Somebody get me my spork

[ginny_t]

Can you identify this book? "After his father dies, a son practically disowns his step mother and sisters."

This is why Temeraire is not Jane Austen meets dragons. This is why The Magicians and Mrs. Quent is not Jane Austen does magic. This is why Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is not Jane Austen does magic either.

Jane Austen wrote about women. She wrote about the concerns of young women at a very uncertain time in their lives. The POV is dominated by young women in the country with nothing more allowed to them than visiting, "covering screens and I know not what," and dancing. Yet still, these are clever sly books that poke fun at the very thing they are.

It takes more than adopting a syntactical style to channel Jane.

(BTW, that's supposed to be Sense & Sensibility. *twitch*)

Comments

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

The Ladies of Grace Adieu is closer to Jane Austen does magic. As, of course, are Sorcery and Cecilia and the sequels. But S&C, as delightful as it is, still assumes a Regency England that only nominally places the same constraints on choice that Jane Austen's England placed for true and real.

I shall say no more lest you not have read these entirely delightful books. If you have, or you don't mind spoilerz, and want me to expand, let me know and I shall be delighted to do so.

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

Oh! And The Privilege of the Sword, while not at all a Regency Fantasy of Manners is still, I think, more forthright in addressing the real constraints on choice of women in a patriarchy of manners than any of the Regency-with-Magic books (many of which I adore). It's still about pushing against those constraints rather than living within them, though.

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

The Ladies of Grace Adieu has tempted me with its pretty cover and lovely name, but I so didn't care for Strange & Norrell that I was scared off. Perhaps I'll give it a chance based on your recommendation. Is it standalone? I have an aversion to series.

[zingerella.livejournal.com]

It is a series of interconnected standalone long-short stories (or perhaps novellas). I read most of the stories in anthologies before The Ladies was published.

I think it is improved by not being approached as Jane Austen with anything, but as an alternate Regency in which the presence of magic also altered the social mores.

I recommend finding a library copy, really. It's possible that it will do no more for you than N&S, but because I read the stories before I read N&S (in fact before N&S was published, and therefore before the hype), I quite enjoyed them.

I also enjoyed N&S, but not because of any alleged Austenian tendencies. More because I think Clarke's prose style is lovely, and because I enjoyed what she did with her mythologies and her England. Also, even in paperback, the book had lovely production values, and I'm a sucker for that.