Scrolling through the “guide” on my television the other day, in dire need of pure entertainment, I came upon the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, though barely recognizable by its description – it read:
A convoluted courtship begins between a young woman and
the handsome friend of a wealthy bachelor.
And thus a major classic of the English language reduced to sixteen words, with nary a mention of Jane Austen, not to mention Elizabeth or Mr. Darcy! I was quite sure I had slipped off the guide into the Hallmark Channel!
If you had the assignment to do a write-up on any of Austen’s novels in 16 words or less, what would you write?? [I was asked this once in a radio interview and I had a complete brain-cramp and froze up, not my greatest life moment! – one should always be prepared for such a question, don’t you think?]
So Gentle Readers, please comment with your capsule of Austen! – think Twitter but even shorter…
This book I shall get straightaway – available in paperback or for your kindle – and as this one looks like a keeper – books! bibliophiles! manuscripts! Shakespeare! Austen! – kindle will just not cut it…
Quoting full text from the Fine Books & Collections blog, by Rebecca Rego Barry:
If you enjoy novels with bookish characters and antiquarian themes, have I got a recommendation for you! Bookseller Stuart Bennett‘s debut novel, A Perfect Visit, is the story of a modern-day librarian and graduate student who get involved in a time travel project aimed at acquiring books and manuscripts to bring back to the future for profit and preservation. The American librarian, Ned Marston, travels to Shakespeare’s London to rescue lost quartos and ends up befriending the Bard, while the Canadian student, Vanessa Horwood, hopes to score a Jane Austen manuscript but gets sent to jail soon after meeting the dying author. If you can put aside your misgivings about a time travel plot (and you should, despite Dickens biographer Peter Ackroyd’s statement that “If a late-20th-century person were suddenly to find himself in a tavern or house of the period, he would literally be sick — sick with the smells, sick with the food, sick with the atmosphere around him” ), Ned and Vanessa’s experiences among famous authors and book collectors make for a perfectly delightful read.
In the postscript, Bennett, formerly with Christie’s rare books department and more recently past president of the ABAA, writes that the working title of this book was “A Bibliographical Romance” — less creative than the final title, taken from Austen’s Emma, but more descriptive. He goes on to say, “If I have tinkered a little with history, I have done my best not to tinker with bibliography…Every reference to books, authorship, texts, publisher’s imprints, and prices is, as far as I know, accurate.” It brings to mind the PBS slogan, “entertainment without the guilt.”
Do you think Mr. Bennett was destined to write this book because of his name?? [despite the extra ‘t’…]
Jane Austen in Love: An Entertainment, by Elsa A. Solender.
An E-book exclusively for the Amazon Kindle – $8.99
Fall in love with the gentleman at Sidmouth who won Jane Austen’s heart, as Elsa Solender fills in the blanks of Jane Austen’s romantic “career.” In this continuation of her prize winning short story, Austen enthusiasts will find the known facts of Austen’s life meticulously brought to life in a narrative that is rich in elegant Austenian turns of phrase and references. The rest of the story— as it might have happened— is told by the only possible narrator, one who knew Jane Austen intimately enough to dare to enter her consciousness and reveal missing and hidden details with a persuasive touch of the novelist’s own wit, style and insight. Sometimes poignantly, sometimes ironically, readers meet colorful characters as they educate, inspire and amuse the creator of six of the world’s most memorable novels. Finally, in her biographical “entertainment,” Solender gives Jane Austen the gift of a true love worthy of her genius.
About the Author: Past president of the Jane Austen Society of North America, Elsa Solender worked as a journalist, editor and college teacher before turning to fiction. Her writing has appeared in a wide variety of publications including The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun and Persuasions, the Journal of the Jane Austen Society of North America. She was a prize-winner in the first Chawton House Library Jane Austen Story Competition and a finalist in a Glimmertrain short fiction contest. As representative of an international women’s organization to the United Nations in Geneva, she wrote and delivered the first-ever joint statement of all accredited women’s non-governmental organizations on the right of women and girls to participate in the development of their countries. She lives and works in New York City.
***********************
Well, it is on my kindle as we speak! – I look forward to reading this – I thought that Ms. Solender’s short story that won a runner-up prize in the Chawton House competition (titled “Second Thoughts” – I review the book here) was a brilliant imaginative telling of Jane Austen’s night of torment after accepting the proposal of Harris Bigg-Wither – so I expect this shall be another beautifully written piece … will let you know! Please share your thoughts when you read it!
