I keep the following bumper sticker on my car [a mini cooper]:
I’d Rather Be Reading Jane Austen
but in the drivers side rear window rather than on the bumper – largely because I was hoping it would keep my husband from obsconding with my car – I figured he would be too embarrassed to drive around with that on view, right on the driver’s side – but to no avail – he said he likes the looks that he gets! – wish I had a video!
But he was very quick to point out to me yesterday that there seems to be an opinion of all this reading of Jane Austen from the wild blue – so I append this picture that made him just laugh out loud:
[a rather large bird wouldn’t you say??]
And on this happy note, I leave you for several days to retreat into the late 18th – early 19th century at the JASNA AGM in Forth Worth – Jane Austen western style – giddyup!
[did I ever mention that I was obsessed with Roy Rogers when a mere child? – thought I was Dale Evans in the 2nd grade – but that’s a story for another day… ] – in the meantime I am looking forward to this blending of my two obsessions – Austen and Cowboys… will take many notes and many pictures and post my observations upon my return…
Copyright @2011 Deb Barnum, of Jane Austen in Vermont
Indie Jane blog – a pen-pal project – alas! missed the dealine – hopefully they will do it again! fabulous idea in this world of the lost art of the letter – http://indiejane.org/2011/08/dear-jane/
A Musicologist Abroad blog by Vassar Professor Kathryn L. Libin: a few posts on Chawton http://blogs.vassar.edu/musicologistabroad/ . Prof. Libin is writing a book about Jane Austen and music. [from JASNA News]
Masterpiece Mystery: Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories starring Jason Isaacs as her Jackson Brodie begins on October 16th – see the upcoming schedule for all shows here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html
A quick look through one of the finds by a C18 listserv member: from George Washington’s Household Account Book 1793-1797: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20085390
Pd to Chas. Kirkham for 18 pr. of gloves for Mrs. W. ……. 5.50
[18 pair of gloves!!]
Martha Washington
[Image: freerepublic.com]
But enough frivolity – back to JSTOR: go to the main search screen and type in “Jane Austen” – 329 items come up – here is one example, a spot-on early 20th century review of Austen’s writings [though the author does do that “Bennett” misspelling thing!]
[tip on using JSTOR: go to the search results citation page and choose the “view pdf” option – the whole document comes up vs. having to scroll through each page; you can also do this from the search page]
*PD James – I wondered when she was going to get around to combining her love of Austen with a sure-to-be-great Austen-inspired mystery! – watch for Death Comes to Pemberley, due this November [you can pre-order online]: http://www.faber.co.uk/article/2011/9/death-comes-pemberley-announcement/
[if you have never read James’s “Emma Considered as a Detective Story” – you must find a copy immediately (the text is included as an appendix in her autobiography Time to Be in Earnest)]
*Samuel Park’s debut novel This Burns My Heart is written from the point of view of women in post-war South Korea – he explains this writing of women’s lives:
“I’ve spent my entire life deeply embroiled in the fantasies, desires and frustrations of my mother and my two older sisters. Their lives were so fascinating — they would spend hours talking about a crush. Not by coincidence, after I left them to go to college, I spent all my time in the library reading Jane Austen.
Museum Musings ~ Exhibition Trekking
*At the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge [UK], a new exhibit on Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence: the title just smacks of Sense and Sensibility, doesn’t it?! And for those of us who have heard former JASNA president Marsha Huff give her talk on Austen and Vermeer, this book looks like a must-have – too bad the exhibition is only to be at the Fitzwilliam – it is sure to have Vermeers we have never seen.
[image from the book: LePrince, Xavier. Inconvéniens d’un Voyage en Diligence. Douze Tableaux, Lithographiés par…Paris: Chez Gihaut Freres… et Sazerac et Duval, 1826]
There are any number of images of Jane Austen – the one real one we have by Cassandra that all her family agreed was not a great rendering, and the other Cassandra portrait of her sister in bonnet and dress looking out. Both have only increased one’s wondering what she really looked like… so as it seems in all things in Austenland, if there isn’t something real, let’s by all means make it up!
