The Austen Project rewrites Jane Austen's classics for modern readers

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Why use the same titles except to try to confuse/fool/entice the reader into buying the imitation rather than the real thing?

Because the whole POINT of it is to provide a modern re-interpretation of them . Have you looked at the web site I linked to in the original post of the thread?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Because the whole POINT of it is to provide a modern re-interpretation of them . Have you looked at the web site I linked to in the original post of the thread?

I KNOW that's the point. That's exactly why it's distasteful.

[DiapDealer]

So far, I've seen some very compelling reasons for why individuals would choose not to buy/read this sort of thing. I've yet to see a single convincing argument why their very existence should bother anyone. The originals remain utterly unharmed and available.

Smacks of "if you can't love it the exact same way I came to love it, you don't get to love it all."

We all need to learn to get out of our own way sometimes.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

So far, I've seen some very compelling reasons for why individuals would choose not to buy/read this sort of thing. I've yet to see a single convincing argument why their very existence should bother anyone. The originals remain utterly unharmed and available.

Smacks of "if you can't love it the exact same way I came to love it, you don't get to love it all."

We all need to learn to get out of our own way sometimes.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I KNOW that's the point. That's exactly why it's distasteful.

I don't mind somebody writing a modern version of the story, but it would be good if the cover stated that the book is based on/adapted from/a modern version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by Pulpmeister

Just as I would not move an inch out of my chair to see a movie remake of The Maltese Falcon, nor spend one cent on a rewrite of the book.

You are aware that the 1941 version starring Humphrey Bogart was a remake?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I don't mind somebody writing a modern version of the story, but it would be good if the cover stated that the book is based on/adapted from/a modern version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

The blurb on the back of the book describes it as "a contemporary reworking of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility". That seems pretty clear to me.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

That's pitiful - a further example of catering to the lowest common denominator of the reading public.

See Mr. Bennett.
See Mr. Bennett read a book.
Mr. Bennett is in his library.
Mr. Bennett has many daughters.
It is very noisy in Mr. Bennett's house.
But it is quiet in the library.

I guess I must have been a child prodigy because I read Austen when I was about 14 and actually understood what I read, in the style it was written.

I've been thinking about why Austen was not difficult for me to read as a teenager. By that age, I had already read a lot of children's/young adult classics set in other times and/or places such as the Little House books, The Secret Garden, and Little Women. (There were plenty of others, but it's been so long I can't recall all of them now.) Also, I had well-read parents who could answer my questions about the books I read, and explain British/US terms (jumper = sweater, etc.) So by the time I got to Austen, it was just another British book in an earlier time. Perhaps you had a similar experience?

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The blurb on the back of the book describes it as "a contemporary reworking of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility". That seems pretty clear to me.

Thanks - I hadn't seen the back. I'm glad to know they did make it clear.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I've been thinking about why Austen was not difficult for me to read as a teenager. By that age, I had already read a lot of children's/young adult classics set in other times and/or places such as the Little House books, The Secret Garden, and Little Women. (There were plenty of others, but it's been so long I can't recall all of them now.) Also, I had well-read parents who could answer my questions about the books I read, and explain British/US terms (jumper = sweater, etc.) So by the time I got to Austen, it was just another British book in an earlier time. Perhaps you had a similar experience?

That's probably what it was. I know I had I had already gone through "The Swiss Family Robinson", "Captains Courageous" and various Washington Irving and Poe stuff by then. I also used to watch a lot of the old B&W movies on TV that were set in various historical periods because that always interested me. So reading about another time period wasn't an alien concept.

[Geralt]

I think modern readers can read Jane Austen just fine.
Any sort of reworking of classics reminds me of fanfiction and that is just ewww.
I would always buy classics, but somebody's fanfiction? Hell no.

[Cyberman tM]

Not sure what I think of it, but it got me thinking - if I read a translated version of a book, can I truly say I've read the book the author wrote?
Seems to be the same situation, no?

[medard]

There's a difference betweeen a modern literary adaption of a classic novel or a classic theme (a very well done example), an easy-to-read adaption for people that can't understand the original version, and a paradoy like this:



I'm not sure if we're talking about the first or the second form of adaption here. Does this intend to be modern literature, or is this just a new form of an "abridged version", maybe transferend into modern days?

[HarryT]

Joanna Trollope's adaptation certainly isn't abridged, no. I honestly don't see why people feel that an adaptation somehow "threatens" the original; the original is still there, and and anyone who wants to read it can still do so. And I say that as a fan of Jane Austen's work.

[medard]

I understand your point, HarryT. But there have been some really tasteless parodies of Jane Austen's work in the past, as you can see above. I think some people don't like the idea of an adaption that has no real value on it's own out of respect for Jane Austen's life and work. We need to see first if these adaptions bring something new and valuable for readers of Jane Austen, or if it's just a commercial clearance sale of Jane Austen's ideas and themes.