Hello again, dear readers! This year, we’ve begun a blog series highlighting Austen-lovers around the world—sharing how they first discovered Austen’s fiction, why they love Austen, how they’ve contributed to the Janeite community, you get the picture. Fans, who cultivate and engage in discourse surrounding Austen’s life and fiction, participate in workshops and conventions, host book clubs, and don I ❤️ Darcy merchandise with pride (but hopefully not prejudice—wink, wink), are the reason Jane’s spirit survives in the twenty-first century. We deserve a shout-out! And we deserve the chance to connect with like-minded individuals across the world. This Spotlight highlights Ceci Matatics, an eighteen-year-old booklover from Scranton, Pennsylvania who won 2nd place in JASP’s 2023 Young Writers “Recognizing Austen” writing contest.
When Ceci Matatics walked into her junior year—of high school, that is—literature-to-film class, she did not expect to walk out as a diehard Janeite. But after they’d read Pride and Prejudice, then watched the 2005 film adaptation (and Bride and Prejudice, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies…), she had no choice but to convert. Captivated by the beauty of Austen’s language and her unusually well fleshed-out characters, Ceci quickly progressed through the rest of Austen’s novels.
“You can find yourself in her characters,” Ceci says with a smile. “They’re not just these people [Austen] has made up. There are aspects of us within them.” Ceci also admires the humor with which Austen turns her readers attention to real-world issues, making light of situations one might otherwise take completely seriously—such as marriage to a bumbling idiot like Mr. Collins.
Of course, Ceci had heard of Jane Austen for several years before taking this class, and she had even read Pride and Prejudice before, but she never thought much of it. But taking a closer look at the novel alongside her teacher and classmates really “opened her eyes” to Austen’s continuing relevancy as a writer and storyteller. Experiencing the adaptations, too, expanded her understanding of classic literature’s place within a modern context. “There’s no way this is going to be good,” she recalls lamenting to her friends before they sat down to watch Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Two hours later, she retracted her previous statement: “That was SOOOO good!”
Now, Ceci is a huge advocate of Austenian adaptations, whatever form they take. But while she is amazed to see how one story can transcend the confines of its original blueprint to fit many different cultures and narrative styles, emphasizing new themes and social issues as they become relevant throughout time, her favorite adaptation is still Joe Wright’s 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, with its stunning visual aesthetics and swoony portrayal of the romance between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
In her own life, Ceci expresses her love for Austen by donning plenty of merch, including her favorites: a Pemberley sweatshirt and “Team Darcy” t-shirt. She is an active member of several Jane Austen Facebook pages, and she loves striking up Austenian conversations before or after class with her teachers. As a bookstore employee, she also loves engaging with customers who purchase Austen or Austen-adjacent titles.
Last year, Ceci won second place in the Jane Austen Summer Program’s “Recognizing Austen” writing contest for young writers. The prompt, to write an Austenian “juvenilia-inspired ‘recognition scene’ (a dramatic scene in which the hero or heroine encounters a long-lost parent or grandparent and yet—somehow—the two recognize one another as kin),” inspired a story taking place after the events of Pride and Prejudice in which Mr. Darcy meets his very own long-lost grandfather.
She wanted to write about Mr. Darcy, she knew, because he is her favorite Austen character “for obvious reasons.” “He’s very charming,” Ceci says, and she loves to watch him change and grow as a character throughout the novel. “It just gives me hope as a reader.”
For someone who relates to Elizabeth Bennet—with her bookish and sometimes solitary nature, understanding of her own desires, and willingness to stand up for herself—we have no doubt that Ceci will find her very own Mr. Darcy posthaste!
Going forward, Ceci hopes that Austen fandom continues to expand even as scholars and readers begin to veer more toward modern literature as a focus of study and appreciation. She adds, “I hope we can… see how these modern literary masterpieces are derived from Austen’s work so that we can appreciate them both, and not put one [or the other] away.”
Having graduated from high school last spring, Ceci plans to continue her studies in English literature as a freshman at Bucknell University in the fall.
Excerpted from Zoom interview with Ceci Matatics, March 12, 2024.
If you or someone you know would like to be featured in a future Janeite Spotlight article, please fill out this form. We can’t wait to hear from you!
If you enjoyed this article, please consider making a donation to keep all online Jane Austen Summer programming free to the public.
留言