Author: BookLady Deb

I have been reader of Austen for many years; was re-introduced when my daughter was in college and reading "Emma" and I read it along with her, and thus re-discovered Austen with a whole new appreciation! Happily my daughter, Jess, "got" that "Emma" was quite funny, the only one to do so in her class, I might add. I re-read the books periodically and find them a tonic for the soul, as well as the best gauge of humanity I have ever encountered....and the humor helps immensely (not to mention Darcy!) My favorite book is Persuasion, I find Fanny the truest of feminists, NOT the major milktoast of all fiction characters, Elizabeth is a delight, and I often forget that these people ARE NOT REAL! I have a group of friends scattered around New England who gather together several times a year to discuss books, most often Austen, as she is really the anchor (all due to the delightful, wonderful Ingrid G. of New Hampshire, who started this all many years ago with a weekend at Pinkham Notch at the base of Mount Washington in NH with a workshop "I'd Rather be Reading Jane Austen"!)...we call ourselves the Wild Women, but really, how can that be possible, trekking about the White Mountains, sipping tea and conversing about Austen! And it all helps that I have a used bookstore called Bygone Books, now only an online presence. Every booklover's dream is to own a bookstore....and I challenge each and everyone of you to try it for a week! I am currently the Advisory Chair for the JASNA-South Carolina Region. I post information about both this region and the JASNA-Vermont Region and its events on this blog.
Jane Austen · Jane Austen Societies

Jane Austen in Brazil ~ Please Welcome Adriana Zardini!

BookLady Deb8 Comments

Dear Readers:  I have invited Adriana Zardini to write occasional posts for our JASNA-Vermont blog, and today I append her first post.  I “met” Adriana during last winter’s Oxford University online Jane Austen class , where we were all infected with her obvious love of Austen!  Her insights and comments were invaluable and I all the more impressed because English is not her native tongue.  She has started the Jane Austen Society of Brazil, writes a wonderful blog The Jane Austen Club  [“Jane Austen Sociedade do Brazil”  – a bilingual blog in Portuguese and English, with others available, all compliments of Google], and is a very busy Mom and teacher.  In this first post, Adriana  begins by telling us about how she first discovered Austen and the joy of discovering fellow Janeites in Brazil…

*********************

Hello! I’m Adriana Zardini, the president of Jane Austen Society of Brazil [JASBRA] and it’s a pleasure to me to write in Deb’s blog! I met Deb in an online course at Oxford University about Jane Austen in beginning of this year.  Since then, we always send emails and messages at Facebook.

I’m an English teacher in a private College here in Brazil and I teach in a federal high school too. I teach Portuguese for foreign students and really love computers and internet. Last year I finished my master degree in Technological Education and I evaluated some software to learn/teach English in my research. Nowadays, I’m preparing to take the Doctor’s degree exams, I intend to research about literature discussed online and its effects in readers understanding of the books. I’m married to Carlos Eduardo and we have a daughter called Isabella (she’s 8 years old). As a good Janeite, Isabella knows who is Mr Darcy and Jane Austen’s books! Of course, she didn’t read Jane’s books yet, but I already bought Austen’s books for little girls (in English). I want to read the books to her, and later she can decide if she wants to read the unabridged Austen’s books.

Here’s my family:

Carlos Eduardo, Isabella and me

I read a Jane Austen’s book for the first time when I was undergraduate. I took a teaching and a bachelor’s degree in Arts and Language, and my major is English Language and its literatures (British and American). When we’re studying the British literature from the 19th century in 1999, our teacher Thais Flores, asked us to read Emma and discuss the movie (with Gwyneth Paltrow). At that time, I had lots of other books to read about British and American literature, so I was impossible to read the other books from Jane Austen. In 2001, when I was studying at The City University of New York, I bought some Austen’s books and started reading it! I really like them!

In 2006, the orkut.com was a success here in Brazil, so I entered in a community called Orgulho e Preconceito (Pride and Prejudice) and there I made new friends from all over Brazil; I met some girls from my city too. Since people asked so many questions about Jane in this community, in February, 2008 I started a blog called Jane Austen Club in order to put information about the writer, her books and movies/tv series based on her books. I discovered this was the first blog/website in Portuguese entirely dedicated to Austen! People started to leave their comments and I started to write more posts too. In the end of 2008, I went to Rio de Janeiro and there I met lots of girls! I used to take my Jane Austen doll with me, so Jane was seen in Rio too! Of course, the girls from other cities in Brazil meet each other frequently! And when I had to travel to a different city I tried to find Janeites there too!

