The Austen Formula: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
©2014
Textbook
94 Pages
Summary
World literature is full of great love stories, but there are few that make it through the centuries and are as well-known and loved today as they were decades ago. One of those stories that have the ability to leave an everlasting impression is Jane Austen’s best-known and probably most famous novel Pride and Prejudice (1813). <br>Its appeal to literary posteriority lies in the astonishing emotional impact of a seemingly simple story: A clever girl and a mysterious man, destined for one another, loathe each other from the very beginning because of wrong first impression and bad influence from others. They gradually have to overcome these obstacles in order to recognise the nobility of each other’s characters and find happiness together.<br>From Austen’s contemporary writing and its scarce possibilities for women writers on to the emancipation of the female author up until the possibilities for women novelists in the lately developing genre labelled chick lit – Pride and Prejudice still continues to fascinate readers and writers alike. This book sets out to examine how Austen’s formula was put to use to yield three contemporary works of British fiction; Kate Fenton’s Lions and Liquorice (1995), Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) and Melissa Nathan’s Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field (2000) and what transformations it has experienced in the process.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
1
1. Introduction
World literature is full of great love stories, but there are few that make it through the centuries
and are as well known and loved today as they were decades ago. One of those writers, who
have the ability to leave an everlasting impression, is Jane Austen, who "wrote of a time, but
also beyond it; her voice continues to enchant and enthral" (Crusie 1). Her novels are
undeniably among the most examined works of English literature. Over the years, scholars, laity
as well as professionals, have approached Austen's writing from various perspectives and hence
innumerable papers, dissertations, articles and books have been written about the author and
her work in general and especially about her novel Pride and Prejudice. Since its publication in
1813, it has called forth heavy criticism as well as effusive praise and it is remarkable that,
although the literary world has changed noticeably in the course of nearly two hundred years,
her novel is still admired and considered to be of significance today. From Austen's
contemporary writing and its scarce possibilities for female novelists on to the emancipation of
the female author and the increased literary output of postmodern writers at the end of the
Twentieth Century and to the possibilities for women novelists in the recently developing genre
labelled chick lit Pride and Prejudice still continues to fascinate readers and thereby
encourages other writers. Especially the developing relationship of the two protagonists
Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy captivates readers all around the world and proves
that their story is as appealing in the present as it was in the past.
1.1 Preliminary Remarks and Elementary Presumptions
When Jane Austen first published her writing in the early Nineteenth Century, she gained
recognition among some contemporaries, but at that time the extent of her long term success
was not to be foreseen. Considering the amount of literary works that have been inspired by
Austen's novels she can be called one of the "founders of discursivity"
1
. This expression was
coined by Michel Foucault in his essay "What is an Author?", where he states that "it is not true
that the author of a novel is only the author of his own text; in a sense, he also, provided that he
acquires some `importance,' [sic] governs and commands more than that" (Foucault 206). As
1
cf. Foucault, "What is an Author?" 206.
2
Austen's continuous achievements prove her worthy to be considered important, calling her a
"founder of discursivity" indicates that with her writing she "opened the way for a certain
number of resemblances and analogies which have their model or principle in her work. The
latter contains characteristic signs, figures, relationships, and structures which could be reused
by others" (206). The appeal of Austen's best known and probably most famous novel Pride and
Prejudice to literary posteriority lies in the astonishing emotional impact of a seemingly simple
story: A young girl and a young man, destined for one another, loathe each other from the very
beginning because of wrong first impression and bad influence from others. They gradually have
to overcome these obstacles in order to recognise the nobility of each other's characters and
find happiness together. This book sets out to examine how this formula was put to use to yield
three contemporary works of British fiction; Kate Fenton's Lions and Liquorice, Helen Fielding's
Bridget Jones's Diary and Melissa Nathan's Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field and what
transformations it has experienced in the process.
Kate Fenton's postmodern novel Lions and Liquorice, written in 1995, is an updated
version of Jane Austen's novel with the sexes of the protagonists reversed. It tells the story of
Nicholas Llewellyn Bevan, a divorced and temporarily unsuccessful writer, whose quiet life in a
North Yorkshire countryside village is harshly interrupted when the BBC starts filming a
television version of Pride and Prejudice under supervision of the condescending director Mary
Dance. In 1996, Helen Fielding finishes writing Bridget Jones's Diary, the second work of
literature that will be the subject of this book. In a fictitious diary as the title already implies
the protagonist describes her life as a single woman in her thirties in London. Bridget's
resolutions for the New Year include losing weight, cutting down on her drinking and smoking
habits and hopefully meeting the perfect man. As the story unfolds, Bridget learns that the
sophisticated and handsome lawyer Mark Darcy might not be as repulsive to her as he initially
seemed. Melissa Nathan made her debut into the literary world with her novel Pride, Prejudice
and Jasmin Field in the year 2000. Jasmin Field, a columnist for a British women's magazine, is
cast as Elizabeth Bennet for a charity stage production of Pride and Prejudice directed by the
snobbish actor Harry Noble. However, as the rehearsals for the one night only production
advance, not only the play follows Jane Austen's plotline, also the actors themselves seem more
and more caught up in it.
