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| Jane Austen's 'Emma' to Get 21st Century Update |
| 2013-10-07 |
| Guess what's not gonna be remembered two hundred years from now... [An Nahar] Best-selling British author Alexander McCall Smith is to pen a new version of Jane Austen's classic novel "Emma" with a 21st century twist, his publisher announced on Friday. McCall Smith, who has sold over 20 million copies of his "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, said being commissioned to re-write Austen's 1815 original was "like being asked to eat a box of delicious chocolates". "Not only is 'Emma' one of the finest novels in the English language, but it is possibly Jane Austen's most thought-provoking and interesting book," the 65-year-old said. "Writing a contemporary version of Emma is both a privilege and a real challenge." The book will see McCall Smith swap the setting of his detective novels -- Botswana's capital Gaborone -- for modern-day England. Publisher HarperCollins said the new version of "Emma" would be released late next year. Kate Elton, head of fiction at HarperCollins, said the publisher was "thrilled" to have signed up McCall Smith. "The novels of Austen and McCall Smith share some essential qualities which make them enduringly popular with readers -- gently poking fun at their characters' 'follies and inconsistencies' as Austen would have it, and a sense that people can learn from this so that goodness wins out in the end. "It promises to be an amazing pairing." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #11 There are dozens of Jane Austen fanfics out there already, published by respectable houses. Some even have a "contemporary twist". Somebody assumes JA fans will spend money on anything with her name attached. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-10-07 22:34 |
| #10 "50 Shades of Emma" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-10-07 20:14 |
| #9 being commissioned to re-write Austen's 1815 original was "like being asked to eat a box of delicious chocolates" So what will publishing the fruits of your labors be like? Smooth simile, ex-lax. "It promises to be an amazing pairing." Leering, winking scribbler slips it to Jane Austen's skeleton good and proper. But don't worry, she'd love it. |
| Posted by: Harcourt Hitler3148 2013-10-07 19:47 |
| #8 I just hope it's better than this... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2013-10-07 19:40 |
| #7 What the hell's wrong with people? You mean that they can't write a good book, but must copy one? That's not new. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-10-07 19:26 |
| #6 "Not only is 'Emma' one of the finest novels in the English language, but it is possibly Jane Austen's most thought-provoking and interesting book" Which you will promptly SCREW UP. (And I'm not talking about the predictable over-hyped and totally unnecessary sex scenes - no doubt involving another woman and/or a goat.) What the hell's wrong with people? |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-10-07 19:04 |
| #5 Never read it. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-10-07 16:21 |
| #4 ...with a 21st century twist Who's coming out of the closet? |
| Posted by: Raj 2013-10-07 11:39 |
| #3 "Not only is 'Emma' one of the finest novels in the English language, but it is possibly Jane Austen's most thought-provoking and interesting book," the 65-year-old said. So then why the hell do you have to rewrite it? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2013-10-07 10:31 |
| #2 There was the 20th Century movie version, Clueless. There should be a werewolf version now, after the zombie version of Pride and Prejudice. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2013-10-07 09:00 |
| #1 Sad that people |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2013-10-07 05:47 |