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5/28/02 Jutta Mörgenthaler - Congratulations :-)

Dear Ash,

I only wanted to congratulate you on your discussion, your indications and interpretations of the characters in P&P. I'm German, you know, and normally I hardly manage to read such long novels without jumping over such long descriptions - or as in P&P even indirect speech. However I loved the novel after reading sometimes (there is a very good translation by dtv) it was not before I saw the P&P-film version with J. Ehle et al. that I decided to read the original - I was quite overwhelmed. Of course I was rather bad prepared by school to such a language (e.g. ....such young a person... or: he is come!! That is the German form of building sentences, you know), but there is, in style questions as well as in the course of the story's so-oo-o very much to discover, and your page gave me even more different views (and what I much esteem, high quality and over-thought ones), that I wanted to let you know how I delighted I was to land here...

Best greetings, and don't let yourself be discouraged by women (I must admit that, I too, love Aunt Gardiner...)
from Jutta Mörgenthaler

5/28/02 Ashton - reply

Dear Jutta,

Thank you for your kind words, they are very much appreciated. I try not to be discouraged by women, but they are relentless you know. I don't know if I will be able to hold out much longer.

I am embarrassed to admit that I neither speak nor read German even though my father's family originated in Düsseldorf. (You must know that Americans are very poor at languages.) However, I know a little about German sentence structure, so you observation was not lost on me. I wonder what the reason for this might be? There is the strong influence of German on English, but I would have guessed that was more true in America than in England. Jane Austen's King was George III and his father and grandfather spoke only German and no English. Also both Jane Austen's Queen and Princess of Wales were German born and reared. Maybe the influence came in that way.

In any case, you raise an interesting point. What does "dtr" stand for.

5/28/02 Jutta Mörgenthaler - Re: language

Dear Ash,

I think there is a certain difference between the influences of German into the English language. Concerning America this is due to the immigrants of course, but for England I think we must date this some hundred of years earlier. There was a sort of "language transforming wave" (don't really know the English word) during the middle ages twice I think. One went all over Europe from south to north to the British Isles, while the other one stopped in the middle of Germany (the latter is the reason why people of southern Germany and Switzerland and Austria have extremely big problems and why the northern German ("platt") is so very near to English and Dutch). I think there were more similarities between at least some words of our languages two hundred years ago than there are (left) nowadays! I am quite happy every time when I find such a coincidence...

(dtv means Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag = German publishing house for pocket books)

5/28/02 Ashton - What do you think of this example?

Dear Jutta,

I posted this excerpt from the Book of Common Prayer on Valentine's Day. The spelling is quite different from modern English but the sentence structure is the same as that of the modern day. The sentences that you excerpted from Jane Austen's early nineteenth-century novels seem more German than the excerpt from the sixteenth century. Maybe I am wrong about this—can you correct my ideas about this?

5/29/02 Linda - Languages

Dear Jutta,

You have made a very interesting observation about the language similarities.  I am no language expert in spite of the fact that I have a degree in French and two years of Spanish, no German though.  Unfortunately I have forgotten most of it, so I will not be of much help.  What I do remember is our discussions of The Princess of Cleves by Madame de La Fayette whose "lover" - the Duke de La Rochefoucauld is described as "the leading exponent of the maxime, a French literary form of epigram that expresses a harsh or paradoxical truth with brevity."   Those epigrams reminded me of Jane Austen's way of expressing her wit.

Thanks for bringing the sentence structure similarities to my attention, and I was completely unaware of the "language transforming wave".  These two items alert us to the fact that her "language" could be a study in itself.  I had not thought of that before.
Linda 'the Relentless'

5/28/02 Ashton - Our search for a Mary Wollstonecraft

Dear Folks,

I asked Linda to cast the role of Mary Wollstonecraft and her suggestions were Madonna, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton, or Justine Waddell. Madonna comes closest to my idea, but I doubt that she could convince us that she was suicidal over the loss of a man. So, I think the task remains before the community. Bree will have the final word I suspect—or maybe Cheryl. I had better get my nominations in while I can.

First of all, I will select all of Linda's actresses in supporting roles:

• Madonna - Claire Clairemont
• Jennifer Ehle - Mary Shelley
• Samantha Morton - Harriet Shelley
• Justine Waddell - Fanny Imlay

Incidentally, you can see how the first two of those roles were cast in a film produced some time ago. Here is a link to an IMDB description of Gothic (1986). Natasha Richardson was perfect, I think, in the role of Mary Shelley.