Here are the photos from the meeting in Rio:

Stand up – From the left to the right : Rozely, Simone, Lia and Andrea.
From the left to the right: Ana Maria, Márcia, Elaine and me (black t-shirt)

And here’s Jane in Rio!

 

In 2009, I decided to invest in Jane Austen’s biographies and books related to her in order to learn more about the author. In this year too, we had a meeting here in my city, Belo Horizonte, and we decided to start a Jane Austen Society here in Brazil since we wanted a formal group, not just people talking they love Jane and her books. Here is the picture from this meeting:

From the left to the right: Ana Maria, me, Cláudia and Pollyana

We had just 2 months to plan and organize our First National Meeting. In the next post I will talk more about our First National Meeting, ok?

********************

Thank you Adriana for sharing with us your beginnings with Jane Austen – we look forward to hearing more about you and your fellow Brazilian Janeites! And how wonderful that we can all connect so easily in this modern world of online classes, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs!

Further Reading:

[Post by Adriana Zardini, via Deb]

Jane Austen · Social Life & Customs

‘Talk Like Jane Austen Day’

BookLady Deb4 Comments

Alert Janeite Bonnie sent me this link:  Talk Like Jane Austen Day,

in Celebration of the 199th anniversary of the publishing of Sense and Sensibility, 30 October, 2010.  This site has a growing list of words and language customs that Austen used that have lost their meaning to us – the list will be added to, so check back again… some examples:

Nice ~  fussy, over particular, affected

Numbers ~ not “twenty four”, but “four and twenty” 

Only ~ use instead of “just” as in “Only think of the Marquis of Granby being dead.”

Own ~ use instead of admit as in “I own I think our political horizon still lowers” 

Scruple ~ To doubt, to have reservations, as in “We have talked of it again this morning, and I am convinced that if you can make it suit in other respects you need not scruple on his account.”

and a link to Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary in case you want to look anything up…

Thanks Bonnie for passing this on!

[Posted by Deb]

Fashion & Costume · Jane Austen · Regency England · Social Life & Customs

It’s all about The Men

BookLady Deb5 Comments

Here are a few interesting posts about men’s clothing, two Regency related from the fairly new [since May 2010] multi-author blog, Historical Belles and Beaus, and the other on Victorian men’s fashions from the Victorian Magazine Blog.

Regency author Linda Banche has written two posts on “Gorgeous Men in Tight Breeches and Ruffled Shirts” – where she addresses the often frustrating-to-the-reader mistakes in the cover depictions  [those open shirts were really not the thing!] and the descriptions of the man’s dress [trousers, not pants]

           Gorgeous Men, Post #1   and   Gorgeous Men, Post #2

The Victorian Magazine blog, Victoriana, offers a collection of men’s various fashion options for their various activities in “Guys ‘Just Want to Have Fun'”: 

 

The Jane Austen Centre Online Magazine offers a number of articles and images on Regency men’s fashions:

 

And a number of men’s fashion plates at The Regency Fashion Page

 

and ALL those images of Men Dressing at the Costumer’s Manifesto and Jessamyn’s Regency Costume Companion

 

I could go on, and on.. if you search google for “Regency Men’s Fashions”, a mere 402,00 are retrieved – certainly a daunting task…  this just gives a small taste of what is out there – and see also the post at Historical Hussies, on “Pants Breeches and Pantaloons, Oh My!”

[Posted by Deb]

 

Jane Austen · News

Strange Bedfellows ~ Jane Austen and Simon Cowell

BookLady Deb3 Comments

From Tom Meltzer of the Guardian:  

“Who made Britain what it is today? ~ Barack Obama’s new children’s book pays tribute to 13 iconic figures who have helped shape America. So which great Britons have done the same for their country?” 

