# sequels to Jane Austen novels
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 3, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282 "2004-02-03T04:11:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@thegreyathena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thegreyathena)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282/1 "2004-02-03T04:11:15Z")
Has anyone else been as horrified as I’ve been? This isn’t a new pet peeve of mine, but a new book just came out and revived the horror. Is anyone else tired of crass Elizabeth/Darcy sex scenes (“in the style of Jane Austen” - is that even possible for a sex scene?) and Emma lusting after Jane Fairfax? I’ve read the online fiction, some of which is good, and that’s one thing, but a published novel is another. Do so few people get Austen’s style? Or am I just a snob? (this is completely possible).
---
### Author:  [@stringy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stringy)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282/2 "2004-02-03T05:38:28Z")
> [@thegreyathena](#):
>
> “in the style of Jane Austen” - is that even possible for a sex scene?
I’m guessing you’re talking about the very recent book with “lost scenes”? That was done as a joke, trying to fool people into believing lost manuscripts were found. Some academics got all flustered over it, but it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.
But I agree with you - Emma Tennant in particular writes criminally bad sequels (“Pemberley” was so bad I couldn’t stop laughing), and I’m told there are more doing it too. They seem to be written by people who like the romance aspect of Austen but not the social commentary - in which case, why don’t they just write their own romance novel instead of pillaging classic literature?
---
### Author:  [@Saint\_Sparky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Sparky)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282/3 "2004-02-03T11:34:54Z")
Ack.
Sequals to historical classics tend to suck… look at “Heathcliff” or “Scarlett”.
---
### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282/4 "2004-02-03T11:47:35Z")
> [@stringy](#):
>
> But I agree with you - Emma Tennant in particular writes criminally bad sequels (“Pemberley” was so bad I couldn’t stop laughing), and I’m told there are more doing it too. They seem to be written by people who like the romance aspect of Austen but not the social commentary - in which case, why don’t they just write their own romance novel instead of pillaging classic literature?
Name recognition? Better sales?
I read _Pride & Promiscuity_ and it wasn’t exactly to my tastes, but I saw it as a) a joke, b) a sort of bizarre Austenian slash. So I wasn’t mortally offended by it.
There have been a lot of Austen sequels, some better than others. (Didn’t Tennant also do a sequel to _Sense & Sensibility_ in which Robert Ferrars was eaten by cannibals?) There is a searchable index of sequels on the Republic of Pemberly site at [http://www.pemberley.com/sequels/sequels\_02.html](http://www.pemberley.com/sequels/sequels_02.html)
Of the ones I’ve read and remember: Joan Aiken has done a few not-so-bad Austen take-offs, _Mansfield Revisited_, and _Jane Fairfax_, which is not so much a sequel as it is the events of _Emma_ retold from Jane’s point of view. There was a P&P sequel written in the 1940s, _Pemberly Shades_, which is a fun read, much better than _Pemberly_. Also “Another Lady,” finished _Sanditon_ in a decently Austenian tone.
---
### Author:  [@thegreyathena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thegreyathena)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282/5 "2004-02-03T15:58:35Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#):
>
> I read _Pride & Promiscuity_ and it wasn’t exactly to my tastes, but I saw it as a) a joke, b) a sort of bizarre Austenian slash.
I tried this a minute ago and the computer ate it, so this version will be briefer.
I definitely wasn’t knocking Pride and Promiscuity, which was clearly a joke (and kind of funny in bits, I guess). I think the one that really set me off was something I saw on Amazon a while ago - a new book last year. NOw I can’t find it again or remember what it was called. But Amazon had the first chapter online, and it was all about Elizabeth and Darcy’s conversation after the wedding night- how he offered her a cushion to sit on and she was humiliated, but so sore that she finally accepted, and how neither of them wanted to bathe afterwards so that they would still smell like each other. The writing was pretty crass, but I was less offended by that than by the number of people who said the writing was just like Austen. Not sure how you could think that.
I agree that Emma Tennant’s sequels are criminally bad. But I did like the ending of Sanditon; I thought that was a good job. I’m really not a purist; what bothers me are people claiming to be writing in the style of Austen when they’re actually having weird Swiftian discussions of bodily fluids.
---
### Author:  [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282/6 "2004-02-03T17:03:50Z")
I thought _Mr. Darcy’s Daughters : A Novel_ by Elizabeth Aston wasn’t bad, but that might be because I’m not a big Jane Austen fan. As a matter of fact, I read that first, then tried _Pride and Prejudice_ later. After reading that I realize that _Mr. Darcy’s Daughters : A Novel_ is not much like the original, but it was a pretty good story, IMHO.
---
### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282/7 "2004-02-03T17:30:09Z")
> [@thegreyathena](#):
>
> I definitely wasn’t knocking Pride and Promiscuity, which was clearly a joke (and kind of funny in bits, I guess). I think the one that really set me off was something I saw on Amazon a while ago - a new book last year. NOw I can’t find it again or remember what it was called. But Amazon had the first chapter online, and it was all about Elizabeth and Darcy’s conversation after the wedding night- how he offered her a cushion to sit on and she was humiliated, but so sore that she finally accepted, and how neither of them wanted to bathe afterwards so that they would still smell like each other. The writing was pretty crass, but I was less offended by that than by the number of people who said the writing was just like Austen. Not sure how you could think that.
I’m sorry; I misunderstood which book you were talking about. I wasn’t aware that there was another recent sequel out besides _Pride and Promiscuity_ (and, perhaps, given your description above, it might be better if I remained blissfully ignorant of it. 🙂 )
---
### Author:  [@thegreyathena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thegreyathena)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sequels-to-jane-austen-novels/227282/8 "2004-02-03T22:49:22Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#):
>
> and, perhaps, given your description above, it might be better if I remained blissfully ignorant of it. 🙂 )
I can’t describe to you how much ignorance is bliss in this case. 🙂 And I only read half of one chapter. Shades of Pemberley being polluted all over the place. Possibly literally.