Welcome to another post on the thread: ELM - English, Literature, and Musings ....
Comedy can be a great teacher.
And the comedy Blackadder gave me an introduction to English history and literature as well as helping me recall what I had learned in school. This BBC series and its specials followed the Blackadder line as it slithered through time from the Middle Ages to World War One.
In 1811, Parliament appointed the Prince of Wales, George Augustus Frederick, as Prince Regent to his father King George III. (George III is remembered in children's history books as the mad king who lost America.)
But what does this have to do with Jane Austen? She comes in at season 3 during the Regency period in the BBC comedy ....
Blackadder the Third
An impoverished ex-aristocrat, Mr. Edmund Blackadder becomes the butler and personal servant to the Prince Regent, son of mad King George III. In this scene from Ink and Incapability, Dr. Samuel Johnson presents his English dictionary to the Prince Regent, while the butler makes sport of the pompous doctor.
Why is Prince George's butler so snarky to Dr. Johnson? If you are a writer, you may know the sting of being rejected, or worse totally ignored by a publisher. So does Mr. Edmund Blackadder
Commenting to his dogsbody Baldrick, Mr. Blackadder laments about his novel, which he had sent to Dr. Samuel Johnson:
"Edmund: A Butler's Tale" by Gertrude Perkins. A huge rollercoaster of a novel crammed with sizzling gypsies"
Blackadder :
He might at least have written back, but no, nothing, not even a "Dear Gertrude Perkins, Thank you for your book. Get stuffed. Samuel Johnson." Baldrick:
Gertrude Perkins?
Blackadder:
Yes, I gave myself a female pseudonym. Everybody's doing it these days: Mrs Radcliffe, Jane Austen
Baldrick:
Jane Austen's a man?
Blackadder:
Of course. A huge Yorkshireman with a beard like a rhododendron bush.
The opening theme ends with the butler finding a Romance Regency paperback (it's an anachronism) with a Jane Austen-like episode title, such as seen here:
The real Prince George was a fan of Jane Austen and suggested she dedicate a book to him. And when the son of King George III (and future King George IV) makes a suggestion, you had better do it. And she did. So Jane Austen dedicated Emma to the Prince Regent, with these words:
"To His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, this work is, by His Royal Highness's permission, most respectfully dedicated to His Royal Highness by His dutiful and obedient humble servant, the Author."
Another, very informative, romp through British and literary history via the comedy Blackadder.
I haven't watched much BBC over the years, so I don't recall the series, and I certainly have not read all of those classics written by women that you describe. What I did find, to my delight, was that the actor who played Blackadder in the series, is none other than the beloved bungling Mr. Bean!
I haven't watched much BBC over the years, so I don't recall the series, and I certainly have not read all of those classics written by women that you describe. What I did find, to my delight, was that the actor who played Blackadder in the series, is none other than the beloved bungling Mr. Bean!
Ron