Deborah Yaffe's Blog, page 6

Hello, Houston!

Via Skype, I'll be attending tomorrow's meeting of the Greater Houston chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America. I'm looking forward to talking about Among the Janeites and Jane Austen with a group of fellow fans.

The meeting begins at 2:30 pm at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1311 Holman Street in Houston. Through the miracle of technology, I'll be arriving remotely at 3 pm. Looks like the organizers need RSVPs, so if reading this inspires you to attend, let them know!

Among the Janeites on TV

Those wacky Jane Austen fans were the subject of a segment of ABC's "Nightline," which aired last night (early this morning, actually) and included a couple of excerpts from an interview with me, conducted during this year's Jane Austen Society of North America conference in Minneapolis.

Not sure what non-Janeites are going to make of all the references to Trekkies and Mr. Darcy obsessions, but hey -- at least they spelled my name right. . .

Tiny Regency furniture

I can’t imagine anything more fun than the you-got-your-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter combination of Jane Austen and dollhouse miniatures, two of my favorite things.

So picture my glee when I ran across this account of the creation of an itty bitty room-in-a-box based on Austen’s sitting room at Chawton cottage. (More details can be found here.)

It’s especially cool that this tiny scene is the work of a Janeite from Greece – check out the Greek translations of Austen novels visible in some of the shots – and a man, to boot. Austenmania is indeed a universal phenomenon.

Gaming Jane Austen

I’m not a video gamer. While I love games – I have fond childhood memories of cutthroat family Monopoly matches and drawn-out Boggle tournaments on the bus to school – I was a ‘70s kid, too old, too tech-averse, and too girly to be a gamer in the boy-centric era of Pong and Pac-Man.

So I’m not quite sure what to make of “Ever, Jane,” a new Jane Austen video game currently getting lots of publicity as it searches for funding on Kickstarter. (Its promisingly tongue-in-cheek capsule summary: “In the virtual world of Jane Austen, it is not about kill or be killed, but invite and be invited with gossip our weapon of choice.”)

“Ever, Jane” is not the first Austen-themed video game, though it may be the first massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMPORG) to feature Austen’s characters. Amazon has offered “Matches and Matrimony” since 2011, and a year later BBC Worldwide launched a Facebook game called “Rogues and Romance,” since revised and renamed “Jane Austen Unbound.” Phone apps abound, and there's even an entire web site devoted to modest, fan-produced Austen video games.

I’m unqualified to judge the “Ever, Jane” prototype downloadable on Kickstarter, and I’m curious about whether there’s enough overlap between Janeites and video-gamers to support a sprawling, 24-7 Austen role-playing game, let alone to fund its $100,000 Kickstarter budget.

But the effort alone is further evidence that Janeites aren’t all the middle-aged, tea-sipping knitters of popular stereotype. Watch out for those virtual knitting needles – you may get one right between the ribs.

Judging books by their covers

Not too long ago – OK, it was last month, but I only just noticed – New York magazine ran a feature on the runaway popularity of young-adult fiction, even among old adults. Item #5 on the list: “The Selling (Out) Of a Classic,” wherein we look at the covers of five recent editions of Pride and Prejudice and note that the youth-oriented ones sold best.

A little bit of research shows, however, that the evidence for this supposed trend is a tad skewed. Let’s take it from the left:

* 1993: Norton Critical Edition, second edition. Classic classroom text, with appropriately decorous landscape on the cover. Only 1,000 copies sold “starting in 2001,” the footnote explains. Problem is that the Norton second edition was superseded by the third edition in 2000, so it’s no big surprise that few students were still forking out $7.85 to Amazon for the older version, whatever its cover.

* 1995: Puffin Classics, a bargain at $4.74 for the paperback, with a dated illustration apparently showing Elizabeth reading Darcy’s letter while the man himself hovers in her mind’s eye. But what’s really discouraging about its 25,000 sales figure is the fact that this edition is – the horror! – abridged.

