Volume 25, no. 3 Fall 2012 - Jane Austen Society of North America

Jane Austen Society
of North America
Wisconsin Region
The Wire, Volume 25, Number 3
Fall 2012
“I have got some pleasant news for you, which I am eager to communicate.”
PREQUELS, SEQUELS, AND MASH-UPS, OH MY!!
The 237th Jane Austen Birthday Celebration
Saturday, December 15, 2012, at 11 a.m.
You are cordially invited to join fellow JASNAWisconsin members and guests at the North
Hills Country Club for our annual luncheon celebration of Jane Austen’s birthday. If you’ve ever been to Barnes and Noble and been astounded
at the dizzying array of Pride and Prejudice
paraliterature gracing (or clogging) the shelves,
you won’t want to miss this year’s luncheon.
University of Wisconsin Professor Emily Auerbach will deliver the Joan Philosophos Lecture
entitled “Pride, Prejudice, and Proliferation: Prequels, Sequels, Spin-offs, Mash-ups, and other
Adaptations and Permutations of Pride and Prejudice.”
Professor Emily Auerbach teaching at the University of
Members of our region are indeed fortunate Wisconsin Odyssey Project
that Professor Auerbach is close enough that she
can be with us often (though not as often as we’d like!). Dr. Auerbach’s areas of academic expertise, in
addition of course to Jane Austen, are 19th century women writers, college access for low-income adults,
and outreach programming in literature and the humanities. She is the recipient of the Bartell Arts teaching
award and the Governor’s Award in Humanities for chairing “Jane Austen and the Humanities,” the first
annual UW Humanities Festival. She is also director of the UW Odyssey Project, a program that offers
free college access to low income adult students, of which JASNA-WI is a proud supporter.
Dr. Auerbach’s 2012 Lecture will be based upon her research for the chapter she is writing for the
Cambridge University Press’s 2013 Special Edition of Pride and Prejudice to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the novel’s publication. In an email earlier this year to JASNA-WI members, she wrote:
“In my chapter I've been asked to focus on prequels, sequels, mash-ups, modern adaptations,
etc. I have included references to Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies, the movies Bride and Prejudice,
Lost in Austen, and Bridget Jones' Diary, various novels taking different characters' point of view
(like Wickham's Diary) or continuing the storyline after Elizabeth and Darcy are married, odd
(cont. on p. 2)
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Birthday Luncheon, cont.
Jane Austen Lecture
November 15
blends, like a fusion of Gone with the Wind
and Pride and Prejudice, a mash up making
the Bennet family Jewish (opening sentence
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, especially by Jewish mothers, that a single
man..."), a Marvel illustrated comic book
version, etc. I had no idea how many dozens
of adaptations there have been.”
Marsha Huff will give a lecture at the
Brookfield Public Library on Thursday,
November 15, at 7:00 p.m. Her topic is
“A Truth Rarely Acknowledged.” The
program is free of charge and open to the
public.
We are also pleased that Pat Latkin will be
with us once again to offer Jane Austen- related
books and items for sale. In addition, we’ll also
have JASNA-WI’s own 2013 Jane Austen Wall
Calendars, featuring Jane Austen facts for every
day of the year. So bring your wallet or your checkbook (sorry, no credit cards) and do a little Christmas shopping for someone on your list or even for
yourself!
Luncheon entrée choices are our traditional
beef Wellington with Madeira sauce; parmesancrusted salmon; and grilled vegetables with seasonal greens and dressing. Every meal includes champagne, dessert, and gratuity.
Please make your reservation by Monday, December 3rd using the enclosed form. If you wish to
write a birthday toast (either humorous or formal),
please contact Cynthia Kartman at 414-332-9757
or [email protected]. North Hills Country Club
is located at N73 W13430 Appleton Avenue, Menomonee Falls (262-251-5750). Directions are on
the reservation form (attached separately and at the
end of the newsletter).
Tea and Play
Deadline Extended
Good news! The deadline for reservations for
the January 13, 2013 Tea and Sense and Sensibility event has been extended to December
3. We have continued to receive reservation
requests and are hoping this will accommodate
more members who might want to attend. You
received a new reservation form in a recent
email from Liz Cooper.
Please contact Deborah Koconis with questions: [email protected]
The Wire
Editor’s note: Emily Auerbach will be speaking
next June at the Pride and Prejudice Conference at
Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.
The conference marks the 200th anniversary of the
publication of Pride and Prejudice.
Published thrice yearly by JASNA-Wisconsin
Editor: Kim Wilson
Please send articles, letters, and clippings to
Kim Wilson, 506 Oxford Road,
Waukesha, WI 53186 - 262-549-4122 or
[email protected]
Further information on the conference (including a
detailed program and information about ticket prices) can be found at:
http://www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/pride-andprejudice-conference
http://www.jasnawi.org
2
National Officers from
Wisconsin Region
The Wisconsin Region continues to provide leaders
for JASNA’s national Board. Liz Cooper was
elected Vice President for Regions during the
Brooklyn AGM, with her term beginning on
December 16. In this prominent position, Liz will
be responsible for advising JASNA’s 71 regions in
the US and Canada and nurturing new regions. She
will also be a member of the Executive Committee
of the Board. Janet Johnson’s six-year term as
JASNA Treasurer ends this year, but she will remain on the national Board as Assistant Treasurer.
Marsha Huff, past President, is also on the Board.
Madison Reading Group
Kudos to Liz, Janet & Marsha!
On Sunday February 17, 2013, 2:00 p.m., we will
meet at Joan Roob’s house to discuss Pride and
Prejudice.
The Duchess of
Devonshire, known
in private life as Liz
Philosophos
Cooper, JASNA
Vice President for
Regions.
On Sunday May 19, 2013, 2:00 p.m., we will meet
at Coral Bishop’s house and will view Coral’s
“Historic Collections.” Coral has studied and accumulated collections of among other things vintage
teapots, hats, perfume bottles, and jewelry. We are
lucky to have this unique opportunity!
Milwaukee Reading Group
Janet Johnson,
JASNA national
Assistant Treasurer,
former Treasurer,
and all around wise
woman.
On Saturday, February 23, 2013, at 9:30 a.m.,
The Milwaukee Reading Group will enjoy discussing Pride and Prejudice. Marsha Huff will moderate. We will meet at the Elm Grove Village center,
1366 Juneau Blvd.
On Tuesday, May 14, 2013 we will be discussingMy Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal
Courtesan, by Jo Manning, at Vicky Hinshaw's, 929
Astor St. Milwaukee.
Email reminders with directions will be sent out to
Milwaukee area members and anyone wanting to
receive them. If you have not received these for the
book groups this year, please send a message to Jane
Kivlin, [email protected].
Volunteering to bring treats is greatly appreciated!
Please email Jane Kivlin.
Marsha Huff,
former grand
Poobah (ah, we
mean President)
of JASNA and
current national
board member,
and her sister,
Sandra Grant.
33
This will be my last
column as Regional
Coordinator. Judy
Beine will be taking
over for me after December 16 when I become First Vice President of Regions for
JASNA. I will be busy-currently there are 60
regions in the
US and 11 in
Canada. I have
worked closely with Judy in
my nine years
as RC and
know she will
do a terrific
job. New ideas and a fresh
Lorraine Hanaway & Judy Beine at the
outlook
help
AGM.
keep any organization vital and I look forward to the years
ahead. Change is good!