The many fictional images of Jane Austen have become almost as much a part of our idea of what she looked like as the one real image we cling to. In the Jane Austen Society Report for 2007, Deirdre Le Faye writes on these “Imaginary Portraits” [1], listing them in chronological order, and explaining the history and provenance of each one. [a must-have article for your Jane Austen Library!] – this one perhaps the one we most often see as the “real Jane”:
"Wedding ring portrait" - unknown American artist 1873
But today, there is only one these portraits that Le Faye mentions that is of interest to us – the painting by Tom Clifford, from Vermont! This what Le Faye writes:
Tom Clifford, 2001. Three-quarter length, oil on birch-wood panel, 10×14 inches. This is a rather stylized, two-dimensional representation, showing JA holding a book and standing in the garden outside Chawton Cottage as it is today, looking away from the viewer into the right distance. In his article on the website, the artist explains that he tried to combine Cassandra’s sketch with the Austen family features as shown in the various portraits of Jane Austen’s parents and siblings – though the accounts to which he refers are unfortunately quoted inaccurately. The resulting study is fairly like Cassandra’s sketch, but shows a very static, expressionless Jane Austen. Clifford used to live in Winchester and often visited Chawton; he now lives in America, and retains ownership of the portrait.
[I will note that the image reproduced in the JAS Report is very dark compared to the original.]
Fast-forward to 2011. I had been reading this Le Faye article because another imaginary portrait went up for auction in March of this year [see my post here: https://janeausteninvermont.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/on-the-block-an-imaginary-jane-austen/ ], and my thoughts must have been floating around in cyberspace [at least in this high-quality Vermont air!] when I received an email from a Tom Clifford telling me about his Jane Austen portrait – indeed THE Tom Clifford that Le Faye was writing about – so it all came together – an Austen image I was vaguely familiar with, Le Faye’s article, and a Mr. Clifford from Vermont!
An aside: now Jane Austen herself writes of a Mr. Clifford in her juvenilia – the Mr. Clifford famous for his carriages, and the one clue to alert us to how familiar Austen was with the means of travel in her time!:
“The Memoirs of Mr. Clifford: and Unfinished Tale” [MW 43], written between 1787-90, when Austen was 12 – 15 years old:
Mr Clifford lived at Bath; and having never seen London, set off one Monday morning determined to feast his eyes with a sight of that great Metropolis. He travelled in his Coach & Four, for he was a very rich young Man & kept a great many Carriages of which I do not recollect half. I can only remember that he had a Coach, a Chariot, a Chaise, a Landau, a Landaulet, a Phaeton, a Gig, a Whiskey, an Italian Chair, a Buggy, a Curricle & a wheelbarrow. He had likewise an amazing fine stud of Horses. To my knowledge he had six Greys, 4 Bays, eight Blacks & a poney.
[Minor Works, Oxford UP, 1988, p. 43. One more page will show that Mr. Clifford does not get very far and despite his having all manner of carriages, travels at a snail’s pace for many months, is overtaken by a fever, never makes it nearly to his goal of London, and thus ends the tale of Mr. Clifford…]
Well, Vermont has its own Mr. Clifford and he has had no trouble or delay at all in getting from his end of Vermont to our meetings in Burlington! – he has attended the last two, and I had asked him to bring along his prints for sale, your truly very happy to add one to her Austen Library. Our Mr. Clifford also has a piece of wood from the Winchester house where Jane Austen died, acquired when he lived in Winchester and the house on College Street was being refurbished – so that was an interesting piece for us to actually touch.
But now back to the portrait, which hangs in a place of honor in Mr. Clifford’s Bed & Breakfast in Northfield, Vermont – in, of course, the Jane Austen Room!
In this room I also have a very special book caddy with books by Jane Austen. This caddy was made from the wood that I obtained from the house in College Street, Winchester, where Jane spent her last days but that is another story… The link to this room is http://elizabnb.com/jane.html
So I asked Tom to tell me how he came to create his own portrait of Jane Austen:
My wife, Rita (a Londoner) and I lived for many years in Winchester, not too far from Jane’s home at Chawton. It was during that time that the BBC came to Winchester to film a portion of their production of Persuasion. I started to read Jane Austen for the first time, and was hooked. What a pleasant time that was reading the novels in Winchester and being able to visit her home at Chawton. In Winchester, I used to pass the house in College Street many days on my walk into town and also on occasion, visit the Cathedral and stop by her grave .
