Saturday, September 27, 2014

The Janeite Tag - My Answers

My dear blogging friend Miss Jane Bennet (of Classic Ramblings) has invented a tag where the crazy Janeites can do their favorite thing: talk about all things Jane Austen.  For no particular reason, just as a form of entertainment.


I find this rather nice because although I enjoy filling out tags from various blogging events, I sometimes feel that I don't have time to participate fully and shouldn't really fill out the tag if I'm not going to do anything else.

...rambling there.

Anyways, moving on. :D



Zee Rules:
~Thank and link back to the person who tagged you.
~Tell how you were introduced to Jane Austen and share one fun fact about your Janeite life (this fun fact can be anywhere from "I stayed up all night reading Emma," to "I visited Chawton and met Anna Chancellor.").
~Answer the tagger's questions.
~Write seven questions of your own.
~Tag as few as one or as many as seven other Janeites and let them know you've tagged them.

All-righty.  I've told the story multiple times on this blog, I think, so I should try to be brief.  Though I had heard vaguely of Jane Austen before, it was really one of those names that float around in my mind without really having a place to belong, until one of my sisters introduced me to the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, which we watched during one of our just-the-two-of-us girls' night thingies that we used to have when she actually lived nearby, sniff. (Um, anyways.)  After that it all happened in a blur.  I wanted more and more, items with "Jane Austen" printed somewhere on the cover were checked out from the library with alarming frequency, I talked the subject to death with anybody who would listen (especially if they could at all empathize), in early 2011 I started this blog, and today I am as you see me.  I've been a Janeite for about five years now (wow...) depending on when I really started being a Janeite... and I'm not sure how to figure that out but it was sometime in 2009. ;)



Fun fact about my Janeite life... ummmm, for my sixteenth birthday I had a Jane Austen party which was very fun indeed.  Looking back on it, I was something of an amateur Janeite at the time and I rather wish I'd have done it when I Knew More, but it really was very lovely.

And now for Miss Jane's questions...

~Do you have a favorite Austen couple?  If so, what do you think their married life would be like?

Emma and Mr. Knightley are my favorite.  I love the romance of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, but somehow the former speaks to me more.  I love how their friendship is such a huge factor in their relationship-- and I like to imagine their married life as being constant enjoyment of each other's company and conversation and just being cute together.  Because they're awfully good at that.  And him calling her "my Emma" with frequency.  For some reason that always melts my heart. :D  And her only calling him George when she feels like being a Tease, haha.

~Who is your favorite minor character, in any of Miss Austen's books?
ARGH I DON'T KNOW.  That question is too hard.  Ummm... I really like Mrs. Gardiner from P&P, actually, although I'm not sure she's my favorite.

~List 3-7 of your favorite Austen quotes.

Three to seven-- good call there.  Thank you for not saying one. ;)

1. “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” ~Mr. Tilney, Northanger Abbey

2. "The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!" ~Marianne Dashwood, Sense & Sensibility

3. "If I am a wild Beast I cannot help it. It is not my own fault." ~Jane Austen

4. "Ah! There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort." ~Mrs. Elton, Emma

5. "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!" ~Caroline Bingley, P&P

6. "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?" ~Mr. Bennet, Pride & Prejudice

7. "I am not at all in a humour for writing; I must write on till I am." ~Jane Austen

~How many JA books do you own?


P&P - 2 copies
S&S - 1 copy
Emma - 1 copy
Mansfield Park - 2 copies
Northanger Abbey - 1 copy
Persuasion - 1 copy
Complete JA - 1 copy

(The above list excludes a couple of duplicates I have lying around waiting to be presents for some lucky person(s) at some point. :P)

And those are just the books BY Jane Austen, not anything to do with JA... so I hope I answered it appropriately.

~What Austen character do you think you're most like?

In a lot of ways I really am an awful lot like Marianne Dashwood.  It's just that I'm not usually as drastic as her about things, haha, and some of her theories of romance I don't quite agree with.  I believe, for instance, in knowing the person you intend to marry for a good long time before doing so, and that you won't just know with a flash of lightning that they're for you and that you're going to be happy-ever-after with them.  Also, I don't condemn all second loves-- although I have a fondness for the whole Only Person For Me thing.  And of course, I believe a woman of seven and twenty is absolutely capable of feeling and inspiring affection. :D


I can be a bit like Catherine Morland with my bookishness although again, I don't really get carried away... I feel somewhat like Fanny Price at times when I am in Company... on the other hand, I have been likened to Elizabeth Bennet before by at least one person who knows me very well. ;)

~Have you read the Juvenilia?
Some of it. One day I will have read all, heehee.