More change will
be taking place with
Jane Kivlin becoming
Membership Chair and
Janet Johnson taking
over as Treasurer for
Coral Bishop. We are
fortunate to have Janet’s expertise. It has
been my pleasure
working closely with
Coral these last four
years. Please thank her Liz Cooper and Coral
Bishop at the AGM.
for her service if you
have a chance.
I would also like to extend the sympathies of
the Wisconsin Region to Janet Johnson on the recent loss of her father.
Thank you for all the support you have given
me. It has truly been my privilege to represent you
as Regional Coordinator. I am proud to have followed Rosemary Cummings, MaryLee Richmond,
my Mom, and Marsha Huff in that role and contribute to making Wisconsin one of JASNA’s best.
You can read about the Brooklyn AGM in the
The JASNA-WI table at
the AGM.
pages that follow. Once
again, we had a lively
table in the Emporium
selling calendars and
Jean Judy jewelry.
Thanks to WI members
who helped: Judy Beine,
Coral Bishop, Joan
Roob, Mary Anne Gross,
Susan Richard, Yolanda
Jensen, Deborah Koconis, Marsha Huff, Janet
Johnson, Cynthia Kartman and Dave O’Brien.
Profits
from calendar sales enabled us to
give two
grants this
fall. The first
was to help
fund travel
expenses to Yodi Jensen & Susan Richard work at
the AGM for the JASNA-WI table at the AGM.
an Essay
Contest winner from UW (see Emily Kingman article.)
The second was to contribute to Madison Public Library’s Book Club Challenge in support the
new Central
Library. With
a $250 donation, the name
Jane Austen
Society of
North America, Wisconsin
Region will be
incorporated
Furniture designer and sculptor at the into a one-ofUniversity of Wisconsin, Hongtao
a-kind work
Zhou will incorporate each participat- of art. So
ing book club in a custom-made bench
thank you for
made of natural wood. Zhou is a nayour contintional & international award winner
and has published abstracts and biog- ued support of
raphies in art, design and scientific
the calendar.
research.
4
AGM Highlights
by Liz Cooper
Friday afternoon’s AGM opening started with a
warm and riotous “welcome to the Big Time” by
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. He
told us if Brooklyn were a city by itself, it would be
the fourth largest in the US, closing in on Chicago.
Referring to its diverse population he stated,
“Brooklyn is like an everything bagel.” The AGM
also had something for everyone.
My highlights, besides morphing into Georgiana on Saturday night, were the first two plenary
sessions. From the start, Anna Quindlen held the
audience in the palm of her hand with her talk,
“Jane Austen Is My Homegirl.” When she quoted
the opening line of P&P, Quindlen only had the
Dr. Cornel West places “Sister Jane” high in the
pantheon of literary greats.
assumptions, and come into being the person you
can be at your best. Humility is the benchmark. In
order to die, you must first have the courage to examine yourself, digging deep to deal with how society has shaped you. You are who you are because
someone loved you. Austen pierces through categories of society.
He spoke in awe of “Sister Jane,” whom he
puts on the top rung of the literary ladder with the
likes of Shakespeare, Chekov, Plato and Socrates.
“Jane Austen stands at the top of artistic genius. It’s
not a compliment to a woman, it is the truth about
an artist.” He said that everyone needs the truth-to
be pushed up against the wall, which is what Austen does.
Cynthia Kartman, Julie Tynion and I sat spellbound, smiling with our mouths open as West
spoke for over an hour without using notes. Needless to say, we happily joined in for another standing ovation.
The Duchess and the resplendent Dennis sisters from
Philadelphia at the AGM.
chance to say the first three words before the crowd
of 750+ finished off the rest in one very loud voice.
She pointed out one of the important elements of
that sentence is the word must. This is a verb used
by a woman who knows, rather than surmises
things. Austen had the confidence in her own gifts
to embrace reality. She wrote about a woman’s daily life, from the inside out. Her big bow-wows were
not battlefields but family dinners and tea parties. It
was an act of courage to write about them. We hung
on to every word Quindlen spoke and in the end
gave her a standing ovation.
Saturday morning’s plenary speaker, Dr. Cornel West was equally brilliant. He began by talking
about the importance of self-knowledge. I wrote
these notes: You must let prejudices go, give up
5
Cynthia Kartman and Julie Tynion.
She gets it and at times during the AGM I would
glimpse her in the audience enjoying the speakers
just as much as all attendees.
Mayor Bloomberg greeted us via letter which
was in our AGM book bag, red and black this year
with the NY apple logo. We also received a greeting at the opening of the AGM from the President
of the Brooklyn Borough, Marty Markowitz. He
delighted all with his wonderful Brooklyn-bornand-bred accent with one zinger after another. One
I remember, “Don’t bring an attitude as we Brooklynites have our own.” He truly has a talent for
warming up his audience.
One of the best breakouts was “The Austen
Assizes,” written by Syrie James and Diana
Birchall. The parody-play was a series of trials involving many of Jane Austen’s characters. Mrs.
Bennet versus Lady Catherine de Bourgh, John
Willoughby versus Colonel Christopher Brandon
and Mrs. John Dashwood (Fanny) versus Mrs.
Jane Came to Brooklyn
by Judy Beine
My impressions of the NY-run AGM this year: the
Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge has lots of space.
The hotel’s meeting rooms were all on the same
floor and at plenary sessions there was seating for
everyone with room to spare unlike NYC’s subways, which seemed to be crowded no matter what
time of day you chose to ride. My husband David
and I were blessed with the use of my brother’s
Brooklyn Heights apartment on Jorelemon and
Henry Street s for the duration and, therefore, we
didn’t have sticker shock in paying a hotel bill. We
also gadded about NYC after the Sunday brunch
and for four more days. The weather was extremely pleasant during the AGM, balmy and warm Saturday during our lunch break but much cooler and
a downright gale for the promenade after the banquet.
There were 19 Wisconsinites attending this
year and many of us did our stint in the emporium
selling Jean Judy’s beautiful bracelets and pins as
well as our Wisconsin Region calendar. Liz Cooper
brought 45 bracelets and we sold all but 3 by Friday morning. Eastern Pennsylvania’s Region again
shared our table. It is lots of fun browsing the Regions’ merchandise as well as the Regency period
vendors.
Of the plenary speakers, Anna Quindlen, in
my opinion, was the best. Where else will you hear
750-800 audience participants recite in unison the
first line of P & P? As the Forbes’ Fathom website
stated in their
coverage of
the AGM, Anna Quindlen
might have
been a rock
star! She
spanned our
entire literary
world, mentioning in
passing most
of the authors I
have been
reading since
grade school.
Anna Quindlen gets Jane.
The cast of “The Austen Assizes.”
6
Joan Ray as a judge in “The Austen Assizes.”
Robert Ferrars (nee Lucy Steele). The various
charges involved sex, money and power of course.
The magistrate was played by JASNA’s former
president Joan Ray and the jury was the audience.
There was a great deal of laughter in the plenarysize room and many neighboring breakout attendees
mightily wished they were in our session. Fun, fun,
and more fun.
AGM News Coverage
The Brooklyn AGM attracted an incredible amount
of attention from the press. Our own Liz Cooper
made the New York Times!
A clipping from the New York Times article about the
JASNA AGM in Brooklyn.
