anghraine

In response to this post,

elperian said:

there is that line where jane says ‘nothing could give either bingley or myself more delight. but we considered it, we talked of [lizzy and darcy] as impossible.’ so they do have a textual convo offscreen - but it’s about l/d which is funny in its own way

I replied:

Yeah, that’s what I meant when I said that it’s not that they don’t speak to each other in-story—they must have spoken on numerous occasions, of course, including those ones. It’s that Austen doesn’t bother showing any of those conversations in dialogue (unless I’m misremembering), which I think is fairly suggestive about the novel’s priorities.

rorylgilmore responded [on 5 Jan 2023]:

#same. i don't get it #i like the character of jane #but i'm confused whenever p&p is made to be about the two sisters and their romances as if it was s&s #(yet another reason i'm not on board with grouping all austen novels together) #we don't know enough about jane/bingley to be as invested (from my perspective at least) #still to each their own

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An anon asked:

Love what you write about Darcy/Elizabeth! Just curious, what do you think of Jane/Bingley? Do you think they would be a good couple?

I replied:

Thank you very much!

For Jane/Bingley, I think it depends on what you mean by “good.” They’ll be … fine, I think? There’s no real reason for them not to be.

But—well, I’m pretty resistant to the versions/interpretations of Jane/Bingley that I see now and then that are like, “well, actually, they’re very compelling as written and it’s suggested they would have a complex, ultra-passionate relationship!” Different people find different things interesting, of course, and have different headcanons, but … we never really see them interact and IIRC they don’t exchange a single line of dialogue. It’s hard for me to latch onto that as anything but plot and characterization device.

( Read more... )

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I’m a grown adult in my 30s, so obviously my thoughts periodically just wander off into “what if there was some AU with like, idk, combination transformations like Steven Universe, but kind of crossed with She-Ra, that create these ultra-superpowered combo/alternate selves, but only very few people are compatible enough to make it work … and obviously those people are my OTPs …”

Tagged: #i unironically amuse myself by imagining how i'd make it work for my peak otp #like there's this stealth magical society but nobody knows for sure unless they actually see someone performing magic #a lot of people genuinely don't know about it and a lot of magic folk assume the people they meet aren't magic #but they don't know #i'm thinking that the bingleys are quite genuinely non-magical and oblivious to the whole hidden magical society #some of the bennets are magical and most of them are in on it and they assume the whole netherfield party is oblivious #darcy of course is actually a mage on a par with elizabeth #but ultra-careful about not revealing it right until a major force shows up to fuck with the bennets #and bingley is incidentally injured and darcy is just like... hell with this and starts freezing people to trees #bingley: wait you're...???? #elizabeth: wait i was...wrong? #darcy: 'okay apparently i'm going to just... publicly do this... my family is NOT going to be happy #okay regrets later giant ice spikes now' #and anyway there's all this magical energy going on and elizabeth and darcy bump into each other on accident #and people have even actively tried to magically meld into a magic superbeing but they just can't #cue MAGICAL TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE. lots of sparkles and swirly lights and glowy eyes #and when it settles there's like... this incredibly tall and attractive person who runs at maximum 'FIGHT ME' at all times #like she's ... part of the joy of imagining elizabeth+darcy is just imagining how incredibly arrogant their combo self would be lol #but genuinely brilliant and powerful and charismatic! just ridiculously proud though #bonus scenario: they don't know how to revert back and jane is like ... this is ... um... my cousin. miss ... dar...net. darnet. yes. #jane: it will look strange if you do not attend the ball but you do not need to be afraid! i will talk if you are uncomfortable and- #miss darnet: i fear nothing #i don't even know how to tag this organizationally

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: You Give Love a Bad Name (Bon Jovi)

An anon (presumably this one) said:

Also, I think Harker is pretty, not plain, but it's weird when fans bring up the "Portrait of Mrs Q" and claim that it looks just like her. Apart from the woman's coloring and (sort of) her hairstyle, there's not much resemblance, and I haven't seen any evidence that the producers of P&P 1995 cast Harker because they thought she resembled this portrait. In any case, Firth looks very little like the fashion plates and fashionable portraits of the day, but this is rarely mentioned.

I replied:

Yeahhhh, I think that’s a weird argument. I was just looking through my folder of late 18th/early 19th cent portraits, and there’s a pretty wide range of what was considered attractive, but you do get a lot of round faces and delicate bow mouths like Mrs Q. (My kingdom for round-faced Jane tbh.)

