REVIEW: James Fairfax by Adam Campan
Review by Allison T.
The time is perhaps ripe for a gay/lesbian take on one of Austen’s novels. One could imagine, for instance, a young Edmund or Edward Woodhouse—handsome, rich and opinionated—who finds himself after various misadventures drawn to the excellent Mr. Knightley. Whether dealing with a hero or a heroine, one could in such a novel explore some aspects of Georgian and Regency sexuality: the secretive, but not yet illegal world of gay men; the more anxiety-provoking ideas of incest, as expressed both in the popular novel The Monk and in the public’s attitudes towards Lord Byron’s alleged affair with his half-sister; the Ladies of Llangollen; the Hell-Fire Club and so on. A novel such as this would require research, reflection and creativity.
To produce a “gay romance” it is not, however, sufficient to take an e-text of Emma and use the global “search and replace” function to change “Jane Fairfax” to “James Fairfax,” transform “Mr. Weston” into “Mrs. Weston” and have that wealthy and genial widow woo and win Miss Taylor, who upon her marriage to Mrs. Weston rather confusingly becomes Mrs. Taylor, turn all the “she saids” to “he saids,” and then dust off one’s hands and call it a day.
No, Mr. Adam Campan, who along with Jane Austen is listed as the co-author of James Fairfax, no, sir, there is a word for what this “palimpsest,” as you call it, is, and that word also begins with a “P” but has other letters in it.
Austen is long beyond the purview of copyright laws, but people who buy this book are basically buying Emma. There is so little that is original in James Fairfax that when an interpolation does appear, it stands out like a sore thumb: Emma and Miss Taylor enjoying seven years of “exploratory passion”; Emma and Harriet petting and kissing; and the actually rather funny idea of marriage à la mode (i.e., same-sex marriage), as evidenced by the Prince Regent’s “union with le comte d’Artois of France.” (The idea of the legendary womanizer Prinny marrying a mere count—a nobleman of a country with which England was at war—is indeed something to ponder.) There is another funny bit later on when we hear of Mr. Elton’s success at Bath at the popular “bal nouveau,” in which one could ask a partner of the same sex to dance. And the one original scene longer than a sentence or two that I spotted was a description of Mr. Elton’s hopeless passion for James Fairfax—and his jealous and correct suspicion that James and Frank Churchill are in love.
In his introduction, Campan writes: “Of all Jane Austen’s heroines, we experience the inward working of Jane Fairfax’s mind the least.” My dear sir, the reason for that is that Jane is not the heroine of Emma. But if you thought that she—or he—was, then why didn’t you write about his adventures from his point of view? Your idea was not a bad one, but you didn’t actually do any work to make it happen.
It was badly done, badly done indeed.
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In a word, WOW! A search and replace version of Emma is unspeakable and pure bandwagoning by the publisher.
… um. Wow. I don’t know what to say about this one. I haven’t read it and don’t plan on it, but the very idea is just… too much for me. I’m a huge supporter of gay marriage, and I love Austen (clearly), but… wow.
The author barely doing any of his own work just seems appalling. At least in PPZ there was evidence that Grahame-Smith had taken the time to read P&P and insert his own work. But if this man did, as you say, simply perform a search and replace, that’s just inexcusable.
Emma and Miss Taylor… enjoying “exploratory passion”? Harriet and Emma making out?!
*screams*
I’d like to imagine Austen turning over in her grave. Repeatedly.
This whole concept pi$$es me off. If one chooses to explore such a plot, fine (not to my taste, but that’s another rant). But write your d@mn book under your own name and don’t exploit another author whose work is no longer copyright protected. IF (and yes that’s a big IF) your book has merit, readers will spot the comparisons. Grrrrrrrrrr.
When is this insanity going to stop?
That’s a serious question. When?
I am with Allison–a book that explored gender and sexual politics in JA’s time might have made for an interesting read, assuming such is your cup of tea. I think I can sort of understand where the author was trying to go with this, but to attempt to impose same-sex marriage on early 19th-century England is just mind-bogglingly naive at best and ignorant at worst. Marriage, especially in the landed classes, was so tied into property and inheritance that it upsets more than social norms.
A friend heard this book talked about at the Chawton Museum opening a couple weeks ago, so I ordered it, and just finished reading it. I think, from what is said in the review, that the reviewer stopped reading it pretty early on. I know gay things might not be to everyone’s taste–t first I wondered why the story was moving at a smoother pace than Emma, then I took out my novel and actually compared page by page. Wow. Those long paragraphs with the dashes? Quietly cut, with periods at natural breaks. More character added to Harriet, at first very subtly. Long repetitive conversations vanish, with changes added. The triangle between Elton, Harriet, and Emma is a whole lot funnier–it’s because the expectations changed.
The biggest change (besides almost blind Mr. Fairfax with his brilliant piano playing) was Mr. Elton. The man who wrote this called it a thought experiment, which I think is true. Whether or not you like the idea of a Mrs. Weston rather than a Mr, or a James Fairfax, it really does get inside of all the main characters and give them different perspective.
At first everything is the same scenes, though altered, but that builds until there are new scenes toward the end, coming naturally off of what is established before. It really was fascinating to compare the two side by side, to see what Campan developed. But a search and replace, it most definitely is not.
The time is perhaps ripe for a gay/lesbian take on one of Austen’s novels.
Why? Perhaps the time is ripe for a gay/lesbian Regency novel, but, lazy author wannabees– leave Austen alone! Make up your own damn characters and your own story.
(Need inspiration? See Sarah Waters’ fiction set in the Victorian era; she’s doing an interesting and excellent job in the genre.)
Emma and Miss Taylor enjoying seven years of “exploratory passion”
I’ll add: this disturbs me immensely because Miss Taylor is in a position of authority over Emma. That’s child abuse.
And I suppose Mr. Woodhouse is too caught up in his valetudinarian concerns to notice that Emma and “poor” Miss Taylor have been snogging and more for the past seven years?
What Mags says. If the book opens with the ages that everyone was in the original, it means Miss Taylor has been hitting on Emma since she was, like, in her early 30s, and Emma 12 or 13. That is just too creepy and and disgusting for words.
Perhaps Mr. Woodhouse was busy shagging the cook.
Perhaps Mr. Woodhouse was busy shagging the cook.
No doubt. That must have been on the recommendation of Perry–as an alternative to sea bathing, of course.
Perhaps the time is ripe for a gay/lesbian Regency novel
Oh, they do exist. I would actually really like to read The Price of Temptation by M. J. Pearson, if amazon would be willing to ship it to me without the horrible cover.
Why? Perhaps the time is ripe for a gay/lesbian Regency novel, but, lazy author wannabees– leave Austen alone! Make up your own damn characters and your own story.
Out of curiosity, what do you think of PPZ et cetera? Personally, I couldn’t read more than a few chapters of PPZ because there was just too much of the original material in it with obvious inserted bits. I seem to be alone there, though.
Chocolatepot, you are NOT alone. The time is NOT ripe, and this nonsense must stop. Perhaps I should borrow the Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness from Mags to enforce my thoughts on this matter?
“…leave Austen alone! Make up your own damn characters and your own story.”
Ah, I feel better now; thanks Mags.
“Perhaps I should borrow the Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness …leave Austen alone! Make up your own damn characters and your own story.”
WHEW!!! I felt the breeze from that swing of the bat.
I’ve seen gay Austen fanfic, but this seems to be a OTT. Making most of the characters gay? What’s the point? It just seems like overkill to me.