Here are links to features about the AGM:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/books/janeausten-society-of-north-america-meets-inbrooklyn.html?pagewanted=1
Liz Philosophos Cooper channels Her Grace, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire with splendid success.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/10/09/
arts/artsspecial/20121009JANE-5.html
Before I close my recap I must admit to being
one of Liz Cooper’s Ladies in Waiting. Her Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire costume, wig and hat
were absolutely splendid! It was great fun and exciting to accompany the Duchess as she made her
way around the banquet hall and watching those we
encountered, including the New York Times, the
Daily News and Forbes.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/fathom/2012/10/09/
jane-austen-in-the-hood/
7
Janeites in the Big Apple
leen Chalfant, had to leave right after the performance because she is appearing in off-Broadway
play. The fragment of “The Watsons” owned by the
Morgan was on display that night.
New York City abounds in institutions with
ties to Jane Austen and her era, beginning with the
Morgan. At the AGM, Declan Kiely, curator of the
Morgan’s Literary and Historical Manuscripts,
talked about the institution’s holdings of Austen
manuscripts and letters, the richest outside of Britain. They include Austen’s complete autograph
copy of Lady Susan and some four dozen Austen
letters, eight of which were bequeathed to the library by Alberta Burke, an avid Austen collector,
whose husband co-founded JASNA.
Members who went on museum tours were
treated to treasures of Georgian and Regency England that represent sex, money, and power. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection both have portraits by Thomas Gainsborough
of Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliott, whom Jane Austen most likely knew by reputation as a courtesan
and mistress of the Prince of Wales. All the world
knew Emma Hamilton, Lord Nelson’s mistress, depicted as “Nature” in a painting by George Romney
at the Frick. The Metropolitan’s collection of English furniture and decorative arts, including Wedgwood and Staffordshire ceramics, demonstrated
how the rich and powerful lived in Austen’s era.
Even if
you couldn’t attend the Brooklyn AGM, you
can enjoy those
cultural treasures
on a trip to New
York City. In the
meantime, visit
the current exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum
of paintings from
Kenwood House,
which includes
portraits by
Gainsborough
Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton,
and a beautiful, if by George Romney.
fanciful, depiction of the infamous Emma Hamilton by George
Romney.
By Marsha Huff
The 2013 AGM was packed from Wednesday through Monday, October 3-8, with tours, lectures, workshops, and performances, not to mention
eating and dancing. The winter issue of JASNA
News will be filled with pictures and reports. A
good selection of papers will be published in Persuasions On-Line, which will be posted on
jasna.org on December 16th (our favorite birthday),
and we can expect more next spring in Persuasions.
In other words, if you couldn’t be in Brooklyn for
the festivities,
you can participate by way of
JASNA publications.
The aspect of the
AGM that most
struck me was
its sheer star
power. Bestselling novelist
Anna Quindlen,
who was as personable and intimate at the podium as she is in
her books, was
the opening plenary speaker.
Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliot by
The New York
Gainsborough, 1778.
Times said that
Quindlen “set
the tone for the weekend with a rousing keynote
address lamenting two centuries of male condescension to Austen’s seemingly small domestic
dramas.” Dr. Cornel West, a renowned commentator on contemporary culture, is not one of the condescending males. He delivered what I call a
“Come to Jane” sermon to his JASNA brothers and
sisters. He was, of course, preaching to the choir
when he placed Austen up there next to Chekhov
and Shakespeare.
Lady Susan, the Austen heroine who most
embodies sex and power, received her “long overdue close-up” (to quote Elsa Solender) in a reading
staged at the Morgan Library & Museum. The actors were all professionals, and one of them, Kath-
8
noon. She said that the multiplier we’ve tried to use
just doesn’t work because of this. You could be
wealthy in land or other things, but that there really
was no equivalency. Lerner said that Austen’s heiresses were rich, but putting a specific figure on it
was impossible. A bride’s marriage portion was
listed in the newspaper upon her marriage. This let
merchants know how much credit to extend. When
asked if Jane Austen’s brothers, particularly Edward, should
have done more
for their mother
and sisters, she
replied that they
just didn’t have
that kind of monetary liquidity,
and that all the
brothers had contributed and were
very good to the
Austen women. I
think that these
were the only
sessions I attended that dealt solely with money.
Not really solely,
though, because
Liz Cooper & Sandy Lerner.
money gives
power. The sex
part of it comes into the equation also, as women
did not have money of their own, and men controlled their marriage portions.
On Friday morning we did some exploring,
using the subway and walking. After a huge lunch
at the Apollo Diner, we went back to the Marriott
for the afternoon program.
Marty Markowitz, the borough president, gave
a rousing and funny welcome. If he wasn’t a Janeite
to start with, he had become one, making puns
about the titles and just seeming to have a good
time. The master of ceremonies, Linda Dennery,
did a fantastic job throughout the AGM. She spoke
clearly and maintained a sense of humor. By the
way, the first meeting of JASNA was held in New
York on October 5, 1979, with around 100 attendees. This meeting had 750 attendees, the largest
AGM ever.
Anna Quindlen delivered a plenary talk, “Jane
My AGM
by Kathy O’Brien
My husband Dave and I were with a group of people, doing various things, as I tried to say the title
of the AGM. I got the sex and money part, and then
said I couldn’t think of the third. Dave promptly
said, “power.” How could I forget something so
obvious? Power was dependent on the other two,
and maybe still is nowadays.
I’ll start with our travel to Brooklyn. We flew
to Philly where we have friends who are originally
from Brooklyn, as it happens. On the Thursday we
took a bus to the New York Port Authority Terminal, and the subway A train to Brooklyn. The only
hindrance was having luggage, but people were
very helpful.
We weren’t able to stay at the Marriott, but the
Sheraton really wasn’t far away, and again we got
good advice from people on the street. We were
able to check in right away and got rid of our luggage. We then walked to the Marriott and immediately ran into Marsha Huff, Janet Johnson, and others we knew. We registered and got attractive red
and black tote bags. They had some interesting
things in them. I wished that they had had a listing
of the attendees, but you had to ask for that.
Then I went along to Sheryl Craig’s special
session, “In for a Penny, in for a Pound.” I sat next
to Mary Anne Gross and Deb Koconis. Sheryl’s
talk was similar to the one she gave to the Wisconsin Region, except that she said more about the fact
that this was not a cash economy, and money was
not really standard, with paper money not at all
common. Sandy Lerner made an even bigger point
of this in her plenary session on Saturday after-
9
Austen Is My Homegirl.” Anna Quindlen and Cornel West (Saturday morning, “Freedom in Austen’s
Novels”) were both enthusiastic speakers who
talked about the lack of appreciation of Jane Austen
for so long. Anna Quindlen especially talked about
the condescension of men. Cornel West compared
her with Chekhov and said she’s right up there with
Shakespeare. Both of them said she was a great author—not a great
woman author. So
I guess sex came
into their talks.
The Friday
afternoon
breakouts I attended were both
about sex. Marilyn
Doore’s topic was
“Fallen Women of
the Regency: Mistresses, Courtesans, and Prostitutes.” She distributed handouts of Anna Quindlen skewers the confamous women in descension of men toward JA.
most of the categories. In some ways, mistresses had it better than
wives. Of course a woman could be both. Once she
had provided the heir and the spare, she could do as
she pleased, although that didn’t necessarily mean
that her husband would accept the resulting children. Courtesans picked their own patrons, and
were known for elegance, wit, and style. They
could have more than one man, but were not prostitutes. She suggested that Eliza I in S&S might have
died of syphilis. She also mentioned real people,
William and Caro
Lamb, who had an
ok marriage and an
autistic son. Then
Byron came into
the picture.
