November 2007: Emma (Austen)

Post date: Jan 07, 2010 9:13:13 PM

Our November exploration of Jane Austen's Emma occurred at multiple events:

The "real" book club meeting was held at Betsey's on Wednesday, November 14th. Sherrill reports: "I arrived late, so missed some of the discussion, but in the part I did join we discussed the class system so evident in Austen's work, especially Emma, and wondered whether Austen was simply vividly illustrating what she saw, or offering a critique, however mild. We also offered some ideas on modern writings that explore character and setting as Austen does, and touched on Zadie Smith's work as in some ways similar. Thanks to Betsey for hosting!

A small group of folks who were unable to make that meeting instead gathered at Catherine's the previous evening for a viewing of the 1996 film production of Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow as the title character, and Jeremy Northam as her Mr. Knightley. Attendees were at various stages of reading the book, which provided interesting differences of perspective on the movie. We all enjoyed this film version, which was very well cast, with the notable exception of Ewan McGregor as Frank Churchill. His acting was unexceptionable, but he had a very peculiar fluffy hairstyle, which made it hard to see him as the dashing Mr. Churchill.

Our double feature also included the 1995 Clueless, an adaptation of Emma set in Beverley Hills, with the brutal class society of high school standing in for the English countryside. Most attending had seen Clueless years ago, although not all had realized it was based on Emma. While we found it amusing and it certainly evoked a particular time and place, its wit did not seem quite as sparkling when one had recently read Austen's original.

Back to non-fiction for December!