But, who should play Mary Wollstonecraft?

Hmm-mm, for some reason my instinct is to blurt out "Jennifer Lopez", but that is way wrong. I guess I will have to think about this some more.

5/28/02 Ana L - You and Jennifer Lopez

Dear Ashton,

Re your search for Mary Wollstonecraft, you said:

"Hmm-mm, for some reason my instinct is to blurt out "Jennifer Lopez", but that is way wrong."

It seems to me your instinct is always to blurt out "Jennifer Lopez" no matter what!  :-)

Can we say you're blinded by the "L" word?  (No, not "Love.")
Ana L

5/28/02 Ashton - L-worthy

Dear Ana,

I became excited when I read the title to your post, but then I realized that you merely had something to report.

It's an odd coincidence, but I saw J Lo on Spanish television last night. I wish I was better at languages, but I watched anyway.

The main thing is that I have solved the problem of casting the role of Mary Wollstonecraft. (J Lo did not get the part.) I will be announcing that decision soon—do you think I should call a press conference?

5/28/02 ABreeviated - Darcy/Lady C

Dear Linda and Splashdown,

I appreciated your remarks Linda, regarding BJD and actors in general. (Also thanks for remembering my daughter!)

It's just when there is talent, you would think they would make some choices with integrity. But aside from Colin Firth (or should we say thecond, or even latht?), the whole movie was assinine.  Never should have hit the theaters.  It was a bit more lively than The Druids, with Christopher Lambert, but not much.  Do not like Zellweger.

I don't mind that Lady Catherine was played by older women, because the actresses did such a good job.  But I did want to straighten out time lines in my mind.  Lady Catherine should have been somewhere near Mrs. Bennet's age.  You also have to consider the ages of their oldest children.  Jane Bennet was around 22.  Lady Lucas looked older than Mrs. Bennet, but we don't know whether Charlotte was the oldest or one of the younger of her offspring.

There is no one like you Ashton for giving the devil his due (or her due).  I am starting to think your prediction about the NBA might come true.  I still hang on for the Celtics, but don't mind seeing the L-word having their faces pushed into the floor at the Staples Center.  I've only been here 6 years!  Capital, capital ...

5/29/02 Aghast-one - what we really want to know

Dear Breeful,

We all would like to hear more about your daughter. I know that this is the Internet and you have to be careful; but, surely, you can say a bit more.

Can you imagine how good my predictions would look now if not for that bizarre fourth quarter of game 3 in the east and that lucky Laker lob in game 4 in the west? By the way, what do you think of my prediction for the first woman U.S. President?

Are you going to help us cast the role of Mary Wollstonecraft or not? Do I have to do everything?

5/31/02 Breefly - Mary WSC

Dear 100-yard-Dashton,

I still hold out for the Celtics until there is no hope.  Even when the team was a totally different composition (back in the Bird era), they would do these mind-boggling things in the last quarter, or last 30 seconds, so it ain't over til the fat lady sings.

I feel very ignorant of Mary WSC so it is hard to cast her, although if she is to be portrayed as young, I would have to go along with Samantha Morton.  The picture in the link is hard to read.  I need to know more about her.  If she were played as older, Miranda Richardson might be good, or possibly Samantha Bond?  The possibilities are great.

I am happy to talk about my daughter, she is the youngest of my four kids and just graduated from Pitzer College in Claremont, CA with honors in philosophy.  She is also very beautiful and on top of it all totally humble about her gifts.  I am glad to say she will move in with me for a while to get her post-graduate bearings, and then anything could happen.  She is the Light of my Life.  Thanks for asking!

5/31/02 Trashed-upon - MW

Dear Beefy,

I hope you get your wish; that is more important than my prediction record which, incidentally, I now know how to improve (it's all a matter of timing).

Here is a link to more than you can possibly want to know about Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter. I think you will abandon your choices for the actress to portray her when you know Mary Wollstonecraft a bit better. I have discovered the perfect actress for the part, and will make the international announcement next week.

5/30/02 Linda - Belated but Hearty

Dear Ash and Better Half,

My heartiest Congratulations! on the College World Series!  It is so uplifting to win a few sometimes.  Funny, I don't remember your predictions ... well, never you mind.  A good memory is unpardonable.  Do go celebrate, or have you already?

From the Meister: I prefer to give
memory some scope, don't you?

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