I am writing about Austen's first two novels in the order that I read them, not the order they were written. In the case of "Sense and Sensibility" I actually saw a movie version before I read the book which is very unusual for me. This was the movie with Emma Thompson and Kate Winset that came out about 1995. I read the book a few years later when I decided I wanted to read all of Austen's novels - I haven't made much progress over the past 13 years!
When I read the book, I was impressed with Austen's humor especially some cutting comments. With regard to one elderly woman, she wrote something like, she didn't say much because she had only as many words as she ideas - that was meant as a compliment in terms of limiting what one says. The other referred to Eleanor's silence in reaction to one of the male characters because "she didn't believe that he deserved the compliment of intelligent conversation." That may not be a direct quote, but it is pretty close and when I later read that Austen could be "wickedly funny," I knew what the critic meant.
Like most people, I think, I almost always prefer the book to the movie. The one thing that I thought was better in the movie was the handling of Eleanor's mistaken belief that Edward the man she loves has married someone else. I forget the specifics, but the explanation for Eleanor's error seemed quite contrived compared to that in the movie. Of course, some writing a screen play from a book, is to some extend almost editing someoneelse's work making it easier to adapt into something that is smoother.
As I think about it this is one rare case where I actually liked the movie as much as the book and certainly not for the above reason. Part that was the quality of the acting, but as I remember it the movie is very true to the book. Once I finish reading the remaining novels, I am going to watch at least one version of each and see how I feel. I don't have much more to say about "Sense and Sensibility," but will probably make up for in my next post about "Mansfield Park."
When I read the book, I was impressed with Austen's humor especially some cutting comments. With regard to one elderly woman, she wrote something like, she didn't say much because she had only as many words as she ideas - that was meant as a compliment in terms of limiting what one says. The other referred to Eleanor's silence in reaction to one of the male characters because "she didn't believe that he deserved the compliment of intelligent conversation." That may not be a direct quote, but it is pretty close and when I later read that Austen could be "wickedly funny," I knew what the critic meant.
Like most people, I think, I almost always prefer the book to the movie. The one thing that I thought was better in the movie was the handling of Eleanor's mistaken belief that Edward the man she loves has married someone else. I forget the specifics, but the explanation for Eleanor's error seemed quite contrived compared to that in the movie. Of course, some writing a screen play from a book, is to some extend almost editing someoneelse's work making it easier to adapt into something that is smoother.
As I think about it this is one rare case where I actually liked the movie as much as the book and certainly not for the above reason. Part that was the quality of the acting, but as I remember it the movie is very true to the book. Once I finish reading the remaining novels, I am going to watch at least one version of each and see how I feel. I don't have much more to say about "Sense and Sensibility," but will probably make up for in my next post about "Mansfield Park."
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