All of these things brought me closer to Jane Austen but it wasn’t until we moved to Brookfield, Vermont, that I felt compelled to employ my talents as a painter to create a realistic portrait of Jane. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder “…
The Victorian publishers used their invention of Jane’s likeness which is still propagated today. I wanted to find the real Jane and spent many hours researching her family.*
Reproductions of this painting have been used in various publications and one was presented to Chawton.
So, Jane Austen can be found right here in Vermont [well, we of JASNA-Vermont know THAT!], and anyone interested in seeing this painting and other Jane things only need to contact me to arrange a visit.
*You can visit his painting website for an explanation of his research in his effort to make his image of Austen as faithful to the truth as possible: http://www.paintingport.com/Jane%20Austen.html
Somewhere in here are perhaps the “inaccuracies” in the quotes that Deirdre Le Faye refers to: a project for another day perhaps? but I shall not quibble – [one does wish for Le Faye to be more specific in her complaints!] – but in the meantime read his explanation for how Tom Clifford’s Jane came into being, his Jane Austen in her cottage garden at Chawton – she is quite of her time and ours, don’t you think??
2. Deirdre Le Faye. “Imaginary Portraits of Jane Austen.” JAS Report for 2007. [Winchester, UK]: JAS, 2007. 42-52. The 20 b/w and color plates of images are between pages 64-65.
[Images of the portrait are from Tom Clifford’s website and used with permission]
Copyright @2011 Deb Barnum, at Jane Austen in Vermont
Vermont as you know suffered unfathomable damage from the winds and rain of Irene. We were largely spared here in the Burlington area, but other parts of the state were hammered – you have seen the many pictures on the national news of flooding, senseless deaths, extensive property damage to homes and businesses and farms, covered bridges falling into the rivers – it has been a nightmare – but now the big concern is that the greater world thinks that Vermont is “boarded up” so to speak – not a place to visit this fall, that season that brings the annual leaf-peepers to our lovely state – so I take a minute here to give a shout-out for the State of Vermont – We Are Open for Business! – road crews have been working non-stop to get roads and towns back into shape – so if you want to help out in any way, hop in your car [or plane or train or bike] and come for a visit, go to the restaurants and eat local, shop in the stores (buy books from the local bookshops!), walk in the woods, hike the mountains – it is all here, just as before, and we are waiting with open arms!
You can visit this website for information on I am Vermont Strong: http://www.iamvermontstrong.com/ where you can buy a t-shirt to help the recovery! – and a fine example of social networking sites making a difference:
Our very own Burlington Country Dancers ~ their Fall schedule:
Elley-Long Music Center, 223 Ethan Allen Avenue, Colchester,VT
First and Third Fridays (Sept. thru May) w/ LIVE MUSIC
7pm – 7:30pm Session for more experienced dancers – $1
7:30pm – 9:30pm Dancing for all – $8 ($5 student/under 30)
2011 DATES (All Fridays):
Sept. 16 ~ Impropriety (Lar Duggan, McKinley James, Laura Markowitz, Ana Ruesink)
Oct. 7 ~ Old Stage Road (Carol Compton, Albert Joy, Margaret Smith)
Oct. 21 ~ Lar Duggan, Dominique Gagne, Peter MacFarlane
Nov. 4 ~ Aaron Marcus, McKinley James, Laura Markowitz, Ana Ruesink
Nov. 18 ~ DANCE PARTY with Guest Teacher Tom Amesse (from NYC) and with Frost & Fire (Hollis Easter, Viveka Fox, Aaron Marcus)
Dec. 2 ~ Old Stage Road (Carol Compton, Albert Joy, Margaret Smith)
Dec. 16 ~ Aaron Marcus, McKinley James, Laura Markowitz, Ana Ruesink
~ All dances taught & walked through by Wendy Gilchrist, Martha Kent, Val Medve ~ Casual dress ~ Please bring a sweet or savory ‘finger food’ snack ~ We change partners frequently throughout the evening, so there’s no need to bring your own partner (a Mr. Darcy might be lurking, or is that a Mr. Knightley without a partner?…)
And save the date for the next Across the Lake weekend event: June 8-10, 2012
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UVM’s OLLI Program: English Country Dancing in Jane Austen’s World Instructor: Judy Chaves
Date: Mondays, October 24, 31, November 7 and 14
Time: 5:30-7pm
Location: Ira Allen Chapel (October 31 in Waterman Lounge) at UVM
Price: Members – $60 / Non-members – $85
Do you enjoy 19th-century British literature? If you’ve ever read any of Jane Austen’s novels or seen any of the recent film adaptations, you know that English country dance plays a prominent role in the culture of the time. The forerunner of American contra dance, English country dance is done in two facing lines (sometimes in squares, less often in circles) and requires no more than a knowledge of left from right and the ability and willingness to move to simply wonderful music. Through a combination of lecture (not much) and dance (as much as we can), you’ll learn the basics of the dance, gain an insider’s appreciation of the vital role it played in the lives of Austen’s characters, understand the etiquette and logistics underpinning Austen’s dance scenes–and have a great deal of fun in the process. You may come by yourself or as a couple!
