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Shadow of Anubis by Adele Dixon
105 Plays14 days ago
What if Pride & Prejudice took place in the wave of Egyptomania that followed Napoleon's surrender in Egypt? What if Darcy was a treasure-hunting adventurer who craved more than just being really, really ridiculously rich? What if Lizzy inherited her father's love of Ancient Egypt and was a very talented translator of hieroglyphics?
Stefanie and Melinda discuss this adaptation being set at the birth of Egyptology (which happens to perfectly align to when Austen was penning her novels), some downright horrifying facts about ancient mummies, and what it feels like to finally get a Mr Bennet who isn't vying for the role of "Worst Father in the Austenverse", in Shadow of Anubis by Adele Dixon.
Links & Mentions
You can find an excellent article on Mummy Mania, the mass export of corpses, and that Mark Twain anecdote here.
More on the history of Medical Cannibalism can be found here.
And if you still need to read more about the history of eating mummies, you can do that here.
Giovanni Belzoni’s full British Museum Biography is here. And more in-depth biography is also here.
If you’re interested in how Belzoni managed to move (and steal) monuments that no one else could, check out this article.
And you can read more on the Parliamentary Act that forbids the removal of the Rosetta Stone here.
If you need subtitles or a transcript, these are available through Apple Podcasts. Please note, they are auto generated so we apologise in advance for it not correctly understanding our accents on certain words.
As always you can find us (and our memes) on Instagram @janeaustenremixed and you can contact us via janeaustenremixed@gmail.com.
Join us every second Monday to hear all about a new adaptation of our favourite classic novel. Next episode we will be reading Potions & Prejudice by Tee Harlowe. If you're reading along, we encourage you to buy secondhand or support your local independent bookshop, where possible.
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Transcript
Content Warning: Sensitive Themes
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey all! Before we start this episode of Jane Austen Remixed, a content warning for this week's text, The Shadow of Anubis, by Adele Dixon. Our discussion of this adaptation contains references to colonialism. There is also a short detour it into medical cannibalism.
00:00:15
Speaker
Please forgive me. These mentions are brief and they'll only be referenced as they relate to the book's plot, historical context and themes. If these topics might be uncomfortable for you, please feel free to give this episode a skip.
00:00:28
Speaker
We'll be back again in two weeks. Otherwise, let's begin.
Creative Adaptation: Pride and Prejudice in Egypt
00:00:33
Speaker
Hey Melinda. Hey Stephanie. What if I told you Pride and Prejudice was actually set in Egypt and our Elizabeth has to face down ancient curses?
00:00:43
Speaker
and ghostly apparitions, all while falling in love with playboy adventurer Fitzwilliam Darcy. This sounds like it should be the plot of a swashbuckling movie.
00:01:08
Speaker
Welcome to Jane Austen Remixed, where we investigate the hieroglyph deciphering and grave robbing world of Pride and Prejudice adaptations. I'm Stephanie. And I'm Melinda.
Melinda's Egyptian Fascination
00:01:19
Speaker
And today we'll be examining the 2017 novel, The Shadow of Anubis by Adele Dixon. Now, I am a massive Ancient Egyptstan. I have loved everything about the pharaohs, the pyramids, the ancient religious practices of the culture, and more ever since I can remember.
00:01:36
Speaker
As a result, I found myself going down many rabbit holes while researching this episode, one of which was immediately triggered by the blurb. That's right. I hadn't even read page one of the actual book when my nerdy senses started tingling. And so, Melinda, would you care to read said blurb to kick us off? Fair warning, it's quite long. Okay, buckling everyone.
Darcy's Character and Expedition Plans
00:02:02
Speaker
Fitzwilliam Darcy, a playboy adventurer who has recently been inspired by the work of Giovanni Belzoni in Egypt, has decided to look for a partner to fund his newest expedition abroad, and his good friend Charles Bingley is just the man for the job.
00:02:20
Speaker
Darcy has read about a strange temple, abandoned to the sand and dedicated to a jackal-headed god, and he simply must see it for himself. It's not just the riches that tempt him to venture so far from home, it's the fame that awaits their successful return.
00:02:35
Speaker
Seeking willing members of the Meritan militia as escorts, Charles and William host a grand fundraising ball which draws the attention of the Bennett family. Mr Bennett is intrigued by the adventure and agrees to lend the final sum of money required to make the expedition a possibility.
00:02:53
Speaker
His only request that his eldest daughters accompany them on the expedition to make a full report. Darcy cannot be bothered having women and bad luck along on their journey, but he can hardly say no to his final investor.
00:03:07
Speaker
Elizabeth Bennet has been captivated by ancient Egypt since her first visit to the British Museum, and she has made herself a quick study of the Rosetta Stone, and she cannot contain her excitement at being permitted to come along on such an adventure, despite the dour countenance of Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, adventurer.
Blurb Inaccuracies and Excitement
00:03:26
Speaker
From their Portsmouth departure to their arrival in Egypt, nothing seems to be going right. And when they finally locate the temple, it seems that someone or something has been waiting for them all along.
00:03:39
Speaker
As the pieces of a deadly ancient puzzle begin to fall into place, it will be up to Elizabeth to set things right before it's too late. Is that a dramatic enough reading for you?
00:03:51
Speaker
It felt very dramatic. That was great. Okay. So before I get your thoughts, Melinda, and I do appreciate the very dramatic reading, just a quick thing to point out. There is no fundraising ball in this book.
00:04:07
Speaker
Oh, okay. Weird.
Author Speculation and Austen Fan Origins
00:04:08
Speaker
Yes. In fact, I have read this blurb so many times and I was so distracted by the name Giovanni Belzoni, I actually completely missed that there is no ball.
00:04:21
Speaker
There is no grand fundraising ball. They get the attention of Mr. Bennett in a very different way, which I will tell you as we go through the plot. Anyway. You can see why i a huge nerd and also a huge fan of the cinematic masterpiece that is 1999's The Mummy, immediately wanted to read this book.
00:04:40
Speaker
Side note, the author of the book is a complete mystery. She has published exactly two books, this one and the sequel, which we will not be covering right now, called By Hathor's Hand.
00:04:51
Speaker
It seems to me that Adele Dixon is a pseudonym because it's also the name of a little-known movie star from the 30s and 40s, so therefore ripe for the stealing. Either that or the semi-well-known coral reef scientist and academic paper author also called Adele Dixon... knocked out two Pride and Prejudice fanfic books while avoiding writing her own dissertation, slapped them up on Amazon to earn a few bob in 2017 and 2018 respectively, and then called it a day. The latter seems less likely.
Colonialism and Archaeology Ethics
00:05:20
Speaker
Regardless, I will spoil you all up front and let you know that this book was definitely... Definitely written by a human fan of Jane Austen and not a large language model.