And iirc they lightened Harker’s hair to fit the stereotype even more—I think it’s pretty clear that that’s what they were going after, much more than Mrs Q. And you’re right, it somehow doesn’t come up with the insistence that Darcy must look like Colin Firth, historical beauty standards be damned.

It’s just … people are going to love what they love, but there’s a lot of inconsistency in why others are also obligated to love that thing that makes it even more aggravating.

Tagged: #and honestly no slender jane looks like austen imagined her #which they all are so ... nobody wins here

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An anon asked:

You’re an INTJ and you accept the common typing of Darcy as an INTJ, right? Well, I’ve just found a few people arguing that Darcy is actually a Sensor, arguing that a real Ni-dom would have better predicted that Wickham would target Lydia or some other young girl, and citing the fact that he misjudges Jane’s feelings for Bingley based on appearances. Would you argue that he’s still an INTJ despite the above, and if so, how?

I replied:

Yes, I’m an INTJ, and yes, I accept (and relish!) the usual INTJ-typing for him.

I’ll say upfront that I like the MBTI, but also have issues with it as a system and haven’t dug into the details for a long time. My friend

tree could probably answer this question better than I can.

But personally, I think one of the issues with discussion of it is that people tend to flatten everything about someone into the type and ignore other, individualizing motivations they have. IMO that’s part of what’s happening here.

So, to begin with, it’s less that Darcy did or didn’t intuit that Wickham was dangerous than that, due to upbringing (rather than temperament), Darcy initially didn’t register anything as important unless it touched on his own “family” circle—a circle that is inclusive of his friends and dependents, but not of strangers or simple acquaintances. Once Wickham wasn’t on his radar, eh.

With regard to Jane, we’re told that Darcy wanted Bingley to marry Georgiana, and that this factored into Darcy's involvement in the whole situation, even though he tried to keep it from affecting his judgment of Jane. I think the pretty clear implication is that he failed.

But the thing I find interesting about Darcy is that, despite his pride, and despite his biases, his judgments about people’s underlying characters are right a lot more often than you’d expect. He’s not wrong about Mrs Bennet and the younger girls. He rightly has reservations about Mr Bennet. He, also rightly, considers Mr Collins lucky to have married Charlotte, even though he barely knows either of them. He’s right that Elizabeth and Jane are concerned with propriety and excludes Jane as well as Elizabeth from his condemnation of the family in general.

And I don’t think these judgments are really following from considered observations that have eventually led him to a conclusion (sometimes he thinks so, but IMO he’s already reached his conclusions). They’re fast, influenced by both his general beliefs and by quick, subconscious observations coming together. What gives him the appearance of a more deliberate, straightforward thought process, I think, is his need to account for the new information he keeps accumulating after reaching a judgment. He will adjust his early conclusions to make all the data work, even though changing his mind troubles him.

Basically, he’s someone who has good intuitive judgment of character, but gets so caught up in his own ideas and thoughts that he sometimes misses what’s right in front of his face, though his need to keep integrating all information he receives usually keeps him from going too far astray. As I said, I’m no MBTI expert, but that just doesn’t sound like an ISTJ at all to me. I think Ni+Te makes a lot more sense.

(That said, I do think that a lot of readings of Darcy sound pretty ISTJ-ish, very much including academic ones. I just don’t think the character himself is.)

Tagged: #i saw a gifset the other day with him as istj and i was just like ... lol no #maybe in the movie i guess but canon darcy? no

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A Tumblr anon asked:

do you think keira knightley is the right level of attractiveness for elizabeth?

I replied:

Mmm, I’m kind of on the fence.

On the one hand, she seemed like a really odd casting at the time—it was clear that she was considered a beautiful woman in general, where Elizabeth is mildly and unfashionably pretty. OTOH, Keira Knightley is set against an absolutely stunning Jane in Rosamund Pike, which I think diminishes the effect, and her looks would be quite unfashionable in 1795.

So I think it’s really a question of adaptational aesthetics—are we talking about period conventions or how appearances register to audiences in the twenty-first century? I lean towards a mixture but more the latter than not, so I’m inclined to consider her a bit much for Elizabeth, though not to the point that it’s really a big deal for me.

Tagged: #she's not how i imagine elizabeth but it is kind of funny to me that the people wringing their hands about how she was too attractive #were often the same people going on about how people didn't look like her back then

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Snowflake Challenge promotional banner with image of ice covered tree branches and falling snowflakes on a blue background. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.

And we're back with the Snowflake Challenge! #8 is:

Talk about a current fannish project (fic, art, vid, crochet, funko pop village) (that you are creating or enjoying).

