Interview With An Author – Karen Wasylowski
Karen V. Wasylowski, author of “Darcy and Fitzwilliam, a tale of a gentleman and and officer”
1) Your own favorite Austen character and why?
Karen: Lady Catherine de Bourgh is certainly one of my favorites and a very misunderstood character to be sure. The older that I get the more I understand her irritation with the youngsters around her and their new fangled ideas about love and romance. She is so very pompous and so opinionated that she borders on the laughable and that’s how I see her – an eccentric old aunt about whom everyone must…up with put. (Can’t end a sentence with a preposition, you know.)
2) Your Favorite Austen book?
Karen: Pride and Prejudice is nearly perfect in my mind. There is something about the elegant, handsome, superior male being brought to his knees by the clever, witty, and very beloved female that is very satisfying to behold. Darcy’s second proposal is tender and human and Elizabeth’s new found love and respect for him (and Pemberley) is poignant. All the characters are so normal – I can see sitting down with any one of them (except Reverend Collins) and enjoying a nice chat.
3) Which actor would you chose to be YOUR Mr. Darcy and why?
Karen: That’s a real puzzler. I loved Colin Firth in the mini-series and enjoyed watching his falling in love with Elizabeth. However, I did enjoy Matthew Macfadyen’s portrayal also. There was a defensive shyness about Darcy with Macfadyen where Colin’s was more of a pride of his position.
4) Who would be your perfect Elizabeth?
Karen: I hated Kiera Knightley’s look in the 2005 movie, as compared to Jennifer Ehle. Kiera looked like an unmade bed half the time where Jennifer looked perfect. In reflection though the Bennet’s were poor gentility so their clothes and their home would be rather shabby and they would not have the finest of maids to do hair. Aside from that Kiera just glowed as Lizzy. She was lit from within – a cliché that just seems to apply to her in all of her movies.
5) Your favorite book of all time by any author?
Karen: Hands down – Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
6) Your favorite Austen film or TV adaption?
Karen: I loved the 2005 movie of Pride and Prejudice for the actors. I enjoyed the mini-series much more however because it followed the book so closely. There were times in the movie it was even hard to understand what they said, and the story had been manipulated and so much was left out. Of course, it was a movie so they had to edit. I also loved Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility, especially the scene where she finds out Edward isn’t married. I cry every time she does. And Persuasion is the most romantic of all, with Anne and Wentworth finally together at the end.
7) You are having a dinner party and can invite four Austen characters which would they be?
Karen: Aunt Catherine, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Fitzwilliam Darcy and Colonel Wentworth
8. Why have you chosen them?
Karen: Darcy and Wentworth are the most romantic of Austen’s men in my view, and I love Colonel Fitzwilliam from my own book, Darcy and Fitzwilliam. I took Austen’s few words about his affability and charm and he emerged into a full blown character in my mind, trouble is I forget that other people don’t see him as I do. Aunt Catherine would need to attend so the men don’t suspect that I am a stalker.
9) Which character would you like to play in a film?
Karen: Lady Catherine – can’t you tell? I get a kick out of her, besides I am too old to be an ingénue.
10) Tell us about your next planned book (whether Austen related or not)?
Karen: I have begun a continuation of Darcy and Fitzwilliam with the two cousins’ now married and fathers and both seemingly headed for Parliament. The tentative title is “A Parliament of Owls.”
I also have a more contemporary story started about a horrible first date.
A Big Thank You To Karen
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