As the Christmas season approaches, the book market (like the movie market) begins to dish out plum dishes that they hope will be served up in lots of wrapping paper. In the murder mystery genre, the prolific Agatha had even inspired the slogan, ?A Christie Christmas?. But today?s Queen of Crime,
PD James, has served up just just 14 Adam Dalgliesh whodunits since 1962, when we were first introduced to a New Scotland Yard poet with generous dollops of gravitas and sex appeal. As James is now in her nineties, anxious fans have understandably leaped upon her new book (with plenty of pre-orders). And this one is special. Here, death comes to Pemberley.
A lot of Christmas presents end up in the January trash bin. With presents as with books, greatness may be judged by what Samuel Johnson properly called the test of time and even by the number of simulations it sets off?one could be simulating the emotion or the appearance or the craft, etc. On both counts, Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice in particular have done exceptionally well. Harold Bloom wrote that while some literary works are mortal, Jane Austen?s are immortal. As for adaptations, imitations, biographies, commentaries and PhD dissertations, they are legion and in multiple media. Not bad for someone ?who had no separate study to repair to?, who had to try to make sure that her occupation was not ?suspected by servants or visitors or any persons beyond her own family party?, who complained ?Composition seems to be Impossible with a head full of Joints of Mutton and doses of rhubarb,? who neither travelled nor enjoyed a luncheon in a shop by herself. A century later, when Virginia Woolf championed the woman writer?s right to a room of her own and five hundred a year, she feared that it would take another century or so for this to come about. It happened much sooner. ?For books have a way of influencing each other.?
For the world grew more equitable. But what a big footprint Austen has left behind.
It says something also of how tall PD James stands today that nothing but excitement met the announcement of Death comes to Pemberley. Even lesser writers?including those besotted with aliens and vampires, and lots of small movies?have coasted off the Austen tide smoothly. Of James, we could surely expect something majestic.
In the beginning, there is a tempest. It flies in a spectral coach, the manes of horses tossing wildly, and out tumbles a hysterical Lydia, then a dead body and then Wickham as a murder suspect. One wonders, is Wuthering Heights making an entry? So it will continue through the book, the sense that Austen must be embellished, by the Bront?s or by Dickens or Hardy or even by today?s police procedural. But getting a lock is difficult, and one keeps getting thrown off the game by mimicry that?s totally straightforward. And painfully pleasurable, as if Austen were with us again.
Here?s Lady Catherine de Bourgh, so memorably played by Judi Dench in a 2005 Hollywood production, offering comfort to Darcy and his wife: ?The death of this unfortunate young man?of whom, of course, I know nothing?will inevitably cause a national sensation, given the importance of Pemberley… Let us hope it does not ruin you and your sons. You will need a good lawyer… Were I a man and had taken to law, I would have been an ornament to the English bar.? We never get to actually meet Mrs Bennet but here she is recalling her husband from Pemberley in a letter: ?She could hear stealthy footsteps outside the house every night and was suffering from continual palpitations and fluttering of the heart. Mr Bennet must come home at once to provide protection. Why was he concerning himself with other people?s murders when there was likely to be one at Longbourn if he did not immediately return??
Unfortunately, the main characters are pale facsimiles of their originals. The haughty Darcy is constantly getting walked over. Colonel Fitzwilliam takes over command of the Pemberley servants. The Wickham who had been ?obliged to go on business? rather than stand Darcy?s scorn at a Netherfield ball is holding the
dramatic reins, from fathering a child on one of the Pemberley help to launching a new life in the New World. The Elizabeth who so memorably explained, ?There is a stubbornness about me that never can be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me,? is too fatigued to take on the ?despots? in her own nursery, leave alone becoming the investigator in the lead. A self-confession and more minor characters will take the day in detection here, which is rather strange considering Adam Dougliesh is so subtly dominating and sentient.
Hark, here comes Tess of the d?Urbervilles. The coachman?s daughter should have had Latin and learning but what she gets is the love child of Wickham?s deceit and disgrace. Over there, see Jane Eyre go. Wickham?s illegitimate sister is locked out of his life and then gruesomely quashed over while he travels to prosperity and fame. The murder mystery disappoints. The joy of recollecting the classics compensates. You?ll dust off that Pride and Prejudice copy.