* 2002: Longman Cultural Edition, with prestigious editors and an extremely appropriate illustration of Chawton House on the cover. Only 1,000 copies sold? A travesty! Except that this version costs $15.22 in paperback.

* 2009: OK, this is the one we’re really talking about, isn’t it? This is the Harper Teen version, with moody, evocative cover art of drooping blossoms that’s straight outta Twilight. Sold 68,000 copies at a relatively pricey $14.98 apiece. Do I have to turn in my Jane Austen card if I say that I think the cover – while admittedly having little to do with the contents – is quite lovely? Go ahead: shoot me.

* 2013: Tribeca Books, with romance-novel cover art featuring a gloved arm, a glossy gown, a satin sofa. The magazine seems shocked, shocked that this sold 5,000 copies in only nine days, but at $8.99 per copy, it’s a decent bargain.

In any case, why is it “selling out” to wrap classic literature in an attractive package that will appeal to young tastes? Last I checked, we want to encourage Kids These Days to pick up Pride and Prejudice, don’t we?

Picturing Austen

Pity the poor Bank of England. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

Back in July, when the Bank announced plans to feature Jane Austen on the 10-pound note beginning in 2017, it must have seemed an uncontroversial choice, a safe way to satisfy the feminists campaigning to get a woman onto the currency.

Then came the Twitter kerfuffle – Neanderthals using social media to threaten the leader of that feminist campaign with rape and murder – and Janeite criticism of the Bank’s decision to adorn the new banknote with a quote from the odious Caroline Bingley.

And last week a UK radio show, roughly the British equivalent of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” stirred the pot again by broadcasting an argument over the portrait of Austen planned for the new note.

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Needling Jane

I’m not a knitter, but for years I’ve been intrigued by the “Jane Austen Knits” link that keeps popping up in my Google alert, one in a long line of products claiming a connection to the valuable Jane Austen Brand.

Apparently, this year’s edition of the single-issue magazine contains thirty-one patterns for knitted items of clothing somehow “inspired by the novels of Jane Austen and the Regency era within which she lived”; illustrations show beautiful shawls, spencers and gloves, plus a fetching little reticule and a waistcoat worthy of Mr. Knightley. (I’m skeptical that these items have much to do with the books, beyond resembling things that Austen’s characters might have worn, but never mind.)

The issue is also said to feature historical articles, including one on pincushions and thread-cases in Persuasion. Those are among the items that Nurse Rooke teaches Mrs. Smith to make, to keep her busy and supplement her meager income.

I can’t remember if we know whether Jane Austen herself was a knitter, though it seems quite possible; in his famous 1870 Memoir of Jane Austen, her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh tells us that “her needlework both plain and ornamental was excellent, and might almost have put a sewing machine to shame.”

If you’ve tried these patterns, do tell us whether they’re worthy of Jane Austen.

Dissed by the Austen Project

Joanna Trollope’s y, the first in a planned series of six Austen updates by popular contemporary authors, will be published here on Tuesday. I’ve already preordered for my Kindle, but now comes word that Trollope, whose earlier, non-Austen novels I’ve greatly enjoyed, doesn’t want me to read her latest book.

We American Austen fans – apparently we’re noted for our militancy – will be offended that she’s updated the story by, for example, having Willoughby give Marianne a sports car instead of a horse.

“There’s a Jane Austen Society in America which takes it even more seriously than the Jane Austen Society in this country,” Trollope told the audience at a British literary festival this month. “I’ve been to one of their conventions, which was held in Winchester, and most of the delegates from America — none of whom was exactly anorexic — were all in Jane Austen clothes.”

Translation: we’re fat, silly purists with no sense of humor.

Sigh. These aren’t the smart, funny Janeites I know – many of whom, incidentally, rather enjoy a well-written Austen spinoff, whether a sequel set in the Regency or a modern-dress update, a la Bridget Jones’ Diary.

