Some Words

Today I learned that there was a series of books that told the story of Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy’s view. It was a sad moment of illumination really. I scrolled down the Amazon page to see the reviews. Half of them talk as if these books were authentic revelation, if I can be allowed to use that phrase for literature. The problem is of course this: the books aren’t written by Jane Austen. So, aside from the fact that the writing style won’t be the same (or likely even close to as good) it won’t really be Mr. Darcy, at least not as Austen envisioned him.

It’s an interesting problem. The books were originally self published, so I can be sure that the author is doing this out of a genuine desire to tell this story. That being said, Jane Austen did it so well. I support the idea that an authors works should eventually (and in less time than it currently takes) be allowed to enter the public domain, but perhaps because I already hold Austen in such esteem, I’m wary of seeing her characters used. More than likely she did it infinitely better than one Pamela Aiden. That’s not intended to slander Aiden, just to say that Austen is that good.

It’s always dangerous to take up established characters like that. Updike did it a few years ago with Hamlet, and while the book seems to have sold well, and gotten many good reviews, I couldn’t help but feel that it was pointless crap. Why? Because the whole thing felt redundant. It didn’t really reveal anything new about the characters, though as I’ve already said, such a revelation isn’t really about the characters but rather the characters₁. It’s a dangerous place to go, because even more than with a regular novel, you better damn well have something to say. All Updike seemed to be saying was that he could research the original names used in early versions of the story.