00:05:31
Speaker
One, the time frame is off, 2017, way too early. And two, there is way too much love for Austen and her characters in these here pages. This book was written by a fan. Excellent. That's what we want to hear. Okay, dear listeners, if you want to read the book, jump out here. Otherwise, let's get stuck into the rest of the spoiler chat.
00:05:50
Speaker
Before we start with the plot, let me ground you, Melinda, and our dear listeners in some historical context for the novel, because I assume that not all of you were as obsessed with ancient Egypt and its accompanying catalogue of weird historical tales.
00:06:03
Speaker
as I was. Like, the genuine reason why there are so few mummies of commoners remaining from the ancient Egyptian period, despite everyone being mummified in some form at their death, is because 18th and 19th century Europeans ate them. What?!
00:06:19
Speaker
Or more likely, snorted them as a medically prescribed substance called mumia.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yep, I am not making this up. I will link an extensive range of articles about it for anyone as demented as I am Yes, they were ground down into dust and then snorted for medical reasons.
00:06:43
Speaker
Or they simply turned them into paint. What? The colour mummy brown was apparently very popular with artists at this time. but I have no words.
00:06:55
Speaker
Famous author Mark Twain even tells a story about the conductor of a train he was travelling on in Egypt who was complaining that the mummies they were burning to fuel, said steam engine, were too low-borne and therefore too thin so the train was running too sluggishly for his liking.
00:07:13
Speaker
And so that brings us to the inevitable scourge of colonialism. White Europeans have a nasty history of digging up the religious sites and graves of indigenous populations and carting off their remains and treasures with no regard for the sometimes still living cultures who would prefer their ancestors and their belongings remain undisturbed.
00:07:33
Speaker
I am not being glib about this, it is an ongoing issue, particularly here in Australia where our indigenous population continues as the world's longest living culture, which has existed here on this land for some 40 to 60,000 years. And some of their ancestors who were taken by Europeans in this time period still are shoved away in museum catalogues and they are refusing to return them.
00:07:55
Speaker
I'll link some resources in the show notes rather than fully derail us into a discussion of the ethics of archaeology and the impacts of colonialism. But I encourage you all to read up on it because it's an important and ongoing part of modern
Napoleon's Influence on Egyptomania
00:08:06
Speaker
history. And to be honest, there's some really uplifting stories in there as well.
00:08:09
Speaker
But what does this have to do with this rollicking desert adventure I hear you ask? Can we not just enjoy something? And we absolutely can. And we will. But unfortunately, the blurb references a real historical figure with a complicated legacy from a complicated time. As mentioned, one Giovanni Belzoni.
00:08:27
Speaker
So let's take a quick side quest into why that throws up some moral issues. Spoiler alert, he stole heaps of stuff that he shouldn't have, and then we'll get back to enjoying the plot. Great.
00:08:38
Speaker
Okay, strap in, everyone. Strap in, but also I've made it entertaining, I promise. Giovanni Belzoni is a colossal figure in the birth of the science of archaeology, and I mean that literally and figuratively.
00:08:51
Speaker
Not only was he pivotal in filling the British Museum with plundered Egyptian artefacts, essentially laying the groundwork for one of the greatest museum collections in history, he was also literally a giant.
00:09:02
Speaker
This guy stood six foot and seven inches. Whoa, that is just a hair over two meters tall and one inch taller than the current modern-day average height of and NBA players. Okay. He was also a strongman.
00:09:17
Speaker
So to really get the full scope of this guy, i need you to picture Hafthorn Bjornsson, the Icelandic strongman who played the most famous version of the mountain character in Game of Thrones. I'll link you all to an image in the show notes.
00:09:31
Speaker
However, as well as being huge and strong, Belzoni was also trained as an engineer, making his reputation for being able to remove and make off with, frankly, colossal artefacts during his time in Egypt much more understandable.
00:09:44
Speaker
To ground us in his activities, Melinda, I'm going to have you read an extract from his official, honestly quite bland, bio from the British Museum's digital catalogue. British Consul-General of Egypt Henry Salt subsequently employed Belzoni to collect and arrange the removal of certain antiquities to the British Museum.
00:10:02
Speaker
Belzoni then visited Nubia and Aswan and conducted excavations at Karnak and on the West Bank at Thebes. Some of the methods used in his early excavations, particularly at Kerner, were the cause of much contemporary and later criticism.
00:10:18
Speaker
He then continued work on the reopening of the temples at Abu Simbel. In all, he discovered six royal tombs in the Thebian area, the most important of that being of Seti I, in which he and his wife lived for a time.
00:10:32
Speaker
He returned to England in 1819 and mounted an exhibition of his discoveries at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, in 1821.
00:10:41
Speaker
ah Did I just read out that he lived in a tomb? Yes, yes, that was just what i was about to say. This guy just lived in a royal tomb for a while, the tomb of Seti I. Can you imagine some joker finding a royal tomb of one of the greatest ever known European kings, just throwing it out there, maybe Alexander the Great, and then just living in it?
00:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, wow. disrespect is mind-blowing. He also was the first person inside the second largest pyramid of the Great Pyramids at Giza. And to this day, you can see the graffiti that he wrote on the inside, which is the equivalent of was here.
00:11:21
Speaker
Oh, great. We also don't have time to get into Henry Salt as well, but basically he paid Belzoni to smash through walls, raid tombs and ship absolutely anything that could possibly be of value back to the UK.
00:11:33
Speaker
The two of them were involved in the uncovering of the famed side of Abu Simbel and the only reason they didn't steal it too was because it is genuinely too big to put on a boat. Of course. I mean, back then. They have since moved it because of the Aswan High Dam. The damage done to the historical record by treasure hunters like Belzoni honestly gives me heart palpitations. And that is to say nothing of the plundering of an ancient culture without the consent of its modern descendants. As pointed out in the excellently named doco series Stuff the British Stole, the modern historical record simply does not evaluate how many innocent Egyptians had to die for Napoleon to, quote unquote, discover the riches of Egypt.
00:12:10
Speaker
So why did I mention Napoleon? Well, great question. Like a lot of things, this was all his fault. And that time frame also links us quite neatly to the era of Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice itself.
00:12:22
Speaker
Egyptomania was truly kicked off by Napoleon's invasion of the country in 1798. It wasn't just a military expedition aimed at cutting the lucrative colonial British trade route to India. He took a
Plot Overview: Initial Meetings and Tensions
00:12:34
Speaker
swathe of academics and explorers with him, who proceeded to then strip mine the length and breadth of Egypt for any artefacts they could get their hands on, many of which were then confiscated by the British as part of the French surrender, kicking off decades of colonial grave robbing.
00:12:49
Speaker
Remember, Howard Carter didn't open the tomb of Tutankhamen until over a century later in 1922. Okay, I have one random fun fact about Tutankhamen.
