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deborahjrossI finally finished this delicious "Austen variation," infinitely superior to the recent Austen-with-X-monsters novels. Here's my review:
One of Jane Austen’s recurring themes is the choice between marrying for love or for money. Indeed, for many of her characters it is not even a choice: social pressures, economic necessities and class prejudice oppose true love at every turn. But although Austen eloquently portrayed the strength of same-sex friendships and sibling devotion, conventionality of her time limited marriage partners to only half the human race.
In his brilliant variation of EMMA, Adam Campan removes this single obstacle and then lets the story unfold. The historical basis for this conceit is not utterly untoward. As Campan points out in his Foreword, many among the nobility of Europe had preferred their own sex, but married conventionally for the sake of the proper passage of property and rank. What if, Campan asks, same-sex marriage (“marriage a la mode”) were permitted by royal decree? What else would change? More significantly, what would remain the same?
Unlike many Austen pastiches, which lay into the original stories with a heavy and insensitive hand, Campan’s touch is deft and sure. Much of the original text is preserved (hence Austen’s name quite rightly appears in the byline), but subtle details that at first appear to make little different. But as Campan allows those tiny changes to build on one another, a startling revelation emerges, one which is both faithful to Austen’s premise and relevant to today’s social mores: even in a world where sexual preference is no hindrance, nothing has changed. In marriage as in all else, people still betray--or follow--their own hearts.
Austen would have been proud.
JAMES FAIRFAX by Jane Austen and Adam Campan
One of Jane Austen’s recurring themes is the choice between marrying for love or for money. Indeed, for many of her characters it is not even a choice: social pressures, economic necessities and class prejudice oppose true love at every turn. But although Austen eloquently portrayed the strength of same-sex friendships and sibling devotion, conventionality of her time limited marriage partners to only half the human race.
In his brilliant variation of EMMA, Adam Campan removes this single obstacle and then lets the story unfold. The historical basis for this conceit is not utterly untoward. As Campan points out in his Foreword, many among the nobility of Europe had preferred their own sex, but married conventionally for the sake of the proper passage of property and rank. What if, Campan asks, same-sex marriage (“marriage a la mode”) were permitted by royal decree? What else would change? More significantly, what would remain the same?
Unlike many Austen pastiches, which lay into the original stories with a heavy and insensitive hand, Campan’s touch is deft and sure. Much of the original text is preserved (hence Austen’s name quite rightly appears in the byline), but subtle details that at first appear to make little different. But as Campan allows those tiny changes to build on one another, a startling revelation emerges, one which is both faithful to Austen’s premise and relevant to today’s social mores: even in a world where sexual preference is no hindrance, nothing has changed. In marriage as in all else, people still betray--or follow--their own hearts.
Austen would have been proud.
JAMES FAIRFAX by Jane Austen and Adam Campan