3
In this book, the four novels written by Jane Austen, Kate Fenton, Helen Fielding and
Melissa Nathan will be contrasted with special regard to the relationship of Elizabeth and Mr
Darcy. After the novels have been shortly introduced, a brief insight into the overall conditions
of literature in Great Britain at the end of the Twentieth Century seems necessary in order to
explain these authors' choice of characters and events, as well as any alterations they
intentionally or unintentionally made. The status quo of contemporary novel writing will be
outlined as well as a concise introduction of the recent establishment of chick lit and the
popular occurrence of rewritings in general because they are factors that eventually led to the
recent adaptations of Pride and Prejudice.
Before directly proceeding to a full discussion of Jane Austen's novel and its
contemporary appropriations, first of all an insight into the structure, style and narrative
technique of the four novels will be given, which is necessary to fully understand the literary
work of the authors. In these opening paragraphs, it seems appropriate to stick to a
chronological order of the rewritings. Apart from the fact that their date of creation suggests so,
there also exist reasons on the ground of content that support this order. While Bridget Jones's
Diary and Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field are both chick lit novels
2
, Lions and Liquorice has
been written before this term was even coined. Thus, it seems natural to put Fenton's novel
first and treat it as a more immediate successor of Austen's original. Her novel deals with the
original very accurately and wraps the plot up in a postmodern shape. The two novels of
Fielding and Nathan are a kind of unity in the respect that they both belong to the newly
developing genre chick lit. Fielding, as an initiator of this new genre, mainly influenced Nathan's
work and therefore there are not only traces of Pride and Prejudice to be found in Pride,
Prejudice and Jasmin Field, but also relations to Bridget Jones's Diary.
The success of Pride and Prejudice is mainly due to Austen's skilful combination of her
characters and their relationships. Therefore, in order to enable a full comprehension of the
four books discussed herein, chapter four will have a close look at Fenton, Fielding and Nathan's
general approach to the characters of Pride and Prejudice. The analysis will focus on the central
couple Elizabeth and Darcy; four further relationships will be regarded with the intention of
emphasizing in what way the bond between the two protagonists stands out from the rest. The
4
adding and removal of characters will be considered, as well as rearrangements of the original
plot and additional alterations the authors think much more appropriate for the contemporary
reader. Thus, this part is dedicated to the various characters depicted in the novels with special
regard to the concept of its contemporary appropriations. It will be discussed in what way the
authors' employment of the protagonists bear a resemblance or vary and what undertone their
male and female characters carry. It will also be taken into consideration to what extent the
time the story is set in matters, including questions of sex, status and restrictions arisen from
society's demands. What parallels are there between the novels and their protagonists and in
how far are Elizabeth, Nicholas Llewellyn, Bridget and Jasmin as well as their respective partners
children of their time?
The next chapter will deal with the issue of status and the pressure of expectations on a
budding love. The way in which it is depicted in Pride and Prejudice will be examined and
contrasted with the way it reappears in Lions and Liquorice, Bridget Jones's Diary and Pride,
Prejudice and Jasmin Field. Elizabeth and Darcy not only have to sort out their own feelings,
they also have to overcome rigorous conventions that restrict their lives on the grounds of
social rank and material wealth, not to speak of the intricate diplomacy of courtship. It will be of
major interest to find out which obstacles stand in the lovers' path in the late Twentieth
Century.
The examination of Pride and Prejudice and its three appropriations will conclude with a
summarizing comparison in the final chapter. By then the assumption should be proven that the
appeal of Austen's story can be found in the simplicity of the plot outline but the literary quality
of the work is due to the abilities of the author; therefore, a mere reproduction of Austen's plot
does not necessarily make a appealing adaptation. The summary will discuss whether the three
novels succeeded in adapting a seemingly simple plot that was originally written about two
hundred years earlier for a very different audience and transfer it successfully into the late
Twentieth Century. Every aspect of the book will be analysed proceeding from Jane Austen's
original work and discussed with respect to the way in which Lions and Liquorice, Bridget Jones's
Diary and Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field conform to it or differ, although also similarities and
differences between the adaptations will be pointed out.