00:13:01
Speaker
For those Downton Abbey fans listening along, Howard Carter ah was one of the explorers who went alongside the Earl of Carnarvon to discover, i'm using air quotes, Tutankhamen's tomb. And the Carnarvon family are the ones who own Highcare Castle, which is where Downton Abbey is filmed. Stop it.
00:13:20
Speaker
oh That's my one Egyptology fun fact, question mark? Yeah, Lord Carnarvon. He loved himself a bit of grave robbing. i also have a fun fact.
00:13:32
Speaker
One of the objects found by Napoleon's troops was the famed Rosetta Stone. It features in the book and it was then re-stolen by the British as one of Napoleon's generals, I think, tried to smuggle it out of Egypt without surrendering it.
00:13:47
Speaker
And just in case you needed another reason to think that the Brits are completely insane, their government passed an act of parliament that makes it illegal to remove the Rosetta Stone from the collection of the British Museum.
00:14:02
Speaker
One of the most important pieces of the historical record of a completely different country cannot legally be returned thanks to a bunch of British parliamentarians who got on their high horses in 1963.
00:14:14
Speaker
o And to make it worse, it's not just the ancient artifacts from far-off civilizations that are affected by this choice. This binding act of Parliament also caused a court to rule as recently as 2005 that artworks looted by the Nazis now cannot be returned to their rightful European owners due to this piece of legislation preventing their removal from the collection they were so egregiously added to post-World War II.
00:14:46
Speaker
oh Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Anyway, digress. So, safe to say the setting for this adaptation is spot on. The idea of Darcy being inspired by Belzoni fits well.
00:14:59
Speaker
Though Belzoni did not exhibit his finds in London until 1821, his exploits were well known from 1816 when he managed to uncover more of the colossal statues of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel than any other explorers before him.
00:15:12
Speaker
So we're pretty close to the 1813-ish setting of Pride and Prejudice. And though it's a little icky to have such a controversial figure as the source of inspiration for this adaptation's Darcy, it is period appropriate. So while we acknowledge the controversy at the heart of the context, I'm giving us all a hall pass to enjoy the book.
00:15:28
Speaker
Also, to truly lock us into a time frame, two-thirds of the way through the book, Darcy actually mentions that Belzoni himself is just a bit further down the Nile, excavating the aforementioned Abu Sembel. So we can confidently date this book setting to 1816.
00:15:43
Speaker
I was not expecting when you mentioned, Hey, there's an adaptation that sounds like the mummy, the movie. yeah that it would be historically accurate and contemporaneous to the original Pride and Prejudice. So yeah that is a little bit mind-blowing. It's crazy. The research that was done for the setting of this book is excellent.
00:16:07
Speaker
She's done a fantastic job. Bravo. Okay, and all that backstory brings us neatly to the plot. We're here. We open in Darcy's point of view with him trying his best to convince Bingley that they simply must pull together an expedition to Egypt to investigate the huge historical discovery that Darcy thinks he has found reference to in his collection of dusty papyrus maps and documents that he's been collating for quite some time.
00:16:31
Speaker
During this conversation, Bingley also reveals that he has taken the lease of Netherfield and would like Darcy to accompany him to Hertfordshire to see the property. They can hang out for a bit and join in the local society.
00:16:43
Speaker
Darcy of course sees dollar signs, thinking that the two of them can lock in their final investors for the expedition, by dazzling some country lords with tales of the riches of an exotic civilization and thereby convincing them to part with some of their hard-earned cash.
00:16:56
Speaker
And so they agree to head to Netherfield together. We then skip over to Longbourn and we are introduced to our Jane and Elizabeth, as Lizzie is trying desperately to regale Jane with pictures and stories from her latest book on Egyptology, ordered for her from London by Mr Bennett, who is here likewise obsessed with all things New and Old Kingdom. Jane is wary of Lizzie's passion, though I do have to side with her when she refers to explorers as glorified grave robbers.
00:17:24
Speaker
Lizzie's assertions that the men are all noble, academic, striving for knowledge is very rose-tinted. Early on, it is established that Lizzie and her father have a strong connection through their love of ancient history and that she craves adventure far outside her small world in Hertfordshire.
00:17:39
Speaker
And I've got a quote here for you, Melinda, to read. Okay. Since she was a young girl, Mr. Bennett had told her stories of the kings and gods of the world that had been forgotten under the sand.
00:17:50
Speaker
What an amazing thing it would be to see Egypt, to see the monuments, to read for herself the hieroglyphics she had begun to learn. Elizabeth sighed. For now, the only travelling she would be doing would be through the books that her father ordered from London.
00:18:04
Speaker
That would have to be enough. So we get an early taste Lizzie the wannabe adventurer.
Meriton Assembly and Expedition Dynamics
00:18:10
Speaker
We then find ourselves at Netherfield, with Bingley trying his best to wrangle both Caroline, being her annoying self, and Darcy, who is in a hyper-focused, fused state studying the large mass of ancient maps and reference materials that he has lugged with him from London.
00:18:24
Speaker
only for all of their snipping at each other to be interrupted by the arrival of Mr Bennett, come to introduce himself to his new neighbour. Side note, his first name is given as Walter.
00:18:37
Speaker
Oh, which I thought is fun because obviously we never know Mr Bennett's name. No. A frazzled Mr Bingley has Walter shown into the library, and Mr Bennett of course zeroes in on the pages Darcy is studying and asks permission to examine them himself.
00:18:53
Speaker
Mr Darcy graciously invites him to take a look and like a shark sensing blood in the water, immediately begins to circle this potential investor. Mr. Bennett tells Darcy he has a book that might be of use for his investigations and insists that the whole party come to the Assembly in Meriton that is being put on by Colonel Forster in a week's time as his specially invited guests.
00:19:14
Speaker
Huh. Okay. That's an interesting... That's a cool take. The men decide that really they should attend, not only to ensnare investors, but the presence of military men means that they might also kill two birds with one stone by also acquiring the services of some English militiamen for protection in the Egyptian desert.
00:19:32
Speaker
We'll jump over quite a bit of set dressing and more character introductions here. Suffice to say, we meet all the Bennet sisters, and unlike in many adaptations, the book fleshes them out rather than relying on the reader's prior knowledge of the original to fill in the details.
00:19:46
Speaker
We then find Lizzie at the Meriton Assembly, carefully watching her father, big lol at him attending any parties, and Sir William, martingering together conspiratorially. Mr. Bennet in this book is much more social.
00:19:59
Speaker
The Netherfield party arrive, Bingley immediately asks Jane for the next dance, and Mr. Bennett pulls Lizzie into a conversation with Mr. Darcy, Sir William, and Colonel Forster. Here we get Lizzie at her sassy best.
