News

This Week’s Web Round-up….Part 2

BookLady Deb2 Comments

So here is another Round-up this week, largely because I discovered a few tidbits sitting in a draft that I forgot to put in my last “round-up” post…so while this is mostly old news, it is still perhaps good enough news to pass on…

  • This is for THIS WEEKEND, so head over there if you can!:  A reminder about the Jane Austen Weekends at the Governor’s House in Hyde Park, Vermont.  For more information, go to the website… the first scheduled weekend is August 15-17 (but there are others if you missed out on this one!)
  •  Obama as Darcy??   see the New York Times article by Maureen Dowd “Mr. Darcy Comes Courting” comparing Obama to our Mr. Darcy… please bring your sense of humor! (the Austen discussion boards are filled with chatter about this!)…and now this is such old news, I am embarrassed!
  • Send an Austen e-card to your favorite Janeite!  see the cards at the Austenfans site:  (as reported on Jane Austen Today blog) 
  • Throwdown poll at Jane Austen Today blog (you must go there to understand it!)
  • There is a Pride & Prejudice quiz at About.com, so test your knowledge! 
  • And this is likely VERY old news, but I just discovered Mrs. Darcy’s Story, so take a look at what this fanfiction site offers….  
  • Read Ms. Place’s review  along with Ellen Moody’s analysis of the 1971 film adaptation of Sense & Sensibilty.
  • And more news on the ITV show Lost in Austen, billed as Jane Austen Meets Life on Mars…
  • And I have certainly noticed this, but the Central New Jersey JASNA Chapter has posted how journalists are crazy for the phrase “it is a truth universally acknowledged…” to apply to any number of thoughts…little did Austen know that “it [would] be a truth universally acknowledged that the new two-door Ford Capri is a dream to handle.”  See the full article at the Telegraph.UK site.

And now for some current news items:

  • Read about Stoneleigh Abbey…the house that inspired Austen…. from the Leamington Spa Courier.
  • If you are in the market for buying real estate in the U.K., the Pynes, widely considered the model for Barton Park in Sense & Sensibility, is on the market for £2.5 million.
  • Ms. Place at Jane Austen’s World has another fashion-filled post on The Regency Gentleman’s Neckwear.
  • At Australian Women Online, August is Jane Austen Month:  you can purchase various books and DVDs of Austen movies from their ABC Shop (there is a nice write-up of the products, but you will need an Australian DVD player to view the movies….)
  • Pride & Prejudice is offered as an ebook at Project Gutenburg (available in MP3, iTunes, Ogg Vorbis and Speex formats). Northanger Abbey, Emma, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Love & Freindship, and Lady Susan are also downloadable audiobooks.
  •  John Kessel’s “Pride and Prometheus”is available online as a podcast…..”Miss Mary Bennett, the bookish younger sister of Elizabeth Darcy…” (Originally published in 2008 in Fantasy and Science Fiction)
  •  Graeme Blundell of The Australian writes of his “pride in overcoming his prejudice against bonnet dramas”…he reviews Cranford and other costume-laden television productions in “The Eyes Have It.”
  • Jane Austen’s Sailor Brothers is now available for download at Manybooks.net.  The book was written by J.H. and Edith Hubback and first published in 1906.

And please visit Austenprose every day for the next two weeks for the “Mansfield Park Madness” journey of Laurel Ann….post a comment and become eligible for all sorts of giveaways and learn to love Fanny in the process!

Book reviews · Books

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen (a review)

Janeite Kelly3 Comments

THE LOST MEMOIRS OF JANE AUSTEN by Syrie James boasts a classic set-up: a hidden trunk discovered in the attics of Chawton House Library is found to contain a ring and a batch of manuscript booklets that read like memoirs and journals. The first chapter sets the scene well: Jane confesses why she writes these memoirs, then relates the occasion of her well-known swoon after Mama Austen announces their removal from Steventon upon Papa Austen’s retirement. When you read these few pages in the bookstore, or online, you want this novel. Continue reading “The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen (a review)” →

News

Web Round-up…all things Austen

BookLady Deb1 Comment

So here is another week’s worth of tidbits on Jane….[and this is only a smattering!]