The next
breakout I attended
was “Slits, Spikes,
Steeds, and Scandals! Coded SexuSue Forgue gives a guided tour of al Indiscretion in
the neighborhoods of Georgian
Jane Austen’s Ficand Regency London in her
tion” with Miriam
breakout session.
Rheingold
Fuller. She said
she had to use
the word steed
because horse
didn’t start with
S. This talk was
so hysterically
funny that I almost forgot
what she said.
She did imitations of people
and their accents. She was
right in her element.
Cornel West compares Jane Austen
Saturday it
to Checkhov and ranks her with
was back to
Shakespeare.
money, with
Susan Jones (and helper Kathleen Anderson) on
“The Power of Freeloading: OPM-- Enjoying Other
People’s Money.” She had handouts delineating
Austen’s Circles of Hell for Freeloaders: the domestic freeloader, the visiting freeloader, the usurper, the privateer, and the
pirate. She had
examples of
each, and also
a quiz to find
your inner
freeloader.
Marcia
McClintock
Folsom’s
“Power in
Mansfield
Park: Austen’s
Study of Dom- Miriam Rheingold Fuller brings down
ination and
the house with “Slits, Spikes, Steeds,
Resistance”
and Scandals!”
gave me new
insights into the characters in MP, particularly Fanny. I’m inspired to read it again.
At dinner on Saturday night we toasted Jane
with Royal Punch. They gave the recipe for that.
Afterwards we attended “Becoming a Hero,” by
William Deresiewicz, who was an engaging speaker. He put emphasis on Mark Twain’s saying every
10
The Grand Promenade at the AGM.
The Brooklyn 2013 AGM theme was “Sex, Money
and Power.” I wrote down these examples of
power. What can you add?
time he read JA, etc. Obviously, he appreciated her.
Saturday evening was wet and windy, but
Dave bravely went out and took pictures of the
promenade.
The brunch talk by Daniel James Cole,
“Hierarchy and Seduction in Regency Fashion”
gave an appropriate ending, and was followed by
the creative plugs for upcoming AGMs. We then
took off for JFK. We were taken in hand by a subway passenger who works at JFK and who stayed
with us most of the way there, and all went well.
Before the trip I was dreading all the transportation
and the walking, but I was favorably impressed by
the helpfulness of so many people, and found it an
enjoyable AGM. The main problem was staying at
a different hotel. I remember Joan Philosophos saying she always got her hotel room a year in advance, and maybe that’s the thing to do!
The shifting power of the Regency period
The power of the marriage market
The power of the written word
The power of literature to give women a voice
The power of sex—male vs. female
The power of SEX
The power of socio-economic order
The power of rank
The power of birth order
The power of laugh
The power of being in control—in short,
the power of Emma
The power of friendship
The healing power of JA
The power of rereading
The staying power of JA
Editor’s note: Many thanks to Dave O’Brien for
so many of the wonderful photos in this issue!
11
—Liz Philosophos Cooper
why wasn’t it on my list? Simple: the cost. I pay
good money to get the best seats I can to see plays
in New York, but the price of tickets for The Book
of Mormon, good or bad, is still exorbitant. It’s
coming to Chicago soon, and I hope to see it
there—with an excellent cast and for less than the
price of a second mortgage.
So--decisions, decisions. My preference was
for Virginia Woolf or Cyrano. But my friend and
fellow AGM attendee Angela, who was going with
me, had seen Virginia Woolf in Phoenix just a few
years ago and didn’t care to spend the evening
watching people screaming at one another. Fair
enough; besides, it wasn’t Angela’s fault I didn’t
see it two years ago in Chicago when I had the
chance. Then I went online and found there were
no tickets left for Cyrano. So off we went to
Grace.
We attended the performance following opening night on Thursday. As a consequence, I made a
huge tactical error: I read Ben Brantley’s review in
the New York Times. In addition to his criticism of
the play, for which one assumes he is paid, Mr.
Brantley was kind enough to drop a huge spoiler,
thus robbing me of the emotional impact I would
otherwise have experienced at the beginning of the
play. I should have known better—Brantley pulls
that crap all the time.
Grace is a one-act play, a genre that is making
a welcome comeback on Broadway. God of Carnage and The
Motherf***er
with the Hat
are excellent
examples from
the last two
seasons. The
premise of
Grace, written
by Craig
Wright in his
Broadway debut, was promising. Paul
Rudd plays
Steve, an evangelical Christian businessman who is
called by the
Jane Goes to the Theatre
by Cynthia Kartman
We know Jane Austen loved going up to London
and enjoyed many of the diversions it offered. One
of her favorite activities while in London was of
course attending the theater
I know how she feels. We in Wisconsin, especially in Milwaukee and Madison, are blessed with
regional theater of the highest quality. Yet it is always a treat, during my infrequent forays to New
York, to study what’s playing on and off Broadway
and to plan to see as many plays as possible. So this
October, I looked forward to combining pleasure
with pleasure by going to the theater during the
time I was attending the AGM. For this reason, to
paraphrase our dear Jane, I will let the pens and laptops of my fellow Wisconsin Janeites dwell on the
glories of the AGM (which were many) and I will
give an account of my playgoing experiences in
Gotham.
There were many wonderful choices. On my
first available date, Friday night, we could have
seen the Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of
Cyrano de Bergerac, starring Douglas Hodge.
There was also a much-acclaimed revival of Who’
Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Chicago’s Steppenwolf
Theater. There were three new plays: Peter and the
Starcatcher, a retelling of the Peter Pan story; If
There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet, starring Jake
Gyllehaal; and Grace, starring Paul Rudd, Michael
Shannon, and Ed Asner. And though I’m not a big
fan of musicals, there were a couple of good ones
for consideration: Newsies and Once, both based on
movies of the same name.
You may have noticed a glaring omission in
this lineup of contenders. The hottest ticket on
Broadway for many months past and presumably
for months to come is still The Book of Mormon. So
12
the screenplay for the 1949 film, which starred
Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, and Ralph
Richardson. The play takes place all in the same
room, and the set design by Derek McLane is masterful in creating an air of opulent oppression within and without the Sloper household. The first
character who enters the stage is Dr. Sloper. David
Strathairn fires off Sloper’s acerbic comments
about his daughter Catherine (the heiress in question) like a second-rate comic. The approach is initially off-putting. But as the play progresses, one
quickly sees the underlying genius of Moises
Kaufman’s direction. At first the audience laughs
heartily, if uncomfortably, along with Dr. Sloper.
But about a third of the way through the first act,
the audience almost as one realizes that Dr. Sloper’s not being funny. He really is the heartless bastard we subconsciously feared he was. From that
point forward, no one in the audience laughs.
The play itself is a somewhat timid adaptation
of the novel. Still, the essence of what makes the
book important is preserved. We can feel the dilemma of Catherine’s battle to best order her life in
the face of the fact that she cannot trust any of the
people who are supposed to love her. The characters in the book however, are much more nuanced
than they are written for the stage, and the play
suffers for it.