00:20:13
Speaker
As Darcy tries to dismiss her inclusion in the discussion, first by bombarding her with questions about her ability to translate Latin, Greek, hieroglyphics, and cuneiform, then later physically turning his back on her. In the midst of all of this, we have this very in-character scene, which I feel is a deft translation of many of the conversations that Lizzie and Darcy have in these early stages. Melinda, if you would like to read it, it starts with Lizzie.
00:20:39
Speaker
"'I confess, Mr Darcy, that i cannot yet decipher cuneiform with ease.' "'What a shame,' Mr Darcy said as he gave her a disdainful look and made to turn back to Sir William. "'How is that a shame, Mr Darcy?' Elizabeth spoke up once more. "'Cuneiform tablets are commonly found in storerooms "'and contain lists of wine or slaves that had been sold.' Mr Darcy turned towards her and she continued.
00:21:04
Speaker
if you are truly going to excavate a temple, as my father believes you are, you will be looking at far more examples of hieroglyphs than cuneiform, she said. She knew that her words were a little sharper than she had intended, but she was annoyed now.
00:21:18
Speaker
So Darcy's very proud, but he's proud in a very different way in this one. Yeah, that's fun. Good translation between the two. Yeah, and he, of course, takes immediate offence to the suggestion that anyone is better at reading hieroglyphics than he is.
00:21:34
Speaker
After this little tete-a-tete establishes a keen mutual loathing between the pair, Mr. Bennett reveals that he thinks Elizabeth will be an indispensable asset to Darcy on the trip.
00:21:46
Speaker
Lizzie is shocked beyond all belief, so William, bless him, tries to smooth over the situation, and Darcy flounces off in annoyance. Amused but having made his intentions clear, Mr. Bennett insists that his family leave the assembly.
00:21:59
Speaker
Soon, Mr Bennett is invited to Netherfield for a luncheon, where Darcy and Bingley will pitch their expedition plan to himself, Sir William, and Colonel Forster. In a shocking display of impropriety that is just so on brand, Mr Bennett insists that Lizzie and Jane accompany him, uninvited.
00:22:17
Speaker
Oh, mmm. While the sisters are nervous, Lizzie packs up all of her translation work and some sketches, including one of a certain jackal-headed god statue, to bolster her father's arguments about her talents. I think we can all guess why Jane was invited, because Mr Bennett has eyes and he was at Meryton.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah, great. Awesome. Okay. Moving right along. She also is a very talented artist and contributes quite a lot to the expedition, which is lovely. Oh, good. The Bingley sisters are, of course, horrified that the Bennet sisters have shown up uninvited.
Mr. Bennett's Financial Leverage
00:22:52
Speaker
Darcy is annoyed by Elizabeth's presence, but then who should waltz in taking all of his attention but George Wickham along with Colonel Forster. Oh, okay.
00:23:03
Speaker
He's in early. Yeah, and the other soldier present is, of course, Denny. Ah, okay. Wickham immediately turns on the charm with Lizzie and, of course, drops it he already knows Darcy. The gentleman in question is busily trying to convince Colonel Forster that he should be able to choose his own soldiers if he's the one paying for them. It's a bad move because he riles up the Colonel's ego and he's not budging.
00:23:24
Speaker
Either Wickham goes or the money's going nowhere. Oh, okay. Things go from bad to worse for Darcy as he continues his pitch. So William passes the map and schematic drawings to Elizabeth, who bluntly points out, as she has once already, that Darcy is totally wrong.
00:23:42
Speaker
It's not a tomb they're looking at, it's a temple. At which point Mr. Bennett drops his own bombshell. The expedition will not get a single penny of his money unless Jane and Elizabeth are on it because he simply could not trust the men to use his money wisely if his daughters are not there to oversee the excavation. After all, they can't tell a tomb from a temple.
00:24:04
Speaker
Oh, that's, that is a very cool way of setting that up so they're all together. Yeah, yeah, it's really fun. The group is reduced to an uproar. There is plenty of yelling and pacing, and Mr. Bennet is utterly calm and unmoved.
00:24:19
Speaker
He gets up, he calls for his daughters to gather their things, and goes to leave. Before Bingley, realising that Jane is slipping from his grasp, blurts out that they will gladly take the sisters.
00:24:31
Speaker
Darcy is furious. Not only has his ego taken a huge dent, but now he has to take not only Wickham, but also Elizabeth, the denter of said ego, with him on his grand adventure.
Supernatural Encounters and Rising Tensions
00:24:43
Speaker
The next Pride and Prejudice scene is Jane being invited for lunch by the Bingley sisters, except here Elizabeth is also invited, which makes sense in the context of the Bennet sisters both going on the expedition.
00:24:55
Speaker
We do, however, find out that Caroline is royally peeved at either of them coming to Netherfield and in fact had very little say in the invitation that was extended in her name.
00:25:06
Speaker
Oh, it was a machination of one brother? Uh-huh. And Louisa. Louisa's quite nice in this one and she's like, i for one would like to speak with Elizabeth.
00:25:17
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Yay, Louisa. Yeah. And while Mrs. Bennet is hoping for a storm to trap her daughters, the weather is fine and the girls decide to walk to Netherfield together.
00:25:28
Speaker
While on their way, the sisters puzzle over their invitation and Lizzie remarks that Darcy and Caroline are quite perfect for each other, both being arrogant and only happy when they're miserable, which leads us to this scene I'll get you to read out.
00:25:40
Speaker
Jane covered her own laughter with her hand and shook her head. "'Oh, Lizzie, you may regret saying that.' "'I promise you, Jane, if I discover that Mr Darcy is indeed a paragon of gentlemanly virtues and in possession of the most agreeable disposition a man could hope for, I will fall to my knees in the mud and beg for his forgiveness.' In the mud, Miss Bennet?
00:26:01
Speaker
Surely no apology need come to that. A gentleman's voice came from the hedgerow. Elizabeth and Jane gasped in unison and whirled around to see none other than Mr Darcy coming around the bushes. He bowed shortly to them, and as they curtsied in response, Elizabeth noted that his boots were highly polished, but were spotted with mud.
00:26:21
Speaker
As though he had been walking in the fields for some time, his colour was high from being in the wind and Elizabeth marked the way his dark hair curled wildly over his collar and around his ears. So his shoes have mud on them. Uh-huh. And, right.
00:26:39
Speaker
We do love a gender flipped. Her eyes were brightened by the exercise. Except it's not his eyes, it's his complexion. no, his hair. His hair is blowing in the wind. He's flushed. There's a fan stationed just behind the bushes. I'm just imagining one of those soap opera ver reveals where someone comes around the corner and there's like this fan gently blowing. Yeah.
00:27:03
Speaker
Once they arrive in the library to meet the other ladies, Lizzie does some snooping and a spot of handwriting analysis to learn more about Darcy, and then the gentlemen join them. Lizzie jumps at her opportunity to correct another of Darcy's mistakes she spotted while peeping at his desk, but this time, instead of him being annoyed, he apologises for doubting her and invites her to sit, thanking her for applying her expertise.