~Favorite movie/TV adaptation of an Austen novel?

Pride and Prejudice (1995).  Accuracy combined with being engaging it's the best, hands-down.  I also reeeeeally like Emma 2009 though and I can't just go away without mentioning that. ;)

My nominees:
Amy (are you even doing tags anymore? Oh, well, you can answer stuff in a comment if not. ;) )
Miss Laurie
Miss Elizabeth Bennet
Naomi Bennet
Evie Brandon

Also, I accordingly tag Miss Jane Bennet and Sophie to answer the following questions in a comment. :)

My Questions:
~What are the top three Jane Austen sites you long to visit?
~Have you ever been to a Jane Austen meeting, book club or anything of the sort?
~What's the very first question to come to your head that you would want to ask Jane Austen if you could see her alive?  (No cheating!)
~Heehee... okay. How would you react if you were talking to a young man rather close to your own age and he announced that he was a fan of Jane Austen? ;)
~So pretend that all the Jane Austen adaptations made up to this point, are actually being filmed presently, and you have the option to be an extra in one of them.  Which would you select, and what scene would you choose to be in?
~Take one (non-hero/heroine) character from a Jane Austen novel and switch him/her with another one from a different story.  Who are they and what do you think would be the consequences?
~You're at a ball which is comprised of twelve dances.  As they are done two at a time, you will be able to dance with six of Jane Austen's gentlemen.  Three of them are desirable, three of them you do not like at all.  You get to pick.  Which six are on your list?  (They'll still be the ones to ask you, of course. They will magically know to do so, I guess.)


Allll right! :D Have fun!

9 comments:

Miss Dashwood said...

I always love reading your tag answers. Partly because they're fun, and partly because I enjoy snickering to myself as I correctly predict almost every answer. Feelings of superiority and self-satisfaction are rarely unpleasant.
:P

I love that disillusionment cycle picture.

YAY for your description of the Knightleys. I wuv dem.

Wow, you included the wild Beast quote in your list of favourites. I am all astonishment. :P

I wonder who has likened you to Elizabeth Bennet?

Your questions are swellissimus and I shall do them in a post.

Miss Jane Bennet said...

Yayyyy you posted this!! I was feeling Rather Gloomy, but this cheered me right up. So there you go. You did a good deed. :D
Anyways.
Ah yes, the Janeite party...that is the one you posted about, right? Haha. I still wish I could have gone to that. ;D
D'awwwwww!! "Good morning, my Emma." SWEETNESS AND CUTENESSSS. EEP.
Ooh, Mrs. Gardiner! She's one of my favorites, too. Maybe the 1971 Edward died early and Elinor married again...hmmm, would the times match up? I wonder. Because that would be really cool. :D
Ummm, anyways.
Bwahahaha. Being a Janeite myself, of couahse I didn't limit anyone to just ONE quote. When I try to pick one favorite Miss Austen quote, I end up just giving up and going to read the books instead of finishing the blog post. :P
And I like very much that you name the people who said the quotes and not just Jane Austen as some Pinterest People do. Haha.
Hahahaaa, I know what you mean about duplicates. The problem is, I've been meaning to give away a few JA books for some time now, and I always end up choosing something else to give. I'm a miser that way. ;)
Oh, Elizabeth Bennet? Now that I think about it, you ARE rather like her. I think. (That was redundant.) I nevuh thought about it before. (There's that Word again. I must find some synonyms...)
Oooh, yessss, P&P95. BEST JA MOVIE EVAAAH. ;)
Okay. Now for the questions...thank you for tagging me! ;)
~Chawton, London, and Bath. Haha.
~Ummmmm...no. Sadly. Unless you count me showing you all my Austen stuff and vice-versa. ;)
~Um. "Why didn't you write the proposal scenes?" is the first thing that popt into my 'ead. Haha.
~I think I would try to stay calm, but be inwardly squee-ing, and I would probably engage him in conversation for quite some time. And then go home and start planning my wedding. (Kiddingggg.)
~P&P95, of course. :D I think I would want to be an extra either in the wedding scene at the end (because Colin Firth would be there, smiling. HAHAHA.), or during the Netherfield Ball because I would get to learn all the dances. ;)
~Eleanor Tilney and Lucy Steele. And the end result would probably be that Catherine and Tilney would have to get over a lot of Misunderstandings, courtesy of Lucy Tilney. And Eleanor would probably see that Elinor and Edward were in love and break her own engagement with him, but Colonel Brandon wouldn't have offered Edward Delaford yet, so Elinor and Edward would probably have to wait awhile to get married. But then of course, Marianne and Colonel Brandon would still get married, and Colonel Brandon would proberly offer the living to Edward, so he wouldn't be penniless. All's well that ends well. ;)
(Were those extremely run-on sentences? *sigh*)
~Mr Tilney, Mr Darcy, and Mr Knightley for the Desirables, of course. ;) As for Undesirables...well, Wickham could be downright dangerous to get to know, and Willoughby...ewww. ;P So I think I'd pick Frank Churchill, who is charming and somewhat well-meaning (and so I could make quips about "frank-ness". HAHAHA.), Tom Bertram (who isn't THAT bad), and...hmmm. I guess I'll have to go with Willoughby after all. We could talk poetry, and I could impress him with my repertoire of memorized poems. ;)
Annnd I think that's it. It's getting rather late. :P
*abruptly ends this atrociously long comment*

