Lost in Austen

A few days ago I posted a few 'nice' things covering my all time favorite novel 'Pride&Prejudice' on my Facebook profile! I do know that I am thirthy something and I do have a partner and a kid and so I should already have my share of romance. So my Mr Darcy should have already crossed my doorstep but still....

Ever since I picked my final dissertation subject I got totally hooked! During English Lit classes at college we covered a bit of Jane Austen. On top of that I watched the very addictive BBC series with Colin Firth and there I went. Suddenly I became a true Janeites!

One day I got on the train with my necessary reading material heading back for Louvain City, hoping that I would get into the book asap. Suddenly my fellow passenger noticed me picking up the Pinguin Classic and she just went berzerk!! 'Oh, my dear!! Don't you just looooove Mr Darcy?', she said? To be really honest I had not covered that many pages to really get into the psycho of this rather dark romantic Victiorian loverboy. 'Euh, yes. It is a nice book.' 'Just nice? It the best romantic book that I ever read! Every girl wants to walk into her Mr Darcy!'

By the time we got to Louvain I was intrigued by Mr Darcy. What special forces did he have that other heart robers did not seem to have? Starting that day I woke up with Mr Darcy and most of the times he was the last person I thaught about before I closed my eyes! I even started to have very strange imaginative dialogues with this one classic hero.

Half way through the book I was rather upset with him that he played tricks on Lizzie. They danced at the ball, but he was rather rude and did not treat her with any respect. Lizzie even said outloud many times that he was not worth her love or even her attention.

While reading the novel I digged very deep into every thing I could get my hands on. I challenge you to google Jane Austen, Mr Darcy, Pride&Prejudice and you will be amazed. Guess that I am not the only romantic soul out there who considers this a very inspriring masterpiece. And yes, it seems they even beat me to it: there is a mini series about a modern girl who gets the chance to meet Mr Darcy at Pemberley! Being romantic in modern times seems once in a while rather cliché but when it comes to Jane Austen there is more wit to be found in the dialogues then the average episode of The Bold&the Beautiful.

Lots of women would still be swept of their feet when they would meet the dark and very severe looking Mr Darcy. Because after a closer look at him, he seems to embody all that we are after in a man!

What I do really like about most modern productions is the language of the hands!! It are not the kisses (in Victorian times most women felt already completely on cloud number nince if they were able to touch the hands of their love interest!) but the hands who seem to talk the language of the heart.

Especially in the last movie starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden the hands tell the whole story. When Mr Darcy is just standing in front of Lizzie playing with his gloves trying to hold back what is on the tip of his tongue you just can feel the tension.

I remember once I was half thru the book that I wanted to get into a time machine and just get to Pemberley in order to tell Darcy that he is such a fool. But then in an other adaptation one chararcter points very nicely out:'We are fools in love!' Apparantly many actors don't mind to play the biggest fool of all!

There is even going on a vote for the best Mr Darcy on the white screen! And seems that this time my Mr Darcy won't be in the lead. Colin will have to get out of the way for Matthew ! Mmh, now that I come to think of it his hands are the most beautiful of all!

Holding hands it seems not that hard but in a Jane Austen novel it seemed to make the difference! I better start using that hand lotion a bit more then just once in a while! You never know when I end up in a time machine!