  • An article by Gary Dexter in The Telegraph  U.K. tells how the title Pride & Prejudice originated in Fanny Burney’s Cecelia.
  • On the JASNA site, a real treat is Diana Birchall’s In Defense of Mrs. Elton , now online and as originally published by the 1999 AGM with Janet McMaster’s illustrations, with a new introduction dated August 2008 by the author.
  • Be sure to visit Laurel Ann’s Austenprose for her Mansfield Park Madness events over the next two weeks (starts August 15)…there will be contests and free book giveaways, and there is always the hope that you might change your view about Fanny…
  • There’s an indie pop group called Pemberley, but Austen is nowhere in sight… 
  • Ms. Place pens a delicious post on Hot Chocolate, 18 – 19th Century Style on her Jane Austen’s World Blog
  • Dame Boudicca names Elizabeth Bennet the “Pop Culture Woman of the Week” 
  • At Fashion-era.com, see the article on the Regency Gentlewoman  of Jane Austen’s time.
  • And on another fashion note, here is blog devoted solely to BUTTONS: see the postings on the types of buttons and the history of the button  at Petronella Luiting’s Buttons & Fabrics Blog.
  • If you cannot visit the Geffrye Museum   in London, trek over to its website where you can view the museum collection “Life in the Living Room from 1600-2000”  It shows the changing style of the English domestic interior in a series of period rooms from 1600 to the present day.  There are also several virtual tours… great fun…
  • And Jane makes another list…this time as one of the Top Ten Literary Virgins at John Sutherland’s book blog at the Guardian.uk.
  • Author Kate Atkinson (her Behind the Scenes at the Museum is one of my favorite books) reveals in an interview in the Times-Online that her next book will be about Jane Austen and will be titled “What Would Jane Do?”…can’t wait!
  • At Paper Menagerie, the Jane Austen Notebooks are available again…. check them out…

 The August newsletter from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath has two articles on hunting during the Regency Period: Sport Hunting in Regency England, and In the Pink: Dressing for the Fox Hunt.

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  • and the Burnley & Trowbridge Co. of Williamsburg, VA is offering three fall workshops in 18th century fashion:  The Lady’s Stay (Sept 6-7); An 18th century Gown of the Last Quarter (Nov 14-16); and Ladies’ Riding Habits (Jan. 31- Feb 1, 2009)
Social Life & Customs

Games People Play

Janeite KellyLeave a comment

WHIST is a card game well associated with the 18th and 19th centuries. But here is a game which sounds so much more up Jane Austen’s alley; it is called Conversation. The description of the game comes from the two-volume set of diaries (edited by Andrew Oliver) of Samuel Curwen. Curwen was an American, but he spent much time in England – hence the name of the book published by Harvard University Press in 1972: The Journal of Samuel Curwen, Loyalist.

It is March 1784, and Curwen is in London:

28. Fair but very cold sharp air… Dined at Mr. Charles Brand’s in Lambs Conduit street with our whole family, by invitation given 10 days ago. Drank tea and passed evening till near 12 o’clock there, the younger part playing at a game called Conversation Cards, which is done in the following manner. To each person is dealt 9, by 3 at each time, on each card is inscribed a word as King, Queen, Gentleman, Lady, Night, Morning, or any short sentence. The person on the dealer’s left hand throws one and addresses or speaks it, and so each peson successively adding some pertinent as he can invent till all being out of hand, the cards are [one word {ie, illegible or missing word; I wonder: gathered?} ] and the person who first threw a card down forms a story from his hand taking the words on his card for the text filling up the interval in the best manner he can till each has told his story; these being laid aside a new parcel is dealt as before &c. &c.
                        — The Journal of Samuel Curwen, Loyalist (vol 2), pp. 979-80

Conversation Cards, anyone??

Books

The “Northanger Canon”: Jane Austen’s Booklist

BookLady Deb3 Comments

Most of us who read Jane Austen are always seeking new titles to read, and ways to answer the 200-year old question of “what to read when you have finished all of Jane Austen.”  Other than the almost mandatory requirement to RE-READ Austen whenever possible, it is a “truth universally acknowledged” that an Austen reader will be soon in want of another book!   I have seen many such lists and though always subjective to the list-maker, they are a great start.  But what about Austen’s own reading?  A number of articles have been written on this, as much is known from her letters, but as our JASNA-Vermont Chapter recently had a meeting and discussion on Northanger Abbey, and we know that NA was Austen’s tribute to the novel and reading, I would like to provide a list of books she actually cites throughout NA….it is an illuminating compilation and should keep us all busy for the next year at least!  [ please note that there is no particular order to this list…. and if I have left anything out, please let me know!]

