Comments on: Jane Austen Now: Jemima and Hugh

By: Katherine Bucknell

Katherine Bucknell — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:45:27 +0000

Eek! Not half as serious as you. May I draw your attention to this sentence? “Who knows what was actually going on in their personal lives, but the public narrative, true or false, is a story in its own right.” Fiction’s my game. And we all need to play it for lots of reasons. My point stands, and is in fact enhanced by your engaging outrage: Fanny Price and Henry Crawford are still very much alive in the English imagination. Thanks for responding with such conviction; glad you don’t seem to to be carrying a weapon.

By: James

James — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:11:21 +0000

Are you serious? You based this ridiculous comparison on tabloid nonsense. Grant is a highly intelligent man and by all sources, it was Jemima who was struck by him (reported in Vogue). During their three years together – she dutifully followed him around the world all the time.

Grant’s comic timing requires incredible intelligence and hard work. Doing the kind of comic acting he does is no joke and you can read testaments to his work ethic as documented on Wikipedia. Jemima has no accomplishments and has never worked for a single day in her life – she is a “serious” woman? Give me a break, lol

And Grant has been talking about leaving acting since the day Four weddings and a funeral became a hit. Go read any of his interviews since then. Even Elizabeth Hurley said that Grant has always hated making movies.

Also, Grant has talked about reading his book to all his friends and family, he didn’t just read it to Jemima.

Plus, to Emma: Grant actually comes from aristocratic roots – Jemima’s father was not an aristocrat and neither is she. Grant, on the other hand, comes from Scottish and English aristocracy and military upper class. His mother is a descendant of at least two English Kings. And his father is a direct descendant of the founder of Clan Grant! This is a man from a much more far-reaching and seriously accomplished family than the businessmen Goldsmiths.
So, it is actually Grant who is truly blue blooded despite the fact that his family lost money a few generations ago.

By: Emma

Emma — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:19:44 +0000

This was a good read, but I don’t believe that it’s the truth. Never did I think Jemima Khan was too good for Hugh Grant, or that this was the reason they split. I am sure there were many reasons for that, but I’m not sure this was one of them. The British press always love a good old class war, and that’s what they got with blue blooded Jemima and pretend blue blood but actually middle class Hugh. The stories about Hugh Grant not being good enough for Jemima Khan or her family were quite pathetic in the view of his own wealth and success, but hey – the class divide continues to rage in good ol’ Blighty and its tabloids.

By: AustenBlog . . . she’s everywhere » Friday Bookblogging

AustenBlog . . . she’s everywhere » Friday Bookblogging — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:37:42 +0000

[...] Katherine Bucknell compares the romance of Jemima Khan and Hugh Grant to Mansfield Park. Guess who is Henry Crawford. Say Fanny Price is Jemima Khan. Say Henry Crawford is Hugh Grant. She is a journalist, and something of an intellectual, despite her beauty and her beautiful clothes. Her columns in the press and her public protests in Parliament Square bespeak a character preoccupied with justice, goodness, adherence to the truth, to actual facts. Her public deportment, inviting as her face and figure may appear, is poised and self-contained. And her marriage was to a man of religion for whom she converted. She is a serious person. [...]