Nice to know that Jane Austen made the list:

More British even than etiquette itself is an awareness of the daftness of our manners and social norms. Jane Austen combined biting social commentary with observations as accurate and hilarious as anything from The Office. Though her work has come to be associated with period drama, her real achievement was to prove that, beneath the bonnets and parasols, the minds of British women were razor-sharp .

She’s among good company – the others in Meltzer’s list?  Boudicca; Elizabeth I; William Shakespeare; Admiral nelson; Charles Darwin; Queen Victoria; Winston Churchill; Margaret Thatcher; The Beatles; Trevor McDonald; Stephen Fry; and Simon Cowell. [!]

See the full article here at The Guardian, along with some scathing comments on those included and those left out – [Dickens for instance?] – the reason I hate lists…

Books · Collecting Jane Austen · Jane Austen

Austen’s Life Abridged for the Young

BookLady Deb5 Comments

Lives of the Writers:  Comedies, Tragedies (and What the Neighbors Thought); written by Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt. Harcourt Brace, 1994. ISBN:  0-15-201032-7

*******************

I picked up this book a few weeks ago because it had a chapter on Jane Austen, and so another book to add to my collection, as well as yet another Austen image – and now finally have taken a moment to read it:

Here are some quotes: 

…although she had several proposals, she never married.  She never met a man who appreciated her intelligence and education, and she couldn’t bear the idea of marrying just for money.

Austen was reserved with strangers, who found her arrogant or even fierce, but her family treated her as an agreeable mouse.  None of them thought much about the writing she was always doing; it was just something that kept Jane busy, like the needlework the other women did.

At dinner parties, she didn’t say much, but the next day she might write a letter about ‘another stupid party last night,’ or ‘I was as civil to them as their bad breath would allow.’

As much as she wanted to be a humble sister and obedient daughter, she was also extremely proud of the small sums she earned when her family persuaded her to start publishing her books.  She wrote, ‘If I am a wild beast, I cannot help it.’

She always wore a cap and her clothes were never quite in fashion.

Austen was a world-class aunt … [and to her nieces and nephews] she was a pretty, funny storyteller.

In her obituaries, she was revealed as the author of six novels. [me here: she had only published four at her death, P and NA published posthumously, and all the obituaries did not disclose the fact of her authorship – but I quibble]]

There are a few perfect thoughts expressed about Austen liking Pride & Prejudice better than any of her other books; and Emma being about “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”; and how few in her own family knew she had written Sense & Sensibility; and how she practiced the “piano” in the morning and prepared breakfast.

I’ll let all this speak for itself – they certainly got some things right, but all this conjecture about her being arrogant and fierce and mouse-like at the same time and being unfashionable and never meeting a man who appreciated her intelligence [surely there must have been some – she just didn’t marry them!] – this is like the updated version of the Victorian view of Austen – I thought we were past all that, and what do we really know anyway? – I just hate to see it perpetuated for a new generation!  [the only source listed in the bibliography is Park Honan’s 1987 biography, Jane Austen: Her Life.] – and not to even mention the “bobble-headed” image [though she is kinda cute!]

If Austenblog’s cluebat is sitting around anywhere, I could surely put it to good use…

Any thoughts??  I’m off to read about Shakespeare…

[Other authors covered:  Murasaki Shikibu; Miguel de Cervantes; William Shakespeare; Hans Christian Andersen; Edgar Allen Poe; Charles Dickens; Charlotte and Emily Bronte; Emily Dickinson; Louisa May Alcott; Mark Twain; Frances Hodgson Burnett; Robert Louis Stevenson; Jack London; Carl Sandburg; E.B. White; Zora Neale Hurston; Langston Hughes; and Isaac Bashevis Singer.] – and the book by the way, won numerous literary awards:  Horn Book Honor Book; PW’s Best Book of the year; Booklist’s Editor’s Choice; SLJ Best Book of the Year; ALA Notable Book; etc…

All quotes from the book, pp.25-27; Austen illustration, p. 24; see the author’s website here.

[Posted by Deb]

Austen Literary History & Criticism · Books · Collecting Jane Austen · Jane Austen · News

‘Sense & Sensibility’ Marvel edition ~ An Interview with Nancy Butler

BookLady Deb2 Comments

This is today on the B&N Romance Blog  ~ Marisa O’Neill posts her interview with the Marvel Comics / Jane Austen adaptations writer Nancy Butler:

Marisa O’Neill: What gave you the idea to create graphic books from the Jane Austen classics?