The Northanger Canon [ i.e. the “Horrid” Novels as referenced by Isabella Thorpe in Chapter 6 of NA]; also see the article describing each book in more detail at The University of Virginia’s Gothic Books Collection.

  • THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO.  by Ann Ward Radcliffe.  London, 1794.
  • THE CASTLE OF WOLFENBACH.  by Mrs. Eliza Parsons. London, 1793.
  • CLERMONT: A TALE.  by Regina Maria Roche.  London, 1798.
  • THE MYSTERIOUS WARNING.  by Mrs. Eliza Parsons.  London, 1796.
  • THE NECROMANCER; OR THE TALE OF THE BLACK FOREST, FOUNDED ON FACTS.  Translated from the German of Lawrence Flammenberg by Peter Teuthold.  London, 1794.
  • THE MIDNIGHT BELL, A GERMAN STORY.  by Francis Lathom.  London, 1798.
  • THE ORPHAN OF THE RHINE: A ROMANCE.  by Mrs. Eleanor Sleath.  London, 1798.
  • THE HORRID MYSTERIES, A STORY FROM THE GERMAN OF THE MARQUIS OF GROSSE.  by P. Will.  London, 1796.
  • THE ITALIAN.  by Ann Ward Radcliffe.  London, 1797.

Other titles cited in Northanger Abbey:                          

  1. Burney, Fanny.  CECELIA, OR MEMOIRS OF AN HEIRESS  (1782)
  2. ____________.   CAMILLA, OR A PICTURE OF YOUTH (1796)
  3. Edgeworth, Maria.  BELINDA  (1801)
  4. Fielding, Henry.  TOM JONES  (1749)
  5. Richardson, Samuel.  SIR CHARLES GRANDISON (1753-4)
  6. _________________.  #97 THE RAMBLER  (quoted)
  7. Lewis, Matthew Gregory. THE MONK  (1796)
  8. Johnson, Samuel.  JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY (1755)
  9. Blair, Hugh.  LECTURES OF RHETORIC  (1783)
  10. Hume, David.  HISTORY OF ENGLAND  (1754-62)
  11. Robertson, William.  HISTORY OF SCOTLAND  (1759)
  12. “The Mirror”, an essay by John Homespun, March 6, 1779.
  13. Cowper, William [noted in the Biographical Notice by Henry Austen as JA’s favorite poetic moralist]
  14. Gilpin, William. Three essays on the Picturesque: Beauty, Travel, Sketching Landscape (1792)
  15. Gay, John. FABLES: “The Hare and Many Friends” (1727)
  16. Pope, Alexander.  “Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady” (1717)
  17. Gray, Thomas.  [his ELEGY is misquoted]
  18. Shakespeare, William.  [misquoted OTHELLO, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, TWELFTH NIGHT ]
  19. Thompson… “The Seasons” [misquoting “The Spring” ]
  20. Milton, John.  [ mentioned ]
  21. Moss, Rev. Thomas.  “The Beggars Petition” from POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS  (1769)
  22. Prior, Matthew.  [there is an undocumented reference to Prior in the “Literary Allusions” listing noted below for NA; Prior’s HENRY AND EMMA (1709) is alluded to in Persuasion]
  23. THE SPECTATOR
  24. Sterne, Laurence.  A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
William Gilpin's "Picturesque" View of Tintern Abbey

Sources: 

1. “Literary Allusions in Jane Austen’s Writings” at The Republic of Pemberley (mostly compiled from Chapman’s indexes)

2. Ehrenpreis, Anne Henry.  “Introduction to Northanger Abbey“ [ Penguin, 1972 ].  An excellent introduction to the novel, with notes on all the books cited by Austen, with a nice discussion of the “horrid” novels as well as references to other works cited in the novel.

