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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Pamela Aidan: The Man in Full: Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman

Welcome Pamela Aidan!
One of 28 Authors Participating in the Upcoming Decatur Book Festival 
To Darcyholic Diversions...
1 Week to Go till Decatur Book Festival!)
Hi, Darcyholics!  I am thrilled to welcome Pamela Aidan to Darcyholic Diversions today!  And I am thrilled that I will soon get a chance to meet her in person!   I hope you enjoy getting to know her as much as I am!
The information on Decatur Book Festival was updated this week!  And if you would like to see the schedule for the events at the Austen tents, check out the uploaded schedules at the Darcyholic Diversions Facebook page (link below).  It now includes the Social Events planned AROUND the festival!  So check it out at the link below! If you are planning on attending and are not one of our authors, please send me an email to barbaratillercole@gmail.com so I can send you information out our social events during the festival weekend.

I am also announcing initial plans for a Darcyholic Holiday eBook Festival
More Information to come, but send me an email at barbaratillercole@gmail.com if you are an author and would like to participate!!

Upcoming Guest Posts Are As Follows:
August 26--Reposting Decatur Book Festival Author Links!
August 28--Jack Caldwell
August 31--Decatur Book Festival Eve!
September 2--Live from the Decatur Book Festival
September 4--Fun Stories from the DBF
September 7--Jack Caldwell's Experiences at the DBF
September 11--Karen Cox's Experiences at the DBF
September 14--Mary Simonsen
September 18--Amber G.
September 21--Moira B.
November 2--Amy Patterson
November 13--Karen Doornebos
And Many more to come!
Pamela will be giving away a copy of An Assembly Such as This and a copy of Young Master Darcy: A Lesson in Honour,  awarded separately. Comments count as entries, but additional chances will be given for joining this site, tweeting this post, joining this site as a member via Google Friend Connect (GFC) (See the left hand column on the blog to join!), sharing this on Facebook or your blog, Friend Barbara Tiller Cole on Facebook, clicking 'like’ on Barbara Tiller Cole, Author's Facebook page, Join Darcyholic Diversions Facebook Page or following BarbTCole on Twitter. 
The Man in Full: Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman
by Pamela Aidan

The phenomenal modern day fascination with Austen’s Mr. Darcy is fast approaching its twenty-year. Ever since actor Colin Firth brought the formidable master of Pemberley to life from Andrew Davie’s screen play in a way no previous actor had dared, this character has served as the inspiration for a mind-boggling number of novels by both seasoned and novice authors.  And I am one of them…the novices, that is.  Or, I was, now that it is just over fifteen years ago that I first set my fingertips upon the computer keyboard and began dreaming the answers to my own questions about Jane Austen’s compelling hero. In the next years I posted each bit and piece on line, then at my own website, and finally self-published in 2003 when such a thing was almost unheard of for a work of fiction.  70,000 copies sold later, a well-respected NY publishing house knocked on my door, and in 2006 my Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy took flight again.

Why Darcy has caught the imagination of 20th and 21st century women is a subject for an entire book of its own, but it was Firth’s interpretation of him for the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice that first opened my eyes to the enigma of the man.  How did Fitzwilliam Darcy change so dramatically between the opening pages of the book and his re-acquaintance with Elizabeth Bennet at Pemberley, a change no only in his inner man, but one that carries him to great personal acts of charity involving a man he has every reason to hate? To discover this, there had to be a significant “filling in” of events that never made it into Austen’s pages. On this, they are entirely blank!  To begin to understand how this happened, we must get to know Darcy and see him change by observing him in his world, rather than through Elizabeth’s eyes.

The three parts of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, look at Darcy during three seminal point  in his life. The titles reveal where he is on his road to self-knowledge and becoming the man he had been born and bred to be—a gentleman, and one in the highest sense of the appellation.  It is only after attending An Assembly Such As This, weighing Duty and Desire, and embracing These Three Remain that he becomes, indeed, the man in full.

