Jane Austen fans.

escaped

Well that was a quick engagement, though I do admire Jane for breaking it off and going with her true heart.
We would never have had her greatest works.

I thought Jane did an idiotic thing in accepting the young chap if she hadn’t thought about it first.And cruel to end it the next morning.Mind you this is fiction isn’t it?
I’m loving every episode and the actress playing Jane is very good.The young Cassandra is quite boring and has no character to speak of.I like the actress playing Mary, Jessica ……?
Wasn’t she in the comedy Spaced?

I watched the last 2 episodes tonight. Loved the series. I was very impressed by the casting. The young and older Cassandra looked so similar. And Jane looked so like the picture of her painted I think by Cassandra. The costumes were good and I don't care if there were some furnishings etc from the wrong period. I loved it all.

The final scenes in episode 4 I found very moving.

Well that was a quick engagement, though I do admire Jane for breaking it off and going with her true heart.
We would never have had her greatest works.

I did Northanger Abbey for A level. The first piece of written work we were given was to write a chapter from a fictitious Gothick novel using everything we learned about these novels by reading NA.

Apart from meaning we all had to read the book right from the start, we aso had great fun exercising our wildest fantasies producing our own Gothick novel and sourcing it from NA.

merlotgran

Having to read Northanger Abbey for mock ‘O’ level put me off Jane Austen for many years but there’s nothing like a good old Regency costume drama to get things back on track and there have been plenty of those to enjoy over the years.

We read Northanger Abbey at school before O level, and I enjoyed it, especially the character of Isabella, since I knew girls similar in my year!

In Possession, fictional poets Ash and LaMotte do go fossil hunting in Yorkshire posing as a married couple but I wonder if Granmarderby10 is mixing this story up with Tracey Chevalier’s novel Remarkable Creatures based on the life of the very famous Mary Anning. Anning’s father was a cabinet maker who did come into contact with Jane Austen.

Granmarderby10

I have found this drama very engaging. One last episode r
To bb

Re fossil hunting: the novel Possesion by A.S Byatt which is a story within a story and revolves around a famous female fossil hunter in the later 19th century so part historic fact part comedic caper.

WE must have read different versions. My copy accords with the synopsis given by Amazon
It is the tale of a pair of young scholars investigating the lives of two Victorian poets. Following a trail of letters, journals and poems they uncover a web of passion, deceit and tragedy, and their quest becomes a battle against time.

Nothing comedic about it.

If you're ever in Lyme Regis, the museum has several Jane Austen artefacts lent to it by the family. ( I don't remember seeing any of her letters, but I might be wrong). I'm sure there was something about Jane meeting high society people at The Assembly Rooms and showing ammonites they had found on the beach.

Granmarderby10

I have found this drama very engaging. One last episode r
To bb

Re fossil hunting: the novel Possesion by A.S Byatt which is a story within a story and revolves around a famous female fossil hunter in the later 19th century so part historic fact part comedic caper.

I’ve read the (excellent) book based on Mary Anning’s discoveries by Tracy Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures. It follows her from childhood when she helped her father collect them on the beach to sell small fossils from his shop, before it became a popular pastime to collect fossils. When she found her first dinosaur skeleton which was displayed in the British museum, it was big news, it would have been in all the newspapers, so I’m sure the Austens would have known about it.

I never got this when younger just too much to take in from the books but just watched all 4 episodes and I loved it.
Loved the actress who played Jane and of course Keeley Hawes can do no wrong.

So tried to read Sense and Sensibility and again too much info to remember so watched the film on Netflix and really enjoyed it. I can’t believe it’s 30 years old and I did adore Alan Rickman in it.

Have seen Emma and loved that too.

So now looking for all the films from her books.

Just shows what you can miss in life…..😀

The idea that the surface of the earth was a succession of plates that move around, thus oceans moved round and spread less or more widely with the ice ages was only theorised and proven in the 20th century.

Louis Agassiz would have been developing the evidence of Ice Ages in the last decade of Cassandra Austen's life. As fas as I know she did not follow scientific matters deeply, so was unlikely to know about his reearch and results.

The Origin of Species was not published until 1859. Cassandra would have believed and accepted the teachings of the church that God made the world in 7 days and it had been more or less unchanged since then.

She would however be knowledgable of world geography and the distribution of oceans and continents. Her two youngest brothers went into the navy and variously served in the West Indies and East Indies.

I have found this drama very engaging. One last episode r
To bb

Re fossil hunting: the novel Possesion by A.S Byatt which is a story within a story and revolves around a famous female fossil hunter in the later 19th century so part historic fact part comedic caper.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202502/medium-397382-520px-behaims-erdapfel.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202502/medium-539615-theatrum-orbis-terrarum-by-abraham-ortelius-world-1572.jpg

I confess I haven't watched it but thought it was set in about 1830.

I think humankind have known about the oceans for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Certainly Raleigh, Drake, Columbus, da Gama and others had explored the oceans.

A globe from 1492 and a map from 1570:

Apparently, this French guy, Georges Cuvier, 1769 - 1832, was the founding father of paleontology.

Allira

escaped

The famous Mary Anning was collecting fossils in Lyme Regis at the beginning of the 19th century.

I think this drama is set in about 1830.

Mary Anning discovered the skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus in about 1811 or 1812 I think.
At the beginning of that century people couldn't travel to Europe because of the Napoleonic Wars so holidayed at home and fossil hunting became a fashionable hobby.

But Cassandra was born in 1773. And would they have known that the world was mostly covered by oceans at one time? I suppose she's older in tonights episode than I thought. Having said that I came upon tonights episode while I was channel hopping and it looked more interesting than last weeks so I'll watch it properly now I've binge watched Amandaland.

I enjoyed it, yes it did take a while to work out who everyone was, but it was very tastefully portrayed and such a change from all the detective, murder, police etc dramas that seem to fill our screens not to mention the celebrity and reality trash. I must say it was nice to have to concentrate on the plot re the characters. Most dramas nowadays I can read a book while watching and still fully follow the storyline.

escaped

The famous Mary Anning was collecting fossils in Lyme Regis at the beginning of the 19th century.

I think this drama is set in about 1830.

Mary Anning discovered the skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus in about 1811 or 1812 I think.
At the beginning of that century people couldn't travel to Europe because of the Napoleonic Wars so holidayed at home and fossil hunting became a fashionable hobby.

Actually probably a decade or two after Jane Austen's time. But I guess it was a common past time prior to Mary A getting involved.

The famous Mary Anning was collecting fossils in Lyme Regis at the beginning of the 19th century.

Did people know about fossils etc at the time the series was set?

Sadly, the outdoor location of tonight's episode was disappointing. Where Jane and Cassandra were supposed to be on the beach in Devon, the scenery was certainly not of the area, but more likely that of the South Coast, probably Kent or Sussex. Unfortunately, I found that irritating, which spoilt the episode for me.
I'll still persevere with it and try and get into it again.

I wanted to watch but find Keeley's 'breathy' voice quite irritating so it put me off.
I may try again if I've nothing else to wat h.

I quite enjoyed it but found Lucy Worsley's book on Jane Austen at home to be much more enlightening as well as interesting and fun to read too.

I found it quite boring as well. Critics have panned it due to historical details being out of sync. I didn't notice that so much just a bit dull for me.

I have watched the first two episodes and am another who is confused about the relationship between the female characters.
I shall probably keep trying, but only when there is nothing much else on that I want to watch.