I love Pride and Prejudice and I liked Bridget Jones so I really have no excuse for what I’m about to admit:
Only in my current re-reading of P&P did I finally realize that although all of Bridget Jones isn’t an homage, Fielding did pay tribute to the love/betrayal triangle between the Heroine and the Charming Cad/Boorish Good Man. To put it geekily, Bridget : Carver/Darcy :: Elizabeth : Wickham/Darcy. Really, Fielding couldn’t have made it any plainer to me. AT ALL. And yet I never made the connection until yesterday, even though I knew all the other elements of homage that she included (because, um, who could miss them).
I’d like to attribute this to the fact that whilst I’ve read P&P very seriously and studiously and with admiration, I read Fielding’s book the way I read all other chick lit: on the beach or on a plane and without much attention to detail. Even when it’s good chick lit, which Bridget Jones was, I didn’t pay that much attention to it.
But still. Seriously. I have never felt so bad about myself and my usually-stellar comprehension and retention of literature before in my LIFE.
The more I think about it, the worse I feel about myself.
I can’t believe I’m pretend friends with you. Please don the Cloak of Shame and be gone from my sight!
Wait…Aslan is Jesus?!
oh krissa. this is like the time in third grade when we learned to sign “I just called to say I love you,” and I came home and yelled at my mom for never teaching me about Stevie Wonder because I was the only one in the whole class who had no idea who he was.
Um, Jesus ain’t no giant kitty cat.
Nope lalalalala I can’t hear you.
Yes, I live in a world of denial.
I enjoyed BJD. I adore P&P. I don’t want them to be connected. I don’t want there to be homage, blatant or not. I want my sweet little Bridget with her units of this and that to go on her merry little way. And I want Elizabeth in a completely different universe where walking outside is considered strenuous excercise.
don’t worry. I wasn’t that quick on the uptake either. Maybe a leeetle bit quicker though
Cleaver, not Carver
I’m a little obsessed with both the books AND the movies, because though the books are amazing, how can you not love a movie with Hugh Grant and Colin Firth? Mmmm, I think I’ll go watch “Love Actually” now…
Ok, this has nothing to do with your post, but anyway -
I was in my car with husband & 3 kids, running errands. Out of the blue I thought, “I wonder what Krissa and Stuart are doing today? Probably walking around the city and having a drink…”
When I was twenty and I worked on an organic farm, I realized all at once that Tater Tots were so named because they were made out of potatoes. Or “po-TATERS” as I loudly announced to the other workers when the pieces finally clicked together in my head. And I’d honestly had NO IDEA. I thought Tater Tots were named Tater Tots because “Tater” was a cute word. I didn’t think it had a THING to do with the produce FROM WHICH THEY WERE CRAFTED.
I really wish I were making this up.
Don’t worry. I was on my second viewing of Wayne’s World 2 before I fgured out the whole Village People scene was funny because, um, the Village People were possibly not straight. I was about, oh, 14 at the time…Your oversight is far more highbrow.
I used to think “condone” was the same as “condemn”. This got me into a few scrapes.
But Krissa, the clue is in the names: is MISTER DARCY, innit!
I haven’t read Austen for a long time, after developing an exam-related allergy. Maybe I should go back.
B, to be fair to me (which I like to do), I always knew that Fielding had P&P in mind when she wrote her novel. I knew that Darcy was supposed to be just like Austen’s Darcy. I just didn’t realize the Wickham/Cleaver angle.
My confession is that I’ve never read either book. Though I have seen each film adaptation. I read lots of books but don’t feel like I’m missing anything for ignoring these two.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. Really.
Oh, that’s not so embarrassing by a trillion miles. Like you said, it’s from not giving BJD enough credit as an homage (no crime in these parts).
I have just realised I have the same initials as Bridget Jones. And that I have no idea how you spell embarrassing. I’m flying blind here, people.
Don’t stress about the “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Pride and Prejudice” connection. We ALL have those brain lapses. Just as a note, the second Bridget Jones novel was based on Austen’s “Persuasion.”