Indeed, it’s pretty clear that this whole “Austen Project” was inspired by the success of P.D. James’ Death Comes to Pemberley, which reportedly sold 300,000 copies in hardback alone. Many Janeites I know read that book – although, admittedly, we tended to be far less enthusiastic about it than were mainstream critics.

Trollope’s rather mean-spirited remarks smack of a pre-emptive strike against Janeite criticism. If we don’t like her book, apparently it won’t be because it’s not a good book; it’ll be because we’re nuts.

I understand that enthusiastic fandom can look kind of silly to outsiders, especially, I'm afraid, when the enthusiasts are middle-aged women. But judging from her earlier books, Trollope is keenly aware of the many ways in which our culture slights, ignores and patronizes middle-aged women. She should know better than to indulge in this cheap ridicule of Austen nuts -- especially since it’s the Austen nuts who’ve made the entire Austen Project possible.

A little more politeness – even of the fake, social-smile kind – might be in order. Where’s Elinor Dashwood when you need her?

Dissed by the Austen Porject

Joanna Trollope’s y, the first in a planned series of six Austen updates by popular contemporary authors, will be published here on Tuesday. I’ve already preordered for my Kindle, but now comes word that Trollope, whose earlier, non-Austen novels I’ve greatly enjoyed, doesn’t want me to read her latest book.

We American Austen fans – apparently we’re noted for our militancy – will be offended that she’s updated the story by, for example, having Willoughby give Marianne a sports car instead of a horse.

“There’s a Jane Austen Society in America which takes it even more seriously than the Jane Austen Society in this country,” Trollope told the audience at a British literary festival this month. “I’ve been to one of their conventions, which was held in Winchester, and most of the delegates from America — none of whom was exactly anorexic — were all in Jane Austen clothes.”

Translation: we’re fat, silly purists with no sense of humor.

Sigh. These aren’t the smart, funny Janeites I know – many of whom, incidentally, rather enjoy a well-written Austen spinoff, whether a sequel set in the Regency or a modern-dress update, a la Bridget Jones’ Diary.

Indeed, it’s pretty clear that this whole “Austen Project” was inspired by the success of P.D. James’ Death Comes to Pemberley, which reportedly sold 300,000 copies in hardback alone. Many Janeites I know read that book – although, admittedly, we tended to be far less enthusiastic about it than were mainstream critics.

Trollope’s rather mean-spirited remarks smack of a pre-emptive strike against Janeite criticism. If we don’t like her book, apparently, it won’t be because it’s not a good book; it’ll be because we’re nuts.

I understand that enthusiastic fandom can look kind of silly to outsiders, especially, I'm afraid, when the enthusiasts are middle-aged women. But judging from her earlier books, Trollope is keenly aware of the many ways in which our culture slights, ignores and patronizes middle-aged women. She should know better than to indulge in this cheap ridicule of Austen nuts -- especially since it’s the Austen nuts who’ve made the entire Austen Project possible.

A little more politeness – even of the fake, social-smile kind – might be in order. Where’s Elinor Dashwood when you need her?

Among the Janeites roundup -- international edition

Over the past few weeks, a number of venues, both print and digital, have noticed Among the Janeites. I’m so grateful to all the readers and critics who have taken time to respond to the book.

Herewith a roundup of a few notable recent mentions in non-US sources (and click here – the “Press” link under the “Among the Janeites” button on this web site – for a fuller list):

--Jane Austen's Regency World, the official magazine of the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, England, called Among the Janeites "an irresistible read" that "informs, intrigues -- and makes you laugh out loud, quite a lot." The review is on pp. 58-59 of the September/October 2013 issue, which isn’t available online.

--On her blog, Canadian writer and Austen scholar Sarah Emsley reported finding "wit, humour and respect" in the pages of Among the Janeites.

–And on Whoopsy Daisy, French fans of English literature discussed the book (in French) and ran a Q&A with me (in English --scroll down). I was especially charmed to discover a reference to “la chemise mouillée de Colin Firth.” Whatever the language, that wet shirt is still very, very fetching. . .