2
cf. http://www.chicklit.co.uk
5
1.2 Pride and Prejudice in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
Pride and Prejudice, "the mother of all romance novels" (Crusie 1), is one of the most successful
books of all times
3
. While Jane Austen herself thought her work to be "rather too light & bright
& sparkling" (Austen, Letters 203), David Cecil observes:
As few novels have ever done, it satisfied the rival claims of life and of art. Presenting
us with what is, but for an occasional touch of exuberant caricature, a convincing
picture of ordinary life, it manages at the same time to be continuously entertaining.
(160)
The novel has gained a lot of recognition and was quite successful when it was first published
4
and the `continuous entertainment' has gone on as it led to various adaptations, rewritings and
the production of sequels in the following two centuries. Ever since the first attempts of
recreating the novel emerged, including the recent adaptations of Pride and Prejudice that are
subject of this book, authors have striven for a repetition of Austen's success. This chapter sets
out to analyse and compare the contemporary novel appropriations of Kate Fenton, Helen
Fielding and Melissa Nathan with Jane Austen's novel.
The changes in the literary world and especially the emergence of the genre chick lit
have likewise influenced the adaptations of Austen's novel, especially since Fielding initiated the
flood of chick lit books when she published Bridget Jones's Diary. Considering the postmodern
developments in the field of literature and the noticeable change of the reader's demands and
reading habits in the few years between the three rewritings, there might be a significant
difference between their approach to the original novel, as well as their focus of interest. Yet, all
three authors are united in their attempt to put Austen's novel into the context of the
Twentieth Century after it had been originally written for the Nineteenth Century audience.
However, it is not enough for the writer of an adaptation to present the events taking place in
the novel to a very different readership. Instead of simply updating the plot of Pride and
Prejudice, it is necessary to adjust the current background, making the characters appeal to the
contemporary readership and writing in an accessible language. Therefore it is important for the
3
For instance, in 2003 Pride and Prejudice was voted the UK's second best loved novel in the BBC's Big Read Top
100 (cf. http://www.bbc.co.uk)
4
The first edition of Pride and Prejudice, all in all 1,500 copies, had sold out within six months after publication (cf.
Littlewood, Introduction V.)
6
authors to obtain a very special understanding of Austen's novel and to develop their distinct
personal style when writing their own adaptations. In this chapter, it will be analysed in what
way Fenton, Fielding and Nathan stuck to the original and whether they succeeded in
successfully recreating Pride and Prejudice by giving it a new and contemporary touch.
The time around 1800 was a decisive period in the history of England. As a result of the
French and the Industrial Revolution, attempts to reform the country with the help of
technological and economic inventions emerged. Society divided into upper, middle and lower
classes and the largely landowning upper middle class, the gentry, formed a huge part of society
at that time. During this time of social change, Jane Austen and her family led a very secluded
life in the countryside. Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in Hampshire and spent her
childhood and most of her adult life in a rural area. She chose the seclusion of her home to write
her novels, and this decision is also reflected in her work. By choosing the homely instead of the
public sphere for her writing, she describes the very limited stratum of society that she herself
experienced. Her novel does not aim at criticising the contemporary historical situation; her
subject is rather the moral progress of the individual, personal struggles and the resolution of
conflicts under difficult circumstances. However, her characters live and act in the early
Nineteenth Century and present the reader with an authentic view of the roles of men and
women of the gentry demanded by society and of their way of thinking of their time. With her
writing, "Jane Austen was one of the first female authors to actually invent a genre (the novel of
manners)" (Sauer, "Austen Appeal"). Pride and Prejudice is such a novel of manners
5
that above
all emphasises the exemplary character of the heroine Elizabeth Bennet. As will be pointed out
in chapter four, Mr Bennet is far too weak a father figure for Elizabeth to lead her through the
process of maturity that is central to the novel of manners. Therefore, it is Mr Darcy that
initialises and mainly influences Elizabeth's development and thereby, while changing himself,
functions as a mentor for Elizabeth. One form of initiation in a novel of manners is that the
heroine makes a mistake by misjudging her surroundings. The most obvious of Elizabeth's
misjudgements is the wrong opinion she forms about Mr Darcy from the very beginning.
However, apart from this apparent misjudgement, she is also mistaken about her friend
Charlotte Lucas and Mr Wickham, too. In her friend's case "[s]he
had always felt that
7
Charlotte's opinion of matrimony was not exactly like her own, but she could not have supposed
it possible that when called into action, she would have supposed every better feeling to
worldly advantage" (Austen 87). The favourable first impression Mr Wickham makes
6
is reason
enough for her to believe every story he tells, especially the lies about Darcy. Elizabeth regrets
every single one of her misjudgements while the story unfolds, but although she feels sorry for
her mistakes, the only one she admits them to and apologises to is Mr Darcy
7
. By changing her
positions she changes herself, which is a turn of events that is anticipated by the reader.