The cast was tremendous. Jessica Chastain faces the challenge of every beautiful actress who
takes on
the role of
Catherine—how
to convince
the audience that
she is indeed plain
and awkward. Costume, hair Dan Stevens & Jessica Chastain.
design, and
of course Ms. Chastain’s wonderful acting went a
long way towards that goal. Because of Kaufman’s
direction and Chastain’s performance, the audience
soon realizes that the characterization of Catherine
as plain and awkward is her father’s, enforced by
his sister (Catherine’s Aunt Lavinia) and that Catherine thinks herself so because, until Morris Town-
Lord, and funded by a mysterious investor, to go
with his wife Sara (Kate Arrington) to Florida to
found a chain of Christian hotels (“Where Would
Jesus Stay?”) Here they encounter their bitter nextdoor neighbor, Sam (Michael Shannon), who has
been disfigured in the auto accident that killed his
fiancée; and Karl (Ed Asner), the loquacious Jewish pest exterminator. The performances of all four
actors were wonderful, and the terrific set, designed
by Beowulf Boritt, simultaneously gives a sense of
spaciousness and claustrophobia.
Plays seldom tackle religion, and especially
evangelical Christianity, in a serious manner. Unfortunately, the big issue—where does grace come
from, and how do we gain or lose it—is dealt with
in such a clumsy and contrived fashion that it undercuts the emotional impact of the drama. The
play wasn’t bad, and there were many moving and
funny moments, but they never came together into
a cohesive whole. Grace was a play that was frustrating to watch, because you were continually
haunted by the image of how much better it could-and should-have been.
I was luckier on Sunday. I
had seen last
summer that a
revival of The
Heiress was being planned.
When I saw the
cast—Jessica
Chastain (in her
Broadway debut), Dan Stevens (aka
Downton Abbey’s Matthew
Crawley), David
Strathairn, and
Judith Ivey—I
checked the dates. Sunday afternoon would be the
first performance in previews. I got tickets online
the moment they went on sale. I went with my dear
friend, former Milwaukeean and current JASNA
NYC member Julie Tynion.
The Heiress, written in 1947 by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, is an adaptation of Henry James’
novel Washington Square. The Goetzes also wrote
13
send comes into her life, no one else had told her
anything different. Chastain shows us a Catherine
whose tragic fate it is to have her potential for love
systematically destroyed until the only power left
for her to exercise is revenge.
There were more than a few Downton Abbey/
Matthew Crawley groupies in the house, so when
Dan Stevens was in the wing, you could hear an
audible gasp. Mr. Stevens acquitted himself well.
He nailed the 19th century Brahman accent and he
gave Morris a nicely insinuating edge. When he
charms Catherine and flatters Aunt Lavinia one is
reminded of our old friend George Wickham. David
Straitern and Judith Ivey were also terrific as Dr.
Sloper and Aunt Lavinia, as were all the minor cast
members, especially, Dee Nelson, who stood out as
Morris’ beleaguered sister. All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon.
And so the curtain falls on my theatergoing adventures. I hope my fellow Janeites can forgive me
forgoing some of the excellent entertainments
planned in her honor to sneak away to the theater.
And knowing her love of the theater, I trust Jane
would have approved—and even snuck away herself and joined me!
AGM Essay Contest
Wisconsin Winner
There were over 80 submissions in this year’s Jane
Austen Society Essay Contest with entries from all
over the world. Among the winners was Emily E.
Kingman of UW-Madison, whose essay was entitled, “Miss Woodhouse’s Misapplied Sense: Separating Situation from Manipulation in Emma.” She
received Second prize in the College division. The JASNA website lists her awards, and her
essay will be published there in November. The
JASNA-WI Board voted to give Ms. Kingman a
grant of $250 to help defray traveling expenses to
the Brooklyn AGM. Her thank you follows.
Dear JASNA Wisconsin,
Jane Austen, in her infinite wisdom, wrote,
“Let us never underestimate the power of a wellwritten letter”; the extent to which I agree, however,
is matched by an understanding of just how “wellwritten” her letters were. I hope, by borrowing
some of her words, to capture a fraction of that
“power” she wielded.
“My idea of good company,” I observe alongside Miss Austen, is that “of clever, well-informed
people who have a great deal of conversation,” and
I was thrilled to have found such at the AGM. If my
experience in New York proved anything, it was
that “one cannot have too large a party” (and, in
equal turn, that “one man’s style must not be the
rule of another’s”)! Yes, “there is nothing like staying at home for real comfort”—whether “home”
be under a roof or among
friends.
Thank you so much
for your assistance in getting me to New York, as
well as your warm welcome throughout the
AGM. It was the experience of a lifetime, and my
thankfulness has only
been superseded by my
gratitude.
More for Downton Abbey fans:
Sincerely,
Emily Kingman
14
Emily Kingman.
Antique Fan Exhibition
at the AGM
Jane Austen: A Musical Tribute
by Coral Bishop
On Sunday evening, 7 October 2012, the Vassar
College Women’s Chorus performed a marvelous
program at the historic Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, New York. One of the student/
singers spent the past summer working on a grant
to research the music to be sung. We also heard
two commissioned pieces premiered that evening
to an appreciative audience.
One piece was entitled “Cassandra’s Lament”
and composed by Joelle Wallach. She interwove
the words from Cassandra Austen’s letters written
after her sister’s death, from Jane Austen’s prayers
and last words, and the Anglican Requiem to create
a powerful and emotional musical lament. On an
entirely different note, the second commissioned
piece was composed by Eleanor Daley with the title “Three Poems from the Parlour.” These poems
were based on a game that required writing a poem
whose last word had to rhyme with “rose.” The
three authors of the poems were Jane, Cassandra
and Mrs. Austen. Each poem was given a different
music style and was quite entertaining. Mrs.
George Austen ends her poem: “And now I believe
I must come to a close, for I find I grow stupid e’en
while I compose. If I write any longer my verse
will be prose.”
The end of the concert was followed by a reception and a dinner held in the Fellowship Hall of
the church. Afterward some of us spent time enjoying the stained glass windows depicting Pilgrims, a
Tiffany window in the Hall and pictures of early
pastors of the church including Henry Ward Beecher, the fiery abolitionist whose sister (Harriet
Ward Beecher Stowe) had her picture and an edition of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ on display as well.
Vassar College Women’s Chorus.
Among other delightful presentations and exhibits, that of
Dr. Abbey Block Cash, the president of the Fan Association of North America (FANA) stood out. Below are some
of the gorgeous fans from Jane Austen’s time that she displayed Learn more about FANA at their website.
(www.fanassociation.org)
Antique Fan Exhibition by Abbey Block Cash
15
On this valuable fan the faces are made out
of ivory.
News from Chawton House Library by Marsha Huff
Here is a message from JASNA's good friend Chawton House Library. The video features Steve Lawrence
and Gillian Dow, whom many of you know.
For US members, tax deductible donations may be made to North American Friends of Chawton House
Library, 824 Roosevelt Trail, #130, Windham, ME 04062.
Today is an exciting day: Thanks to the generosity of international search engine, Bing.com, we have been
seleced from thousands of applicants to feature on their website as their
CHARITY OF THE MONTH...and today's the day IT LAUNCHES!
A specially-filmed video about our work has been made for us by Bing.com - view it here.
Our photographs are featuring on the Bing.com homepage.
With eleven million users of the site visiting it every day, this is amazing publicity for us. Please watch the
video and encourage all your friends to do the same!
Whatever we can do to spread the word ultimately helps to ensure our survival and encourage support.
Please watch the video and consider whether you can spare a little more to help this enterprise to survive - visit www.chawtonhouse.org to donate and click on 'Get Involved'.
Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to let us know what you think of the campaign!
