Only two months ago, I announced that second-order Austen adaptations -- adaptations of adaptations of Austen novels -- were now officially A Trend. It seems I was onto something, for now comes word that yet another piece of Austen fanfic has been sold to the movies.
This time, the hot property is Ayesha At Last, by first-time novelist Uzma Jalaluddin, a Pride and Prejudice update set in the world of young Muslims in contemporary Toronto. Last week, rights to the book – already out in Canada and due to be published in the United States next year -- were acquired by Pascal Pictures, run by former Sony Pictures chair Amy Pascal.
Of course, a sale to the movies is not the same thing as an actual movie, so no point buying popcorn for the screen version of Ayesha At Last just yet. And I haven't read the book, so the all-important issue of quality remains an unknown, at least for me, though I'm intrigued by the premise. Austen's tales of life in socially constricted Regency England seem to resonate strongly for contemporary readers from similarly conservative cultures -- hence, perhaps, the vogue for Austen on the Indian subcontinent, which I've written about here and here.
Whatever happens with Ayesha At Last, however, it’s refreshing to see that the box-office mojo of Crazy Rich Asians and Black Panther has introduced Hollywood to the radical notion that not every movie has to be about white boys blowing things up. Who knew?