Deborah Yaffe's Blog, page 7

Princeton, at last

I’ve been taking my vitamins faithfully, and I trust I’ll be healthy enough tonight to deliver the talk at the Princeton Public Library that I had to cancel last month because of illness.

I’ll be speaking about and signing Among the Janeites, starting at 7 pm in the Community Room of the library, 65 Witherspoon Street in Princeton, NJ. The talk is free and open to the public -- no tickets required. And the library is a beautiful and inspiring public space, well worth seeing for its own sake.

I hope to see you tonight!

Jane Austen, Jane Eyre. Whatever.

I love it when things like this turn up in my daily Google alert for "Jane Austen": "Apparently every generation needs its own version of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Jane Austen’s Jane Eyre and now Steven King’s Carrie."

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about Jane Austen on a call-in radio show when the host invited listeners to tweet their favorite Jane Austen quote. The first one that arrived was this: “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

Which is also from Jane Eyre. Which is not by Jane Austen.

Poor Charlotte Bronte. Up in that heaven where great authors go, she’s probably ranting, “Geez! I could never stand that Austen woman while I was alive, and I still can’t shake her off!”

On stage in Philly

I’ll be speaking about and signing Among the Janeites tomorrow night – Tuesday, October 15, at 7 pm – on the Main Stage of the Lantern Theater at St. Stephen’s Theater, 923 Ludlow Street in Philadelphia.

The $15 ticket price includes a copy of the book, which lists for $15.95. (So it’s a bargain!)

The Lantern is holding a five-day Jane Austen Festival, “Regency & Revelry,” to coincide with their production of Emma, which runs through October 27.

Approving of Emma Approved

"Emma Approved," the new web series from the creators of "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries," launched this past Monday, airing the first of what will apparently be twice-weekly installments updating Jane Austen's novel Emma to the twenty-first century. (The characters' Twitter and Pinterest accounts were up even before Monday: social media will again be an integral part of the storytelling, we're promised.)

Monday's four-minute episode introduced us to an appropriately, if obnoxiously, self-involved style guru named Emma Woodhouse -- in this version, she runs "the matchmaking and lifestyle division" of the Highbury Partners Lifestyle Group -- taking credit for the coming marriage of her friends Ryan Weston and Annie Taylor. We even got a look at Alex Knightley, presumably the love interest: no putting him off until Episode 60 this time.

It's early days, of course, and those of us who suffered through this team's misfiring "Welcome to Sanditon" over the summer are bound to be wary, but it looks promising so far. Austen's Emma -- poised, bossy and socially self-confident -- has the personality for a video diarist. Personally, I'm looking forward to meeting the Eltons. . .

Thanks, Ottawa!

I had a delightful time this weekend speaking to the Jane Austen Society of North America's Ottawa branch. Our lively discussion touched on everything from the continuing relevance of classic literature to the appeal of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. My Jane Austen Action Figure -- she's a prop in my speech -- was also welcomed warmly.

Ottawa looked lovely, even through a drizzle; I hope I'll be able to return some day soon. Thanks again for the invitation!

Ottawa adventure

I’ll be in Ottawa this coming Sunday, October 6, speaking about and signing Among the Janeites for the Ottawa-Ontario branch of the Jane Austen Society of North America. The event will take place from 2-4 pm at the Main Library, 120 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

This regional branch of JASNA held a marathon twelve-hour reading of the entire text of Pride and Prejudice last May, so they’re obviously an energetic and committed group of Janeites. I’m looking forward to meeting them. Please drop in if you’re in the neighborhood.

Home again, and happy

I listened to eminent scholars offer fascinating new perspectives on Darcy and Elizabeth, added a coffee mug adorned with a Mary Crawford quote to my souvenir collection, danced “Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot” (badly), and brought home Jane Austen playing cards for my kids (“Mr. Collins is the joker!” my daughter exclaimed gleefully).

But as usual, the best part of the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Annual General Meeting, which took place this past weekend in Minneapolis, was the chance to meet fellow Janeites and wallow in our shared passion.

We argued over whether Mr. Collins is unfairly maligned, whether Anne De Bourgh is a survivor of rheumatic fever or a victim of anorexia, and whether the many Pride and Prejudice spinoffs that crowd bookstore shelves fill our need for more Jane Austen or just make us nostalgic for the original. I sang the praises of “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” to a tableful of brunch companions who’d never seen it.

And in the “Regency Room,” where authentic period items from a Janeite’s impressive collection were on display, I gazed in awe at a first edition of Frances Burney’s Camilla showing Jane Austen’s name on the subscription list – one of the few times Austen’s name appeared in print in her lifetime.

All weekend long, I signed copies of Among the Janeites – thanks for those sales, everyone! – including one destined for a preschooler named Elinor (after Elinor Dashwood, of course), who is briefly mentioned in the last chapter. Here’s hoping she’ll be engrossed in her own AGM conversations a couple of decades from now.

Janeites in heaven

There is joy in Janeite-ville this week: the Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America – the JASNA AGM – kicks off today in Minneapolis!

I attended my first AGM in Philadelphia in 1983, four years after JASNA’s founding, when I was a college freshman and the whole affair was far smaller and more sedate.

This year’s AGM (theme: “Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. . . Timeless”) will welcome seven hundred and fifty Janeites for a packed four days of lectures, tours, dance lessons, craft workshops and special events – everything from a Regency fashion show to a Minneapolis pub crawl.

The whole shebang culminates in Saturday night’s banquet and ball, which many Janeites attend in Regency costume. (I must confess that I’m especially looking forward to the Sunday brunch event, a panel on the fabulous "Lizzie Bennet Diaries.")

Like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, I must have my share in the conversation. I’ll be talking about and signing Among the Janeites at the University of Minnesota’s book store at 4 pm today (not an AGM event, but if you’re in the neighborhood. . .) and then signing again during the AGM’s mass author event on Friday night from 6 to 7:30 pm.

On Saturday, I also have the honor of introducing breakout speaker Emily Auerbach, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who is the author of Searching for Jane Austen, which challenges the stereotype of Austen as a sweet maiden aunt penning decorous domestic dramas.

The JASNA AGM is criminally fun. Hope to see you there!

The Dress

I spent this past week participating in a most enjoyable Group Read of Among the Janeites at the Republic of Pemberley (it's now concluded, but you can read the archived version here). In the course of that conversation, several people asked to see a picture of the Regency gown whose pursuit is a narrative thread in the book.

Pictures of me in the gown are never going to see the light of day as long as I have breath in my body to prevent it. But the gown itself, created by the talented Maureen O'Connor of the New York City chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America, is quite lovely, as the pictures below will attest.

Here's the dress from top to bottom:

And here's a detail of the very pretty sleeves:

If only I could have done it justice. . .

Hey Jane

Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s most popular novel. It’s the one that gets assigned in high school, makes the top-novels-of-all-time lists, and was chosen as favorite by 53 percent of the Janeites responding to Jeanne Kiefer’s 2008 survey.

And it’s not hard to see why: enchanting heroine, dashing hero, hilarious secondary characters, crackling dialogue. . .what’s not to like?

Nothing, of course. And yet, choosing the relatively sunny, cheerful P&P as your favorite Austen novel seems a bit like choosing the sunny, cheerful Paul McCartney as your favorite Beatle. It’s a safe choice, a popular choice, a choice no one can argue with, but isn’t it a little – well, you know – predictable? Obvious? Boring, even?

Read More