00:27:27
Speaker
She teases him that it wouldn't do to not chip in lest he lead them hundreds of miles in the wrong direction in the desert. It's a test of his temperament and he thankfully laughs at her as they sit together and go through some of the rest of his papers.
00:27:40
Speaker
Okay, so more early thawing than normal. On and off. There's a lot of back and forth in this one. Please note, rain does indeed start to fall, but their visit is cut short thanks to Mr Bennett having sent the carriage to collect his daughters, much to Mrs Bennett's chagrin. Of course, yes.
00:28:03
Speaker
Two days before their departure, there is a dinner for investors and the party members at Netherfield, and is here that Wickham starts to get his hooks into Elizabeth. Though while Lizzie is happy to speak with him, she does physically shy away from him, put off by his habit of close talking, which she sees as improper.
00:28:19
Speaker
She is partly suckered by his charming manner, and he's really laying it on thick in this one, and he promises to tell her ghastly stories about Darcy once they're on their journey. But we end the chapter with her being very sceptical of Wickham's relationship with the truth.
00:28:34
Speaker
Ah, okay. So she figures it out earlier too, which makes sense if they're all going travelling together. I feel like you have to – everyone's got to be on the same page a bit faster. Mm-hmm. Now, like with the cuffing game last episode, there is loads to this story. Adventures, sabotage, visions, supernatural goings on that are nothing to do with Pride and Prejudice and don't affect this plot discussion if I skip them.
00:28:57
Speaker
So I have left a lot of them out. And I encourage you to grab a copy and read it for yourself because right now i am skipping a lot of chapters of excellent world and character building. And we'll check in again with Jane and Lizzie as they're heading to London to stay with the gardeners before their big journey.
00:29:12
Speaker
Yay! The gardeners are wonderful as always, and Lizzie reflects on how their marriage of equals is something that she would dearly like for herself. We also get a weird bit of Charlotte shade here, which I'll get you to read, Melinda.
00:29:25
Speaker
Oh, okay. Elizabeth wanted more. So much more. However, as the years trickled through her fingers, it seemed more and more likely that she would end up like poor Charlotte Lucas, unmarried and childless at so late an age. Wow.
00:29:41
Speaker
The only other reference to Charlotte is her being at Merit and she has a pointy chin. Oh, okay. That's a bit sad. Yeah, it doesn't really seem like Lizzie values their friendship very much in this adaptation, which is probably a reflection of how the author feels about the character, and it makes me sad.
00:30:00
Speaker
Alright, for a pre-expedition treat, Darcy and Bingley arrive to collect the sisters and they all head to the British Museum, where Lizzie is rapturously examining the Rosetta Stone. Side note, her quote-unquote feeling of the immense importance of the stone made me a little uncomfortable given our initial discussion about how it's being blocked from returning to its home, but it makes sense that Lizzie would have no notion of this. After all, she's off on a treasure hunting expedition of her own. Anyway, she is rapturously studying the stone when she is struck on the shoulder by a mysterious attacker. There is no sign of anyone except for a small paper-wrapped package left lying at her feet.
00:30:38
Speaker
Jane deftly slips it into her bag as the gentlemen approach. And Lizzie acts happy and positive as they continue on their visit, but she's filled with foreboding. Eww. Safely at home, the sisters examine the package. It's wrapped in very fine paper and tied in string that has been sealed shut with clay that also contains a hair.
00:30:57
Speaker
At this point, all of my hackles went on because this has all the hallmarks of being a curse or a spell. Regardless, it is opened and it contains a beautiful gold and lapis beaded necklace. There's also a hieroglyph inscription written the paper that reads, Oh, all you gods and all you spirits prepare a path for me.
00:31:18
Speaker
Anyway, with the innocence of someone who has not read enough fantasy books with cursed objects, me, she immediately pops a necklace around her neck to mine and Jane's horror.
00:31:28
Speaker
Oh no that would be me. This is really pretty. You're going to put it on. Yeah, probably. Lizzie relents to her sister's insistence, however, and does take it off.
00:31:39
Speaker
But then it's the next morning and the carriage arrives to take them to Portsmouth for their trip and Lizzie is secretly wearing her cursed necklace underneath her dress hidden from Jane. Okay.
00:31:50
Speaker
No. See, at that point if someone convinced me to take it off, I would not be putting that thing back on. When they arrive in Portsmouth, we learn the boat is disconcertingly named Icarus.
00:32:02
Speaker
Oh, that's not a good sign. It doesn't come to anything. Oh. But at the time I was like, oh lordy. Anyway, Darcy bumps into one Francis Hawley, who is obviously bad news. This man implies he is heading to the same apparently not so super secret dig site after all.
00:32:19
Speaker
but Oh, and the sailors, being superstitious, tell Darcy that having ladies on board the boat is bad luck on such a long journey. And this made me think that the author also enjoys Pirates of the Caribbean because there's a famous quote from the first movie's opening scene where one of the sailors says, it's bad luck to have women aboard, even a miniature one.
00:32:39
Speaker
For your reference, Melinda, he's referring to baby Keira Knightley who is sailing with her father to the titular Caribbean. Okay, I know Keira Knightley is in those movies. I think I've seen the first one. I don't remember it, though.
00:32:51
Speaker
It's a great film. Thankfully, despite rough seas and tales of a strange dog specter appearing under the moonlight, they make it to Alexandria unscathed. There, the men set about organising the river travel to get them to Thebes.
00:33:05
Speaker
That night, Elizabeth is confronted on the deck by the dog specter. And I think we're all on the page here thinking, well, it must be a jackal, which is the symbol of Anubis, right? Yeah, it's later confirmed to be a jackal.
00:33:17
Speaker
So they get onto the river and Darcy is musing not only over the inconvenience of Bingley's very obvious preference for Miss Jane Bennett, but also unable to fathom why he himself keeps staring at Miss Elizabeth Bennett.
Curses and Respect for Ancient Artifacts
00:33:31
Speaker
You'll find out soon enough. As for Bingley, he keeps pestering Darcy about his thoughts on Jane and is perplexed as to why his friend has absolutely nothing to say. And as a result, Charles has no idea what to do about his crush.
00:33:45
Speaker
It's very on brand. It's on brand for both of them. yeah Once in Thieves, Darcy discovers that Hawley and Wickham have colluded to get Hawley and his band of thugs involved in their dig, much to the former's rage.
00:33:59
Speaker
Nevertheless, the expedition presses on and they arrive at the ruins without incident. Elizabeth immediately uncovers the door to the temple, but as the men work to clear it, she is overcome with vertigo and insists that they cannot open it yet.
