VIEW OF MR. BENNET?
• WHAT IS THE SEXUAL
INFORMATION PROVIDED
IN THIS GRAPH?
WHAT’S MISSING
• PRIDE AND PREJUDICE HAS BEEN CRITICIZED
BECAUSE IT APPEARS UNCONCERNED WITH THE
POLITICS OF AUSTEN’S DAY. FOR EXAMPLE, IN A
LETTER (WRITTEN BEFORE WORLD WAR 1) TO
THOMAS HARDY, FREDERIC HARRISON REFERS
TO AUSTEN AS A "HEARTLESS LITTLE CYNIC"
WHO COMPOSED "SATIRETTES AGAINST HER
NEIGHBORS WHILST THE DYNASTS WERE
TEARING THE WORLD TO PIECES AND
CONSIGNING MILLIONS TO THEIR GRAVES."
• WHAT’S YOUR RESPONSE TO THIS CRITICISM?
PEMBERLEY
• CHAPTER 43: ELIZABETH SEES PEMBERLEY
• WHAT ROLE DOES PEMBERLEY PLAY IN CHANGING ELIZABETH’S MIND ABOUT DARCY?
• AUSTEN IS ACKNOWLEDGING, ALBEIT SUBTLY, AN AESTHETIC MOVEMENT AT THE TIME: THE “PICTURESQUE,” ESSENTIALLY BRITISH LANDSCAPE DESIGN THEORY—IN WHICH LANDSCAPING EVOKED A SENSE OF NATURAL TERRAIN RATHER THAN THE OBVIOUSLY DRAMATIC LANDSCAPES OF EARLIER ERAS.
• AS WITH MANY ASPECTS OF AUSTEN, THE QUESTION OF WHICH BRITISH ESTATE SHE BASED PEMBERLEY ON HAS BEEN CONTROVERSIAL.
THE NOVEL’S TURNING POINT
• “THE CHAPTER DESCRIBING ELIZABETH BENNET'S VISIT TO
PEMBERLEY (P&P, 3, 1) IS DESIGNED TO FLOOD HEROINE
AND READER WITH AN ALMOST OVERWHELMING NEW
POSITIVE VISION OF DARCY. FROM EVERY POINT OF
VIEW-AND MANY ARE PACKED IN -DARCY APPEARS AS A
VIRTUAL MODEL OF PERFECTION; THERE IS NOTHING
VERY SUBTLE ABOUT AUSTEN'S TREATMENT OF THE
NOVEL'S TURNING POINT. IN THIS CONTEXT THE
DESCRIPTIONS OF LANDSCAPE ACQUIRE METAPHORICAL
RESONANCE LARGELY THROUGH A RELATIVELY SIMPLE
SCHEME IN IN WHICH SPATIAL TERMS FUNCTION ALSO AS
PERCEPTUAL AND EMOTIONAL ONES.” —” LOOKING AT
THE LANDSCAPE IN JANE AUSTEN” AUTHOR: ROSEMARIE
BODENHEIMER
FATHER AND DAUGHTER
• MR. BENNET AGREES THAT DARCY
MAY MARRY ELIZABETH BEFORE HE
UNDERSTANDS THAT ELIZABETH
ACTUALLY LOVES DARCY. DOES
THIS SCENE CHANGE YOUR VIEW OF
THEIR RELATIONSHIP? CHAPTER 59
THE CHARACTERS
• PRIDE AND PREJUDICE IS ESSENTIALLY ABOUT TWO
PEOPLE CHANGING THEIR MINDS AND RECOGNIZING
THEIR FEELINGS, BUT IT’S ALSO IN GENERAL ABOUT THE
WAY IN WHICH PEOPLE JUDGE ONE ANOTHER.
• CHARACTERIZATION, AS A TECHNIQUE, IS THE WAY IN
WHICH AUTHORS IMBUE FICTIONAL CREATURES WITH
VERISIMILITUDE, I.E. MAKE THEM SEEM REAL.
• WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF CHARACTERIZATION?
• ON THE BOARD, WRITE DOWN AS MANY TRAITS AS YOU
CAN FOR THESE CHARACTERS. YOU CAN ALSO ADD
CHARACTERS I HAVEN’T MENTIONED IF YOU LIKE.