This article and book is generating so much online chat that I had to link to it:
“The First Sexual Revolution: Lust and Liberty in the 18th Century.” Adulterers and prostitutes could be executed and women were agreed to be more libidinous than men – then in the 18th century attitudes to sex underwent an extraordinary change… by Faramerz Dabhoiwala in The Guardian:
-and perhaps this whole book on the subject: The Covent Garden Ladies: Pimp General Jack and The Extraordinary Story of Harris’s List by Hallie Rubenhold – Tempus Publishing, 2005:
Visit The Library as Incubator Project for an interview with Kristin Hammargren on her upcoming one woman show, Discovering Austen (running Thursday, January 26 – Saturday, January 28, 7:30 p.m. at the Hemsley Theatre,821 University Avenue in Madison,WI).
[this lovely image from the article : by Miles Cole]
*Behind Jane Austen’s Door by Jennifer Forest – an ebook, sort of a cross between Bill Bryson’s At Home and Amanda Vickery’s works on Georgian homelife, but lots shorter: – have just started it, will report when done…
After retiring from a lifetime of teaching literature, Patricia Meyer Spacks embarked on a year-long project of rereading dozens of novels: childhood favorites, fiction first encountered in young adulthood and never before revisited, books frequently reread, canonical works of literature she was supposed to have liked but didn’t, guilty pleasures (books she oughtn’t to have liked but did), and stories reread for fun vs. those read for the classroom. On Rereading records the sometimes surprising, always fascinating, results of her personal experiment.
Spacks addresses a number of intriguing questions raised by the purposeful act of rereading: Why do we reread novels when, in many instances, we can remember the plot? Why, for example, do some lovers of Jane Austen’s fiction reread her novels every year (or oftener)? Why do young children love to hear the same story read aloud every night at bedtime? And why, as adults, do we return to childhood favorites such as The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, and the Harry Potter novels? What pleasures does rereading bring? What psychological needs does it answer? What guilt does it induce when life is short and there are so many other things to do (and so many other books to read)? Rereading, Spacks discovers, helps us to make sense of ourselves. It brings us sharply in contact with how we, like the books we reread, have both changed and remained the same.
*The final book in Michael Thomas Ford’s trilogy of Jane as Vampire will be released on February 28, 2012:
Here is a review from Library Journal:
Ford, Michael Thomas. Jane Vows Vengeance. Ballantine. Feb. 2012.
c.288p. ISBN 9780345513670. pap. $15.
Author-turned-vampire Jane Austen wants to marry Walter, but fending off her soon-to-be mother-in-law and fear of revealing her Big Secret are sucking the fun out. Walter’s invitation to join colleagues on an architectural tour of Europe leads him to suggest a wedding-slash-honeymoon. The wedding party—including their friends Lucy and Ben and Walter’s mom, Miriam, and her dog—arrive in London anticipating the happy event, but it’s not to be. A guest from Jane’s far past arrives to object, and the remainder of the trip continues this inauspicious start, including the search for Crispin’s Needle, said to return a vampire’s soul. If the needle can be found, would it deliver a soul or kill the vampire trying?
Verdict: Ford’s final book in the trilogy (Jane Bites Back; Jane Goes Batty) is nicely connected with characters and ideas to the previous books, but it can also be read as a stand-alone. More architectural detail than literary asides, a fabulous back story for Miriam, and a sometimes overwhelming number of additional elements will surprise readers. Still, the key elements of a charmingly reluctant vampire, supportive friends, and flashes of brilliance offset by poor undead life-skills remain in full force. [Library marketing.]—Stacey Hayman, Rocky River P.L., OH
*Coming in June 2012: London: A History in Verse, edited by Mark Ford (Belknap, 2012)
Called “the flour of Cities all,” London has long been understood through the poetry it has inspired. Now poet Mark Ford has assembled the most capacious and wide-ranging anthology of poems about London to date, from Chaucer to Wordsworth to the present day, providing a chronological tour of urban life and of English literature.
Nearly all of the major poets of British literature have left some poetic record of London: Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Johnson, Wordsworth, Keats, Byron, and T.S. Eliot. Ford goes well beyond these figures, however, to gather significant verse of all kinds, from Jacobean city comedies to nursery rhymes, from topical satire to anonymous ballads. The result is a cultural history of the city in verse, one that represents all classes of London’s population over some seven centuries, mingling the high and low, the elegant and the salacious, the courtly and the street smart. Many of the poems respond to large events in the city’s history—the beheading of Charles I, the Great Fire, the Blitz—but the majority reflect the quieter routines and anxieties of everyday life through the centuries.
Ford’s selections are arranged chronologically, thus preserving a sense of the strata of the capital’s history. An introductory essay by the poet explores in detail the cultural, political, and aesthetic significance of the verse inspired by this great city. The result is a volume as rich and vibrant and diverse as London itself.
