The impertinence of it all..

If you have been alive and reasonably awake in the past few years, you may have noticed that Jane Austen is enjoying a major comeback. I suppose it may have begun with Emma Thompson's spirited (and Oscar winning) script for Sense and Sensibility, followed by Gwyneth Paltrow's suitably charming meddling rendition of Emma. The A&E mini-series starring Colin Firth as the haughty Mr. Darcy certainly fanned the fires, and droolingly handsome as he was, I fell just as hard for Matthew McFayden's Darcy, bumping so fiercely as he does up against Keira Knightly's passionate Elizabeth Bennet. Anne Hathaway simpered in Becoming Jane, and some enterprising young woman wrote Mr. Darcy's Story. Having read Pride and Prejudice for the very first time last summer, I happily picked up this tome, and have now read it, twice. And I own The Jane Austen Book Club, now one of my top 20 favorite movies. So how thrilled was I to happen on this mini-series on Ovation TV, a new discovery of mine in the panoply of stations my provider, um, provides, called Lost in Austen, about the Austenphile Amanda Pricein modern London who changes places with Elizabeth and proceeds to "cock up" the whole story, resulting in Jane being married to Mr. Collins, Bingley becoming a drunk, and Darcy in love with Amanda. I know Amanda's affection for Austen, for the mannerly life, where passions are suitably restrained and even the most vile of insults are grammatically correct and lined in velvet language. Our world has become so brash, so in-your-face. Civility has evaporated, probably in the steam of our cinema and the blistering of our popular music. Let's face it, Rock 'n Roll was spunky compared to Hard Rock, which was downright raw, and Rap and HipHop, well, they are barely sentient. We are devolving into knuckle-dragging numbness. No wonder we are fascinated with the innocence of these people, in their high collars and top hats or empire gowns, for whom the touch of a hand or glimpse of the loved one asleep is electric. The drama is all in the intrigue, who will wind up with who, who will make the advantageous match and transcend her humble position. Take me back to the time when a furtive glance could make one drip with desire.