Between October 1796 and August 1797, Austen finished the first draft of Pride and
Prejudice, an originally epistolary work with the title First Impressions
8
. However, the publisher
she consulted did not want to publish it and therefore, in 1809, she started to revise the novel.
In January 1813, it was finally published under the title Pride and Prejudice and up to today it
has remained very popular and has frequently been republished. An important issue within the
novel is for the protagonists to choose a suitable partner for life. On the one hand, this search is
subordinate to the rules of proper social behaviour; on the other hand, it requires a maturity
that is the most important foundation of reciprocal respect. The differentiation between first
impressions and true insight into character when it comes to choosing a suitable spouse forms
the central plot of the novel. Elizabeth Bennet, the attractive and witty daughter of a member of
the landed gentry, is under the social and especially parental pressure to choose the right
husband from a limited choice of potential candidates. Elizabeth not only refuses the proposal
of the silly and self centred Mr Collins but also rejects the proposal of proud Mr Darcy. He
unequivocally opens Elizabeth's eyes concerning her family, life and character and thereby
insults her very much. Adding up to this affront she is convinced that Mr Darcy betrayed her
friend Mr Wickham and separated her sister Jane from the man she loves, and therefore rejects
his proposal. Not only do they both have to face various obstacles, for example the elopement
of Elizabeth's youngest sister with the rascal Mr Wickham and the objections of class conscious
Lady Catherine, but they also have to undergo a process of maturing whose sometimes painful
experiences lead them to an objective self knowledge before they can marry.
5
cf. Wells, "Mothers of Chick Lit?" 53.
6
Mr Wickham's favourable first appearance will be the subject of further examination in chapter four.
7
cf. Austen 246 249.
8
cf. Littlewood, Introduction VI.
8
Kate Fenton worked for the BBC before she moved to North Yorkshire in 1985 and began
to write novels. In 1995, she finished Lions and Liquorice, her third book, which is undeniably
influenced by Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. In "Austen Through the Looking Glass", a
`footnote' to Lions and Liquorice, the author explains her choice:
I was seeing the ultimate comic subversion of the romance game. P & P, after all, is
surely the sublime blueprint which has cloned hundreds thousands, tens of thousands
of markedly less sublime imitations, the fluffy girl meets boy/girl hates boy/girl
marries boy tales which have tended to give the whole genre a bad name. Darcy, the
rich and powerful master of Pemberley, is surely your definitive tall, dark and to die for
hero. Lizzy, not as beautiful as her elder sister, is the perfect, sparky and likeable
heroine. And she does contrive, very plausibly, to loathe Darcy for an awful lot of pages
before seeing the light. (Fenton)
Fenton is obviously fascinated with Austen's plot and especially its protagonists and as a result,
Lions and Liquorice has turned out to be, plainly speaking, Pride and Prejudice set in a
contemporary England with the protagonist's sexes reversed. Nicholas Llewellyn Bevan, a
novelist in a creative crisis, lives in Maltstone, a village in North Yorkshire that is turned inside
out when a TV production company arrives in order to make the latest film version of Pride and
Prejudice. The company brings turmoil to the village, not only by preparing the scenery for the
filming itself. On top of that the presence of the cast and crew of the production have an impact
on the inhabitants of Maltstone on a practical as well as very personal level. While the leading
actress, Candia Bingham, instantly falls in love with the widower John, her friend and director of
the film, Mary Dance, is snobbish and looks down on nearly everyone. Especially Nicholas
Llewellyn merits her contempt. Ever since their first meeting at a dance, the author and the
director fall into the habit of quarrelling with each other. The novel changes completely from
chapter thirteen on; everything that happened so far turns out to be a novel within the actual
novel. These chapters form the first part of Nicholas Llewellyn's new novel, though the events
taking place are not entirely fictional but more of an attempt to weave his experiences with the
TV company into a story. Therefore, though some of the names, facts and events are influenced
by the writer's creative imagination, the plot itself is not. From this point on, the reader follows
the `real' events taking place in Nick's life. After he is encouraged by his literary agent George to
go to a Literature festival in Wales in order to promote his last book, he meets Mary again.
Though they spent the night together, they go separate ways the next day. However, when
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Nick's son Christopher gets into serious trouble, it is Mary who finally sorts things out and brings
about a happy ending.