A Jane Austen Lecture: Norwich Public Library, November 2, 2011, 7pm
In Want of a Wife: Romance and Realism in Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen is considered a realist of social relations – and yet, Pride and Prejudice incorporates an element of the fairy tale: it fulfills the wishes of its poor and not conspicuously beautiful heroine. Dartmouth Professor Emeritus James Heffernan examines how Jane Austen does it.
[Part of the Vermont Humanities Council 1st Wednesdays program] – visit here for more information on this and other events: http://www.vermonthumanities.org/
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News & Gossip ~ JASNA style:
The AGM in Fort Worth is only a week and half away! [and alas! I am without proper attire! – though my jeans and cowgirl boots are at the ready!] – check out the meeting link at JASNA website for the schedule and latest news: http://jasna.org/agms/fortworth/index.html
But even if your attire may not be quite proper, you can improve your mind by extensive reading: – here is the JASNA reading list for Sense and Sensibility [most available online]: http://jasna.org/agms/news-articles/about-ss-reading.html
This new fourth edition incorporates the findings of recent scholarship to further enrich our understanding of Austen and give us the fullest and most revealing view yet of her life and family. In addition, Le Faye has written a new preface, has amended and updated the biographical and topographical indexes, has introduced a new subject index, and had added the contents of the notes to the general index. [from the Oxford UP website]
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY by Jane Austen; with illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat (11 colour and 21 b&w silhouettes); Palazzo Editions: September 2011; £20
A one-stop book review search at Owl Canyon Press, where you can search various book review sources in one single search – brilliant! http://owlcanyonpress.com/reviewsources.htm
In 1998, inspired by close acquaintance with two antique gilded harps, I decided to compose a work in a style that would remind them of their younger days! To think myself into a thoroughly Regency frame of mind I played through antique music books until I was so immersed in the style of the period that I could close the books and continue playing in the same vein without any anachronistic intrusions. The books were a leather-bound volume of popular piano salon pieces by long-forgotten composers, written out in a neat copperplate ink script: “The Manuscript Books of Mary Heberden, Datchett Lodge, 1819 & 1826” and a similar collection of harp pieces compiled by one Eliza Euphrosina Saris at about the same time. By these means I hope to have produced music of the kind which Jane Austen might have imagined her fictional heroines playing, the sort of music that all well-bred young Regency ladies would have wanted to perform before an admiring audience, no doubt silhouetted with their harps before the French windows, making the most of the opportunity to display their slender fingers upon the strings and their delicate ankles as they moved the pedals. (Paul Lewis)
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Museum Trekking:
Bath Preservation Trust: the website links on No. 1 Royal Crescent: The Whole Story Project – some great images here:
and through October 30, there is a Jane Austen exhibition: Putting Pen to Paper:
This special temporary exhibition brought to you from the Bath Preservation Trust includes a rare set of Jane Austen’s first editions on loan from a private collection. Visitors to this inspirational exhibition can learn more about the life of Jane’s novels as the story reveals the craftsmanship of book production in the 18th century and the importance of reading in Jane Austen’s Bath.
This exhibition will be the first opportunity to see a complete collection of Jane Austen’s first editions in Bath. These treasures will be exhibited alongside tools used in the book binding process. Stamps and rollers will show the exquisite designs used by gilders to create the perfect library for their clients. Beautifully coloured illustrations from later editions will highlight Jane’s narrative, defining her characteristic hallmark of accuracy and attention to detail.
