P. D. James Visits Pemberley
January 17th, 2012 by Alison Jean AshAdmirers of both Jane Austen and English mystery novelist P. D.
James were thrilled by news of James’ latest book, Death Comes
to Pemberley. Those who have read it may now feel
bemused.
Pemberley, in case you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice, is the home of the haughty aristocrat Darcy who marries the lively and irreverent Elizabeth Bennet in the end.
Interviewed last November, James admitted to being ambivalent about sequels, but added, “Austen’s characters take such a hold on our imagination that the wish to know more of them is irresistible.” In a book she frankly called self-indulgent, she combined her “two lifelong enthusiasms,” writing detective fiction and Jane Austen’s novels. The results are, well, mixed.
I’ve read only a handful of the modern sequels. Joan Aiken, prolific author of juvenile, romantic suspense and historical fiction, gave us six books linked to Austen’s novels; Colleen McCullough, who also writes in several genres, notably a series set in Imperial Rome, produced The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet.
Taken on their merits, these novels have their own integrity, but I can’t consider them sequels to Jane Austen’s books. Aiken and McCullough share a predilection for grotesquery and melodrama at odds with Austen’s tone, subject matter, and characters. It’s fairer to say that Austen’s people and settings inspired these very different tales.
Death Comes to Pemberley, by contrast, is almost too respectful, and thus comes off rather dry at first. P. D. James turns ninety-two this year, and it’s tempting to attribute the flat pedestrian tone to age and fatigue. However, her previous novel, The Private Patient, is as complex and richly atmospheric as anything she’s done, while the mind displayed in the Telegraph interview go shows no sign of failing.
Too much of the book simply recapitulates the events of Pride and Prejudice. James then carries the Bennet sisters, their husbands and their families forward six years, and sets the stage by describing the little world of the Pemberley estate. Then the murder occurs, and the Darcys’ ne’er-do-well brother-in-law Wickham is arrested and must stand trial.
Here, finally, I felt that I was reading P.D. James, as I watched her juggle the minutia of Regency detective methods with an examination of Darcy’s relationship to Wickham. Their past dealings and contrasting characters are important to the plot of Pride and Prejudice mainly as they showElizabeth’s development: offended by Darcy’s stiff reserve, flattered by Wickham’s attentions, she misjudges both and must admit herself mistaken. James, however, focuses on the two men.
Wickham has been a thorn in Darcy’s side since they were boys together in Pemberley’s woods: Darcy proud, lonely, bred to heavy responsibility; Wickham poor, charming and unscrupulous—and Darcy’s father’s pet. Yet Darcy knows that for all his faults and misdeeds, Wickham is not a violent man, and takes on responsibility for his defense. More, Darcy at last develops real empathy for Wickham’s situation. Raised as a child of privilege yet provided with neither wealth nor responsibility, Wickham almost inevitably developed a sense of entitlement that gave rise to most of his sins and troubles. As his father’s heir, Darcy comes to see that he owes Wickham more tolerance and reparation than he had formerly imagined.
Two links of interest:
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austseql.html sequels and spin-offs from Jane Austen’s novels
Tags: authors, book reviews, Jane Austen, Joan Aiken, mysteries, P. D. James
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January 17th, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Do you know, I’ve never read either Jane Austin or P.D. James? Mom must be shaking her head over me at this very minute.
January 20th, 2012 at 5:42 am
Yes, I am sure she is! I got PRIDE AND PREJUDICE for my 13th birthday – my rite of passage to womanhood. I can’t remember for sure if she was all that into P. D. James, though; I think she was.