The very first time I attempted to transpose a Jane Austen novel (Pride and Prejudice) into contemporary frum society, it happened in response to having spent a decade marrying off my six children. After dealing with issues of financial support, community standing, and the personal characteristics of the young people in question, it occurred to me that the concerns I had been dealing with in the world of shidduchim were so closely mirrored in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that the idea of producing a frum version of her novel became irresistible.
Pride and Prejudice is a universally beloved book, and Pride and Preference, my Jewish version, turned out to be a winner as well (thank you, Ms. Austen, for the compelling plot and characterizations!). It was so gratifying to see my own version go through several printings. I left my email in the book’s Afterword to invite feedback, and received dozens of enthusiastic letters. Many of them begged, “Please do more Jewish versions of Austen novels!”
The idea was tempting, but I wasn’t sure which one to do. Many Austen novels involve so much dialogue between men and women that it would have been extremely complicated to turn them into frum versions; the dialogue would have to be so severely curtailed I wasn’t sure it was feasible. Was there any novel that would work? Believe it or not, despite writing two Austen variations, I’m not an Austen expert who remembers every novel she wrote in detail!
I finally lighted upon Austen’s last novel, Persuasion, as a work that might lend itself well to a frum audience. Persuasion is the story of an “older” single girl, age 27, who was forced by her wealthy, snobbish family to abandon a match eight years earlier because her suitor was deemed not wealthy or prestigious enough. They reject him, but she regrets it bitterly, and has never forgotten him. Eight years later, he comes back into town, newly wealthy and now prestigious, whereas the heroine’s family has fallen on hard times due to their profligate spending. Will he want her back? Anne has to learn to stand up for herself, and no longer let others persuade her.
The story line struck a chord because I’ve known several couples who dated when very young and ended the shidduch (or were advised to end it), then married that very same person years later when the match was proposed again. I warmed to the idea of depicting the struggles of an older single, and of showing the way snobbery on the part of a family can prevent a wonderful match from ever happening.
The characters quickly won my heart. I had fun portraying Velvel as a vain, rather superficial man who had become dependent on his oldest daughter after losing his wife. Zahava is unlikeable, yet she has reasons to be unhappy. She deserves our pity: She feels betrayed by life, having lost her mother and still being unable to find a husband. Mindy is a little spoiled, headstrong, and quick to feel overwhelmed, but she has a good heart underneath her volatile moods. (I loved writing Mindy as a stereotypical Gen Z girl, glued to her Insta feed and unable to tolerate much discomfort or frustration.) Rikki was also fun to write, as the bad girl everyone loves to hate, the villain who schemes and takes advantage of other people in order to advance her own interests.
As with Pride and Preference, I had fun thinking up Jewish equivalents for the names. The Elliots became the Elmans. Anne became Chani, and Mary became Mindy. In my novel Pride and Preference, Elizabeth turned into Aliza, but I didn’t want to use the name Aliza again for the Elizabeth of Persuasion. I decided to call her Zahava, suggesting gold, since she’s such a material girl. Walter Elliot became Velvel Elman, and William Elliot became Yerucham. Lady Russell became Mrs. Rosner, and Mrs. Clay became Rikki Klein.
Charles Musgrove became Chezky Moskowitz, while his sisters Henrietta and Louisa were renamed Hennie and Lieba. As for our hero, Captain Frederick Wentworth in the original, I took the first letter of his name and made him Effi (Ephraim) Weinberg. His sister Sophia became Shifra, married not to Admiral Croft but to Avraham Krauss. Wentworth’s friends Benwick and Harville became Beyda and Harari.
In Austen’s novel, the Elliot family is forced to rent out their mansion and move to the seaside town of Bath until they can pay down their debts. Seeking an equivalent, I opted to set the story in the summertime and allow the Elmans to move to Toms River, just south of Lakewood, where many Brooklyn families rent large houses with pools for the summer. In the original, Lydia jumps off a seawall on a trip to Lyme Regis, but I had Lieba go off to the seaside town of Deal and fall from boardwalk steps rather than a rocky wall.
Men without means in Regency England were often able to gain status and fortune through naval exploits, which is how Anne’s suitor Captain Frederick Wentworth rises in society. I had great fun inventing a modern version of Wentworth by turning Effi into a high-tech millionaire (as this is a Jewish story, Effi succeeds via brains rather than brawn). Effi is “new money,” in contrast to Velvel, who has enjoyed inherited wealth, which he squanders while believing himself one of the bessere menschen, a high-class person descended from Torah royalty. His priorities stand in marked contrast to the warm, lively, but unpretentious Moskowitz family and the modest but intellectually wealthy Weinberg family.
Creating a variation of someone else’s 19th century novel is a challenge on many more levels than creating Jewish names and settings for the characters. Obviously, the plot has to be altered so that there is minimal casual conversation between young men and women, and the outlook and goals of the characters are different (although the goal of marrying someone appropriate and appealing is the same!). I spend the early stages of writing these adaptations simply figuring out how to transpose Austen’s plot and settings into the contemporary frum world, and how to slot Jewish characters into her original cast. At the beginning, I’m preoccupied with simply making it all work and getting a skeleton draft down on paper. I try hard to faithfully follow Austen’s plot lines, which are complex and require me to pay close attention to her original text.
But after some time, and many revisions, a strange phenomenon occurs: The book takes on a life of its own. I stop thinking about trying to follow Austen, as my characters take on independent personalities of their own. As they do, I like them more and more, and become quite attached! Even unlikeable characters like Zahava become more sympathetic as I imagine how hard it must be for her to deal with being orphaned of her mother and still single at 30. The narcissistic Velvel isn’t evil, just oblivious to his own foibles; Rikki grasps at wealth and a new husband because she’s not sure she’ll be able to make it on her own after a divorce. As for the more likeable characters, well, Mrs. Rosner has to admit her mistake in nixing Chani and Effi’s shidduch, and Chani has to develop the backbone to defend her choices. I believe that when an author loves her characters, the readers will love them too.
Thank you so much for joining the Elmans on their long path to happiness! Again, feel free to send comments to bensoussanbarbara@gmail.com, post reviews of my books on Amazon or Goodreads, and suggest ideas for new projects!
Barbara Bensoussan