3.  Chapman, R.W.  Indexes to Northanger Abbey and Persuasion [ volume 5 of his edition ]

Book reviews · Books

Some Reading Thoughts…

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Not that we all don’t have a full bedside table, but here are a few random thoughts, so make room for more…and don’t forget to look at the list of 100 books posted here last week…  and I welcome any of your suggestions for a great read, so please comment….

  • Nella Last’s War:  see our own Janeite Kelly’s short blurb on this diary on her other blog, Two Teens in the Time of Austen.
  • Laurel Ann and Ellen Moody offer up book reviews on the 2008 Oxford edition of Pride & Prejudice  at Austenprose.  See also their previous review of the Oxford edition of Sense & Sensibility. 
  •  Ms. Place at Jane Austen’s World has a post on the Oxford re-issue of A Memoir of Jane Austen by her  nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh. She also appends a link to the “Dummies” article on “Tracing Jane Austen’s Popularity.”
  • Cassandra and Jane, by  Jill Pitkeathley. Harper, 2008:  Following Jane Austen’s untimely death in 1817 at age 41, her “most beloved sister” destroyed most of their correspondence; in her first novel, House of Lords peer Pitkeathley attempts to fill in the gaps through the eyes of Cassandra, Jane’s closest confidante and sharpest critic. Cassandra tells of the Austen family’s precarious position on the lowest tier of Hampshire’s aristocracy, Jane’s early attempts at “scribbling” and the crushing romantic disappointments of the two. Throughout, Cassandra’s detailed look at her younger sister showcases not only Jane’s literary accomplishments and “the low spirits, the anger, even the bitterness in her,” but also her indefatigable romanticism. Cassandra’s voice is perfectly pitched, true to Austen’s England, and jam-packed with Austen trivia. Descriptions of known events in the sisters’ lives, however, tend toward the didactic, especially compared to Pitkeathley’s imaginative leaps regarding the sisters’ secrets; as such, the seams between actual and imagined history are entirely too visible. Ardent Austen devotees will be undeterred by the uneven narrative, but casual fans may want to pass.
  • “The Spanish Bride” by Georgette Heyer :  see a review on Jane Austen Today, posted by Miss Anne.
  • a Blog reviewing Sense & Sensibility:  http://danitorres.typepad.com/workinprogress/2008/07/jane-austens-se.html
  • Five Austen-related audiobook reviews:  http://www.audiobookss.com/2008/07/jane-austen-5-top-audiobooks/
  • A review of another Darcy book (have we had enough?)…. “Seducing Mr. Darcy”    this one with a bodice-ripper cover.  Author Gwen Cready posts about her book on the Jane Austen Today blog. 
  • Austenblog’s review of “The Darcys Give a Ball” from March 2008, and another at Amazon with several customer reviews
  • Laurie Viera Rigler posts a Q&A by Booking Mama Blog on her book Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict.  Ms. Rigler will also be on a live chat at Jane Austen’s World on August 12 at 7pm Pacific time and 10pm EST (and check out the site for a free book giveaway…)
  • Old Friend and New Fancies, by Sylvia Brinton (noted on both the Austen-tatious and Jane Austen Today blogs), is quite a delightful read.  In this current world of Austen sequels, this was the first to take on the continued life of Austen’s characters; originally written in 1913 and published by Hodder & Stoughton, London in 1914….it has now been republished by Sourcebooks.  But Brinton takes it all a step further, as ALL the couples in ALL the novels make an entrance in this magical confection… I enjoyed it very much (and had intended to write a review, but alas! there are so many out there! –  at A Lady’s Diversions, Austenblog, and numerous others found on a google search; it is also referred to in the Persuasions (vol 11, 1989) article by Kathleen Glancy “The Many Husbands of Georgiana Darcy“)
  •  a current list of Austen sequels for sale at Sourcebooks(a wonderful reading list if you are looking for somewhere to start on your sequels read (remember that the AGM in Chicago this year is on Austen’s Legacy….)
  • Jane Austen’s Sailor Brothers, by J.H. Hubback (published in 1906) is now available as a free e-book at Manybooks.net (Jane Austen, a Family Record, and the Memoir by James Edward Austen-Leigh are also available for download…)
  • A booklist perfect for summer reading from The Guardian.UK:  10 best romps and romances
  • Conviction: a sequel to P&P by Skylar Hamilton Burris (2006) has received some favorable reviews at Amazon.com (has anyone out there read this?….please comment!)

