Lady Susan by Jane Austen
4 out of 10 (this version / audio-book)
Oh dear. No, no, no, no.
I love Jane Austen. I have read all her books several times. Lady Susan was written when she was only 20 and it's written in letter form, so it is easy to follow for listening to in the car, in traffic jams, going hospital visiting, as I have been recently.
BUT - it was read by American actors! With American accents! Jane Austen!
(Please, if you are an American reader of my blog, don't take this personally - I have no problem with American accents in general - just not reading Jane!!)
It made me ponder if I was just bucking against tradition, but it isn't that. They way in which language is spoken in any country / culture has significance for what is said, and how it is said - for the meaning of the text. There are subtleties about language which are probably best understood by those who are immersed in the culture of that language (I'm probably not expressing this well - someone will have written an academic paper on it). The way in which Jane Austen's characters speak would reflect Georgian England, its manners and etiquette and subtle nuances of meaning (who am I to say that I would recognise these if I fell over them? Do I think they are represented by the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice?)
Anyway, in my adventures in audio-books, I have listened to American novels read by American voices, and Australian ones read by Australian voices etc, etc - and the novels have been mightily enhanced by this, because you are there, with them, in their culture.
So, sorry, Jane - this time only 4 out of 10
And it has a disappointing ending.
4 out of 10 (this version / audio-book)
Oh dear. No, no, no, no.
I love Jane Austen. I have read all her books several times. Lady Susan was written when she was only 20 and it's written in letter form, so it is easy to follow for listening to in the car, in traffic jams, going hospital visiting, as I have been recently.
BUT - it was read by American actors! With American accents! Jane Austen!
(Please, if you are an American reader of my blog, don't take this personally - I have no problem with American accents in general - just not reading Jane!!)
It made me ponder if I was just bucking against tradition, but it isn't that. They way in which language is spoken in any country / culture has significance for what is said, and how it is said - for the meaning of the text. There are subtleties about language which are probably best understood by those who are immersed in the culture of that language (I'm probably not expressing this well - someone will have written an academic paper on it). The way in which Jane Austen's characters speak would reflect Georgian England, its manners and etiquette and subtle nuances of meaning (who am I to say that I would recognise these if I fell over them? Do I think they are represented by the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice?)
Anyway, in my adventures in audio-books, I have listened to American novels read by American voices, and Australian ones read by Australian voices etc, etc - and the novels have been mightily enhanced by this, because you are there, with them, in their culture.
So, sorry, Jane - this time only 4 out of 10
And it has a disappointing ending.
No comments:
Post a Comment