Anne here.
Yesterday I was on several panels at the Melbourne Writers Festival, and for one of them, the topic we were given to discuss was Unpicking Classic Romances — with particular references to historical classics, rather than those 20th century novels regarded in genre romance as "classics".
I don't intend to write a full report on it, but I thought wenchly readers might be interested in the topic, and could offer their own thoughts on some of the questions and discussion points. Here are the three writers who were on the panel — from left Clare Connelly, Toni Jordan and me. Calla Wahlquist, a journalist from the Guardian (Australia) and also a budding academic, chaired the panel and asked some thought-provoking questions. Sadly by the time we remembered to take a photo of us all, she'd left.
Jane Austen's novels came up for quite a bit of discussion, as did those of Elizabeth Gaskell and the Brontes. Thomas Hardy got a mention, and we even did a brief drive-by of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. And someone in the audience raised Gone with the Wind. But for this blog, I'll just stick to Austen.
So, on to Austen.
Clare and I felt strongly that Austen's novels were romances, but Toni argued that while the books were definitely courtship novels, they were not romances. She argued that Austen spent much more time in her books, describing and dwelling on the parts in the story where things fell apart than when love was declared and celebrated. And she supported her case with quotes, one of which was the very last paragraph of Emma, which sums up the wedding of Mr. Knightley and Emma Woodhouse thus:
The wedding was very much like other weddings, where the parties have no taste for finery or parade; and Mrs. Elton, from the particulars detailed by her husband, thought it all extremely shabby, and very inferior to her own.—"Very little white satin, very few lace veils; a most pitiful business!—Selina would stare when she heard of it."—But, in spite of these deficiencies, the wishes, the hopes, the confidence, the predictions of the small band of true friends who witnessed the ceremony, were fully answered in the perfect happiness of the union.
An anticlimax indeed - though snarkily entertaining. So Toni made a fascinating point, and I've decided I need a big reread of my Austens — once I've finished working on my current manuscript.
By the way, I had to get a snap of Toni Jordan's t-shirt — isn't it fabulous? Do you recognize all the names?
Another question arose about which of Austen's male protagonists were the most romantic. The panel was divided between Darcy and Captain Wentworth, and worthy arguments were produced on either side.
Certainly Darcy did make quite a romantic speech... as long as you disregard the foot in his mouth.
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
And he did come back, and he did and redeem himself — and we agreed that a hero needed to struggle and confront his flaws and have his arrogance broken a bit etc — but really, how's this for a romantic declaration? It's in the letter that Captain Wentworth wrote to Anne Elliot in Persuasion.
“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own…(snip). . . I have loved none but you.”
Calla, the panel moderator commented that Pride and Prejudice invariably makes the top 10 (if not the #1 position) on various polls asking for people's Favorite Romances. But I think a lot of that is influenced by the various various TV and movie adaptations, and I suspect that some of the people who say P&P is their favorite romance haven't actually read the book, but are thinking of Colin Firth's Darcy, emerging wetly from that pond — a scene that never happened in the book.
And just in case you need to refresh your memories click here for a video of the scene. (See how I look after you all?)
I think it's undeniable that even if we've read the books, some of our impressions of various characters in Austen have been influenced by the actors who played them in the TV and movie adaptations. I then confess I horrified a large segment of the audience that I'd never liked Col. Brandon as played by Alan Rickman. (There might even have been some hissing!) Another panelist revealed that she didn't like the Hugh Grant portrayal of Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility. (But nobody hissed at her!)
What makes a hero?
Then we discussed some of the other male characters in Austen — Bingley, Edward Ferrars, Wickham and others and wondered about the kind of male character who had hero potential, and who didn't. And to what degree were heroes a matter of the eye of the beholder?
We decided that even though men who started out as not very heroic (eg Darcy) could become heroes, a man like Wickham could never become a hero. We thought he was weak, selfish, unreliable, dishonest and disloyal — there was more, but that was enough to rule him out.
We were divided about Edward Ferrars -- Clare argued that he'd behaved honorably, and was caught in a difficult position, but his love for Eleanor was true. Toni and I said, yes, maybe, but he was weak, looked to others (eg his mother) to arrange his life for him and didn't do anything to make his life better and only approached Eleanore after he'd been cast off. And Toni whipped out some more superb quotes to support her opinion.
Bingley we all thought was fine for Jane — he'd make her a good husband, but I think that despite his good qualities, he was not hero material. He was too compliant and persuadable; he dumped Jane because Darcy warned him off her, and then it was all back on after Darcy changed his mind. A hero, we concluded could be flawed in many ways (in fact some of us like the flawed hero) but he also needed to be strong and to stand up for himself and do things for himself and the heroine.
I have, of course, failed to mention other possibly potential heroes — please someone, make a case for Mr Collins. <g>
All in all it was a fun discussion and we all felt we could have happily talked about it for hours.
So, over to you, wenchly readers. Make a case for your favorite Austen hero. And are there any minor male characters that you thought could potentially become heroes, if challenged by the right woman? And which Austen film or TV adaptation do you most prefer? Or most dislike?
And by the way, if you don't have copies of Jane Austen's books, you can download them (and other out-of-copyright titles) for free on Project Gutenberg