PBS is part way through a Jane Austen marathon on Masterpiece Theatre. They have already featured adaptations of the lesser three of her novels (Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey). Any of Austen's novels lose something in film versions due to the limitations of the medium (for example, lack of narration). These particular movies are only 80 minutes long so there is also the general problem of a rushed storyline and lack of characterization. All of this is to be expected. What I have a harder time understanding is why important plot details have been changed which work against the themes and purposes of the novels.

In Mansfield Park, Austen contrasts the attractive, witty Mary Crawford against the shy, dull Fanny Price. Throughout the book, we learn that Fanny is to be prized for her moral character and this is realized in the end by the hero of the story. Her moral principles are most notably displayed when she declines to act in a play of questionable worth. In the PBS version, she is persuaded to take a part and so we lose the contrast between Fanny and the other characters. We don't really learn any reason for the hero's selection of Fanny other than it was just meant to be.

One of the turning points in Persuasion is the fall of Louisa Musgrove. Captain Wentworth had been praising Louisa's strength of conviction as an indirect criticism of Anne's character. Louisa insists on taking another walk by the sea before leaving Lyme even though the party should have returned home. She seriously injures herself. This causes Captain Wentworth to begin reexamining Anne's character and his overreaction to the past. The fact that it was Louisa that pushed for the late walk is left out of the movie. We are not left with any reason for Captain Wentworth's change of mind concerning Anne other than her clearness of mind during the accident. (Also, near the same time, Anne receives an obvious admiring look from someone which causes Captain Wentworth to do some more rethinking. This is also left out.)

Northanger Abbey is a satire of the Gothic romances of the late 18th century. Due to her novel-fed, overactive imagination, Catherine begins to suspect that her host has murdered his wife. No self-respecting person would have believed such a thing if put in the same position. That is part of the satire. Instead, the movie includes a scene of someone telling the heroine about rumors concerning the man's wife. So not only does the idea not originate with her, but other people treat it as a possibility thus losing some of the strength of the satire. To finish it off, Catherine is told at the end of the movie that her judgment was correct even if she had the details wrong.

Reading Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell made me laugh. It is a great satire of the social customs of the Victorian English gentry (or at least of the women). Gaskell is able to poke fun at their imitative manners and general quirks while still creating sympathetic characters. The story focuses on the lives of five or six older women who make up the self-defined high society of Cranford. They have developed a set of very artificial protocols governing visits and other such society interactions. In the end these just end up making life more stressful and inconvenient than it needs to be.

It is a very easy read. The sixteen chapters contain eight almost separate stories. The format is due to the novel being developed for inclusion in a magazine published by Dickens. It is considered one of Gaskell's best novels and evidences her ability as a story teller. Charlotte Bronte said about it: “I find it pleasurable reading: graphic, pithy, penetrating, shrewd, yet kind and indulgent.”

This article (registration may be required) is a good presentation of the difficulties that Mormons have in national politics — especially given the emphasis on ‘faith’ that exists in the Republican party. I don't think the author's analysis of Romney's difficulties is as insightful since I doubt that his Mormonism is the issue that's hurting him right now.

• We have finally added caller ID to our phone service. One of the first calls we subsequently received was from Verizon telling us the modification was complete. The caller ID read "Bell Atlantic".
• I greatly dislike introductions to books that give away major plot details. The most recent example of this is the mention of the sudden death of a main character in the introduction to Cranford. Argh.
• During the first World War, Germany experienced some extreme food shortages. They experimented with trying to develop butter substitutes from animals that were plentiful like rats, hamsters, crows and cockroaches.