Nancy Butler: I’ve been friends with Marvel senior editor Ralph Macchio for many years. Since we first met, I’ve been nagging him to create comics that would bring in more female readers. Whenever he described the Marvel Illustrated line, he kept bringing up “boy” books . . . Treasure Island, Moby-Dick, Three Musketeers, etc. I finally asked him why they didn’t do something that would appeal to female readers. “Like what?” he asked. Pride and Prejudice immediately popped into my head. He was a bit skeptical, but when he pitched it to marketing, they bit. And then they asked him if he knew someone who could write the adaptation. Ralph knew my background writing Regency romances, knew I had a fan following and contacts in the Austen world, so he suggested me.

MO: Why Pride and Prejudice?

NB:  I pointed out to Ralph that between the enduring BBC series with Colin Firth, the Bridget Jones movies, and the Kiera Knightly movie, P&P was hot, hot, hot. He thought I was exaggerating, but before the hardcover compilation was even available for sale, the Jane Austen Society had ordered enough copies to put the project in the black. The sales manager also reported that they were getting more emails about that comic than almost any other title on their list. Ultimately, P&P was reviewed in Entertainment Weekly, spent 13 weeks on the NY Times Graphic Novel bestseller list, and was the featured photo in an article on graphic adaptations in Publisher’s Weekly. I was also interviewed by Vanetta Rogers of Newsarama and by Bill Radford, the comics guru at the Colorado Springs Gazette. (Bill told me his column on P&P was among the most shared for 2009.) Naturally, after all this attention, Marvel was eager to do another Austen title and they chose Sense and Sensiblilty.

MO: How do you go about condensing each book to fit into the installments?

NB: This is the tricky part. First of all, I had never done an adaptation before. And I had to learn the Marvel style—which involves creating a detailed plot and then writing a script after the art is done. I knew I couldn’t condense every part of these complex novels into five 22-page comics. So I focused on the parts I knew people expected to see . . . all the favorite “beats”—the clever exchanges, the arguments, the catty comments, the heartfelt revelations. Once I built that basic framework of “must have” scenes, I filled in directly from Austen to flesh out the stories. Whenever possible, I use Austen’s dialogue and observations. I’m always amazed—after each issue is completed—by how much I was actually able to fit in there! My great hope is that readers don’t find the comics either crowded or choppy.

MO: Did you work closely with the graphic artist?

NB: Yes, it’s critical to have good communication with the artists, especially since they weren’t as familiar with the Regency era as I was. I worked with Hugo Petrus of Barcelona on P&P. Hugo has a very traditional comic style that some felt was wrong for Austen. But I liked his attention to detail. Sonny Liew of Singapore did three of the P&P covers . . . and based on favorable reader response, Marvel decided to have him do the interiors of S&S. His style is more lyrical and idiosyncratic, and I think it fits Austen very well.
___________________________________________________________

[see the full text at the BN Romance Blog]

Note that Issue # 4 [cover above] was released on August 25, 2010; Issue #5 will be released on September 22; and the hardcover edition on November 10th.  At $3.99 / comic and $19.99 for the hardcover, this might be the least expensive [and most fun!] addition to your Austen collection! so call your local comic book store today!  [in Burlington, this is Earth Prime Comics on Church Street].

[Posted by Deb]

Austen Literary History & Criticism · Jane Austen · Query

Today in ‘Pride & Prejudice’ ~ Inquiring Readers Want to Know…

BookLady Deb5 Comments

According to Ellen Moody’s calendar for Pride & Prejudice , it is on Friday / Saturday, Sept 4 -5, 1812, that Elizabeth writes to her Aunt Gardiner for an explanation of Lydia’s reference to Mr. Darcy’s attendance at her wedding:  Vol. III, ch. IX, 319-20 (Chapman).

   “Mr. Darcy!” repeated Elizabeth, in utter amazement. 

   “Oh, yes! – he was to come there with Wickham, you know. But gracious me! I quite forgot! I ought not to have said a word about it. I promised them so faithfully! What will Wickham say? It was to be such a secret!”

