You Are Passionate, Jane

A one-time only tête à tête between Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë will take place today, August 12 in Seattle:
Source Picture: Austenprose

The Puget Sound Chapter of JASNA presents

You Are Passionate, Jane

a new playlet by author Diana Birchall

Sunday, August 12, 2012 at 2pm

Staged reading with  Diana Birchall as Charlotte Brontë and Syrie James (author of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen) as Jane Austen.

"Jane went to Paradise: That was only fair," wrote Rudyard Kipling, and generations of readers have agreed with him.  Now, in "You are Passionate, Jane," we follow Jane Austen right past the Pearly Gates.  She has been given the important job of Gatekeeper in Heaven, deciding which other literary figures will be allowed to ascend.  A position that has been held by dead white male authors for eons, but at last the most deserving woman novelist gets her turn.  So, when she is not writing one of her new heavenly novels, Jane passes Judgment, and in the fullness of time, the newly deceased Charlotte Brontë is brought before her.  The two women are temperamental opposites, and don't appreciate each other's viewpoint in the least.  As Charlotte's passionate life and works come under scrutiny (the title quote refers to Jane Eyre), the literary sparks fly - upward.

The literary feud between these two famous authors has been long debated. Was Brontë truly devoid of any sympathy to Austen's style? Here is a bit of backstory on how it all began…

In 1847, literary critic G.H. Lewes suggested in his review of Jane Eyre that Charlotte Brontë might benefit from writing less melodramatically, offering up Jane Austen as example and inspiration. Brontë's strong response to Lewes' admiration of Miss Austen has raised many eyebrows in literary circles over the centuries.

Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. What induced you to say you would rather have written "Pride and Prejudice" or "Tom Jones" than any of the Waverley Novels? I had not seen "Pride and Prejudice" till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book and studied it. And what did I find? An accurate daguerrotyped portrait of a common-place face; a carefully-fenced, highly cultivated garden with near borders and delicate flowers– but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy– no open country– no fresh air– no blue hill– no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses. These observations will probably irritate you, but I shall run the risk. — Charlotte Brontë in a letter to G.H. Lewes, 12 January 1848

As "passionate" as Brontë was about her style in writing Jane Eyre, Austen is in turn, stoic and elegantly understated in her Pride and Prejudice. Two entirely different approaches; but both masterpieces of world literature. Imagine if you will, these two authors meeting and broaching this sensitive ground? It should be a very interesting and entertaining meeting.

The playlet, a light, bright, and sparkling diversion, will be read by two California authors: Diana Birchall as Charlotte Brontë (dressed in black) and Syrie James as Jane Austen (dressed in white).

EDIT: On Light, Bright and Sparkle (Diana Birchall's blog) you can find pictures of the event.