It seems Mrs. Darcy has been a busy woman, paying calls on more or less every blog in the neighbourhood, and Stuck-in-a-Book is no different. In fact, despite Diana Birchall (whom I know from an online literary discussion list) contacting me a while ago, her book Mrs. Darcy’s Dilemma has been hither and thither, all around Oxfordshire and most of the departments of the Bodleian. Hallowed company indeed. Finally she landed at my doorstop (or, mor
e precisely, the janitors’ desk) and I read this lovely novel in little under a day.
I have a healthy scepticism of prequels and sequels and so forth, if not written by the original author, and no author comes more sacred than our Jane. Advocacy has bordered on obsession ever since the earliest days of general access to her writings, and though national Jane-addiction comes in peaks and troughs, it has never truly been absent. I came to Pride and Prejudice in 1995 along with so many others, through the BBC TV version, when I was nine or ten. Though I’ve only read the novel once, I have listened to an unabridged cassette and watched a fairly faithful television version probably some hundred or so times. There is not a book in the world I would less like to see sullied.
To return to the novel. It has been many months since I read something so addictively, so keen to dedicate all my spare time to reading it. Yes, it even entered read-whilst-walking-to-work territory, which only happens once or twice a year.
This was helped by the fact that Diana cleverly divides the narrative focus between revisiting old characters, and exploring the antics of their children. Most of P&P’s characters appear, or are at least mentioned. We see Lizzy and Lydia making the same mistakes as their father and mother respectively, and watch the good ‘uns and bad ‘uns (as usual in Jane country, the bad ‘uns are foolish more than wicked) from the next generation make a mess of things, and, of course, sort themselves out. Naturally, Diana Birchall isn’t as good a writer as Jane Austen – it would be an odd coincidence if she were, since nobody else has achieved that in the last two centuries – but I can think of no finer hands into which to place this playful task. Playful in theory, of course, but I daresay terribly difficult in practice. Diana gets the tone so right: witty and ironic and moving and very, very Austen. I think the greatest compliment I can pay Mrs Darcy’s Dilemma is that I was left not mourning the handling of beloved characters who appeared, but wondering what she’d have done with the ones who did not.
I know that a trout that rises to the fly is likely to be caught and eaten, but as you are a vegetarian I will take the risk.
“Naturally, Diana Birchall isn’t as good a writer as Jane Austen – it would be an odd coincidence if she were, since nobody else has achieved that in the last two centuries …”
I challenge you to justify that bold statement!
Dark Puss
Interesting title – very like ‘Mrs Dean’s Dilemma’ (of my youth) but oh, so different in character. When can I borrow it? OVW
I am very interested in this post as I have just read Emma Tennant’s Pemberley which I thought was dreadful. It has put me off other writers touching the works of their predecessors in such an obvious form as a pre/sequel. I will try again however inspired by your post.
Interesting… someone else who I believe reads this blog recently told me they had read “Darcy’s story” (P&P from the perspective of Mr Darcy, apparently) and to never, ever read it cos it’s tripe. I think this one must be in a different league. If you actually liked it and didn’t cry with rage, she must have done a pretty good job!
I’m afraid I haven’t the smallest justification, Peter! I suppose the thing would be to find someone better, and thus disprove me…
Well, it wouldn’t be the same blog if I didn’t make bold, irrational statements every now and then!
I’m certainly not qualified to enter into a discussion about the merits of the world’s great authors, but how about some possible equals to Ms Austen:
Saul Bellow
Proust
Colette
Primo Levi
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
DP
Nabokov
Tolstoy
Woolf
Borges
Dickens
Falubert
James Joyce
Oh, by the way, brilliant title for this entry.
I am becoming more and more tempted by this book. I have also read unsatisfying sequels so I generally avoid them. But all of these positive reviews are sending me off to see if this is available in the US. Sorry to hear about your glasses; would love to see photos of your trip if there are any.