For fun, I also wrote the first of a series of novellas, Young Master Darcy, that attempt to answer the obverse question: how did Darcy become the man Elizabeth met at the Meryton assembly? We begin with A Lesson in Honour when Fitzwilliam Darcy is but thirteen…

Pamela Aidan can be tracked down at her blog: Traipsing After Jane and at her website Austenesque.




31 comments:

  1. Pamela, when I read your writing, I always feel like you *know* Darcy. In 'Young master Darcy' it's like you were watching him grow up, talking about him with Mrs Reynolds and his others at Pemberley. Thank you for writing!

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  2. Excited to have picked up your threesome, Pamela! and hope to include it in my Austen in August readings :) Thanks for sharing your gift of writing with us Darcy diverted readers ")

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    1. You are very welcome! Hope to see you and many others in Decatur!

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  3. I am following BarbTCole on Twitter.

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  4. I am on Darcyholic Diversions Facebook Page

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  5. I like Barbara Tiller Cole, Author's Facebook page

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  6. I am Friends with Barbara Tiller Cole on Facebook

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  7. I am sharing this on Facebook

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  8. Pamela I just got These Three Remain the other day (not realizing at the time it was part of series) I am looking forward to reading your books. You have been on my lists of authors to read for a while and im glad im getting opportunity
    :)

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    1. So glad you felt the final push! I know a trilogy is a bit of a challenge, especially as each volume gets longer than the one before, but I think you'll not regret the time it takes to tell the whole story.

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  9. This was a fun, nostalgic post for me to read today. Pamela's Darcy trilogy was the first Austenesque books I read which introduced me to the wonderful world of writers basing their stories on Austen's beloved books and characters. These books were so awesome and I've read them repeatedly.

    Thanks for the post!

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    1. To be read "repeatedly" has to be one of the best compliments an author can receive! Thanks so much, Sophia, and bless you!

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  10. Your books were some of the first Austen-inspired fiction I ever read, Pamela. You introduced me to the genre.

    Thank you so much!

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  11. I have books 2&3 but I'm not sure what happened to my book 1! Lol I really need to stop lending my Darcy books to people...

    I would love to read about Young Master Darcy! That's something you don't see a lot of in fanfiction (at least I don't).

    Have fun in Decatur!

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    1. Thank you so much, Monica! I certainly did...and hope to repeat the experience.

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  12. Tweeted: https://mobile.twitter.com/jaffobsession/status/239525684798709760

    DD blog follower

    Twitter follower

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  13. I have these on my wishlist but not got them yet. From the samples I've read they look like they're faithful to Austen's style, and I always enjoy reading things from Darcy's POV.

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    1. Hi Ceri--
      My overriding principle in writing Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, was to be faithful to the characters as Austen wrote them and to the time period in which the story takes place. When you've read them, let me know what you think!

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  14. Pamela-- thank you for writing your Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series. You truly capture the mystery behind Darcy. I look forward to "Young Master Darcy" as you're one of my favorite authors I've had the privilege reading and I refuse to miss a book!

    And I also loved "The Riding Habit" in Jane Austen Made Me Do It! Great short read :)

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    1. Thank you so much, Jamie. What a very lovely compliment! As with all my responders, please join me at my blog traipsingafterjane.wordpress.com

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  16. I follow you on Twitter. @asoftheday

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  17. I have these on my TBR list--I simply must move them up!

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    1. Please, do! Then tell me what you think as you join me at my blog traipsingafterjane.wordpress.com

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  18. The book about Darcy as a teenager sounds interesting. The library has some of the books in the other series.

    I have followed/friended Barbara on Facebook and liked Darcyholic Diversions on Facebook, etc.

    spookycat72(at)gmail(dot)com
    GFC - Michelle Fidler
    Twitter - MichelleFidler1

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  19. I had no idea JAFF existed until I found your trilogy at a bookstore in Greenville, SC, in 2007. You mentioned Susan Kaye in your acknowledgements, and, being the stalker that I am, I found her stories on-line. The rest is pleasant history.

    I so enjoyed spending time with you in Decatur. I look forward to getting to know you better.

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