Leave Jane Austen alone!

[Eric]

Who are these fools who are so deprived of originality that they have to prop their stories up on Great Works of Literature? Here is the latest derivative product:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012...id?INTCMP=SRCH

The suave lady in the article talks about a "fucking natural pairing". Sounds like necrophilia to me.

Everything seems to have to be turned into a crime novel, so that the publishers can make maximum profits.

[Liam]

See, Eric, I'm a little less concerned with stuff like this because I firmly believe that all this nonsense will disappear withing the next year or two (I'm talking about this guy's "book," of course.") OK, so he publishes an updated version of NA, a bunch of people read it, but how long do you think it will remain in print? I'd rather not waste breath on something of so little consequence. But yeah, I agree with you, everything about it screams "coattail situation." Don't rework an old classic, write your own. Damn it.

[Eric]

I hope you're right and that this sort of fad vanishes soon. But we've had the fad called Nordic Noir for long enough now, and publishers are still perpetuating this Scandinavian gloom, doom, and dismembering stuff.

I often feel that many people seem to regard the book pages of the newspapers as gospel, and will read what they are told too a little too easily.

They could exploit Jane Austen a good deal more, if they wanted to: Jane Austen porn movies, Jane Austen horror movies, Jane Austen prequels & sequels involving terrorism, AIDS, global warming, vegetable-growing, iceberg-spotting, bee-keeping, nuclear warfare, Catholic pig-farming, quantum mechanics, fridges, endangered languages, furry frogs, pink embroidered bedclothes, and typing strokes. The list is literally and literarily endless. I'm waiting for the next Jane Austen Esperanto paintball movie starring Patagonian sheep farmers playing the citizens of Bath as they take the waters and get laid, with Paolo Coelho's mother playing a bit part as the Vampire Princess, and set on the Argentine-Brazilian border in the early 18th century, with everyone riding around in bright red fire engines.

Never say that literary translators from Estonian don't have a wild imagination.

[Hamlet]

I remember seeing this a few weeks back on the news, and the publisher in question gave the old lame excuse that it may appeal to folks who wouln't normally pick up a classic. I think the idea is that they *may* be inspired and pick up the original but as we know, if that's how they feel, it's unlikely.

The cynical spin is always pasted over the real reasons, easy profit. It's a gem, Shakes of G hits the shelves, don't even write anything similar, just put in some juicy scenes in Austen or Bronte or whomever.

Liam, a UCL professor on the same show was quite worried, and he was pretty grounded, so I don't think it's that faddy.

If money is made, it will stay imo.

[Hamlet]

Ahem...

Then again, if it helps publshing make a buck, and publishing is struggling at the moment we're told, then let the crap fund the quality.

And all of those types of glib books and the celeb books and gaudy picture books will eventually make their way into the charity shops and do some secondary good.

The life of books, hey, they follow these odd little pathways, and circulate, and recirculate. And-

[Eric]

I've nothing against your maxim: "let the crap fund the quality". I'm an advocate of this approach. But I fear that the publishing industry is too focused on making money as such, and uses the recession as an excuse not to fund any more demanding literature. It's similar to the bankers who keep claiming that they must earn a million a year, so that the earnest and wholesome job they are doing helping the rest of us can be made attractive. This is another piece of crap logic.

[Hamlet]

Oh, absolutely Eric, but it's a small sin as far as this world goes, I think that publishing is becoming tacky in some respects, and think of these books piling up. A waste of paper, but there are some good signs such as these large upfront payments to celebs scaling down, as those kinds of books aren't selling liek they used to be. And sales of quality hardbacks up, there's apparently a real demand for nice-looking books, quality paper, bindings, etc. I never bother myself, but it seems to be what people want and the rest is QUICKLY filling up KINDLELAND.

I find Kindle more disturbing, but you can't blame 'em for trying to compete with gaming and other forms of technology-based entertainment.

[Liam]

This should have Eric in fits.