In talking about successful female writers of the last century, one does not get around
Helen Fielding and her novel Bridget Jones's Diary. Fielding worked in television journalism for
several years before she started writing novels. Bridget Jones's Diary, which has its origin in a
column in The Independent that started 1995
9
and was continued in The Daily Telegraph in 1997
for another year, is her second novel. With the publication of Bridget Jones's Diary in 1996
Fielding has gained a lot of attention by various critics and it "was an instant success, helping to
spawn the literary genre we now know as chick lit: agents and publishers were soon falling over
themselves for tales of young women about town and their emotional ups and downs. To date,
around 10 million copies have been sold in 35 countries" (Kirby, "True Story"). Bridget Jones is a
thirty something
10
, single, lives in London, has a job with no perspective and in the upcoming
year she wants to change her life completely: Quit smoking, lose a few pounds, "[f]orm [a]
functional relationship with [a] responsible adult" (Fielding 3), and not "[f]all for any of the
following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, people with girlfriends or wives,
misogynists, megalomaniacs, chauvinists, emotional fuckwits or freeloaders, [or] perverts" (2).
She records her progress and failure in a diary that reports her daily highs and lows; each entry
begins with an itemised listing of cigarettes, alcohol units and calories consumed, including
attempts at interpretations of current obsessions
11
and daily progress. Every day Bridget is
confronted with all sorts of trouble, most of which she gets herself into. Apart from very
embarrassing situations at work, at home and in public, Bridget worries about her mother, who
leaves her father, starts an affair with a dubious Portuguese man and is about to be arrested for
fraud. The passionate feelings for her boss, Daniel Cleaver, who does not object to heavy flirting
and a vague relationship with Bridget while planning to marry someone else, and people who
keep reminding her about her biological clock ticking away do the rest. However, she is not
desperate enough to think of the arrogant divorced lawyer Mark Darcy as an option. Although
her mother and friends think him a good catch, Bridget is appalled by his condescending
9
cf. Kirby, "True Story".
10
At some point in the story, Bridget has a "severe birthday related thirties panic" (Fielding 63), but her actual age
is never revealed in the novel.
11
For instance, 1471 calls (cf. Fielding 129) or the number of Instants she buys (cf. ibid. 108).
10
behaviour, appearance and style. After overcoming several misunderstandings, Mark Darcy
helps Bridget to save her career, family and reputation and she soon realises that her initial
swift judgment of Mr Darcy was based on misinformation, misunderstandings and
misinterpretation.
Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field is the first novel of Melissa Nathan, who works as a
journalist and deputy editor of Woman's Weekly. The plot of her novel revolves around the
journalist Jasmin who thinks it might be of public interest to write her column about a charity
play of Pride and Prejudice from an insider's point of view. Jasmin, her older sister Georgia and
her flatmate Mo audition for parts in "the celebrity fundraising theatrical experience of the
millennium Pride and Prejudice, An Adaptation" (Nathan 6), directed by the Oscar winning
actor Harry Noble, member of a much respected family of actors. On stage Jasmin gives an
excellent performance of the insulted Elizabeth Bennet because shortly before she overheard
Harry make a condescending remark about her and therefore she is angry enough to audition
and prove him wrong. As a result, Harry casts her as the protagonist. Furthermore, her older
sister Georgia, the acknowledged beauty and professional actress in the family, gets to play the
part of Jane Bennet and her flatmate Mo gets the part of Charlotte Lucas. From the first
rehearsal on Harry and Jasmin quarrel and dispute, because Harry is condescending and Jasmin
is not impressed by his fame and glory. It gets worse when Harry stands in for the role of Darcy.
The events taking place on stage as well as off stage start to mix and as the rehearsals advance,
so do the conflicts between the protagonists. In William Whitby, who has been cast as Mr
Wickham, she finds an unforeseen companion in her aversion against Harry. While she tries to
avoid Gilbert Valentine, an oily theatre journalist and gossiper who feels under protection of
Harry's influential great aunt Alexandra, Harry reluctantly declares his high regard for Jasmin.
Still, she cannot stand him and rejects him, but soon Jasmin's situation changes rapidly. Her
career and her family are suddenly in danger because of a prowling scandal called forth by an
affair between her married younger sister Josie and William. It is Harry who saves the situation
and, once again, the heroine has to overcome her pride and prejudice in order to see the truth
behind misleading first impressions.
