“ Miss Austen '' Imagine patterns behind Jane Austen's letters burn

For decades, the English novelist Jane Austen was a constant source of inspiration for filmmakers and television creators who seek to adapt her work, but also authors who want to extend his world and our understanding of it.

This is the case with “Miss Austen», The 2020 novel by Gill Hornby. The fictitious story focuses on Jane's sister, Cassandra, and her decision to destroy a large part of Jane's correspondence over the years – something rooted in fact. “Miss Austen” is the first of the three novels of Hornby which completely plunges readers into the life of Jane and his family with nearby Tréments, which the author found “Captivating.”

“They were all brilliant and all rather extraordinary, although Jane was the most extraordinary of all,” said Hornby. “She wrote during the day then read aloud in the family circle at night, which they all did.”

Hornby's novel is no different from a novel by Jane Austen, full of spirit, playful quarrels, tragedy and romance. But it was the love between the sisters Jane and Cassandra who inspired this particular book, which has now been adapted to television.

“Miss Austen”, a mini-series in four gamesWill be presented at first at 9 p.m. Sunday PST on PBS as part of “Masterpiece”. (The following episodes will be broadcast on Sunday, with the last two broadcast on May 18; they will also broadcast on the PBS and PBS.org application.) The drama of the period, with actor Keeley Hawes as Cassandra Austen, was presented in the United Kingdom on BBC One in February in Favorable opinion.

Hornby was joined by executive producer Christine Langan by Bonnie Productions, who produced the series of “Masterpiece”, during a projection of “Miss Austen” at the Los Angeles Times Books Festival Sunday, where they discussed Jane's inheritance and adapting the book for television. This is the first television series of the production company.

“I loved reading,” said Langan to find out why she chose to produce it. “I was moved to tears at the end, and I found it a completely unique angle on a writer that I loved for decades, and very immediate and captivating and relatable.”

Langan, which has already produced award -winning series and films, including “Cold Feet”, “The Deal” and “The Queen”, said that she liked the idea of ​​rehabilitating the reputation of Cassandra, who was “a good omnipresent influence, a good source of support and love to one of the most famous writers in the world”.

In the series, Cassandra is slightly younger than her counterpart in the book, and that was partly to do with Hawes, whose dramatic and comical capacities were crucial for the role.

“We had already decided to make Cassandra a little younger than in the novel, the feeling being that middle -aged women are just as invisible in this society as elderly women,” Langan said. “We loved versatility (Hawes) and her grace, then she met us on an equal footing with the same vision and the same passion.”

“Keely has a huge and brilliant reputation in the United Kingdom that she loved enormously,” she added.

This contrasts with Cassandra, who has long been considered with a certain dismay by historians of her sister. She burned All except 160 Letters from Jane, Which could have provided academics and fans more details on the author and his life. There is Various theories As for why Cassandra has chosen to destroy them, in particular by preventing a negative examination of Jane and wanting to preserve the inheritance of her sister.

The series, like the book, tries to redesign Cassandra more positively, as well as her reason to destroy Jane's letters, who understands them away from family members like the Sly Mary Austen (played by Jessica Hynes), who was married to James Austen, brother of Cassandra and Jane. We also see flashbacks from Young Cassandra (Synnøve Karlsen) and Jane (Patsy Ferran) while the events of letters come to life, revealing their true nature.

The story takes place mainly in Kintbury, a village in Hampshire, England, where Hornby has been residing for over 30 years and where she learned Cassandra for the first time. “I think Cassandra found me,” she said.

While the letters are at the heart of the drama, “Miss Austen” also talks about Cassandra and her fiancé, Tom Fowle (Calam Lynch), whose family lived in Kintbury. He died of yellow fever during a trip to the Caribbean and Cassandra never married.

Tom Fowle, played by Calam Lynch in “Miss Austen”, was engaged to Cassandra Austen.

(Robert Viglasky / Bonnie Productions and Masterpiece)

“I knew that she (Cassandra) was there the last Christmas they had together, and that she went down to our door at dawn one in January morning and said goodbye to Tom and never saw her,” said Hornby. “And she started slightly to haunt me because I have always been very obsessed with these women in history.”

It is a notable moment to reconsider the role of Cassandra in Jane's life: this year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane. Hornby said that it was Cassandra who gave Jane the ability to produce “six of the greatest novels in the English language” taking care of her when she was sick and in the management of the house so that Jane could write. And two and a half centuries later, Jane's stories continue to delight readers and inspire creators like Hornby and Langan.

“She wrote about what it is to have a mom, a sister, to fall in love, to have a roof over your head, what the time looks like and how boring the neighbors are – all that we are all doing,” said Hornby. “She speaks to us in a way that none of her contemporaries does.”

“And she's incredibly funny,” added Langan.

Imagine the austens and their life was a fruitful territory for Hornby, whose following works, “Godmersham ParkAnd the next novel “The Elopement”, scheduled for its release in the United Kingdom in May and the United States in October, are also focused on family.

And Hornby's partnership with Langan will continue; The producer has already optionized “The Elopement”.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the television adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” which featured Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and the 20th anniversary of the cinematographic version, with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. (Netflix recently in green light A limited series also.) “Miss Austen” also contains references to the novel – ensuring that the first of the show feels like a full circle moment.

“It's so fascinating that she is still going,” said Hornby. “She really has a posthumous success, and she really wanted success. She was intelligent enough to know that what she was writing was really good.”