00:34:12
Speaker
Too late, as the tunnel collapses, killing the stonemason who is working inside. Oh, that's... and Side note here, the local workers are actually treated in the story with quite a lot of respect and talked to as being skilled workers, which I think is really lovely because I think it's very easy for a lot of these adaptations, even more modern ones, to fall into the trap of exoticising the people as well as the location. But that doesn't happen in this book and it made me really happy.
00:34:39
Speaker
Good. all right Elizabeth examines the door carefully once the rubble is re-cleared and reveals finally what it is that she's been hinting at since she first laid eyes on the map.
00:34:50
Speaker
This is in fact the burial temple of Pharaoh Seti I. Okay. Is this the same Seti that Giovanni? Yes. Right, okay. So some background.
00:35:03
Speaker
Yes, this is the pharaoh where Giovanni Belzoni lived in his tomb. This being a burial temple would have been where he was mummified but not where he was interred.
00:35:14
Speaker
Right. Yes, this is also the pharaoh whose murder kicks off the events of the film The Mummy. Amazing. No, he was probably not murdered in real life.
00:35:25
Speaker
And just for an extra layer of fun, his son is Ramesses II, or Ramesses the Great, and also the guy who built the much aforementioned Abu Simbel.
00:35:36
Speaker
Right, okay. These guys were around in the 12th and 13th centuries BCE, so they were already ancient history by the time even Cleopatra showed up. Also, I should probably mention that Anubis was the god of mummification, protector of the dead, but also the guy who weighed your heart against the feather of truth to see if you were allowed into the afterlife when you die.
00:35:57
Speaker
If you failed, he fed your heart to Ammit, a creature who was part crocodile, part lion, and part hippo. And you ceased to exist. so You know, i have heard that story before and the only reason I have is from the Marvel TV series Moon Knight. I knew it.
00:36:16
Speaker
ye I knew it. My grasp of ancient history is really bad. Look. I apologise, everyone. At least it gives you all a laugh. We have different strengths.
00:36:27
Speaker
You know about things like Napoleon. And I know about things like ancient burial practices of the Egyptian dynasties. So, you know, it's about balance. Yeah, we all have different skills. It would boring if you're all the same. It would be boring podcast if neither of us knew anything about Napoleon. That's true. He's a bit well relevant.
00:36:50
Speaker
Anyway, the expedition finally get into the temple, and within they find a stunning Anubis statue carved out of ebony, with small paper packets tied with cord scattered all around its feet.
00:37:03
Speaker
Oh. As they work to catalogue the site, yes, I was gratified that proper archaeological processes are being followed, including Jane sketching all of the artefacts as they are removed. And while this is going on, a scrap of papyrus is recovered from the mouth of the jackal-headed god.
00:37:19
Speaker
Oh, and also through all of this, Lizzie really starts to tease Jane about Bingley being in love with her and asking went about the proposal. Right, okay.
00:37:30
Speaker
It's a very fun, like, sisterly thread that winds through the ah story. Okay, that's cute then. The dig continues apace, but it's becoming clearer and clearer that Mr. Hawley, their uninvited guest, appears to have been cursed.
00:37:47
Speaker
Oh. He cut his hand on the Anubis statue's teeth, fetching out the aforementioned piece of papyrus, and it has become putrid, and he's starting to go so crazy that even Wickham is concerned for his safety and the safety of everyone else.
00:38:06
Speaker
The local workers also think so, and they begin to leave the dig in droves. Smart. Yeah, very smart. They've been here for a couple of days at this point. Right.
00:38:17
Speaker
Elizabeth, while worried for her budding relationship with Mr Darcy, comes to the realisation that they have disturbed an ancient curse and the temple needs to be put
Resolution and Future Adventures
00:38:27
Speaker
back. She bravely tells him that they cannot take any of the items back to England.
00:38:32
Speaker
They have to put them back inside the temple and reseal it like they had never touched it. He, of course, is in the midst of furiously refusing when they are interrupted by gunshots.
00:38:44
Speaker
Oh. Hawley has totally lost his mind, is fully possessed, screeching about things watching from the hills. At this point, the jackals start going crazy in the hills.
00:38:55
Speaker
Oh, fun. And he has grabbed a rifle and is firing at anyone who approaches him. With Wickham's help, Darcy and Bingley manage to subdue him and Elizabeth yells at them to submerge him in the Nile because she had heard a story about another man who went crazy at the same site.
00:39:17
Speaker
They submerge him in an effort to break the curse. It's explained in much more detail, but you'll have to read all about it in the book. He's unconscious. They pack him back into his tent. And this horrifying scenario brings Darcy to his senses. And he realizes that Lizzie is right. They need to pack up and they need to flee if they are to survive.
00:39:35
Speaker
Okay, good. Smart. I'm glad you listened. Yes. They replace all the artifacts exactly as they were. Lizzie... rewrites the reversal spell, which is what is written on the piece of papyrus inside the statue Anubis' mouth, and leaves behind her cursed necklace with the Anubis statue in the temple.
00:39:53
Speaker
because seeing all the little packets has made her realise that must be where it came from. Right. They reseal the temple with the help of the few remaining workmen at the site, and they leave for Thebes.
00:40:06
Speaker
It is once they have left the expedition that we get this book's version of the first proposal. oh Okay, we're still going to get that. That's good. Darcy manages to insult Elizabeth while asking her to come on his next exposition as his quote-unquote secret weapon, as it were. And I've got a quote here for you of him shoving his foot into his mouth.
00:40:26
Speaker
Excellent. Okay. Quiet against my better judgment, I've developed an admiration of your strident opinions and observations. Mr. Darcy had meant the words as a compliment, but Elizabeth could not stop the rush of annoyance she felt as he said them.
00:40:39
Speaker
But Mr. Darcy did not seem to notice her discomfort. No, he tends not to. Not at this point anyway. She is mightily unimpressed by his manner, but he does actually manage to turn this around and win her over.
00:40:52
Speaker
oh So the book ends with Darcy and Bingley presenting the findings of the temple via Lizzie and Jane's faithful artwork and cataloging to secure new investors for a different dig.
00:41:05
Speaker
Oh. Lizzie has agreed to go with them.
Character Analysis: Strengths and Weaknesses
00:41:08
Speaker
And Jane begrudgingly agrees to go with Lizzie. And that's really where it ends. I know. It's so it's so annoying.
00:41:17
Speaker
Believe me, we will be doing the next book later on in the season. It was a little too late once I realized that we needed to read the second one to cover it in this episode. Right. Okay. I apologize again for my ongoing illnesses, upending all of our plans. And this is why I want to let our listeners in on a little secret.
00:41:36
Speaker
I'm actually eight months pregnant and it has been rough. It has been rough this time around, especially like getting like a month long cold. And then I lost my voice entirely for over a week. So please forgive the disruption. And I promise to come back to part two before the end of the season.
00:41:53
Speaker
Anyway, onto the analysis, such as it were. Of course, my burning question upon reading the blurb of this book was, how much is it inspired by the aforementioned cinematic masterpiece, The Mummy?