11
2. Literary Status Quo
Obviously, the circumstances for an author in our times differ fundamentally from Jane Austen's
pre Victorian days. In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, in England as well as anywhere
else in Europe, all literature was written for a rather small audience, literacy being virtually
limited to clerics and nobility. Two hundred years later, at the dawn of a new millennium,
illiteracy is mostly considered a marginal, if existent, phenomenon in industrialised countries,
and the market for printed matter has grown to previously unthinkable dimensions. Of course,
this is just one aspect of the tremendous cultural, economic and social upheavals of the past
two centuries. Today's Western civilisation is marked by a form of pluralism that would have
been inconceivable in Jane Austen's days
12
. Very few rules and values are considered absolute,
lifestyles are diverse and subcultures abound. In contrast to Austen's time, contemporary
society is confusingly fragmented rather than neatly organised in a small number of social ranks
with strict, well drawn boundaries. Class difference can no longer be easily determined,
nowadays people define their social position according to less tangible criteria than, for
instance, birth right or vocation. The habits of consumption have arguably become one of the
most important indicators of social distinction, even more so than material wealth alone. It is
undeniable that the transformation of Western culture hinged as much on an intellectual
evolution following the Enlightenment as it did on scientific and technological progress:
The conditions affecting literature have been revolutionized from time to time. The
inventions of printing, the extension of literacy and leisure, the mechanization of book
production, each in turn brought in new readers, and in the end the readers determine
the books. (Butler, "Repossessing the Past" 9 10)
These developments have led, among other things, to the emergence of a popular culture just
as dazzlingly complex as the civilisation that created it. In contemporary society, any product
must satisfy the demands of a group of consumers of a considerable number. The eagerness of
business to try to collectively conquer every last niche of the marketplace has generated a
plethora of popular genres in all media, from science fiction to murder mysteries, and new sub
genres are being born all the time.
12
cf. Butler, "Repossessing the Past" 13 14.
12
Nowadays it is hard to draw a clear line between popular culture and `real' literature;
proponents of postmodernism generally agree that this is a distinguishing feature of our
purportedly postmodern culture. If one subscribes to the viewpoint that no cultural object is
intrinsically more `precious' than another, then it follows inevitably that even classic
masterpieces can no longer be considered sacred, but must be seen in the context of vast sets
of references, where they coexist with all sorts of artefacts regardless of their canonical status
13
.
Hence, cultural actors are free to use existing structures to their own ends; accusations of
plagiarism or travesty are thus insubstantial. As a matter of fact, the
[r]emaking, rewriting, `adaptation', reworking, `appropriations', conversions, mimicking
(the proliferation of terms suggests how nebulous and ill defined is the arena) of earlier
works into other media is an important feature of the current landscape. (Wiltshire 2)
These methods of re creation can of course be used for different purposes; whether an author
has purely artistic ambitions or seeks to exploit the expressive force of classic masterworks in
pursuit of commercial success is less a question of legitimacy than of different merits at least
from a postmodernist point of view. In fact, dressing up well known and well tried stories in
different guises has been a favourite recipe for profit in the entertainment industry for quite a
while now. In recent years, this recipe has turned out one particularly remarkable success story,
namely a variety of popular fiction for women that was at some point given the catchy label
`chick lit'. There is significant justification to the claim that this new, fashionable brand of `lit'
constitutes essentially a contemporary reinvention of the novel of manners, as Stephanie
Harzewski asserts:
Chick lit reinterprets the legacies of the novel of manners and domestic fiction's
marriage plot, chronicling the heroines' fortunes on the marriage market and assessing
contemporary courtship behavior, dress, and social motives. (41)
For the purpose of this book, and in the spirit of the above elaborations, `chick lit' will be
treated as a literary genre, even though it has more in common with a brand name. This specific
variety of popular fiction originated in the mid 1990's, and it is Bridget Jones's Diary, with
Candace Bushnell's congenial Sex and the City coming in second
14
, that is commonly seen at the
root of the phenomenon. The genre's now quasi official name, however, has its origins in a
13
cf. ibid. 12 13.
13
literary effort that is none too sympathetic with its causes: If one believes Cris Mazza's account,
which is backed by enough verifiable facts to make this a reasonable proposition, then the term
`chick lit' was first used by Jeffrey DeShell and herself as the title of an anthology named Chick
Lit: Postfeminist Fiction, a project which aimed for nothing shabbier than "artistic, as well as
cultural, value" (Mazza 19). It is not absolutely clear why and when mainstream media started
using the term to denote "a "fun", pastel covered novel with a young, female, city based
protagonist, who has a kooky best friend, an evil boss, romantic troubles and a desire to find
The One the apparently unavailable man who is good looking, can cook and is both passionate
and considerate in bed" (Thomas, "Chick Lit Conspiracy"). Although at present it cannot be
foreseen whether this genre will be a long lasting success, its popularity at the moment is
immense, owing at least in part to the fact that
[c]hick lit, much like Pride and Prejudice, gives us a view of someone struggling with our
issues. It's not big business, it's not a murder at the Louvre, it's not a hunt to uncover a
terrorist plot. Instead, it's women looking for fulfillment, whether that fulfillment takes
the form of a husband, a new job or a pair of strappy sandals. It's girls occasionally
behaving badly. It's friendships and fashion and fun, and it's growing up, at least just a
little. (Crusie 24)
It is also publishers looking for fulfilment, which most certainly ought to take the form of
staggering sales. Ferriss and Young quote an abc news item with an estimation of about $71
million of total earnings from chick lit books in 2002
15
. Newer figures are hard to come by, but
with genre titles still occupying best seller lists, it is safe to assume that chick lit will continue to
be a multi million dollar business in 2006.