If you've been reading my DW over the last few weeks, you know what it's going to be: I'm working sloooowly on a Mass Effect/P&P AU with Elizabeth as Commander ~~Shepard~~ Bennet (a technologically savvy sniper and victor of the battle of Torfan who is very committed to only thinking of the past as it brings her pleasure) and a crew of various P&P characters, including:

Janani Hackett, a human gunnery chief who saw terrible things on Eden Prime but stubbornly sticks to her ideals;
Illia T'Arzi (Darcy), an arrogant asari scientist whose real motives are never as transparent as Elizabeth would like;
Sharra Lukarian (Charlotte), an exasperated turian security officer who finds a future on board the Normandy;
a young quarian, Jori'Zanah (Georgiana), who is just trying to prove her worth and bonds with Illia;
George Wickham, an Alliance lieutenant and reasonably skilled biotic trained in an asari-run initiative to help young biotics from other species. Definitely trustworthy!

I've written a little of it and I'm determined that this time will be different and I won't post it as a WIP on AO3, I'll just keep poking at it in my spare time until it's either finished or not posted there at all. (I will definitely put bits of it here so I don't internally combust, lol.) Not sure of the ultimate length because, even just going with ME1, there are a lot of moving parts that I'm still figuring out. But it's very exciting!

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Meryton Townhall (Dario Marianelli | Pride and Prejudice)

So I started half-a-dozen scraps of things!

Here's some early canon-compliant Darcy:

The first time Darcy saw Elizabeth Bennet, he noticed almost nothing about her. He was in an ill humour that evening, and would rather have attended one of his uncle’s dreadful theatricals than a village assembly full of strangers. He disliked both forming new acquaintance and dancing at the best of times—and this was far from that. He heard the barely-whispered gossip about the Bingleys and himself, he felt the gazes of the sparse crowd fixing on him, and he saw few signs of sense, fashion, or beauty anywhere.

Bingley, predictably enough, gravitated towards the only handsome woman in the room, a young lady who looked like a painting and to go by her placid, unwavering smile, seemed about as interesting a conversationalist as one.

Here's a bit about my headcanon for Elros's wife, early on:

Ithíriel lived long for one born in Middle-earth, who had only come to Númenor as a young woman. In the new land, her years passed slowly and peacefully as she gathered what records she could find, and took down more.

She was one among six other archivists entrusted with recovery and oversight of the records of the Edain. It was a great task, and would have been impossible without the patronage of their half-Elf king. But Tar-Minyatur had a great value for lore, and withheld nothing from the archives.

Even on Númenor, though, time passed. By the point that Tar-Minyatur could pause his labors long enough to see the archives for himself, a decade after Ithíriel’s arrival in Númenor, she had more lines about her eyes than he did. She always would.

Here's some Mass Effect!Shepard!Elizabeth:

Just about everyone in the Alliance, and plenty of those outside it, knew what Elizabeth Bennet had done at Torfan. But they didn’t understand. Nobody did, really, not even Admiral Gardiner, who’d defended her to the tribunal.

Elizabeth knew what people called her behind her back. The butcher of Torfan.

She’d long ago resigned herself to that. When Elizabeth could do something about a problem, she acted; when she couldn’t, she let it go. And she couldn’t do anything about the past.

Least of all when she didn’t regret it.

( Read more... )

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Current Music: Peace of Mind (Boston)

Controversial so I’ll put it under a cut:

[This was originally in images, but I didn't feel like uploading them]

( Read more... )

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I posted the next chapter of Love, Pride & Delicacy at AO3 here. I wanted to cover the [redacted] and [redacted], but that nearly wraps up the main Hertfordshire section, so we should get to Kent and the Catherines next chapter.

/fingers crossed

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Current Music: Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra)

I did do some other things yesterday and today, but I also bulldozed through Ch 2 of Love, Pride & Delicacy. It's mostly going through canon stuff, but there is one prettyyyyy major consequence of the AU in it!

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Current Music: Set Fire to the Rain (Adele)

elperian asked:

okay, now I have to ask. who is your favorite elizabeth? your favorite jane? your favorite caroline bingley, if you have one? my love for jennifer ehle and anna chancellor bias me incredibly but otherwise I have no strong opinions.

I replied:

Elizabeth: Elizabeth Garvie in the 1980 P&P! <3 <3

Jane: Rosamund Pike in the 2005 P&P

Caroline: hmm, I care a lot less about her, so it’s difficult to say. I like both the 1980 and 2005 versions (not AC’s, sorry). The 1980 is much more simpering, though, so I lean towards the 2005 (with my usual reservations).