Best wishes,
Eleanor Marsden, Director of Development, Chawton House Library
16
ter knowledge. I’m certain if @The_Jane_Austen
were with us today, she’d join in.
The authors do a thoughtful job of remodeling the
P&P story: so far, it’s held together. The friends
party in bars (Lydia has a fake ID). Wickham
coaches the Marines, a swim team. The Bennet
home mortgage is threatened. Lizzie relates all this
in her vlog.
A video blog is like a short, personal television
news update, with the blogger – usually Lizzie, but
sometimes other characters – acting as reporter. Of
course, we’re really seeing actresses playing Lizzie,
Lydia or Jane: we imagine they’re genuine contemporary people. That makes it fun.
Like a letter, a vlog episode is inherently disjointed. Lizzie only gets 3 minutes or so, twice
weekly, to bring us up to date with her life. Interspersed tweets are even shorter: one or two terse
sentences. Perhaps that’s why characters seem a bit
one-sided and over-acted – like many true internet
correspondents. That’s OK for say, Lydia, but Lizzie herself has become even more forthright, almost
strident, at the expense of her Austen-like wit. A
pity.
Like a letter, a vlog can only present action
after the fact. Lizzie and her sisters try to obviate
this by donning headwear and playing the parts of
off-screen characters (shades of Austen family theatricals?) This is fun, too.
By contrast, a Twitter feed purports to happen
in real time. We follow along through the day as
action unfolds. We even learn what other characters
are discussing, information JA often withheld:
Bing Lee?@bingliest
@wmdarcy You left your phone here on accident
so hopefully you'll see this at some point today.
There's a message for you, not sure who from
Bing Lee?@bingliest
@wmdarcy @that_caroline left a long note on the
kitchen counter for you about whoever it was that
called.
William Darcy?@wmdarcy
@bingliest Thanks, I'll get it later tonight.
TLBD: Miss Elizabeth Bennet
Goes Viral
by Walter Burt
The concept of the novel was not fully realized
when Jane Austen came to it – how could it be with
no Jane Austen novels yet? But its epistolary form
was already well established and clearly intrigued
Austen. She tried her hand couching novels as a
series of letters more than once. In the unpublished
Lady Susan she wrestled with problems of point of
view and incomplete character knowledge that this
form poses – few novelists approach the mastery
she eventually attained.
So I was surprised to find, when our Madison
group recently discussed Lady Susan, that only a
few of us like its episodic, epistolary presentation.
Of those, even fewer may enjoy The Lizzy Bennet
Diaries (or TLBD, as its own authors abbreviate it).
But I am enthralled.
TLBD centers on a video blog (vlog) regularly
contributed to YouTube by Lizzie Bennet, a
“millennial” grad student, with the help of her best
friend, fledgling video producer Charlotte Lu. The
story opens as eligible young medical student Bing
Lee buys a large house in their suburban neighborhood. Lizzie’s marriage-obsessed mother goes ballistic. Sound familiar?
Lizzie’s and Bing’s families and friends are
gradually drawn into the story though the mesh of
current Internet platforms: largely Twitter, but also
Tumblr, Facebook and so forth. As a social-media
curmudgeon, I have long declared myself a Facebook free zone (and I still am). But I have swallowed my pride and curbed my prejudices to follow
this engaging drama, and even to participate in a
small way. Yes, participate.
TLBD is just one of many examples of this
inchoate and unproven new art form, though it may
be the first to transliterate a classic text. Would-be
Jane Austens are out there now, wrestling with new
problems of point of view and of too much charac17
William Darcy?@wmdarcy
@bingliest Wait, does that mean Caroline answered
my cell phone?
Bing Lee?@bingliest
@wmdarcy Yeah, she was just trying to be helpful.
Caroline Lee?@that_caroline
It kept ringing. I had to answer it! RT @eleneariel:
Dude, @that_caroline, you couldn't have just let it
go to voicemail? SERIOUSLY?
Did you catch that Caroline’s defensive reply is to a
reproach by a real person, @eleneariel? That’s
right: you too can tell Wickham what you think of
him, and maybe get a reply! Some have.
In a few cases, readers have even helped advance the plot. For instance, Maria Lu credited a
reader for healing the breach between big sister
Charlotte and Lizzie after Charlotte signed a lucrative contract to go off and produce dreary corporate
videos for the firm Collins & Collins.
I don’t yet know what that intercepted phone
message was, though I can guess. In her day, Jane
Austen struggled to find ways for heroines to learn
private information. They had to fortuitously position themselves behind hedgerows as their acquaintances strolled by. (See Chapman’s notes to
Persuasion Book 1, Chapter 10.)
In the internet age, there are only too many
ways for secrets to be revealed. Like many young
digerati, TLBD heroines forget that anybody may
read their posts. Darcy is one of the few still unaware of Lizzie’s vlog: I fear what may transpire
when he learns she regularly calls him a “Douche.”
And he’s beginning to suspect: “People on the
internet truly terrify me sometimes,” he confides to
little sister @ggdarcy. “It is weird how they seem to
know so much about you. It's not like you're a public figure or anything...” she replies.
Darcy’s just reencountered Lizzie at the compound of VC investor Catherine DeBourgh. Want
do find out what happens next? Go to
www.lizziebennet.com, where previous postings
are cached and many tweets storified: try not to
overdose like I did!
Spring Gala
Save the Date!
Mark your calendars for the 2013
Spring Gala:
Saturday, May 4 at Maple Bluff
Country Club in Madison
JASNA President, Iris Lutz, will
speak about the estates and homes,
both actual and fictional, during
Jane Austen’s time. Iris has presented this talk to numerous regions
over the past couple years and has
drawn accolades throughout the
country.
Purchaser of Austen’s
Turquoise Ring Revealed
According to reports in the press, Kelly Clarkson,
the American Idol singer, bought Jane Austen’s
ring, as well as a first edition of Persuasion. But
there’s a catch: the ring has been declared a national
UK treasure, and Clarkson has not been issued permission to export the ring.
Lizzie &
Charlotte act
the parts of
Mr. & Mrs.
Bennet at
LizzieBennet.com
Read more at Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine:
18
http://janeaustenmagazine.co.uk/news/
opening day. She was particularly complimentary
of the MAM’s installation of the paintings. Visitors
are able to get closer to the paintings in Milwaukee,
she pointed out, than in the Kenwood’s rooms. A
close view of the details of the paintings will reveal
many fascinating insights, such as the artist’s
brushwork, techniques, coloration, and the thickness of the paint. So follow Ms. Jenkins’ advice
and take advantage of this special opportunity to
study the minutiae of the
paintings
while they are
in Milwaukee.
You may never get a similar chance.
Dr.
Susan Jenkins
is a senior curator at Kenwood House
for English
Heritage, the
British government’s
agency adThe Children of John Julius
ministering
Angerstein, Joshua Reynolds, 1783.
hundreds of
historical sites, from Stonehenge to Cold War nuclear missile sites. She trained at London’s Courtauld Institute and previously served as a curator at
Apsley House, the Wellington Museum.
Dr. Jenkins acquainted the audience with
the career of Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927),
who ran the Guinness Brewery for many years. After his retirement in 1886, he turned his talents to
acquiring a great collection of masterworks, buying
about 200, over sixty of which he bequeathed to the
nation. He was named Earl of Iveagh in 1919. The
Iveagh Trust purchased Kenwood House with the
intention of turning it into an art museum to display
the collection but sadly, Lord Iveagh died in 1927,
before the paintings were installed. However, his
intentions have been fulfilled and are carried on
today by English Heritage.
