I recently bought BBC's Persuasion online, it's the dramatization of Jane Austen's book of the same name. It wasn't as long as Pride and Prejudice (which plays for 6 hours); it's only about 100 minutes but it captured Austen's book perfectly.
Of all Jane Austen's books, I had always loved Pride and Prejudice best, but now I'm persuaded to think - excuse the pun - that Persuasion ranks just as high in my esteem. While P&P is all bright and sparkling - NO ONE can escape the charms of Elizabeth Bennet - Persuasion was written in a more subdued manner, which is not surprising, since it was written by a more mature and wiser Austen, the last completed novel before she passed away. Anne Elliot is almost too good, although not sickeningly nor infuriatingly so.
The storyline? Seven years before the events in the novel took place Anne Elliot, second daughter of Sir Walter Elliot turned down the proposals of Captain Wentworth after being advised to do so by her most intimate friend, Lady Russell, despite her very strong attachment towards the gentleman. Persuasion tells the events that occurred when they were once again thrown into each other's paths, and as the story unfolded, each found that the other still harboured strong feelings, after years of agony and disappointment for one and endless regret in the other.
Read it. If you like Wuthering Heights, you'd like this much better (I've never fancied Charlotte Bronte myself, due to the fact that she criticized Austen -jealousy, in my opinion- and because I'm an ardent Austenite).
No comments:
Post a Comment