*Shannon Hale has a new book coming out on January 31, 2012 – Midnight in Austenland – another story with a different heroine set in the fictional Austenland as in her first Austen book… I liked that book, thought it was great fun, so will give this a try as well… $9.99 on my kindle
*World Book Night is taking shape for April 23, 2012. You can see the 25 titles that will be distributed to people in participating countries: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is among them! – for the other titles [and a fabulous book list], go here: http://www.worldbooknight.org/about-world-book-night/wbn-2012/the-books
NEH Seminar for college and university teachers: “Jane Austen and Her Contemporaries” June 18-July 20, 2012 http://nehseminar.missouri.edu/
“We will read four Austen novels (Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Emma, and Northanger Abbey) and several novels by her contemporaries, including Anna Maria Porter, Jane West, and Mary Brunton. We will have several speakers join us in person or via Skype, including Jay Jenkins of Valancourt Books, who will talk to us about selecting, editing, and getting published a scholarly edition of an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century novel. We will also be taking a group day-trip to the Spencer Library at the Universityof Kansas.”
Museum Musings – Exhibition Trekking:
*The Cambridge University Library has just opened an exhibition Shelf Lives: Four Centuries of Collectors and their Books January 18 – June 16, 2012
the bookshelf of Sir Geoffrey Keynes, noted bibliographer of Jane Austen (1929) – if you look closely at this bookshelf, you may notice a familiar spine or two of Austen’s works!
A New & Correct Plan of London [London, 1760], folding silk fan engraved by Richard Bennett.. Travel, Atlases, Maps & Natural History [L11405] Estimate: 4,000 – 6,000 GBP – Sold for: 11,875 GBP
Women’s dress retains a great similarity from age to age, together with a great instability in details, and therefore does not afford so much subject for remark as does men’s dress.
[excuse me? – a great similarity? an instability in detail? ]
*The Yale Center for British Art begins its 2012 film tribute to Dickens with the first film in the series “Dickens’London”, a 1924 12-minute silent film:
*The DeGoyler Library at Southern Methodist University is hosting a Dickens exhibit:
Charles Dickens: The First Two Hundred Years. An Exhibition from the Stephen Weeks Collection. January 19-May 12, 2012 – a catalogue is available for purchase: http://smu.edu/cul/degolyer/exhibits.htm
*Another image of Jane! A cigarette card from the NYPL Digital Gallery, from a collection of 50 cards of “Celebrities of British History” – here is the Jane Austen card and the verso with a short biography of Austen. You can see her illustrious company on the 49 other cards at the link below:
Specific Material Type: Photomechanical prints
Source: [Cigarette cards.] / Celebrities of British history : a series of 50
Location: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building/ George Arents Collection
Sometimes, entries from 18th century newspapers read more like the introduction to a Jane Austen novel than a Jane Austen Novel. Take this entry from the Gloucester Journal of 17 April 1797:
“Glocester, April 17 – Tuesday last was married at North Nibley, in this county, Mr John Parradice, of Wick, to Miss Sarah Knight, ofNorth Nibley, an agreeable young lady, with a large fortune.”
A groom named Paradise (almost), and a pleasant, rich lady; this story has the potential to make a rather good novel.
Mark your calendars for the upcoming Jane Austen Weekends at the Governor’s House in Hyde Park, Vermont – the new series on Emma starts this weekend, January 27-29, 2012. Check out the website for more details – if you cannot make the whole weekend, you might like to visit just for the Friday night lecture [this series on Emma will feature Hope Greenberg on fashion in Jane Austen’s time], or tea on Saturday, or brunch on Sunday where your knowledge of Emma will be bravely tested!
Here is the schedule – and note the special ‘in character’ weekend scheduled for August 10-12, 2012 – who might you like to be? – Emma Woodhouse or Miss Bates?? or do you dare to take on Frank Churchill?? Join the fun if you can!
Series 5: Emma
January 27 – 29, 2012
August 3 – 4, 2012
September 7 – 9, 2012
January 11 – 13, 2013
Series 6: Pride and Prejudice
January 25 – 17, 2013 (other dates to be announced)
A new card game based on the novels of Jane Austen has just been released. Called “Suitors and Suitability,” it is the first in a series and is based on Pride and Prejudice – the series will also include Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Persuasion – they ask you on their website to vote for which game you would like to see published next – alas! I am disappointed to not see Northanger Abbey in the offing! – surely a fine book for a card game where one could get lost in the dank hallways of a Gothic Abbey! – perhaps we should begin to rally for Henry Tilney as a most major suitable suitor!