Four particular interests of Lord Iveagh
guided his choice of paintings and these four are
used to arrange the paintings at the MAM. They
are: Dutch and Flemish artworks, long valued by
Experiencing England’s
Great Artists in Milwaukee
October to January:
Walking in Jane Austen’s
Footsteps?
By Victoria Hinshaw
The Milwaukee Art Museum is showing
Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London through January
13, 2013. Don’t miss
this exhibition, which
includes the greatest
British artists from
Jane Austen’s day.
Kenwood
House on Hampstead
Heath in Greater London, the home of these
great paintings, has
been closed for renovation by English Heritage; it will re-open
in late 2013 after the
roof is repaired and
Rembrandt van Rijn
many interiors rePortrait of the Artist, ca. 1665
stored to their appearance as famed architect Robert Adam designed
them in the 18th century. The collection was shown
in Houston last summer and after Milwaukee, will
travel to Seattle and Arkansas before returning to
Britain for reinstallation in Kenwood House.
I attended two of the opening events at the
MAM, talks by the curator and a famed British art
expert. Marsha Huff also attended and we agreed
their viewpoints were fascinating and greatly enhanced our enjoyment of the exhibition.
Curator of the exhibition, Susan Jenkins of
English Heritage at Kenwood House, spoke on the
19
Two Girls Dressing a Kitten by Candlelight, Joseph
Wright of Derby, c. 1768-70.
the British aristocracy; Portraits of Women, particularly by the great 18th century British portriatists;
Portrayals of Children; and Landscapes and Maritime pictures.
Foremost in the first group is, of course,
Portrait of the Artist, 1665, by Rembrandt van Rijn,
among many other outstanding works by Van
Dyke, Hals, and others. Reynolds and Gainsborough’s abilities were greatly admired even by their
contemporaries and their subjects, as well as those
of George Romney, Henry Raeburn, and John
Hoppner, are the aristocrats, the celebrities and the
disreputable women of their day. The children’s
portraits vary widely from the skipping miss of Sir
Thomas Lawrence to the dramatic candlelit image
by Joseph Wright of Derby. Among the landscapes
and maritime works is one of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s early seascapes which foreshadowed
his later dramatic and unique techniques.
The erudite Christopher Lloyd spoke on Contrasts in Royal Patronage: Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Thomas Gainsborough on October 18, 2012. Marsha and I agreed the excellent content of his talk
was rivaled only by our enjoyment of his delightful
voice and manner. Mr. Lloyd is the former Survey20
or of the Queen’s Pictures (the Royal Collection,
www.royalcollection.org.uk) and served as Guest
Curator for the MAM’s exhibition Impressionism:
Masterworks on Paper, one year ago.
Mr. Lloyd characterized the personalities
and gifts of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 – 1792) and
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), a study in contrasts. Though both came from modest beginnings
in the country, their approaches to their work could
hardly have been different. Though both excelled at
portraiture, they held entirely different attitudes toward the theory and practice of painting. Reynolds,
founding president of the Royal Society of Art, was
the ultimate
insider, friend
and colleague
of the greatest
men in literature, government and society. He studied
and followed
traditional
methodology
and utilized
classical ideals
by which to
organize his
works. Mr.
Lloyd recommended reading Reynolds’
collected lec- Lady Brisco, Thomas Gainsbortures on the
ough, c. 1776.
theory and
practice of painting, Discourses on Art.
Gainsborough was an outsider, on the edges
of the art establishment, always (in today’s terminology) pushing the envelope when it came to poses, techniques and even subject matter, though his
popular portraits financed his life. Where Joshua
Reynolds was official portrait painter to King
George III, Gainsborough was more likely to favor
– and be favored by – the raffish circle of George,
Prince of Wales, who disagreed with his father on
everything: his behavior, his friends and his taste in
art.
Reynolds and Gainsborough definitely were
rivals though when the latter was nearing death,
Reynolds reconciled with him and praised Gains-
borough’s achievements. They were men of great,
but very different, skills and temperaments. Mr.
Lloyd suggested that visitors to the exhibition look
for the great contrasts in the styles and techniques
of the two artists; Six pictures by Gainsborough
and nine by Reynolds are on display.
Many thanks for Dr. Jenkins and Mr. Lloyd
for their stimulating talks and to the MAM staff for
securing this excellent exhibition for Milwaukee.
I cannot say whether Jane Austen saw any
of these specific works, but she saw many like
them in her lifetime. We know she enjoyed visiting
exhibitions when she was in London, and probably
in Bath or at visits to other cities and country
homes where some might be hung. Only a few of
the works in the exhibition (the Lawrence and the
Landseers) were created after her death in 1817.
So, far-fetched as it might seem, you might be
“walking in Jane Austen’s footsteps” when you
visit the stunning Calatrava building on the shore
of Lake Michigan.
The exhibition Rembrandt, Van Dyck and
Gainsborough: The Treasures from Kenwood
House is organized by The American Federation of
Art and English Heritage.
One of the Morris dancers on Tom Quad wore a very
old sponge cheesehead, which he had acquired when
he studied for a semester at UW-Madison. (Tom Tower
is in the background.)
In Oxford with Jane
close ties to three Oxford colleges, though Christ
Church was not one of them. Theophilus Leigh was
Master of Balliol at the time Jane’s father, George
Austen, met Leigh’s niece Cassandra in Oxford.
George, a graduate of St. John’s, had returned to his
college as assistant chaplain. Cassandra’s father
was a Fellow at All Souls. Later, when Jane’s
brothers James and Henry attended St. John’s, they
were able to claim “Founder’s Kin” scholarships
because the Leighs were distantly related to the college founder. At the age of seven, Jane herself attended school in Oxford for a few months with her
sister.
Christ Church does, however, have special
associations with Jane Austen or, more accurately,
with her literary imagination. Above the high table
in the famous dining hall hang portraits of Cardinal
Wolsey, Henry VIII (who completed the college
after Wolsey’s death), and Queen Elizabeth I, all of
whom appear in “The History of England,” Jane’s
irreverent account of English monarchs written
By Marsha Huff
The dream of attending an Oxford college—a
room on the quad, meals in the dining hall, lectures
on history and literature—has an irresistible appeal
for many Anglophiles. Just such an “Oxford Experience” is offered each summer at Christ Church,
the great college founded in
the 16th century by Cardinal
Thomas Wolsey. Last winter
JASNA members shared
emails about a one-week
course in the 2012 curriculum offered by New York
University: “Jane Austen’s
Regency England.” Seizing
Our meals were
this opportunity to live out
served in Christ
Church dining hall on our fantasy, eight of us from
plates bearing part of across North America registhe college crest--a
tered for the class.
cardinal's cap in honor
Jane Austen’s family had
of Cardinal Wolsey.
21
and political and economic turmoil in England. We
met in the Dodgson Room, just off Oxford’s largest
quadrangle, Tom Quad, with Christopher Wren’s
imposing Tom Tower at the entrance and the circular pool and statue of Mercury in the center. Some
of us stayed in Peckwater Quad and others in Meadow Building, where, in Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead
Revisited, Sebastian Flyte has rooms.
We made excursions to two country houses,
Buscot Park and Stoneleigh Abbey. Buscot, built on
high ground and surrounded by an extensive park,
is an example of the Georgian taste for Palladian
design. To Jane Austen, the house—completed in
1783—would have been modern, like Mansfield,
described as “modern, airy, and well situated.”
