Faulks on Fiction

Two weeks ago the BBC started off their brand new literary season with Faulks on Fiction, a four-part documentary in which novelist Sebastian Faulks takes a journey through British literature based on the its characters instead of the usual authors or periods.

In the first two parts he focused on the Hero and the Lover features books such as Robinson Crusoe, Tom Jones, Vanity Fair, 1984, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and many many more. By alternating bits from several glorious BBC adaptations and interviews with several renowned novelist and thinkers, Faulks tries to give us a provocative character-based evolution of the Classics while at the same time reminding us of what makes them an intricate part of the canon.

I was personally very excited when the BBC announced an entire season of literary documentaries, adaptations and review shows. I was almost peeing my pants with book anticipation, especially seeing as BBC book adaptations are one of my guilty pleasures: the drama, costumes, old-fashioned language and manners, simply divine.

The result: I’ve already bought several classic novels that I’m dying to (re)read (some day) and a couple of BBC adaptations to torment my sweet pea with like Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, the four-part drama that started off my lavish love for literature and Tess of the d'Urbervilles, a mesmerizing adaptation and my sole reason for reading the novel, besides it being the main text of one of my favorite courses at the time: HEL aka History of English Literature. Enough said.

Next up: the Snob and the Villain, I can hardly wait.