At any rate, the massive popularity and financial success of the "chickerati" (Harzewski
30) suggest another parallel with their historic ancestresses of which "many achieved popular
recognition and sizeable capital, inciting the wrath of their male counterparts" (30). Then and
now, the `frothy'
16
romance novels sparked a heated controversy of taste. If romance novels
were ridiculed for their heroines' pursuit of "husband hunting as a quasi professional career"
(Wells 55), journalist Anna Weinberg satirises chick lit's simple formulaic structure in a four step
instructional diagram entitled "Make Your Own Chick Lit Novel!" (see page 15).
14
cf. Ferriss and Young, Introduction 6.
15
cf. Ferriss and Young 2.
16
cf. Harzewski 29.
14
This uniformity, however, cannot be the sole cause of chick lit's bad reputation, since
many of the great classics of world literature have been crafted just as obviously following a
simple recipe
17
. Something less technical than that must be at fault then. And indeed, it is not
hard to spot questions of gender, class, and identity at the heart of the problem. When
journalist Nicholas Royle expresses his disdain for "a sub genre of popular fiction that is
sociologically banal, intellectually inert and about as much use as yesterday's TV listings" (Mazza
25), he gives us a good idea of the diverge nature of much of the noteworthy criticism of the
genre, where the word `noteworthy' excludes, of course, such assaults that are unabashedly
sexist deprecations of "writers with double X chromosomes" (27). On the one side, there are
serious concerns about its potentially detrimental effect on women's self image and
consciousness. It is not hard to see why it would pain seasoned feminists to see young women
actively identify with a narrative that not only evidently declines progressive ideals of gender
equality, but in the eyes of some is qualified to "thwart female liberation" (Harzewski 36) by
keeping the reader a "slave to the romantic myth" (36).
17
cf. Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism.
15
On the other hand, however, it is plain to see that in many cases, this contempt for what
is basically light entertainment is convoluted with an elitist disregard for cultural products
perceived as unserious, unchallenging, and ultimately low brow. At the outset of practically
every novel there is a protagonist who is almost invariably a woman of "a specific age, race, and
16
class: young, white and middle" (Ferriss and Young 8). The heroine is usually caught up in an
excruciating job and on the search for love. Furthermore, the novels are written in a style that
enables fairly quick and effortless reading, concerning both language and plot, and feature
characters and situations that facilitate a positive identification. This means, however, that from
reading chick lit, very little cultural distinction can be gained; on the contrary, the reader may be
branded as unsophisticated and undiscerning. Critics who classify the genre as "the literary
equivalent of a fast food restaurant" and mock its "connect the dots plots" (Thomas, "Chick Lit
Conspiracy") employ, perhaps unwittingly, decidedly bourgeois categories, as Pierre Bourdieu
explicates in his monograph La Distinction:
[T]out le langage de l'esthétique est enfermé dans un refus principiel du facile, entendu
dans tous les sens que l'éthique et l'esthétique bourgeoises donnent à ce mot [. . .];
que le ,,goût pur" [. . .] a pour principe le dégoût que l'on dit souvent viscéral [. . .] pour
tout ce qui est ,,facile", comme on dit d'une musique ou d'un effet stylistique, mais
aussi d'une femme ou de ses moeurs. (566)
Thus, in the language of bourgeois ethics and aesthetics, "pure" taste ("goût pur") is negatively
defined as a visceral disgust ("dégoût") of all that is "simple" or "easy" ("facile"), be it a piece of
music, a stylistic effect, or the virtues of a woman.
Hence we can identify two very different, but not at all mutually exclusive, motivations
for resentment toward the chick lit phenomenon: on the one hand, a certain contempt of the
identification marks of the lower caste, on the other, disapproval of genre conventions which
serve "to reinforce traditional categories of sex and gender divisions while appearing to do the
opposite" (Thomas, "Chick Lit Conspiracy"). However, chick lit also has its defenders, apart from
its fans, of course. Novelist Jeanette Winterson, author of the critically acclaimed Oranges Are
Not the Only Fruit, says "she has `no problem' with chick lit" (Ferriss and Young 2), and New York
Times Book Review columnist Laura Miller volunteers: "I still say in defense of chick lit that
nobody else is writing as much about (middle class) young women's work lives" (Mazza 25).
