Diana Reid on why Jane Austen is so much more than florals and bonnets

Bookshelfie: Women’s Prize Podcast

In this episode of Bookshelfie, host Vic Hope interviews screenwriter and author Diana Reid about her literary influences and her recent adaptation

Key takeaways

• Diana Reid's new film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility focuses on the internal love story between the Dashwood sisters.
• Reid notes that Jane Austen's writing is often perceived as 'cosy' but is actually sharp, mean, and observant.

Main topics

• Jane Austen adaptations
• The impact of classics on writing style

Notable quotes

I think maybe the perception of the Austen industry and Austen fans is very cosy... But then you reading the books and she's actually a bit of a bitch.

Conclusion

The episode provides a profound look at how engaging with the literary

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Coming up on Bookshelvey. I think for our version of Sense and Sensibility, it was always about the sisters and it's about their love story with each other as much as it is with the men. I think maybe the perception of the Austen industry and Austen fans is very cosy. It's like florals and bonnets and cosy escapism. But then you read the books and she's actually a bit of a bitch. She's really mean. I think that that cringe, that, like, writing is pretentious and who do you think you are to do it, is something that I will never get over. I still struggle with it all the time. I feel like when I was, like, 15, every book I read, like, exploded my brain. Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes you read them now and you're like, yeah, like, that's a book. Sure. Speaker 1 (0:53) That's perfectly fine. Yeah. Hello, I'm Vic Hope and this is Bookshelfy, the podcast from the Women's Prize that asks women with lives as inspiring as any fiction to share the five books by women that have shaped them. Now, before we begin, remember to subscribe or follow so you never miss an episode. With thanks to our sponsor, Bailey's. Speaker 1 (1:15) Today I'm joined by Diana Reads. Diana is a screenwriter and the best-selling author of the novels Love and Virtue, Seeing Other People and Signs of Damage. Her debut novel, Love and Virtue, won several prizes and she was named Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelist in 2022. Most recently, she wrote a new film adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility for working title and Universal Pictures, set for release in cinemas on the 25th of September, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esme Creed-Miles as the Dashwood sisters. Born in Sydney, Diana is currently based in London and it's an absolute pleasure to welcome you to the podcast. Thanks for having me. You were just saying before we started recording, you're like, this is good. I have to remind myself of what it was like to do this film because you get this a lot when you're interviewing actors. Often their film was like years ago before they start promoting it. So are you in the mindset now? Yeah, I'm in the mindset now. I had a think Speaker 2 (2:12) on the way here, a reminisce. Speaker 1 (2:15) Yeah, so I can talk about it. Well, we're going to talk about your work, but also the books that have inspired you, the books that you have loved. Are you and have you always been a big reader? Speaker 2 (2:26) Yeah, I guess I waxed and waned, which is maybe something we'll talk about. But I was a huge reader as a child, just like... read everything I could get my hands on. My parents were both big readers, which was great. So there were always books in the house. And then I sort of stopped reading when I went to university for a while and then picked it back up again in like my mid-20s. And now I work in books. So now I read all the time. What Speaker 1 (3:00) was it that made you stop? when you were at uni and then what was the motivation to get back into it? It Speaker 2 (3:06) wasn't a hard stop. Like I didn't like reject it or anything. I think I just was doing other things. Oh, Speaker 1 (3:14) there's lots of other things to do. Yeah, I was just like hanging out. And yeah, Speaker 2 (3:20) I mean I did a law degree and an arts degree so I think like when I just read like academic stuff and then... just didn't feel like picking up a novel unless it was like a long summer holiday. It Speaker 1 (3:34) sort of changed the relationship with it when you have to do a lot of reading for work or for study. But as you mentioned, now you work in this world. Speaker 2 (3:44) Does Speaker 1 (3:44) reading feel pleasurable or does it Speaker 2 (3:47) feel like it's part of your job? It's kind of both. It's definitely pleasurable, but I'm so sympathetic to the fact that most... people who have jobs that are not in the industry don't read many books a year. And like, that's kind of something I always think about when I'm writing. I'm sort of like, oh, if someone's taken your book on a holiday and this is like one of the five books they'll read all year, like you better make it worth their while. Speaker 1 (4:12) No pressure. Speaker 2 (4:13) Because yeah, I do feel like I do most of my reading like at the desk and in work hours. So yeah, it's something I'm trying to improve. But I think when I want like a brain break. Like so many people, I go on my phone or I do something through a screen. So yeah, I think books for me, it's pleasurable, but it's about feeling stimulated and invigorated. It's not about totally turning your brain off. Speaker 1 (4:39) Right. Speaker 2 (4:39) And Speaker 1 (4:39) when you are wanting to be stimulated, invigorated, gain those fresh perspectives that inform your work, what sort of books are you gravitating towards? I guess Speaker 2 (4:48) I mostly read fiction. Speaker 2 (4:52) probably mostly like literary fiction. I think that's because I'm quite like porous with my own writing or like I inadvertently maybe plagiarise or like sail close to the wind. You're inspired. Yeah, exactly. So I can sometimes when I go back and read an early draft, I can tell what