And here is a book I just discovered: My Brother and I, a Jane Austen Sequel from a Completely Different Viewpoint [i.e. Edward Benton the farrier’s apprentice, employed at Pemberley], by Cornelis de Jong – go here for more info http://sites.google.com/site/corneliswriter/ [this one I might send to my kindle…]
For fun:
With thanks to the always interesting Two Nerdy History Girls: take a few moments to watch both these very funny videos from the BBC– a spoof of Downton Abbey “Uptown Downstairs Abbey” and almost as good as the real thing! – these will just have to do until we here in the US “patiently” wait for the real season 2 next year : http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-time-again-for-downton-abbey-silly.html
[and watch out for Kim Cattrall hiding behind her dark locks and the perpetually falling butler!]
You are Cordially Invited to JASNA-Vermont’s September Gathering
with
JASNA President Iris Lutz
“‛…in proportion to their family and income’: Houses in
Jane Austen’s Life and Fiction” *
*An illustrated lecture featuring the houses in Jane Austen’s real and imagined worlds ~ we will be visiting Chawton, Bath, Winchester, and Kent, pairing pictures of real houses with descriptions in the novels of Austen’s various cottages, manors, and estates ~ Barton Cottage, Longbourn, Mansfield Park, Sotherton, and of course Pemberley!
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Sunday, September 25, 2011 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
Juliet Archer’s new book in her series “Darcy & Friends” will be released in the UK on September 15th. Persuade Me is the second in this series that takes us into the world of Jane Austen’s novels, fast-forwarded into the 21st century and much into the minds of her male heroes. As in her first book, The Importance of Being Emma, where Ms. Archer gave us an engaging the tale of a modern-day Emma and her Mr. Knightley [you can read my review here], her new book tells of Anna Elliot and Rick Wentworth:
When do you let your heart rule your head?
As far as men are concerned, Anna Elliot is stuck in the past.
No one can compare to Rick Wentworth,
the man she was persuaded to give up eight years ago.
Meanwhile, Rick’s moved on – and up.
He’s got a successful career and a carefully controlled love life
where his heart doesn’t get a look in.
The words ‘forgive and forget’ aren’t in Rick’s vocabulary.
The word ‘regret’ is definitely in Anna’s.
When they meet again, can she persuade him
that their lost love is worth a second chance?
[from Juliet Archer’s website]
Can’t wait to read this and see what she makes of Captain Wentworth! Stay tuned for my review…
For those of you lucky enough to be in Bath for the Jane Austen Festival, note that Ms. Archer will be conducting walking tours of Jane Austen’s Bath – Friday 16th September and Sunday 18th September. Tickets from Waterstone’s in Bath.
Copyright @2011 by Deb Barnum of Jane Austen in Vermont
Chloe Parker was born two centuries too late. A thirty-nine-year-old divorced mother, she runs her own antique letterpress business, is a lifelong member of the Jane Austen Society, and gushes over everything Regency. But her business is failing, threatening her daughter’s future. What’s a lady to do? Why, audition for a Jane Austen-inspired TV show set in England, of course.
What Chloe thinks is a documentary turns out to be a reality dating show set in 1812. Eight women are competing to snare Mr. Wrightman, the heir to a gorgeous estate—and a one-hundred-thousand-dollar prize. So Chloe tosses her bonnet into the ring, hoping to transform from stressed-out Midwestern mom to genteel American heiress and win the money.
With no cell phones, indoor plumbing, or deodorant to be found, she must tighten her corset and flash some ankle to beat out women younger, more cutthroat, and less clumsy than herself. But the witty and dashing Mr. Wrightman proves to be a prize worth winning, even if it means the gloves are off…
[from the author’s website and publisher’s release]
I often have trouble with sequels, and there are so many lately that my head spins just looking at the booklist! – I do marvel at the originality of all these writers wanting to re-tell in some fashion all that Jane Austen left unsaid, but in all honesty I want Austen’s characters left alone, to be returned to in their original state with a good solid re-read when I choose [though I am also of the school that says ‘no criticizing if you haven’t read the book’…!]. I find more to my taste the Austen-inspired fiction the likes of “Lost in Austen”, where the plot offers new characters, fresh dialogue, and inspired plots, where you are taken into Jane Austen’s world, either as a 21st century soul trying to adapt to what we think we know of the Regency Period and on that endless search for a character like Mr. Darcy, or Henry Tilney or Captain Wentworth (sigh…) – or perhaps a Willoughby if you are so inclined! – or where we are taken into her world where we meet a fictional Jane herself, as in Stephanie Barron’s creative mysteries. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and Bridget Jones Diary, Austenland and The Man Who Loved Jane Austen are all of this genre, and thankfully, all leave the original works quite at peace.
