I went to see the film The Dutchess the other night about Georgiana Dutchess of Devonshire Tea (In the film they pronounce her name Georgaina in case you care). I didn’t expect much but just wanted to see a movie and knew that if it was awful the costumes would be just fine. Anyway it’s quite a good film – though far from anything too special. An enjoyable, interesting commercial period flick. (I have a lot more tolerance for badness or at least mediocrity in a movie when it’s about history, because there’s always a good chance you’ll pick up some stuff that’s interesting, even if it wasn’t well presented.)
Anyway in this week’s Good Weekend, Amanda Foreman, the author of the original bestselling book which the film is the film of, as it were, is republished from the Times with her reflections on how she has come to see the story differently.
(A loud trailer plays if you go below the fold — Jacques)
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Meanwhile there are some people are not happy about the author who, I think it is considered, should take herself more seriously.
Nicholas, a few years ago I was stranded at a friend’s place after I sprained my ankle. The book next to the guest bed was a biography of Georgiana by Amanda Foreman. At that stage of my life it was absolutely not my reading style. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. In fact, it tuned me on to biography as a genre. You should read it. Oh, and a bit of trivia I deduced. This is the same georgiana as Mr. Darcy’s sister in Pride and Prejudice!
http://www.amazon.com/Georgiana-Duchess-Devonshire-Library-Paperbacks/dp/0375753834
John,
The Duke’s Residence is supposed to be Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice. Georgiana also figures in Sheridan’s School for Scandal. But Jane Austen is a bit late for her heyday. Perhaps she took her as a model looking back.
Perhaps. But remember Austen first wrote P&P in the late 1790s during Georgiana’s prime – she would have been in her late 30s/early 40s. This early writing date might also explain Austen’s complete silence on Napoleon. Of course that could also just be a concious decision on her part, even when she revised the novel 15 years later.