book I was reading at the time because I've like parroted the style. So usually when I'm working on a book, I try to only pick up. books that are in the style that I'm trying to write in. And then when I'm just reading for pleasure, I feel like I just always have a huge list of amazing authors that I've never even heard. Like I've heard of them for years, but I've never even touched their body of work. So I feel like I finished a book recently and then I read Toni Morrison for the first time. That was amazing. So yeah, I feel like I'm either... reading for work or I'm like catching up Speaker 1 (5:49) on the canon. Well, on the subject of the canon and amazing authors, let's dive into the books that you have loved, the authors you have loved. And we start, of course, with Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Originally published anonymously in 1811, Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen's first published novel. A commercial success at the time, it remains a much-loved classic to this day and follows the Dashwood sisters, sensible and sensitive Eleanor and her romantic, impetuous younger sister Marianne. Each must learn from the other after they're forced by their father's death to leave their home and enter into the contests of polite society. The charms of unsuitable men and the schemes of rival ladies mean that their paths to success are filled with disappointment. But together they attempt to find a way to happiness. So when did you first read this? Speaker 2 (6:43) Yeah, I actually, I know I said before I'm ready to talk about it. I actually don't know. I can't identify when. It definitely would have been like as a teenager, like in school. I think I went through a phase where I just read. anything that had like an orange penguin cover. And I remember I had that edition of Sense and Sensibility. It's Speaker 1 (7:04) a Speaker 2 (7:04) seat of approval. Yeah, exactly. It's got to be Speaker 1 (7:06) good, hasn't it? Speaker 2 (7:07) Literally, yeah. When you're like, I don't know, 13 and precocious and you're like, books are my thing. Yeah, I sort of, yeah, anything orange. And I think I remember I'd like gone through a phase where I was like pushing myself to read. books that I probably didn't understand. Like I was reading like the Bronte sisters and like Great Expectations. And then I remember I landed on Jane Austen and it was Sense and Sensibility and I laughed and I was like, oh, I get the joke. Like I get this. I'm not like, yeah, I'm not like, it's not effortful. So yeah, that was my first experience of it. It's Speaker 1 (7:46) such a validating feeling at that age to get. the joke. Totally. Especially when it's a piece of adult fiction. It makes you feel like, you know what, maybe I do belong in the world. Speaker 2 (7:56) Totally. And because like, I feel like you spend so much time in school, like being told that like, Midsummer Night's Dream's a comedy. You're like, you don't laugh once. Yeah. And so then, yeah, to just actually have that like organic response, I think, yeah, you're right. It's just it's really validating. You said that Sense and Sensibility was Speaker 1 (8:14) one of the first classics that felt genuinely pleasurable to you to read. Do you find this pleasure in all of Austen's novels? Or was this really a special one? Speaker 2 (8:27) I mean, yeah, I guess for the film, I probably ought to say that this one's special, but I do think it's in all of her books. Yeah, I think that she is just like a comic writer and she sees the world in a... Speaker 2 (8:44) comic way like she's I think she's so good at identifying um the gap between how people see themselves and um how they like to present to the world and that is always hilarious Speaker 1 (8:55) and then adapting that for screen I mean we've we've seen um the 1995 adaptation with Emma Thompson Kate Winslet Alan Rickman Hugh Grant how did you feel about adapting this for screen again. And how do you go about doing that? Do you want to put a fresh spin on it? Is that the sort of the motivation or is it about, you know, this is something I love. I want to remain true to the original as best I can. Speaker 2 (9:19) Yeah. I mean, we have all seen the 995 film. You're right. And I'd seen it like I grew up with that film and I loved it. And that was kind of my introduction. I mean, I probably saw it before I read the book. Like I think that was sort of my introduction to like the world of Austin. So when my producer first we were kind of talking about doing a classic and then we talked about Austen because we both love her and she suggested Sense of Sensibility and I sort of, my gut reaction was like, oh, well, the 995 film's perfect. And so I went away and watched the film and read the book again and I guess for me that was like a threshold question before I took the project on. I had to like satisfy myself that there was something in the book that... I wanted to express that I didn't see in the film. And I actually did find that, which was, so again, it's like, obviously, I love that film so much and I still love it. And it completely stands on its own terms. And I mean, like, that's what's so good about the classics is that there's like, you know, every single person is going to find something else in the text. But I think for our version of Sense and Sensibility, it was always about the sisters. And it's about... their love story with each other as much as it is with the men. And it's about how in order to end up with the men they're meant to be with and I guess like be the best version of themselves, they have to learn from each other and they have to take on the qualities that the other one has that they lack. And to me, that was always like such a beautiful, elegant structure. Like it's literally like thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Which is what the kids want. Yeah. That's why we go to the cinema for a dialectic. So, yeah. And I think that obviously the 1995 film is so romantic. But I think having actors who are, I guess, younger and feeling like it's as much a coming of age as