The game for 2-6 players, age 13 and up, costs $24.95 – a tad steep for a card game, but you should play the demonstration game and see if it seems worth a dive into your pocket-book – the pictures are generally appealing, though Mr. Darcy seems sadly lacking [where is Colin Firth when we need him?]
[sorry, this has nothing to do with the cards – but who can resist this picture! – with thanks to Vic at Jane Austen Today for sharing this luscious shot!]
Well, back to the game – I have just spent a few minutes with the demo and need to give it more time to pass any sort of judgment – right now I am a bit befuddled! – one needs perhaps to buy it just to see what it is all about! – I do think it might be a perfect choice for the next game night of our budding co-ed book group – but take a look and see what you think – and let me know!
And an invitation from the publisher:
If you are near the Bay Area of California you might be interested in our upcoming game night. On Saturday, February 4th at 5:30 PM we will be serving tea with a traditional menu provided by a local caterer. Along with the tea service will be a chance to mingle in our elegant showroom and play the game. Period attire is admired but not required. For more information, and reservations please see our website. http://www.lumenaris.com/event_games.html
The Lumenaris Group, Inc
18675 Adams Ct. Suite H
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Phone: 408-591-4034
And check out the other games offered – there are various puzzles, from easy to very difficult – for starters, you might be interested in this fashion puzzle!
[all images from Lumenaris.com, with the exception of Mr. Firth]
For those of us on this side of the pond, those who cannot yet see the just broadcast “The Many Lovers of Jane Austen” with Amanda Vickery on BBC Two – here is a short clip from the show about the JASNA AGM in Fort Worth Texas this past October… enjoy, at least until we can see more of the show…
The random drawing for the 2012 Jane Austen Calendar from the JASNA-Wisconsin group has just been done! – Drum Roll Please…and the Winners are…
Felicia, who commented on December 16th and wrote the following:
I would thank Miss Austen for bringing some wonderful people in my life. Because of her books I have met some great friends.
Felicia
And
Cara Dragnev, who commented on December 16th as well:
Happy Birthday to Jane! And what a tribute to her to have this wonderful blog party! If I wrote Jane a letter, I would first of all THANK her. Thank her for all the joy she has brought to me and all who read her. I would love for her to see one of her books as a film and get a reaction. Can you imagine? Thank you for joining in this wonderful party!
~Cara
***********************
Congratulations Felicia and Cara! I will email each of you privately, but if you see this, please send me your mailing address and contact information as soon as possible and I will get the calendar off to you right away. If I don’t hear from you by December 27th, I will draw another name. My email is jasnavermont [at] gmail [dot] com
If you are not one of the lucky winners, and are in desperate need of a Jane Austen calendar [and you should be…], you can order your own copy and more for all your friends at the JASNA-Wisconsin website here.
Thank you all for participating! – I have not answered any of your comments due to the Holiday Season Craziness, but thank each and every one of you for your own delightful letters to Jane Austen and the various gifts you would give her if you could! I encourage everyone with a spare minute in their day [and when might that be one asks?] to read the many comments and see how Austen has touched so many lives across generations and geography…
And a final thank you to JASNA-Vermont’s Michelle Singer for her lovely tribute letter to Jane that started all this !
A plug for the Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine – if you don’t already subscribe, time to treat yourself by asking for it for Christmas; or a perfect gift for your best Jane Austen fan friend…
The next issue, Jan/Feb 2012, Issue 55 will be on sale January 1, 2012!
Contents:
An interview with P. D. James [on the cover] ~ on her love of Austen and her new book Death Comes to Pemberley
Regency Childbirth ~ Pregnancy horrors in Georgian times
Let it Snow, Let it Snow ~ exploring the winter weather in Jane’s novels
Letter to Cassandra ~ the joy of seeing Austen’s handwriting
Austen’s Contemporaries ~ the ‘other’ Jane ~ Jane Porter, and her sister Anna Maria
And of course all the regular columns from JAS, JASNA, the topical news from contemporary papers, the quiz, and so much more – even the advertisements are interesting!
Well, I bought this for myself a bit ago, thinking no one would ever find this to even know I wanted it – so here is the link to a very cool t-shirt company, Out of Print Clothing.com – they make clothing and various accessories featuring the world’s greatest literature, and Pride & Prejudice, as one would expect, has a good number of items:
There are a myriad of Jane Austen items in all imaginable formats everywhere it seems – just visit the shops at Esty for a veritable feast ~ here is one example from prettygirlpostcards:
You can also find the Pride and Prejudice t-shirt in one of my favorite book catalogues – Bas Bleu [as we are all such bluestockings!] – there are other Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice must-have items to add to your collection, including these earrings:
Happy shopping! ~ what is your favorite Jane Austen accessory??
Jane Austen in Vermont 