Naomi Pitts said...

I did this tag on my blog already, so I'll answer them in the comment. Thanks for tagging me, by the way. :) It was very sweet of you to think of me. :-)

~What are the top three Jane Austen sites you long to visit?
Do you mean places? In that case: Jane Austen's house, and P&P95 locations. (I might or might not have answered this question rightly. Heehee.)

~Have you ever been to a Jane Austen meeting, book club or anything of the sort?
Yes. On my own. In my room.
Duh - no, I haven't. It's rather sad.

~What's the very first question to come to your head that you would want to ask Jane Austen if you could see her alive? (No cheating!)
"What's the real story of your love-life?"
Because no-one quite knows it. Who was that man at the sea?!?

~Heehee... okay. How would you react if you were talking to a young man rather close to your own age and he announced that he was a fan of Jane Austen? ;)
I'd be very pleased, of course, and a little surprised. But of course I wouldn't melodramatically fall in love with him. I'm not like that. :-P

~So pretend that all the Jane Austen adaptations made up to this point, are actually being filmed presently, and you have the option to be an extra in one of them. Which would you select, and what scene would you choose to be in?
I choose to be an extra in the Ball at Netherfield Park in P&P.

~Take one (non-hero/heroine) character from a Jane Austen novel and switch him/her with another one from a different story. Who are they and what do you think would be the consequences?
Your questions are very fun, heehee. I've shipped Miss Bates with Caroline Bingley... each causing great stir in the story.

~You're at a ball which is comprised of twelve dances. As they are done two at a time, you will be able to dance with six of Jane Austen's gentlemen. Three of them are desirable, three of them you do not like at all. You get to pick. Which six are on your list? (They'll still be the ones to ask you, of course. They will magically know to do so, I guess.)
The three I like: Mr Knightley, Mr Tilney and Mr Darcy. The three I don't like: Mr John Thorpe, Mr Wickham and Mr Whillouby.

Thanks so much, Melody - it was great fun. :-)

~ Naomi

Sophie said...

I enjoyed this post a lot, especially because I agree with so many of the answers. Heehee. :D (Just semi-randomly, I had a picture very similar to the lovely Emma and Mr Knightley one as my background on my device for-- uh, a very long time. I couldn't tire myself out of looking at it. :))
I feel greatly honoured, now. That made me very happy and excited. :D Thank you so muuuuch...
~Chawton, firstly. Ha. Sometime I most certainly will. (I'd have to go a sort-of long way, but at least no planes would be needed. Muahahahahaha.) Then if I could go and see Steventon, I would... And thirdly a film location. Say, wherever it was they filmed Pemberley. (I do a fair bit of old manor house visiting, but that's not been one of them so far. Siiiiigh. Someday.) I'm missing out places I've been, such as Bath and London. :P
~Noooope. Sniff. I don't actually know very many Janeites. (Aside from family and now internet, heehee.)
~"Can you explain the story of the seaside gentleman to me?" Because I would want to know that so muuuuuch. There are times when Cassandra's protectiveness annoys me greatly. :P
~I would be very shocked indeed. Heehee. I'd immediately like him a lot-- I mean, I immediately like Janeites anyway, but a boy my own age would be so unusual that I would like him even MORE. But as for falling in love, haha--that would depend on the boy himself. (At least, I hope so, or I worry for myself. :D)
~I'd be in the happy Emma '09 dance scene. I would so much love to be part of that. *siiiigh*
~ERRRRRM. I wonder if Jane Bennet would still marry the Mr Bingley figure if I swapped him and John Knightley. I'd like to see her and him together, actually. That would be Amusing. :D (Y'know, they're practically opposites...)
~I'd love to dance with Mr Knightley, Mr Darcy and Mr Tilney. (Wow, I'm unoriginal. Heh.) And I'd hate Mr Elton, Mr Collins and Henry Crawford. :P
Thank you so much again; it was really fun. And my first ever tag! :D

Evangeline said...

