Why You Should Read Jo Baker's "Longbourn" Now That 'Sanditon' is Over
Though its finale aired several weeks ago, we're all still talking about Sanditon - what worked and what didn’t, and the fact that a second season seems more and more unlikely, despite the efforts of diehard fans. Was the TV series showrunner Andrew Davies’ homage to author Jane Austen, an attempt to complete the story the way she herself might have done had she gotten the chance? Or is the series just Davies having fun playing with the tropes of the novels, creating the equivalent of very expensive fan fiction?
The answer isn't entirely clear - and may actually be a bit of both options - but Davies isn’t the only one creating new content by riffing on Austen’s original work. The author's favorite niece Fanny Knight was the first writer to attempt to finish Sanditon, after all. There is also a massive literary subgenre of Austen variations, mostly written by women for women, and to a very great extent inspired by Davies’s television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. (Because we just can’t get enough of Lizzy and Darcy and the idealized pretty world of that 1996 BBC version, can we?) These novels play on alternate plots, sequels, prequels and all sorts of connected ideas: What if Lizzie accepted Darcy’s first proposal? What if Mr. Bennet died during the course of the novel, throwing his family into poverty? What about Mary and Kitty? What if… the possibilities are seemingly endless, and the appetite of the intended audience bottomless.
A few writers have created their own spin on the original tale, often with mixed results. P. D. James wrote a sequel/mystery, Death Comes to Pemberley, presented by PBS' Masterpiece a few years ago. Pride/Prejudice: A Novel of Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet and Their Other Loves by Anne Herendeen introduces slash into Pride and Prejudice fan fiction. And author Naomi Novik’s splendid Dragons and Decorum (Golden Age and Other Stories) introduces Captain E. Bennet of the Seventh Wing and her dragon Wollstonecraft.