In the following chapters it will be interesting to keep in mind that there exist
astonishing parallels in the perception of the reader of both the original and the new novel of
manners:
In the first place, the generic novel reader (the "fair one on the sofa") was typically
characterized as young and female; and in her inexperience and presumed
17
impressionability, she came to function metonymically for all the new readers whose
entry into the culture of literacy the reviews were monitoring. (Ferris 20)
Ina Ferris's statement refers to the Nineteenth Century audience, but in more than one respect
it still holds true for today's chick lit consumers.
18
3. Structure, Style and Narrative Technique
Although Kate Fenton, Helen Fielding and Melissa Nathan take shots at recreating the same
story, their individual approaches are profoundly different from the pre text, concerning both,
focus and form. It should be illuminating to have a close look at the formal differences between
Austen's novel and its appropriations, in order to allow a deeper insight into the authors'
contrasting ideologies, artistic intentions, motivations, their perception of Pride and Prejudice
and their literary approach to it.
The probably most superficial examination of a work of literature is to have a quick
glance at its cover. Even without taking into consideration the design of the cover itself, it is
especially the title that already bears several layers of information about the text contained
within and also about its author. Book titles usually aim to intrigue the potential readers just
enough to make them pick up the book without giving away too much of the story beforehand.
Their purpose is to attract a certain kind of reader and evoke expectations, which the stories
have to live up to in order to satisfy the readership. Almost two hundred years before the birth
of chick lit, with its uniform book covers in pastel colours and catch phrase book titles, Jane
Austen had to make concessions to marketability to get her book published. In November 1797,
Austen first sent the manuscript of what would eventually become Pride and Prejudice to a
publisher; the draft that was at that time so bluntly rejected
18
was then titled First Impressions.
After years of revision and abridging, a more concise and readable version came to be published
under the alliterating, rhythmic and arguably more appealing title Pride and Prejudice. Although
both titles serve the purpose of foreshadowing central themes of the novel, it is the trochaic
Pride and Prejudice that is apt to catch the reader's interest in an immediate and affective way.
Even though the title of Fenton's novel, Lions and Liquorice, remains faithful to Austen's
original, concerning the use of alliteration and rhythm, its actual meaning cannot immediately
be understood in its entirety. The image of the lion, a majestic, powerful and wild animal,
juxtaposing the image of liquorice, a bittersweet treat, remains mysterious to the reader at first.
However, after reading the first chapters of the novel, the reader begins to understand the
actual meaning of the title, as the lion stands for the male inhabitants of Maltstone. The town's
18
cf. Cecil 80.
19
cricket team are named The Lions, and their regular meetings are held at the local pub called
The Black Lion, or The Red Lion in Nick's manuscript, affectionately nicknamed The Fat Cat
19
.
`Liquorice', on the other hand, is a hint at Mary as a representative of the female characters in
the book. Mary originally comes to Maltstone in order to find a location for her film project The
Liquorice Fields
20
, a First World War drama about the fate of women who, left to their own
devices, have to fill in the positions of their husbands, sons and fathers in a factory that
produces Pontefract cakes
21
. It is interesting to note that in 2005 Lions and Liquorice was first
published in America under the new title Vanity and Vexation. A Novel of Pride and Prejudice.
Almost ten years after the publication of Fielding's novel and the ensuing emergence of chick lit,
a direct reference to Austen seems to be more of a selling point than a postmodernist puzzle of
a title. In contrast, the book title chosen for Bridget Jones's Diary refrains from explicitly
mentioning its relation to Pride and Prejudice. Instead the word `diary' instantly signalises
privacy and confidentiality and prepares the prospective readers that they are up to reading
something secret that was probably not meant for their eyes. Moreover, the title already
introduces the protagonist of the novel, Bridget Jones. Finally, Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field
does not merely introduce the heroine in advance, but also references Pride and Prejudice
directly and explicitly, without the need for subtlety and wordplay.
Jane Austen published her novel in three volumes; volume I: chapter 1 23, volume II:
chapter 24 42 and volume III: chapter 43 61. The narrated time in these volumes amounts to
about one year. Volume I comprises the months from September to December, volume II from
December to July and volume III from July to October as well as another year and `the future'. In
Austen's novel not only the narrated time, but also the place of action is clearly delineated.
Pride and Prejudice is set primarily in Hertfordshire in the early Nineteenth Century, but Austen
does not describe Longbourn in detail. The reader only learns about the estate that it is located
close to the town of Meryton. While in volume I, Longbourn takes the central position, in
volume II the domicile of the Bennets is merely starting point and destination of the journeys to
Hunsford in Kent and to London. In volume III the action is set in Derbyshire, Pemberley and
19
cf. Fenton 117.
20
cf. ibid. 170 180.
21
According to the Oxford Dictionary ABC of Food and Drink, Pontefract cakes are "small flat round liquorice sweets
as made originally around Pontefract, a town near Leeds in West Yorkshire" (262).