The problem is that these too all start to look alike – the klutzy independent Heroine with “life issues” somehow transported into the early 1800s and found struggling against the social (and fashion!) restrictions of the times. Definitely Not Mr. Darcy is the latest entrant in this genre: I quote Publisher’s Weekly:
Doornebos gives the historical romance a hilarious update in this delightful debut… The amusing secondary characters, sidesplitting faux pas, and fiery romance will make Doornebos an instant hit with readers.
And from Romantic Times:
Doornsbos brings readers a fresh take on Jane Austen’s world. Mixing reality television with Regency-style romance, this tale combines a fun plot with witty dialogue, charming characters and a strong-willed heroine. It will leave you laughing in delight and reluctant to put it down until the last page is read.
And “fresh take” though it is, one can’t help feeling “I’ve been here before.” Ms. Doornebos states herself in the acknowledgments that she was mostly done with her writing before she even knew about the reality show “Regency House Party.” And far too many of the characters do seem clichéd: the handsome Lord and Hero; his almost-but-not-quite dorky brother; the glamorous but really nasty American-bashing contestant; the side players with their own back stories that continually confuse the Heroine as to the truth vs. the play script; the borderline cruelty of the producer; and the Heroine, the all-American with a messy life who just needs to win the money (and a Lord on the side would be nice…), caught between this reality and her need for True Love. Sound familiar??
Well, that’s ok – even Georgette Heyer rewrote her own formula fiction over and over again and alas! it is summer, and what better way to spend such a summer’s day than laying about with a quick read that has an engaging plot with a few twists, a Heroine you do root for as she falls into one mishap after another (she is often very wet and suffers various fainting fits!), and that irresistible Regency setting! And you will laugh out loud – the Cook, the Chaperone, the Maid, and a Footman or two who instruct and keep our Heroine in strict social compliance round out the story – you will learn the “language of the fan”, various fashion secrets, letter-writing etiquette (though this one glaring error: the constant reference to “envelopes” – yikes!) – the hated needlework assignments, side-saddle riding, a few archery lessons, the rules of dining and enough about Regency era food to turn any committed carnivore into a vegetarian, and several opportunities for dancing (the waltz!).
Can’t tell more – would ruin your fun – just go and get yourself “lost in Austen” for a few hours and discover just how Doornebos fashions her Darcy for this latest Austen-obsessed Heroine. You won’t be disappointed!
4 out of 5 Full Inkwells
Definitely Not Mr. Darcy, by Karen Doornebos
New York: Berkley, 2011
Release date: September 6, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-425-24382-4
Congratulations to Laurel Ann of Austenprose fame on today’s unveiling of her new website! Laurel Ann is the editor of a new Jane Austen anthology, Jane Austen Made Me Do It – follow her tale on the journey to publication! meet with the 22 authors included in the anthology! read the short story summaries! subscribe to the blog! enter to win a copy of the book! Click here to become part of the story yourself!
Best wishes to you Laurel Ann! – cannot wait for the official launch in Fort Worth at the JASNA-AGM! Offical release date is October 11, 2011 – but you can pre-order your copy now:
-The Austenesque Extravaganza continues on a daily basis at the Austenesque Reviews blog – stop by to participate in the fun and comment to win the various giveaways ! through August: http://janeaustenreviews.blogspot.com/
-But do not completely despair: we do have this on BBC America – The Hour -a six-week series – I loved the first one aired this past week [wednesday night at 10 here in Vermont] – it is peopled with Austen “graduates”: Juliet Stevenson [the perfect Austen narrator], Anna Chancelor[Miss Bingley in 1995, following her role as “Duckface” in Four Weddings and a Funeral [Hugh Grant], and Romola Garai, the latest “Emma’ … http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/444/index.jsp
-The Frances Burney Society invites submissions for the Hemlow Prize in Burney Studies,
… named in honour of the late Joyce Hemlow, whose biography of Frances Burney and edition of her journals and letters are among the foundational works of eighteenth-century literary scholarship. The Hemlow Prize will be awarded to the best essay written by a graduate student on any aspect of the life or writings of Frances Burney or members of the Burney Family. The essay, which can be up to 6,000 words, should make a substantial contribution to Burney scholarship. The Prize will be awarded in October 2011. Submissions must be received by September 1, 2011.