Can this be true?! That my second favouritst blog, the one that inspired me in the first place has tagged me?!?? Oh My Goodness! *FAINTS*
XD thank you so much Melody!!
http://ramblingsfromaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/im-baaaaaaack-and-another-janeite-tag-xd.html

Melody said...

Miss Dashwood,
Ha. One day, one DAY, I'll write some answer that you totally don't expect and throw you for a loop. While still being truthful. :P
A list of JA quotes wouldn't be complete without the wild Beast. :D
You still haven't done the post, cough cough... I WANT TO READ YOUR ANSWERRRRS. :D

Miss Jane,
Yayyyy indeed! :) Happy to have cheered you, m'dear.
Yes, the party I posted about, indeed. I wish you could have come too. No fair that blogging friends don't get to come too. Even ones I didn't know yet. :P
SNORRRRT oh my word. Haha. Well, the times for S&S and P&P wouldn't match up with that, obviously.
Haha, indeed. I believe in quoting the characters where appropriate. ;)
Giving away duplicate JA books reminds me of OAN... ;)
I have a few Elizabeth Bennetian features, haha. In some areas I wish I had more though. ;)
But she DID write the proposal scenes. Well, three of them. Haha. :) They make up for lack of others IMO.
HAHAHAHA about going home and planning your wedding... ;D
Oh, yes indeed-- I think that Mrs. Ferrars might have at least cut Edward off temporarily as soon as he announced his intention to marry Elinor, and then Col. Brandon would be even more anxious to do something for him, because he has a high opinion of Elinor and would want to see her happy, haha.
Good dancing choices! :) Mr. Tilney would be the best person to dance with. Mr. Knightley doesn't like dancing, and Mr. Darcy doesn't either but he might not even pretend to as Mr. Knightley would. He might act Cold because he did not know you. Haha. I'm not sure who I'd choose instead of him, though... Mr. Bingley, perhaps? People who enjoy dancing and know what they're doing are usually fun to dance with. ;)

Naomi,
Yes, I did mean places! I should have specified that...
Haha, I wouldn't fall in love either... but I would have something of a distinct Interest and want to talk to him again, haha. ;)
I'm glad you think my questions are fun. :)


Sophie,
It was lovely to get your comment! :)
Yeah, you don't know how close you ARE to Chawton. You're really close. Comparatively. Heeehee.
Well, they filmed Pemberley in two spots-- Lyme Park is the outside, and another place was the inside-- can't remember the name. (It's all in the P&P95Forever Club... there's a whole page for locations. :) )
LUCKY YOU GOING TO BATH AND LONDON. Argh.
YES ditto about Cassandra's protectiveness, haha. On one hand, I admire her, and on the other, I'm like HOW DARE YOU. (You evil woman, how daaare youuu...)
Haha, sometimes I worry for myself. :) But I know that I would get over the fascination if he didn't meet up in other ways. Actually I know of several boys who like JA but who wouldn't suit me at all. It certainly isn't the only requirement. ;) (The boys I mention are not personal acquaintances of mine; I hear of them from other friends. Ha.)
YES!!!! Finally someone gave the answer I would have, about being in the '09 dance scene. (I looove that sceeeene.)
JANE AND JOHN ON MY WORD.
Other way, Mr. Collins... goodness, I hope he wouldn't tread on your frock and tear it! ;)
I'm glad you answered it; 'twas splendid reading your answers. We are so like-minded, you and I. :)

Miss Brandon,
Glad you were thrilled! :)

Evangeline said...

Hello! It's me Evie (Miss Brandon)
Just wondering if you have the time to do a simply wonderful geust post on my new blog about P&P 1995 and promote the forever club? :D I have started a new blog, and will be completing your tag again :D
~Evie

Melody said...

Evelyn,
I'm afraid I really haven't got the time-- or inspiration. My own blog and the Club suffer enough from my lack of both, haha. But I'm sure your readers would like a post about P&P95 from yourself. :)

Evangeline said...

Melody,
No worries!! I'm so sorry I asked if you are super busy! :) Hopefully I can do it justice.
~Evie

Would you rather hear the story...

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