WRITING PROMPT: PICK TWO CHARACTERS’ TRAITS
• LOOKING OVER THESE LISTS, WE CAN SEE THAT FOR THE MOST
PART, THESE CHARACTERS FALL INTO THE “COMPLEX” AND
“ROUND” DESCRIPTIONS OF CHARACTERS. FOR INSTANCE, MR.
BENNET IS SARDONIC BUT WE SOON LEARN THAT HE ALSO HAS
DEEP FEELING FOR HIS DAUGHTER AND REGRETS ABOUT HIS LIFE,
AS WELL AS REAL CHARACTER WEAKNESS.
• PICK TWO CHARACTERS ON THE BOARD AND CHANGE THEIR
NAMES. WRITE A SCENE USING CHARACTERIZATION TO
DEMONSTRATE THE QUALITIES. THIS CAN BE FICTIONAL OR SEMI-
REAL, MODERN OR NOT. YOU CAN CHANGE ANYTHING YOU
WANT BUT HOLD ON TO THE BASIC CHARACTER QUALITIES
ASSIGNED. WE WILL READ THEM AFTERWARD AND SEE IF OTHERS
CAN IDENTIFY WHICH CHARACTERS YOU CHOSE.
TODAY’S MORES
• WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF WAYS IN WHICH
WE JUDGE AND ASSESS OTHER PEOPLE THAT ARE
COMPARABLE TO PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
• TAKE A MINUTE AND WRITE DOWN:
• TYPES OF FASHION THAT INFLUENCE HOW YOU
SEE PEOPLE
• HOW PEOPLE LIVE IN GENERAL
• TYPES OF MANNERS
INHERENT CHALLENGES TO ADAPTATION
• LACK OF SUSPENSE
• EMPHASIZES THE SKILLS OF THE STORYTELLER
VERSUS THE STORY ITSELF (RETELLING STORIES
IMPORTANT PART OF THE LITERARY TRADITION)
• CHALLENGES AUTHOR (AND READER) TO
CONSIDER THE UNIVERSAL VS. SPECIFICS OF THE
WORK (THE PSYCHOLOGY/EMOTION VERSUS THE
HISTORICAL CONTEXT, FOR EXAMPLE)
ADAPTATION CHALLENGES
• “REWORKINGS ARE ALWAYS POLARISING, SEEN
EITHER AS HERESY OR HOMAGE, AND VERY
RARELY AS WHAT THEY ALSO ARE: NEW BOOKS.”
• —THE UK GUARDIAN, OCT. 24, 2013, REVIEW OF
JOANNA TROLLOPE’S ADAPTATION OF SENSE AND
SENSIBILITY
ADAPTATION STRATEGIES (NOT COMPLETE)
• SAME PLOT, DIFFERENT TIME PERIOD
• CHANGE ONE KEY ELEMENT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS (EXAMPLE ON
FORTHCOMING SLIDE)
• WHATEVER THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE
• CHANGE LOCALE
• CHANGE GENRE (I.E. ZOMBIES)
• THESE IDEAS
DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY
• MYSTERY WRITER P.D. JAMES’ NOVEL DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY, WHICH TURNS AUSTEN’S HAPPY ENDING FOR DARCY AND ELIZABETH ON ITS HEAD.
• “SIX YEARS AFTER ELIZABETH BENNET AND MR. DARCY HAVE PREVAILED OVER PRIDE, PREJUDICE, THE CADDISH MR. WICKAM AND THE FRIVOLOUS MRS. BENNET, A COACH RACES UP TO PEMBERLEY, DARCY’S PALATIAL ESTATE, WITH AN HYSTERICAL LYDIA SHRIEKING, “MURDER!” SO CONTINUES JANE AUSTEN’S TIMELESS CLASSIC, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, IN DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY, A STAR-STUDDED ADAPTATION OF CRIME-WRITER P.D. JAMES’ BESTSELLING WHODUNIT.”
NEXT WEEK
• READ ALL OF ELIGIBLE BY CURTIS SITTENFELD, IT
IS A MODERN ADAPTATION OF PRIDE AND
PREJUDICE THAT WAS COMMISSIONED AS PART
OF THE AUSTEN PROJECT (MAJOR AUTHORS
REWRITING AUSTEN’S WORK)
• JOANNA TROLLOPE REWROTE SENSE AND
SENSIBILITY