-The JASNA-Vermont September meeting, when we will be hosting JASNA president Iris Lutz, will be once again part of the Burlington Book Festival: http://burlingtonbookfestival.com/ Iris will be presenting her talk “ ‘in proportion to their family and income’: Houses in Jane Austen’s Life and Fiction.” Join us if you can [more information forthcoming]
-Prinny’s Tailor: a blog by Charles Bazalgette about his ‘many greats’ grandfather Louis Bazalgette who was tailor to the Prince Regent for 32 years. This blog follows his research – the book is due out next year: http://chasbaz.posterous.com/
–Robert Rodi of Bitch in a Bonnet:Reclaiming Jane Austen from the stiffs, the snobs, the simps and the saps seems to be back in full swing blogging about his take on Mansfield Park: visit if you can and see Fanny redeemed! – http://bitchinabonnet.blogspot.com/
-The Twelfth Enchantment, by David Liss: this one I could not resist ordering and it arrived today in my mailbox! – will let you know how it fares…
Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is on the cusp of accepting a life of misery, events take a stunning turn when a handsome stranger—the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron—arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy. Suddenly her unfortunate circumstances are transformed in ways at once astonishing and seemingly impossible.
With the world undergoing an industrial transformation, and with Englandon the cusp of revolution, Lucy is drawn into a dangerous conspiracy in which her life, and her country’s future, are in the balance. Inexplicably finding herself at the center of cataclysmic events, Lucy is awakened to a world once unknown to her: where magic and mortals collide, and the forces of ancient nature and modern progress are at war for the soul of England. . . and the world. The key to victory may be connected to a cryptic volume whose powers of enchantment are unbounded.
Now, challenged by ruthless enemies with ancient powers at their command, Lucy must harness newfound mystical skills to prevent catastrophe and preserve humanity’s future. And enthralled by two exceptional men with designs on her heart, she must master her own desires to claim the destiny she deserves.
What is it about this time and place that compelled you to use it as the background for your story?
There are a number of factors that drew me here. For a long time I’ve wanted to write a novel that was in communication with Jane Austen, but which deal with the economic and political issues that are absent, or at least at the margins of, her novels — the war with France, a series of devastating harvests resulting in food shortages and grain riots, an on-going economic recession, and, most importantly, changes in the labor market brought on by the industrial revolution. This novel incorporates elements of the supernatural — specifically folk and scholarly magic as actually practiced by people who actually believed it worked — and there’s really no better time to write about such beliefs since the early industrial revolution was a period of profound change. I wanted to write about a world that was on the verge of a major alteration, and England, at the beginning of industrialization and before the end of the Napoleonic Wars, works perfectly.
[I’m adding this because I like this answer!] If you could meet just one historical figure, who would it be?
I have a great deal of affection for Henry Fielding, who helped pioneer the novel and the modern police force, was a brilliant legal mind, a wide-ranging intellectual, and a guy who could hang out and enjoy several bottles of wine (yes, several bottles!) while chatting with his friends. My kind of guy.
-A book review of Revolutionary Imaginings in the 1790s: Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson, Elizabeth Inchbald, by Amy Garnai (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), about other writers that Jane Austen read and admired: http://www.nbol-19.org/view_doc.php?index=147
Articles of interest:
-This late edition news: from Tracy Kiely of Murder at Mansfield Park fame [and other Jane Austen mysteries], Battle of the Bonnets– get your fightin’ gloves on for Bronte v. Austen, legal style! [with thanks to Kerri S for the link]
Museums / Exhibits:
-National Portrait Gallery: Art for the Nation: Sir Charles Eastlake at the National Gallery – 27 July – 30 October 2011: “This exhibition illuminates the life and work of the Gallery’s first director, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793–1865), a man described by one contemporary as ‘the Alpha and Omega’ of the Victorian art world.” http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/eastlake
Shopping:
The “Keep Calm & Carry On” theme that has been splattered everywhere from cards to books to wall hangings and t-shirts – here is a new contender!
-These are past our time period but How to Be a Retronaut offers this great collection of Victorian photographs, sure to bring you a daily chuckle: don’t an awful lot of these husbands and wives LOOK ALIKE?! [not to mention a tad grim?]
Jane Austen in Vermont 