January 28 - Pride and Prejudice Day

Posted on January 28, 2020

The wonderful novel Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United Kingdom on this date in 1813.

 

This was the second novel written by Jane Austen, a British woman raised in a respectable but not wealthy family. As she wrote the novel, she read aloud each finished bit to her family, and she got even better reviews from them than she had for her first, Sense and Sensibility. Austen's books were originally published anonymously. S&S was published with the author given as "A Lady," and P&P was published as "By the author of Sense and Sensibility.  

Pride and Prejudice got great reviews and sold out its first printing. Soon it went into additional printings and was translated into French; a bit later there was a third printing and several more translations. 

More than 200 years later, P&P is still going strong! It appears near the top of several lists as people's "most loved" book - and it has a great reputation with scholars as well as the general public. More than 20 million copies of the original novel have been sold, and it has been translated into at least 35 languages. P&P has inspired a LOT of other books plus movies and TV mini-series; many a modern author / screenwriter has cashed in on the perpetual popularity with prequels, sequels, versions from other characters' points of view, expansions, adaptations, and modernizations. 

Books and movies like Bridget Jones's Diary, Bride and Prejudice, The Jane Austen Book Club, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Death Comes to Pemberley, Eligible, Austenland...well, I could go on and on, but suffice to say that Austen's romantic novels, and ESPECIALLY Pride and Prejudice, form a sturdy backbone for an entire industry!

My absolute favorite: the A&E mini-series version of P&P, with Colin Firth as the famous Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as main character Elizabeth Bennet.

My favorite modernization may be (it's hard to choose just one!): Bride and Prejudice. 

Also on this date:

Birthday of scientist Dame Kathleen Lonsdale 

Artist Jackson Pollock's birthday

Democracy Day in Rwanda

National Kazoo Day

Anniversary of first ski tow in the U.S.

Anniversary of the coining of the word serendipity

Anniversary of the appointment of the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice

Anniversary of the Warsaw Confederation declaring freedom of religion in Poland

Army Day in Armenia

Plan ahead:

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• January holidays
• January birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in January
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

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• Historical anniversaries in February
  

December 16 – Happy Birthday, Jane Austen

Posted on December 16, 2014

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite authors—and a great excuse to sit around and binge-read, or even to binge-watch movies. If the weather outside is frightful where you live, and you need an excuse to stay in and keep cozy and warm, get your Jane Austen on!

Jane Austen was born in England on this date in 1775. She lived her whole life as part of a close-knit family who were landed gentry—which was a good thing—but who had little money—which was a bad thing. During her time, a gentlewoman had no actual work—the servants did that—so she spent most of her time with creative pastimes such as playing the pianoforte (we call them pianos) and painting. Some women were so daring as to read fiction—at the time, many people thought that reading novels was harmful to one's character, that people should stick to reading the Bible and elevating non-fiction. Very few women were so daring as to WRITE fiction!

But Austen did just that. She wrote six novels that have been published and republished ever since Sense and Sensibility was first published in 1811. Every one of those novels has been made into movies, too—some of them have been made into movies, television specials, and even modern-day rewrites and homages.

And speaking of homages, an entire publishing industry has developed around Austen. People have written books about her, about people who are crazy about her, about people who are crazy about her hero Mr. Darcy, and further adventures of her characters. According to Wikipedia, there in an entire Janeite fan culture.

Here are my favorite movie versions of Austen's books:

Best Jane Austen movie:

• Always and forever, the 1995 A & E Version of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy 

Best version of Sense and Sensibility:

• In my opinion, it's a tie! The 1995 version with Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant ties with the 2008 TV miniseries version with the yummy Dan Stevens

Best version of Emma:

• The 1996 movie with Gwyneth Paltrow

Best take off on Emma:

• Clueless (1995) 

Best take off on Pride and Prejudice:

• Bride and Prejudice (2005)
  
  

Best movie about Jane Austen fans:

• The Jane Austen Book Club (2007) 

Best movie about Mr. Darcy fans:

• Austenland (2013) 

Best movie about Austen herself:

• Becoming Jane (2007) 

Also on this date:

Scientist and author Arthur C. Clarke's birthday

Anniversary of the invention of the transistor 

Kazakhstan's Independence Day

Beethoven's Birthday

Margaret Mead's Birthday (scroll down)

Anniversary of Boston Tea Party

First Night of Hanukkah


Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• December holidays 
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January

April 21, 2013 - Happy Birthday, Charlotte Bronte

There is a very famous book called Jane Eyre, written by a British man named Currer Bell.

Right away, since the book was about a woman and seemed to be from the point of view of a woman, people suspected that the author wasn't really a man. Perhaps, some people thought, it was written by a woman.

Everyone was sure that Currer Bell was a pen name (or pseudonym). There didn't seem to be a man knocking about in London by that name!

Jane Eyre was successful right away—people bought it and read it and discussed it! They discussed who this mysterious Currer Bell was even more when the books Wuthering Heights, by Ellis Bell, and Agnes Grey, by Acton Bell.

Actually, the three novels written by three “Bells” were really written by three sisters who lived in Yorkshire. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte wanted to hide the fact that they were women—but they didn't want to use common male names, since they felt that that would be too much of a lie. Notice that their pen names—Currer, Ellis and Acton—started with the same letters as their real names, and of course Bell started with the same letter as Bronte. So their pen names shared the same initials as their real names.

Charlotte Bronte was born on this date in 1816. Reading a little bit about her life reminds me how lucky we are to live now, rather than back in the 1800s. Her mother died of cancer when Charlotte was just five years old (baby sister Anne was only one). Her two older sisters died of tuberculosis when they were just 11 and 12 years old. Her younger brother Brandon died in 1848 (they were both in their early 30s at this point), and her younger sisters Emily and Anne died of tuberculosis soon thereafter. Charlotte was devastated—all five of her siblings had now died!

Charlotte herself married and lived to a grand old age of – yikes! only 38! She died of complications from pregnancy. Only Charlotte's father lived what we today would consider a full life of 84 years. And remember, this was a middle-class family living in one of the most “advanced” countries of the world, at the time—not a family living in dire poverty far away from the latest medical advances.

Jane Eyre—one of the all-time greats!

Some people consider Charlotte Bronte's book Jane Eyre one of the greatest works of fiction ever written in English. The title character is one of the strongest, most intelligent, and most independent female characters, for sure.

Many people have compared Bronte's writing, plots, and characters with Jane Austen's (who wrote Pride and Prejudice and five other novels). Perhaps these comparisons are made because both authors were women living in England in the 1800s—but there is little overlap in their lives. Austen died the year after Bronte was born, and Austen lived among the landed gentry of the south of England, whereas Bronte and her sisters lived a much more secluded life in the colder, harsher north.

Here is one comparison:

Charlotte Bronte wrote 4 novels.
Jane Austen wrote 6 novels. 

Bronte: only Jane Eyre is very well known and loved today.

Austen: all of her books are very well known today (and I would argue that most are still well-loved today. 

This is the best version of P&P
ever!

Bronte's Jane Eyre: at least 17 film and TV versions made.

Austen's Pride and Prejudice: at least 10 film and TV versions made, plus at least 7 looser adaptations. (Many of Austen's other works have been filmed multiple times, as well.) 

Bronte's Jane Eyre: millions sold worldwide.

Austen's Pride and Prejudice: an estimated 20 million sold worldwide. (About 110,000 P & P sold in bookstores in 2002 alone!)

Weird but true: Both Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice have been made into series of board books for toddlers. I honestly think that that is just silly!

Also on this date:

Kindergarten Day 

John Muir Day

Kartini Day in Indonesia