ETA: I also really love Laura Osnes in Austen’s Pride as far as I’ve actually heard it, but it feels a bit unfair to include her since I’ve never seen it.

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Current Music: Infra 5 (Max Richter)

heckofabecca asked:

Who are your favorite Austen sibling pairs, and how would you rate them in order of most to MOSTEST favorite?

I replied:

Hmm! Let’s see … some of the ranking is easy, and some not so much, but I’m inclined to go:

7. Jane and Elizabeth Bennet—there’s not much to say, it’s just a sweet and strong dynamic that functions perfectly within the wider novel.

6. Elinor and Marianne Dashwood—never mind the love interests, their love is the beating heart of S&S.

5. Sophy and Frederick Wentworth—it’s really enjoyable to see 30-something siblings who are frank and upfront and affectionate, even with their differences.

4. James and Catherine Morland—both rather sweet and refreshingly normal, lol.

3. William and Fanny Price—the “no subsequent connection” passage about them is one of my favourites in all of Austen! <3

2. Mary and Henry Crawford—I like me my morally dubious schemers, and morally dubious schemers who are loving family and loyal friends (to each other) are like catnip.

1. Fitzwilliam and Georgiana Darcy—there was absolutely no other possibility for this slot, I adore them individually and I especially love them as a pair.

Of Georgiana: Her brother’s recommendation was enough to ensure her favour; his judgment could not err.

Of Darcy: There is nothing he would not do for her.

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: You Give Love A Bad Name (Bon Jovi)

Almost a year later, I updated tolerably well acquainted (the canon-compliant fic that follows Elizabeth from her time at Pemberley onwards):

“And till Colonel Forster came himself, not one of you entertained a doubt, I suppose, of their being really married?”

“How was it possible that such an idea should enter our brains! I felt a little uneasy—a little fearful of my sister’s happiness with him in marriage, because I knew that his conduct had not been always quite right.”

Not quite right, indeed! For a moment, Elizabeth thought of Miss Darcy’s anguish at so much as a mention of Wickham’s regiment, and how Darcy had looked—first wary and then—

With a shake of her head, she returned her attention to Jane. Georgiana Darcy was safe and likely contented enough at Pemberley; the same could not be said for Lydia or their family.

( tag )

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Current Music: Clash of Empires (Thomas Bergersen)

Generally speaking, I prefer to keep my fics to some direct relationship with canon—retellings, what-ifs, “canon except my ship happens,” close fusions, 1-2 (and only 1-2) characters are genderbent, actually canon-compliant, etc etc. I have some that are pretty far out there, but I end up losing interest when they wander too far off, since it’s just original fic at that point and I have original fic.

Buuuuut

( Read more... )

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Current Music: A New Hope and End Credits (John Williams)

I still think about Donald Greene’s article about how the (maybe) Tory-aligned Bennet-Gardiners force the Whig-coded Darcy-Fitzwilliams to take them seriously, and … the underlying concept is so interesting!

but, also:

1) there’s no suggestion that Elizabeth cares about her family’s politics, whatever they may be, or that they bear on her choices and perspectives; additionally, she’s often positioned as out of sync with most of her family and it’s implied that she and Jane have been strongly influenced by their frequent visits to the Gardiners, whose politics we also know nothing about

(otoh, Darcy’s combination of elitism and progressivism is super stereotypically Whig, not to mention his name)

2) even if you see the Bennets as Tory-aligned, Darcy is in no way assimilated into their world and its politics; there’s no indication that he ever likes Mr Bennet; it’s Elizabeth who is longing for Pemberley by the end; and the final emphasis is on the tight connection between her, her powerful landlord of a husband, and her mercantile relations.

It would, of course, be odd to say it’s the other way around and the Darcy-Fitzwilliams force Elizabeth to take them seriously (lol Lady Catherine), because the dynamics of the novel are very much more complex than that. But it is certainly Elizabeth who is actively eager to enter Darcy’s world while Darcy is at all points uneasy with hers. If Darcy and Elizabeth are politically active as a couple, it is vastly more likely for Elizabeth to become a Whig hostess than Darcy a Tory sympathizer.

(And in my headcanon, that’s exactly what happens!)

( tags )

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Current Music: Titan Dune (Two Steps From Hell)

With regard to this post, perminas said:

why isn’t he concerned about this with jane? bingley comes off as a little silly frequently, although very charming, and jane is supposed to be nearly as smart as lizzie, right? or does he just expect sweet jane to not engage in risky behavior the same way lizzie would?

