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Lädt ... Longbourn (2014. Auflage)von Jo Baker
Werk-InformationenIm Hause Longbourn: Roman von Jo Baker
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This book is told from the point of view of the servants of the Bennett family from Pride and Prejudice. It is ostensibly a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but the events of that story only barely touch the events of this novel. If you didn't know anything about Pride and Prejudice, you probably wouldn't realize you were missing anything here. If you are a P&P purist, you probably want to avoid this book, because it paints a very different picture of Mr. Bennett. Longbourn focuses primarily on Sarah, a young servant of the household, and her potential romantic entanglements with one of Mr. Bingley's servants and with James, a footman who has recently started working in the Bennett household. I found this to be a bit slow to get going, but the writing nicely evokes Austen-era prose without feeling stilted. It feels very authentic and well-researched. The characters are generally well-written, although I didn't find Sarah to be particularly compelling. I've read several Pride and Prejudice retellings, both modern and POV retellings, and I found this one to be my favorite so far. Not only does it let the story unfold from the servants point of view, with the Bennett family being just the background, it also sets the story with a more world-view of events of the time period, from slavery to the Napoleonic Wars. I really liked how the life stories of several of the servants over generations coalesce into the main story. While Austen adaptations, especially Pride and Prejudice reworks, are cliche at this point, Jo Baker's class dexterity and imaginative sympathy make this book more than worth reading. Taking the power of perspective out from Elizabeth’s hands allows the story to put the Bennets’ supposed descent into poverty into perspective, expanding to account for a further stratified class system that's barely acknowledged within the original text. By taking Pride and Prejudice belowstairs, Jo Baker gives the story a commentative edge that keeps it, if not socially transgressive in the modern day, then at the very least challenging to the genre. A brilliantly imagined, irresistible below-stairs answer to Pride and Prejudice: a story of the romance, intrigue, and drama among the servants of the Bennet household, a triumphant tale of defying society's expectations, and an illuminating glimpse of working-class lives in Regency England. I’ve read a couple of books “inspired” by “Pride and Prejudice” – the last one being “Death comes to Pemberley” and have always been slightly disappointed with them. So whilst I had heard some good things about this new book, I was both excited and worried about reading it. Jo Baker however has done a really rather good job of it I must say. There’s enough of the original story’s plot lines to frame this story of how P&P affects the staff for it to be satisfying for the most ardent P&P fan. This is almost two books in one – the main story is that of Sarah, the older maid working in Longbourn with Mrs Hill the housekeeper and cook (who is referred to a lot in the original), Mr Hill her husband and Polly the young maid in training. Into this mix comes James Smith as the new footman and Ptolemy Bingley, the mulatto footman for the Bingleys. Both men turn the head of Sarah for different reasons and leads to threads never alluded to in the main text, but which are credible. Book Three marks a short departure in the story, telling a story of the wars in Europe that Austen could never tell, and which could have constituted a novel/novella in its own right. There are some things that at first reading are perhaps a little too modern – some Wickham’s actions are disturbing when viewed with modern eyes. I had to step away and think for a bit but then remembered in the context of his behaviour towards Georgiana in the original, and that he elopes with the 15 year old Lydia, his behaviour towards the 13 year old Polly is actually pretty much in character. Plus this is an age where if unmarried at 21, women were considered to be spinsters and unmarriable. Nearly everyone from the original book makes some kind of appearance in this one, but Baker makes the sensible choice of not trying to mimic Austen's dialogue too much. Mr Collins, Mrs Bennet and Elizabeth Bennet are the ones to make the most appearances, and their speech is kept to a minimum. Mr Bennet features as heavily in this book as he does in the original, but has more significance and influence in this book. The language used brings a certain long languid summer day feel to the story, where one day runs into the next, especially for those who only need to know when the quarter days and holy-days are. The story and the way it's written is nearly enough to make you forget the initial premise - much more smooth that the previously mentioned "Death comes to Pemberley" by P. D. James. Overall a great addition to both the Historical Fiction and the P&P canon.
Like Austen, Baker has written an intoxicating love story but, also like Austen, the pleasure of her novel lies in its wit and fierce intelligence. Longbourn is a profound exploration of injustice, of poverty and dependence, of loyalty and the price of principle; running through the quiet beauty of much of Baker's writing is the unmistakable glint of anger. Jo Baker’s interesting novel focuses on the downstairs life at Longbourn, the house where the Bennets of “Pride and Prejudice” live. The author makes no attempt to imitate Austen’s style, and pays relatively little attention to Austen’s major characters...Jo Baker’s thoroughly researched description of the servants’ toil expands the tiny piece of ivory that Jane Austen worked on by showing how the lives of the middle and upper classes depended on work that’s now hard to imagine...Certainly, of the many literary rethinkings of Austen’s work, “Longbourn” is one of the most engaging and rewarding Baker deploys them to good effect not only for their intrinsic interest but as a moral corrective. She has also fashioned an absorbing and moving story about the servants at Longbourn...If part of Baker’s inspiration could have come from Charlotte Brontë, there’s also an aside straight out of “Les Misérables... But to mention these classics is not to condemn as pastiche a work that’s both original and charming, even gripping, in its own right. Gehört zu VerlagsreihenIst eine Antwort aufAuszeichnungenPrestigeträchtige AuswahlenBemerkenswerte Listen
Jane Austens Roman "Stolz und Vorteil" aus dem Jahr 1813 (letzte Ausgabe bei Artemis und Winkler, ID-B 15/13) gehört schon lange zur Weltliteratur. Im vorliegenden Buch erlaubt sich Jo Baker , eine talentierte Anhängerin von Austens Werk, einen Kunstgriff, der im englischen Original schon für Begeisterung sorgte und nun auch in exzellenter deutscher Übersetzung vorliegt. Die Geschichte der Familie Bennet, ihrer 5 Töchter und der Suche nach geeigneten Hochzeitskandidaten wurde unter anderem berühmt für das standesbewusste Setting im England des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts. Dass hinter den Gutshäusern und noblen Ballkleidern eine Dienerschaft steht, wird in diesem Buch zum wichtigsten Antriebsfaktor für die Handlung. Die Autorin nimmt den Standpunkt der Hausmägde, Köchinnen, Kutscher ein und beweist mit einem glaubwürdigen klassenkritischen Impuls, dass die Leidenschaften der Dienerschaft genauso hingebungsvoll und authentisch sein können wie jene der Herrschaft. Geistreich umgesetzte Idee. Unterhaltsam. Für alle Bestände, in denen Jane Austen gern gelesen wird Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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what makes me angry, and do not read further if you've not read the book, is here utter indictemnetof Mr. Bennett's character. A flwed man he was, a man who impregnates a young girl, keeps her as his servant the rest of her life while barely giving enough to his bastard to keep him from utter poverty and degradation, this man would not have raised a Jane or an Elizabeth. Then we are to admire the footman because , having overlooked the pedophilia, he is finally moved to murder due to a common if utterly barbaric act of military procedure- I'm not saying I wouldn't have wanted to kill as well, but...
Anyway, I think she does a dis-service to the original, which may not have bothered me as much had she not claimed, in her afterword, not to have "interfered" with it ( )