00:42:04
Speaker
For those of you who haven't seen it, the main character is Evie, a half English, half Egyptian librarian who lives in Cairo and who rescues an American adventurer from execution so that he can lead her to a hidden city in the desert.
00:42:16
Speaker
That's Brendan Fraser, right? That's Brendan Fraser. Yeah. I know some things. Peak Brendan Fraser. I would like to point out that this movie is so much a part of my personality. My husband made a joke about it in our weddings page.
00:42:32
Speaker
I do not remember this at all. I didn't migrate that night, so I wasn't really concentrating. Yeah, you weren't well. Evie accidentally kicks off the apocalypse by resurrected mummy, crux of the storyline, by reading from The Book of the Dead.
00:42:48
Speaker
Unfortunately, apart from the setting, There is no real comparison between the two. sat face. That said, this book flows really well as an adventure, but the key characters rendered amazingly aptly in their new setting. I think Dixon captures the essence of the original as well as expanding the world of the characters in a really novel way. It's clear she's a Jane Knight thrown through and this book is a labour of love.
00:43:11
Speaker
Like the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies film, however, this book plays fast and loose with some much-beloved scenes and quotes from the original, liberally sprinkling them into random places so that readers will get to enjoy them despite the scenes from the original not actually taking place in this universe yet.
00:43:26
Speaker
Yet, they might in the next one. For example, when Mr Bennett is hellbent on taking his girls to the luncheon uninvited, we get this fun callback. Well, girls, it seems that you have an impossible situation before you, said Mr Bennett with a twinkle in his eye.
00:43:42
Speaker
If you decide to attend this luncheon with me, the carriage will be waiting. But if you do choose to accompany me, it is with the understanding that your mother will be buried under the shame of your attendants. Yeah. yeah Of course, his reference is Mr. Bennet challenging Mrs. Bennet over the Collins proposal. Yeah.
00:43:58
Speaker
But what of the characters? So right off the bat, we're dealing with a Darcy who is hunting renown. He wants to be talked about for more than just his fortune and his estate, and he has the haughty attitude dialed up to 11.
00:44:10
Speaker
It's almost refreshing to see a modern adaptation that hasn't fixated on socially awkward Darcy and instead leaned into the bad habits and flaws that OG Darcy readily admitted to having, but without making him a walking red flag. This Darcy thirsts for adventure and longs to have his name listed right next to the discovery of a huge archaeological significance that would be in the history books forever, and he's not letting anyone stand in his way.
00:44:33
Speaker
It's a really unique interpretation of the pride of Darcy, and I found it quite fun and different. His thirst for recognition is nicely captured in this exchange with Bingley that comes just after Hawley joins the expedition.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, this sounds like it's a very fun take. I like it. Of course not, Darcy. If I know you, keeping all of the glory for yourself would be your preferred approach. Not to mention seeing only one name on the exhibition at the British Museum. I know you well enough that you will not be satisfied by small victories. That is original Darcy. yeah love it.
00:45:06
Speaker
It's translated so well. Alright, Elizabeth's bold adventurous spirit is also amped up in this novel, and the translation of the young woman who claimed what a man to rocks and mountains into a budding academic who wants to sail to far off lands and investigate ancient cultures is, I think, a natural one.
00:45:24
Speaker
And I will absolutely admit to being biased here because I love this character and to read about her obsessing over a topic that I also love is the best. I will admit, however, that this Lizzie is a bit of a Mary Sue. Okay.
00:45:37
Speaker
She's able to clock everyone's character immediately and is not taken in by Wickham. She's prejudiced against Darcy for her own run-ins with his ego, but at the same time she's wary of Wickham and a constant through line in the story is Lizzie's aversion to him despite the charm offensive. Huh, okay.
00:45:54
Speaker
We obviously haven't had the full Wickham arc yet, I assume that comes in the second book, so we'll have to wait and see. She is also always right about the books and the texts that they are translating, and I sort of found myself missing OG Lizzie's ability to make mistakes.
00:46:11
Speaker
Even the formidably intelligent Evie from The Mummy makes mistakes and triggers a potential apocalypse. This Lizzie is right about everything, and I found myself missing her signature prejudice.
00:46:24
Speaker
It is a common pitfall in adapting a character you absolutely love. It's hard to give them flaws, but without it, they're kind of dull. The ending is definitely not as gripping as it could be because Lizzie knows exactly what to do.
00:46:38
Speaker
They're not making it up on the fly, there's no by the seat of their pants, she just reads some books, writes a spell and they leave. It's rather anticlimactic because there's no tension in her character and that's my only real critique of this book. Everything else is fantastic.
00:46:52
Speaker
Yeah, that's one of the key parts of Pride and Prejudice, right? And I feel like we say it over and over again. yeah yes Darcy has to improve to be worthy of Elizabeth and, you know, show that he is a good human, but Elizabeth has to as well.
00:47:09
Speaker
It is a dual-sided character growth that makes them worthy of each other, so Yeah, tough it's missing, but, you know, I'm glad the
Relationship Dynamics and Missing Characters
00:47:18
Speaker
rest is great. It's a great story anyway.
00:47:20
Speaker
Bingley is really interestingly fleshed out in this book. The original is a young man of pleasant disposition and a decent fortune who is too easily swayed by the opinion of a friend whom he regards as wiser. Other than that, he's pretty much a cipher. The Bingley we have here is much more sceptical of Darcy and much more his own man, apart from not knowing what to do about his crush.
00:47:43
Speaker
I also found the addition of Charles and Darcy having been childhood friends here quite interesting. It adds depth to their relationship to be sure, despite being within the context of the original storyline quite impossible given the different social circles their families would have moved in. One way, however, Bingley's character gets done absolutely dirty is over Wickham.
00:48:03
Speaker
Right at the beginning, I assumed when he dismissed Darcy's feelings about Wickham that he did not know about Georgiana. Boy, was I wrong! Later on, we get this scene, which I have a bridge for you to read, Melinda.
00:48:16
Speaker
And just in terms of character, this absolutely misses the mark for me. I don't care what you say, Charles. I don't trust the man. Darcy spat out the words. Now, Darcy, Charles said soothingly, i know that you and Mr Wickham have not always seen eye to eye. Eye to eye, Charles? The man nearly ran off with my sister.
00:48:35
Speaker
Darcy sat back against the carriage seat with an angry thud. You are being unreasonable, Darcy, said Charles with a sigh. I'm not asking you to trust Mr Wickham. I'm asking you to tolerate the fact that he is in our party and the fact that we must adhere to Colonel Foster's wishes. So you must promise me that you will be civil.
00:48:54
Speaker
He's gone full peacemaker and full... Yes! my My immediate reaction was, I beg your largest pardon. I just don't think that seems...