   “If it was to be secret,” said Jane, “say not another word on the subject. You may depend upon my seeking no further.”    

  “Oh! certainly,” said Elizabeth, though burning with curiosity; “we will ask you no questions.” 

   “Thank you,” said Lydia; “for if you did, I should certainly tell you all, and then Wickham would be angry.” 

   On such encouragement to ask, Elizabeth was forced to put it out of her power by running away. 

   But to live in ignorance on such a point was impossible; or, at least, it was impossible not to try for information. Mr. Darcy had been at her sister’s wedding. It was exactly a scene, and exactly among people, where he had apparently least to do, and least temptation to go. Conjectures as to the meaning of it, rapid and wild, hurried into her brain; but she was satisfied with none. Those that best pleased her, as placing his conduct in the noblest light, seemed most improbable. She could not bear such suspense; and hastily seizing a sheet of paper, wrote a short letter to her aunt, to request an explanation of what Lydia had dropped, if it were compatible with the secrecy which had been intended.

    “You may readily comprehend,” she added, “what my curiosity must be to know how a person so unconnected with any of us, and (comparatively speaking) a stranger to our family, should have been amongst you at such a time. Pray write instantly, and let me understand it – unless it is, for very cogent reasons, to remain in the secrecy which Lydia seems to think necessary; and then I must endeavour to be satisfied with ignorance.”

    “Not that I shall, though,” she added to herself, as she finished the letter; “and, my dear aunt, if you do not tell me in an honourable manner, I shall certainly be reduced to tricks and stratagems to find it out.” 

 

[Aunt Gardener’s reply is dated Sept. 6 from Gracechurch-street, in Ch. X, 321-325]

So, Inquiring Readers, my question is, as we read this last paragraph – does Elizabeth say that last line to herself, or is it written in the letter to her Aunt?

[Posted by Deb] 

Books · Jane Austen · Jane Austen Sequels · News

Breaking News! ~ AustenAuthors.com

BookLady Deb8 Comments

This just in from Publicity at Sourcebooks:

“Next week marks the official launch of AustenAuthors.com, a labor of love started by two Sourcebooks Landmark authors, Sharon Lathan and Abigail Reynolds. Noticing the success of group author blogs in the romance genre, they decided to gather up some of their fellow Jane Austen Fiction comrades and start a group blog!


 
After putting together some initial plans in August, Sharon and Abigial began to contact Austen authors from all publishers and the final list of 20 contributors is very impressive: 

  • Susan Adriani
  • Marsha Altman
  • Marilyn Brant
  • Skylar Burris
  • Jack Caldwell
  • Carolyn Eberhart
  • Monica Fairview
  • Regina Jeffers
  • Cindy Jones
  • Sharon Lathan
  • Kara Louise
  • Kathryn Nelson
  • Jane Odiwe
  • C. Allyn Pierson
  • Abigail Reynolds
  • Mary Lydon Simonsen
  • Heather Lynn Rigaud
  • Victoria Connelly
  • J. Marie Croft

Staring on September 6, daily blogs posts will be put up, celebrations of new books going into stores will be had, and for the launch month of the blog, many giveaways and contests will be held!
 
Please feel free to share this fabulous new endeavor with your friends! As the leading publisher of Austen-related literature, Sourcebooks is pleased to help spread the word about this amazing new website devoted to the authors who have continued Jane Austen’s stories to the delight of the reading public. Let us know what you think about it!”

http://www.austenauthors.com/ 

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Wonderful news! – will be great to have all these Austenesque writers sharing a blog and keeping us informed of their writing and publishing news, so be sure to visit on a daily basis!

[Posted by Deb]

Austen Literary History & Criticism · Books · Jane Austen · News · Uncategorized

New issue! ~ ‘Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine’

BookLady Deb3 Comments

News from the Editor of  Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine: the September/October 2010 issue is published this week:  

 

Featured on the cover is a scene from The Secret Diary of Anne Lister, the BBC’s new drama about a Georgian heiress who follows an unconventional path in life and love.

