TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH … STEPHANIE BURGIS & GIVEAWAY

Stephanie Burgis is my guest today to talk about her love for Jane Austen. She is both American and British, writes YA fiction, has published 3 books in the Kat series. Book One is out now in the US and Canada as Kat, Incorrigible and in the UK as A Most Improper Magick. You can win a copy of this lovely novel, leaving a comment + your  e-mail address. This giveaway contest ends on Oct. 20 when the winner is announced.

Book 2 in the series, A Tangle of Magicks has already been published in the UK, not yet in the US or Canada. (Discover more about Stephanie on her official site).

Join me and welcome Stephanie Burgis on My Jane Austen Book Club. 

Hello, Stephanie, and welcome. This is my first question: when did you first read  Jane Austen? And was it  love at first sight?

It really was! My dad read me Pride and Prejudice when I was eight, and I fell absolutely head-over-heels for it. I read Sense and Sensibility next, loved that even more at the time (I prefer P&P nowadays, but Sense and Sensibility was definitely my favourite when I was a kid, and it made a huge impression on me), and tore through every other Austen novel and movie/TV adaptation I could find from then onwards.

As a writer of YA literature do you find she can still teach/be a model for nowadays youth?

Of course! Her characters are so true-to-life in their very human foibles, weaknesses and charms, they feel just as real now as then, and what she has to say about human nature is every bit as relevant and compelling. When I run into people I find irritating, I often end up thinking of some parallel Austen character, actually! And as far as a specifically YA audience, I’d say that Northanger Abbey is actually a perfect YA novel (albeit written in Regency-era language) - it’s about a 15-year-old girl learning to tell between false and true friends, going to her first dances, learning to deal with male interest and the reality of adulthood, and falling in love for the very first time. (And of course it’s very funny.) Perfect!  

Many critics agree Emma is Jane Austen’s most successful literary achievement. Do you agree with them? Which is your favourite among the major six?

I admire Emma very much, on an intellectual level, but it and Mansfield Park are my two least favorite Austen novels. (Which is still ranking them pretty highly in my estimation!) My top favourite is Pride and Prejudice, but I also adore Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey and could re-read all three of them endlessly. (And my own first two novels owe big debts of inspiration to both Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey!)

Do  you think that all these adaptations, both written and for the  screen, could alter, mislead  or even distort the interpretation of Austen’s work?

Of course there are lots of different interpretations of her work in the different adaptations (because they CAN’T translate it literally to the screen, so there will always be an aspect of picking and choosing to what they adapt), and there are some versions that have made me gnash my teeth as an Austen-lover. (I absolutely couldn’t stand the Andrew Davies TV adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, and I hated that the Keira Knightley film version of Pride and Prejudice took out so much of the biting wit of the novel - I love Austen’s comedy, dark-edged as it is, and for me, it’s the core ingredient of her work.) 

On the other hand, there are also TV and film adaptations that I absolutely love, like Andrew Davies’s TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle) and Emma Thompson’s film version of Sense and Sensibility…and honestly, even versions I find only mediocre, like the Billie Piper version of Mansfield Park, are still fun to watch, IMO. Even diluted Austen is good stuff! 

Isn’t the romantic  aspect of  her novels over- emphasized in the film versions or TV series we’ve seen so far? (not that I mind romance, but those romantic scenes in the movies are so often  not at all Austen-style!)

It really depends on the adaptation! As I said in the answer above, I disliked that aspect of the Keira Knightley film version - I thought it took out all the scathing social comedy to turn the story into an earnest romance. However, it also has to be said that the fact Austen tended to summarize her romantic scenes and leave the kissing bits to the reader’s imagination doesn’t mean that they didn’t happen for the characters…so I don’t have any problem seeing some of those scenes that Austen didn’t write out for us! ;)

Was Jane Austen more a romantic girl or a matter-of- fact woman?

Well, she certainly possessed plenty of both qualities, which is part of why I love her work so much! On the one hand, she’s very clear on the fact that couples need financial stability to be happy, and that tortured rake-heroes like Willoughby are Not Good Husband-Material…but on the other hand, over and over again, her heroines refuse to give in to pressure and make sensible but unromantic marriages (the same choice she made in real life, when she broke off her sensible-but-unromantic betrothal after just one day), and over and over again her heroines are rewarded for it in the end by marrying the men they truly love. So, I’d have to say she was an intelligent, practical romantic!

How would you advertise your book in less than 50 words?

In Kat Stephenson’s Regency England, magic is the greatest scandal of all…but Kat won’t let that hold her back when there are highwaymen to foil, sinister aristocrats to defeat…and true loves to win for her two older sisters.

Let’s go on playing. Thinking of the perfect match among Austen characters. Which is the happiest couple among the ones Jane formed? The least happy couple?

I’d say the least happy couple would have to be Lydia and Wickham…or perhaps worse yet, Willoughby and his poor wife. But the happiest from my perspective would be - oh, that is a hard one! But I’d say it must be Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth, FINALLY granted their happy ending after suffering for so long!

That 's all. It's been a real pleasure to talk  with you about Jane Austen. Thanks for being with us today, Stephanie!

Thanks for hosting me, Maria!


Now it's your turn dear readers! Have you got any question for Stephanie Burgis? She's ready to answer and to interact with you. Don't forget your e-mail address if you want to be entered in the giveaway.