And finally, a review of another Emma, this one by Kaoru Mori, translated by Sheldon Drzka, and set in Victorian London (this is a 7 volume comic book, each available on Amazon for $9.99)

Jane Austen · Movies

Jane Austen starring on YouTube

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Ok, here is a visual treat for this Saturday AM…I should be tending my gardens, but who can resist the likes of the following Austen-related YouTubes…

  • Austen’s heroines accompanied by “Maneater”  is very funny (and Mary Crawford just shines!)
  •  “Holding out for a Hero” applied to all those Austen men and a few other Regency men (but where oh where is DARCY??)
  • “Somewhere only We Know” to see all your Austen characters in their most tender moments together……
  • And “This Kiss” with all your favorite couples (oh! what would JANE say?!), and another “You and Me.”
  • And just in case you did not get enough of Darcy, this is a must see – a full THREE minutes of Colin Firth in “I’m Too Sexy”(no surprise there…); and if you tend toward Matthew MacFadyen’s Darcy (and who cannot!), no worries…because he is the prime star in “Every Breath you Take” (a full FOUR minutes), but also has his own “I’m Too Sexy”  ….

    • So this is enough for me…my gardens await.  I know that many of these videos have been out there for a few years, but I only discovered them this morning (did I have a life before this morning??) when I stumbled upon the post on the Rethinking Jane Austen blog…. have a look yourself on You Tube:  just search “Jane Austen” for a ton of entries (2210), or “Jane Austen tributes” for a more manageable lot (54), or even just search “Mr Darcy” (an absurd but delightful 1050), turn up your sound and enjoy the feast! (or perhaps this can wait for winter??)

Books · News

Cassatt/Austen

Janeite KellyLeave a comment

“As I find my pose, I think about how, when I first met Degas, he gave me the impression of an intelligent but fierce dog…
     And yet, something else emerged as he asked me questions. ‘Had I begun to feel better?,’ he asked, and ‘What was I reading?’ When I told him, ‘Jane Austen,’ he looked curious. ‘Ah, lequel?’ ‘Persuasion,’ I said, and then, surprisingly, his eyes lit on mine. A feeling connected us, quickly and with an absorbing depth.” (pp. 16-17)

I have just finished Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper by Harriet Scott Chessman. It is a small book, but I read slowly … to savor it.

It is a book I bought (used) some years ago (published date is 2001) after having read a library copy. It tells the compelling story of Mary Cassatt and her sister Lydia, through Lydia’s words and strung out in scenes centering on her modeling for several of Mary’s paintings. One of the paintings lends it name to the book: Lydia is shown reclining in a green chair, reading the newspaper. But this quiet little story has great depth. Lydia (like Austen one might be tempted to say) faces her past, her present, and the shortness of her future – for the action begins in September 1878, ends in June 1881, and Lydia died (of Bright’s disease) in November 1882. So it confronts death, sisterly-affection, sibling-rivalry, lovers lost and gained. An exquisite book.

It is particularly a propos at this moment, for the Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, VT) is hosting a Cassatt exhibition. Entitled “Mary Cassatt: Friends and Family,” the retrospective offers more than 60 works, gathered together from many sources. The guest curator is Cassatt ‘authority’, Dr. Nancy Mowll-Mathews. Highly recommended, and on until 26 October 2008.

Jane Austen · News · Regency England · Social Life & Customs

Queen Victoria and her rather large “unmentionables”… Royal Undergarments on the Block

BookLady Deb1 Comment

In a follow up to the BBC news a few weeks ago that several pieces of Queen Victoria’s undergarments were being offered at auction, there was some speculation that her bloomers might fetch £500.  So it comes as a surprise that they sold for £4500 ($9,000. !)….  Her chemise, with a 66″ bust, sold for $8,000. and her nightgown sold for $11,000.  See the full article from the Guardian where it is revealed that the bloomers had a 50″ waist: Queen Victoria’s bloomers, and here at Yahoo News with a picture…

The history of undergarments is fascinating…. I offer up a few links to start your study:

News

Another Round-up…..all things Austen

BookLady Deb1 Comment

Another week and all sorts of news… I post here several of interest.  I will do a separate post tomorrow on book reviews and booklists…so make some room on your bedside table…