A review by katiemoten
Flirting with Pride and Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece by Glenn Yeffeth, Jennifer Crusie
2.0
This collection is basically exactly what it says it is: it's a sort of tongue-in-cheek engagement with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in the early 21st century. I thought it was ok, but not great.
It comes from a pop culture perspective rather than an academic one, so it's not meant to be taken very seriously, and that's ok, but the quality varies a lot in the essays. Some of them seem a bit too silly to be taken seriously. I think maybe if there had been a more academic tone, the quality would have been better.
There are a lot of themes explored here. Among the variety of approaches to the subject, some authors write about movie adaptations, some focus on Mr Darcy, some explore what was happening during Austen's time as she was writing the novel, and some even write alternative stories for some of the characters. Some of these were quite interesting, but, again, I think if the tone had been more serious, these would have been better.
I think this collection is really dated as well. There's too much swooning over Darcy and too much cattiness about the female characters. I mean, Lydia gets called a slut. Can we please just not? In the era of #MeToo, I'd like to think this book would be written completely differently, with a lot more empathy to characters like Lydia.
So, sadly, a disappointment for me. I think it's of its time, but I think writing about Austen and her characters has moved on. I like to hope it has anyway.
It comes from a pop culture perspective rather than an academic one, so it's not meant to be taken very seriously, and that's ok, but the quality varies a lot in the essays. Some of them seem a bit too silly to be taken seriously. I think maybe if there had been a more academic tone, the quality would have been better.
There are a lot of themes explored here. Among the variety of approaches to the subject, some authors write about movie adaptations, some focus on Mr Darcy, some explore what was happening during Austen's time as she was writing the novel, and some even write alternative stories for some of the characters. Some of these were quite interesting, but, again, I think if the tone had been more serious, these would have been better.
I think this collection is really dated as well. There's too much swooning over Darcy and too much cattiness about the female characters. I mean, Lydia gets called a slut. Can we please just not? In the era of #MeToo, I'd like to think this book would be written completely differently, with a lot more empathy to characters like Lydia.
So, sadly, a disappointment for me. I think it's of its time, but I think writing about Austen and her characters has moved on. I like to hope it has anyway.