A number of modern authors have tackled the question of what happens after the wedding coach pulls away at the end of Pride and Prejudice and the couple live together in Pemberley. Very little is said about their married life at the end of the novel, and the imaginations of Pride and Prejudice fans has made several modern sequels popular with Jane Austen fans. Here are a few of the best-known sequels:
Pemberley and An Unequal Marriage, by Emma Tennant
Both of these books are sequels to the classic novel. Both have been generally poorly received by Jane Austen fans because of their inconsistencies with the original novel. While they bring back the original characters, the premise of a family reunion at Pemberley during Christmas is marked by many, many crude references that would have been unthinkable by Jane Austen.
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and Elizabeth and Darcy, by Linda Berdoll
As an unpublished author, few publishers wanted to take a chance on a 467-page sequel to pride and prejudice that combined all the racy scenes of a modern romance novel with antiquated Austen-style language. The result was a novel that was originally self published under the name The Bar Sinister. When this Pride and Prejudice sequel became popular among romance novel fans and Jane Austen fans alike, publisher Sourcebooks republished it under the name Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife.
Both of Berdoll's sequels have been a source of controversy within the Jane Austen fan community. Fans either love it or hate it because if its risqué content or love it because of its dramatic story lines and melodramatic characterizations of the classic players.
Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, by Pamela Aidan
This trilogy of books, billed as "a novel in three parts," is a retelling of the tale of Pride and Prejudice rather than a conventional sequel. It's the same story, told from Mr. Darcy's point of view. It serves to fill in some of the time that Darcy spent away during the novel, giving readers more insight into his thoughts and relationships.
Reviews of these novels have been more favorable than for most modern Pride and Prejudice novels, largely because of the faithful adaptation of the characters and the lack of any crude modernities into the story.
Mr. Darcy's Decision, by Juliette Shapiro
One of the newest Pride and Prejudice sequels, this one has had mixed reviews because of its pleasant style and unexpected, and some say odd, plot twists. While some of the major plot points of the novel may sound improbable to anyone familiar with the original novel, they may not make the novel ill-suited as a sequel. Jane Austen's works were known for their unexpected plot twists.
Whether a Jane Austen fan likes modern sequels or not often depends on what is desired from a sequel. While many Austen fans enjoy having more to read about Elizabeth and Darcy, others consider them a corruption of Jane Austen's works.
 |