00:49:05
Speaker
accurate for the kind of man that Bingley is. i don't know. What do you think? What's your read? I think Charles is kind and the amount of times that he will just smooth over things to just keep the peace.
00:49:19
Speaker
yeah Like if you think about the stuff at Netherfield and things like that, obviously much lower stakes than Georgiana's potential elopement. So I'm not saying that they are in the same level, but it does make me wonder if Yeah. That's what the author's going for.
00:49:36
Speaker
Maybe. I can definitely see that side of it, but I just feel like trying to kidnap a young woman to steal her fortune. oh totally. so... so egregiously out of social norms.
00:49:50
Speaker
Completely. The little we get of Miss Bingley at the start of this book is even more lively and honestly I found her much more entertaining rather than grating in this adaptation. Don't get me wrong, she is revolting as ever.
00:50:03
Speaker
There is no character redemption here. But as you mentioned in the private detective episode, she is socially savvy and incredibly observant in the original. And we really get to see that magnified, pun intended, in this adaptation.
00:50:18
Speaker
There are also a lot of hints that she could play a much larger role in the second book too. Okay. That'll be fun. Yeah. Mr Bennett in this novel is getting utterly glazed. He is calm, knowledgeable, a shrewd negotiator, and apparently is still in possession of quite a bit of his fortune, enough to be sponsoring an expedition to Egypt anyway.
00:50:39
Speaker
He indulges Lizzie even more so in this adaptation than the original, and we see that his faith in her and her abilities is unshakable. This is Mr Bennett as we wish he really was.
00:50:50
Speaker
locked in on his daughter's desires and futures despite the entail, and investing in something that could fetch huge financial returns for the family. Let's not forget that museums and private collectors were paying top dollar anything Egyptian during this period.
00:51:03
Speaker
Yes, the estate is still entailed and yes, his favourite hobby is still annoying his wife, but there is a gentleness and a twinkling mischief to his character that leans much more into the way he's portrayed in the 1995 adaptation.
00:51:15
Speaker
And within the first few chapters, he shows more interest in his daughter's futures than any other Mr Bennett we have seen. I did wonder this. As soon as I read it in the blurb, I'm like, hang on, how can Mr. Bennett be investing yeah in an expedition? That makes no sense. But you're right. So Mr. Bennett, we wish we had. We'll see if he has any e flaws in the second one. But yeah, it's really interesting. Now, while some major plot points are missing, they might be in the second one, we shall see, there are nods to certain parts of the story that have been altered. Dixon, being a fan, seems to be reassuring us that while she has changed them, she still respects the original story.
00:51:53
Speaker
Like this little bit of interior monologue from Lizzie, while she's watching Bingley fussing over her sister as the two of them proceed to fall completely in love with each other. It was a funny thing to think that it would take a journey into the wildest desert for love to be able to bloom naturally without the interference of their mother or the machinations and influence of any other well-meaning relations.
00:52:13
Speaker
She recalled Miss Caroline Bingley's sour face and the cruel things she had said to Jane. They'd stayed in Hertfordshire. It was very likely that Mr Bingley would have been turned away from his initial affection for her sister, pressured by family pride and duty.
00:52:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's good, right? There's also like a really nice comment from Lizzie where she's reflecting on how Mr Bingley seeing Jane in Egypt and how smart and intelligent and how necessary she is for like the cataloging of the dig and everything. It gives him a much better sense of her character and they get to know each other a lot better than just seeing her conforming to very strict social rules in England.
00:52:53
Speaker
That's great. It gives their love story so much more depth, which I really enjoy. All right. Flipping to our usual bugbear of the lack of strong female relationships, I was a little worried for the fate of our favorite sister duo, with Jane finding Lizzie's infatuation with all things Egyptology unnatural and a bit spooky.
00:53:12
Speaker
I really had to pull myself back from my own very modern lens here. It's not outside the realm of possibility that people in this time would have found it odd. Despite being initially put off by this first conversation we witnessed between the sisters, it is still clear that they are very close and have that strong connection that we are so often left in want of. I am sad to say that Charlotte is mostly sidelined here. I get the impression, like I mentioned before, the author does not care for her character, but we can't have it all.
00:53:38
Speaker
There was another aspect I loved, which was Mary and Lizzie having a much softer relationship and Lizzie genuinely showing love and care for her sister. And Mary is also vastly less of a prat in this one.
00:53:49
Speaker
I didn't have time to fit this into the plot discussion, but it was really nice to see, especially among the current craze for Mary redemption arcs, thanks to the other Bennet sister show being released. Stay tuned, everyone. On the docket for next season. We also get Lizzie worrying about what will become of her sisters while her and Jane are are away, because while Jane has always been the daughter appointed to care for their mother's nerves, Lizzie had taken over the parenting of her sisters in the face of her mother's lax and permissive governance and indeed their father's absence, locked away in the library as he always is.
00:54:23
Speaker
huh It's an interesting lens that isn't often applied to adaptations and it doesn't come through that much in the original either, but it really adds a layer of richness. Yeah, right. That makes sense given that context. That's great.
Final Thoughts: Unique Yet Altered Adaptation
00:54:35
Speaker
And of course, while we're missing a lot of key scenes because we're halfway through the story, we're also so far missing a lot of other key characters. The likes of Mr. Collins, Lady Catherine and even Colonel Fitzwilliam have not made an appearance yet.
00:54:48
Speaker
So that brings us to the rating. And it's pretty hard to rate when we're just looking at part one. But I will give this opening foray into this universe a solid not actually Austen in the most positive way that that can be awarded. It's super fun, really nerdy, and the adaptation captures the essence of the characters and brings them faithfully into a more expanded world.
00:55:11
Speaker
However, that lack of certain key plot points makes it hard to slot into Austin Approved as much as I really, really want to wedge it into that rating. Tune in later in the season to see if that changes after we read part two.
00:55:24
Speaker
Can't wait. Should be fun. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Jane Austen Remixed. We love exploring this wonderful corner of the literary world with you. Please share the podcast with your friends, family, literary fans, and other Janeites.
00:55:37
Speaker
And we would love it if you could leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening. This helps us to reach other fans of Pride and Prejudice and build our community. You can also follow us on Instagram at janeaustenremixed.
00:55:49
Speaker
And if you have any questions or a suggestion for a book, movie, or something you'd like us to review, drop us a line. You can email us at janeaustenremixed at gmail.com. And join us in two weeks when we examine Potions and Prejudice by T. Harlow.
00:56:06
Speaker
And now, Stephanie, for the most important question of our podcast. Does this Darcy dive into a lake? No.
00:56:17
Speaker
oh He does fully bodily dunk another man into the Nile. Well, that's true. That's not even slightly sexy. a very distressing situation and there are no descriptions of him being all wet and his shirt being see-through, maybe next time.
00:56:35
Speaker
On that note, we'll see you next episode.
00:57:12
Speaker
you