I replied:

I don’t think we’re ever told about how intelligent Jane is or isn’t, beyond what’s obvious; I would say that it’s very much up to interpretation, because her desire to think well of the world so profoundly shapes her perceptions and thought processes. Bingley is sometimes treated as sillier than I think he is, but I also think defenses of him can go overboard; the most Austen says about his intelligence is that it’s not deficient, just inferior to Darcy’s.

IMO Mr Bennet’s concern is driven both by his sense of Elizabeth’s intelligence and his sense of her general character; he talks of her “lively talents” placing her in danger, which combines both. I don’t think he’d consider it much of a concern for Jane temperamentally.

(I also suspect that he’d be inclined to underestimate Jane’s intelligence because it’s not like his. His characterization of Jane and Bingley’s forthcoming marriage seems to place them on a par.)

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Current Music: Battle of the Heroes (John Williams)

I rambled about this a few years ago (and more briefly, also a few days ago), but another P&P thing that I find ultimately very charming is the quiet development of a connection between Jane and Darcy. This is partially very subjective, but also partially … less so.

Anyway:

Jane and Elizabeth’s appearances:

Elizabeth, equally next to Jane in birth and beauty, succeeded her

Darcy and Georgiana’s appearances:

“She is a handsome girl, about fifteen or sixteen …”

She was less handsome than her brother

Jane’s early response to Darcy:

“Are you quite sure, ma'am? is not there a little mistake?” said Jane. "I certainly saw Mr Darcy speaking to her.”

… “Miss Bingley told me,” said Jane, “that he never speaks much, unless among his intimate acquaintance. With them he is remarkably agreeable.”

Darcy’s early impression of Jane:

Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much.

Also Darcy:

- Darcy only smiled

- “And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.”

“And yours,” he replied, with a smile, “is wilfully to misunderstand them.”

- He smiled, and assured her that whatever she wished him to say should be said.

- “What think you of books?” said he, smiling.

- As he spoke there was a sort of smile which Elizabeth fancied she understood

- “I am not afraid of you,” said he smilingly.

- Darcy smiled and said, “You are perfectly right.”

- she beheld a striking resemblance of Mr Darcy, with such a smile over the face as she remembered to have sometimes seen when he looked at her.

- she sat in misery till Mr Darcy appeared again, when, looking at him, she was a little relieved by his smile.

( Read more... )

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Current Music: Princess Leia's Theme (John Williams)

In response to this post,

elperian said:

this is a very relateable characteristic that I’ve never seen drawn out for darcy before. it’s interesting in that it’s the flip-side (the…MIRROR?!) of elizabeth’s perspective, which is framed in contrast with jane’s well wishing. it’s also fun to think that elizabeth finds in darcy something she values in jane.

I replied:

Right! After Elizabeth receives the letter, she realizes that her self-indulgence is “useless or blameable distrust” that led to her misjudgment of Wickham’s and Darcy’s general characters. It’s similar to how Darcy initially comes across and is in the habit of being, but I think ultimately forms a neat contrast(mirror!!) to his basic inclinations. Those are probably why he’s wrong about Jane’s feelings bc (IMO) he sees what he wants to see in them, but rightly respects her general character, as Jane does his.

I suspect this is part of the reason that, in Elizabeth’s rumination about what she and Darcy would offer each other in marriage, she thinks she’d gain the benefit of his “judgment.” Otherwise this could be a somewhat puzzling thought, but it makes sense in this context, I think.

( tags )

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Current Music: Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Louis Clark + Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)

A (possible?) parallel I’ve always found interesting—

Darcy, recalling his upbringing:

I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing—to care for none beyond my own family circle, to think meanly of all the rest of the world, to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own.

Darcy, recalling dealings with Wickham:

He had some intention, he added, of studying the law, and I must be aware that the interest of one thousand pounds would be a very insufficient support therein. I rather wished than believed him to be sincere; but, at any rate, was perfectly ready to accede to his proposal.

IMO an aspect of his character that tends to go unexplored is the extent to which his thoughts are influenced by what he wants to think, for his own varied reasons. He wanted (in a Jane kind of way) to believe the best of Wickham, but at some level, he knew better. He wanted to think himself more intelligent and worthwhile than other people, but the people he most values are notably unlike him. He knows better, and yet he doesn’t.

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Current Music: In the Hall of the Mountain King (Electric Light Orchestra)

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Anghraine

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Snowflake Challenge #8

I really want to finish something

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New chapter!

fic update!

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