What Would Jane Austen Do? Poem by gershon hepner

Do not ask “What would Jane
do? ”
In order to stay sane
you
must be prepared to get
lost in
the present, and forget
Jane Austen.
The past is a mere book
you’ve read;
be forward, girl, and look
ahead.

Inspired by “The Jane Austen Book Club, ” a movie based on Karen Joy Fowler’s book of that name. Stephen Holden writes in the NYT, Septeember 21,2007:
The movie gets foolishly carried away only once, when it suggests that a clueless macho boor, pressured to read Austen by his neglected wife, is magically transformed into a cuddly enlightened tomcat purring with empathy. I didn’t believe it for a minute. But I like the idea of a great British author from another century casting such a spell. If Shakespeare can do it, why not Austen? The movie glamorizes Ms. Fowler’s characters in ways large and small. Several are a decade younger in the film than in the book, and all are attractive. Grigg (Hugh Dancy) , the lone man, has been transformed from a temp in a university linguistics department in his 40s into a cute-as-a-button Silicon Valley techie and possible genius in his early 30s. Having grown up with three older sisters, this puppyish man-child and science-fiction fanatic who compares an Austen novel to “The Empire Strikes Back” is charmingly feminized without being effeminate. The rest of the lineup is as follows: Bernadette (Kathy Baker) , the group’s founder, is a six-times-married dynamo in her mid-50s who is both free-spirited and maternal. Her close friend Jocelyn (Maria Bello) , a control freak and dog fancier who breeds Rhodesian Ridgebacks, fancies herself above the human mating game. Sylvia (Amy Brenneman) , happily married for 25 years, imagines she has it all, then falls apart when her husband, Daniel (Jimmy Smits) , breaks the news that he is having an affair with a woman in his law firm and wants to end their marriage. The couple’s lesbian 20-ish daughter, Allegra (Maggie Grace) , who has an active love life and a secret addiction to extreme sports like skydiving, moves back home to keep Sylvia company. Prudie (Emily Blunt) , drawn into the group after meeting Bernadette in line at an Austen film festival, is a beautiful, prim, married high school French teacher. To her recently acquired husband, Dean (Marc Blucas) , an uncommunicative sports nut, the author’s name only conjures the capital of Texas. As their marriage falters, she is pursued by Trey (Kevin Zegers) , a handsome senior. One of the movie’s few surreal touches is a traffic sign that flashes “What would Jane do? ” as Prudie contemplates meeting him in a motel.

6/2/09