Highlights of the new issue of the magazine include: 

  • The Latin touch: how Jane’s fame is spreading in Brazil 
  • A very secret diary: the heiress Anne Lister’s love for a woman has been turned into a film 
  • A Cornish exile: Maggie Lane explores the life and times of Charles Austen, Jane’s seafaring brother 
  • Jane’s best jest: Paul Bethel compares Emma with Mansfield Park 
  • Required reading: Sue Wilkes explains how no Georgian gentleman could afford to miss 
  • Enter stage right: Jane Austen would have known the old Theatre Royal in Bath 
  • My Jane Austen, Marsha Huff: The outgoing president of JASNA shares her love of Jane Austen

Full details of Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine, which is published every two months, are available on our website http://www.janeaustenmagazine.co.uk/

******

 Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine is also delighted to announce that it will be at the following events:

  •  Bath Jane Austen Festival, country fayre at the Guildhall, Bath, on Saturday, September 19
  •  JASNA AGM, Regency Emporium, in Portland, Oregon, October 28-30

Readers are invited to visit our stand and say hello!

[Posted by Deb, who will write more on this when it shows up in her mailbox…]

Austen Literary History & Criticism · Jane Austen · JASNA-Vermont events · News · Schedule of Events

JASNA-Vermont ~ Schedule of Events

BookLady DebLeave a comment

I append here the information on our next meeting, the full schedule of the JASNA-Vermont Region events for 2010-11, and the year’s schedule for the JASNA-Massachusetts Region.  We certainly can say the Northeast is doing its very best to share and enjoy Jane! ~ if only one could go to all of them…

***

You are Cordially Invited to JASNA-Vermont’s
September Meeting 

Marsha Huff on 

~Viewing Austen through Vermeer’s Camera Obscura*~  

~Ms. Huff is the current President of JASNA~
*An illustrated lecture pairing paintings by Vermeer with scenes from Austen’s novels  

 

**********

 

 

Sunday, September 26, 2010   2 – 4 pm 

~ An event of the Burlington Book Festival ~
~ Sponsored by Bygone Books ~
Hosted by: Champlain College,
Hauke Conference Center
375 Maple St Burlington VT  

Free & Open to the Public!
Light refreshments served 

For more information:   JASNAVermont [at] gmail [dot ] com 
Please visit our BLOG at: http://JaneAustenInVermont.wordpress.com
Burlington Book Festival:  http://www.burlingtonbookfestival.com

************************************ 

JASNA ~ Vermont
‘Dates for Your Diary’ ~ 2010 – 2011 

September 26, 2010, 2 – 4 pm     

“Viewing Austen through Vermeer’s Camera Obscura”
With JASNA President Marsha Huff
Burlington Book Festival ~ sponsored by Bygone Books
Place:  Champlain College 

December 5, 2010, 2 – 5 pm 

Annual Jane Austen Birthday Tea !!
w/ Dr. Peter Sabor [McGill University] on the Juvenilia*
and Dr. Elaine Bander [Dawson College / JASNA-Montreal] on Mr. Darcy*[*subject to change]
Place:  Champlain College
$20. / person

 March 27, 2011, 2 – 4 pm 

 “Jane Austen’s London in Fact and Fiction”
A visual tour w/ Suzanne Boden & Deb Barnum
Place:  Champlain College 

June 5, 2011, 2 – 4 pm 

Music in Jane Austen’s World:  A Concert with Dr. William Tortolano
[Professor Emeritus, St. Michael’s College]
Place:  Chapel at Vermont College of Fine Arts [Montpelier]
$10. / person 

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JASNA-Massachusetts Region
‘Dates for your Diary’ ~ 2010-2011

September 19, 2010 

             Pamela Bromberg: “The Films of Northanger Abbey:
‘are they all horrid?’ 

SPECIAL EVENT       October 17, 2010 

         John Wiltshire: “Mr. Darcy’s Smile”

 November 14, 2010 

         Sarah Emsley: “Everything She Ever Wanted: Marriage and Power in Novels by Jane Austen and Edith Wharton” 

December 12, 2010 

         BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: TBA 

March 20, 2011

          Nancy Yee: “John Thorpe, Villain Ordinaire: The Modern Montoni/Schedoni” 

May 1, 2011 

         Rachel Brownstein: “Why Jane Austen?”

*********************

Hope you can join us for some [or even better, all] of the events!

[Posted by Deb]