THE JANE AUSTEN FILM ADAPTATION

Sense and Sensibility (1811, mic drop). Pride and Prejudice (1813, mic drop). Mansfield Park (1814, mic drop). Emma (1815, mic drop). Northanger Abbey (1817, though technically her first novel to be completed, mic drop). Persuasion (1817, mic drop). The six published novels of Jane Austen are classic page-turners brimming with unmatched wit, delicious sexual tension, and the astute observations and critique of 18th-century English society by the iconic, ahead-of-their-time heroines Elinor Dashwood, Elizabeth Bennet, Fanny Price, Emma Woodhouse, Catherine Morland and Anne Elliot. 

And then there are the many big- and small-screen adaptations, helmed by filmmakers including Ang Lee, Joe Wright, Simon Langton, the late Roger Michell, and more recently the directorial feature debuts of Autumn de Wilde (Emma, 2020) and Carrie Cracknell (Persuasion, 2022). 

The questions are: Which adaptations are your favorites? Which is most faithful to its novel source material? Do you prefer Colin Firth or Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy? Join literary scholar and author Devoney "Stone Cold Jane Austen" Looser to delve into these questions and more in celebration of Austen’s lasting relevance.