Stoneleigh Abbey was the seat of Jane Austen’s relatives, the Leighs, who offered hospitality
to Charles I during the Civil War. In August 1806
Jane, her mother, and her sister travelled to Stoneleigh with
their
cousin
Thomas
Leigh as
he established his
claim to
the estate.
They
marveled Stoneleigh Abbey wore its summer glory--a
at the ba- stunning border of lavender.
roque interior of the early 18th-century house, decorated
throughout with unicorns from the Leigh crest. The
private chapel is probably the model for the chapel
at Sotherton in Mansfield Park. A few years after
her visit Jane would have heard that the grounds of
Stoneleigh were redesigned by Humphry Repton,
the landscape architect recommended to Mr. Rushworth for Sotherton.
Our Oxford experience wove together Jane
Austen’s life and work, situating it within the turbulent world of the Regency, which can—with a little
study—be discerned in her novels.
The Oxford Experience will offer two Austen
courses next summer: Jane Austen’s People in their
Places: Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park and
Jane Austen’s Heroines.
when she was 16. She undertook the history, she
says, to prove the innocence of Mary, Queen of
Scots. Consequently, she casts Elizabeth—“that
disgrace to humanity, that pest of society”—as the
villain of the piece because Elizabeth had Mary
killed when the Scottish queen became a threat.
Charles I, honored by Jane as Mary’s grandson,
established his court at Christ Church when Oliver
Cromwell and the Parliamentarians barred him
from London. Jane writes that there were at that
time few amiable
men in England,
“besides the inhabitants of Oxford who
were always loyal to
their King.” She also
singles out one of
the Leighs’ kin,
Thomas Wentworth,
first Earl of Strafford, as a noble supporter of the King.
Of course, the college has many other
literary associations.
W.H. Auden was at
The Leigh family crest, topped
Christ Church, and it
by a unicorn, is on a gate at
was there that mathStoneleigh Abbey.
ematics tutor
Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, met the
Dean’s daughter, Alice Liddell, immortalized in
Alice in Wonderland. Dodgson’s characters are depicted in stained glass windows in the dining hall,
where we took all our meals. A more recent fictional invention attracts hundreds of young fans: scenes
in the early Harry Potter movies were filmed on the
great staircase, and a replica of the hall served as
Hogwarts’ dining hall. In my favorite Oxford novel, Gaudy Night, Dorothy Sayers’s heroine, Harriet
Vane, meets Lord Peter Wimsey’s nephew, a Christ
Church man, when he accidentally knocks her
down as she leaves Christ Church Cathedral. Sayers
herself was born in a small house just across the
road from the college, marked with a blue plaque.
Each day our class enjoyed lectures and animated discussions about the personalities and
events of the Regency era: Prinny himself and his
wife and daughter; Jane’s literary contemporaries
Hannah More, Mary Wollstonecraft and William
Godwin, Shelley and Byron; the Napoleonic wars;
http://www.oxfordexperience.info/
22
answers to Fanny’s enquiries. Other issues include
Jane’s love of music, how Jane treats grandparents
in her writing, the unlucky life of Jane’s brother
Charles Austen and what became of the younger
George Austen, another brother. Maggie Lane
sought out the letters exchanged by members of the
Austen family and the Leighs and a bundle of receipts turned up for the cottage where George Austen lived under the care of the Cullum family.
George, the second son of the Austens, lived to the
age of 71, dying in
January 1838.
There are book
reviews in every
issue, sometimes a
movie review and
an article or two
about a great house
or an Earl or Countess. Look for a preview to the film
Mozart’s Sister
(partially filmed in
the Palace of Versailles) by Tim Bullamore in the May/
June 2012 issue.
Jane Austen’s connection to the current Duchess of Cambridge was
featured in the Sept/Oct 2011 issue. Former JASNA
President Marsha Huff wrote a preview of the AGM
Texas Style and Marsha is writing an article for an
upcoming issue about her recent class in residence
at Oxford. And, our own RC Liz Philosophos
Cooper wrote up the history of Jane’s first book.
Liz related she is engaged in writing another article
for the Jan/Feb 2013 issue. Vicky Hinshaw has also
contributed.
Our Wisconsin Region will continue to subscribe to Jane Austen Regency World and you, too,
can borrow the issues among those interested. The
back issues are mostly ageless and interesting. Just
contact Kathy O’Brien at [email protected],
Kathy Egstad at [email protected], or me at
[email protected]
Jane Austen Regency World
Magazine
by Judy Beine
We have so many resources in our 21st century
lives, i.e. TV, movies, MP3 players, even an old
fashioned radio, computer, iPad, e-readers, etc., and
I chose to sit in my comfy chair and read several
paper editions of the Jane Austen Regency World
magazine. “I do not know a more luxurious state,
sir, than sitting at one’s ease to be entertained a
whole evening…” [Mr. Knightley’s remarks to Mr.
Woodhouse in Emma.] Wisconsin Region subscribes to this periodical, published in Bath, England, and I borrowed several from our library
(currently maintained by Wisconsin Region’s Historian Kathy O’Brien). Tim Bullamore is the publisher at present and greets his magazine’s fans and solicits their subscriptions in the emporium at
JASNA’s AGMs.
The magazine formerly was in a larger format,
8 ¼” x 11 ½” and now is 6 ½” x 9 ½”. The cover
stock is a bit more durable now. The photos included in every issue and with almost every article are
spectacular. Now, I know you could search the internet and come up with many great depictions of
18th century portraits and literary/great houses, but
remember I’m in my comfy chair with my feet up.
Oh, okay, iPad users, you can do that too. I’m hoping the magazine will have an app soon and we’ll be
able to subscribe over the internet and, perhaps, at a
much lower price than its current £4.95 per issue
($7.98).
Some of the best articles included over the
years have always come from Maggie Lane, Consultant Editor of JARW. Maggie Lane is one of the
most knowledgeable living writers who can portray
Jane Austen, her life and novels, the time period and
its culture. In the July 2003 issue, Maggie Lane
takes us to the coastal resorts of the south of England where Jane and members of her family spent
summers. One learns a great deal about the slave
trade in Jane Austen’s time in the September 2004
magazine. Wouldn’t we like to know Sir Thomas’
JARW website & subscription info:
http://janeaustenmagazine.co.uk/
23
Fullerton’s favorite
dance scene
“is the Crown
Inn ball in
Emma…when
Emma first
starts to view
Mr. Knightley
as an attractive male, ra- Susanah Fullerton.
ther than as an old friend and family connection…it
thrills me every time.”
Fullerton analyzes each dancing scene in Austen’s novels, including her unfinished The Watsons
which has an extensive scene set at a dance. In
each case, she summarizes the scene and explains
its role in the development of relationships among
the characters and its role in the plot. Many of the
novels have several dancing scenes, from country
house parties to county assemblies to large private
balls. Dancing offered the young lady a place to
exhibit her charm, her fine person and her grace, or
it offered an opportunity to be slighted, to be only a
wallflower, or to choose the wrong partner, whether
it meant having toes crushed or a blot upon one’s
reputation by allowing the attentions of a rake.
In addition, Fullerton tells us about that most
exclusive subscription dance series at Almack’s, the
height of social achievement in London. She describes the role of the Bath master of ceremonies,
such as Beau Nash and his successor Mr. King.
Other sidelights tell us of the music and musicians,
ball attire, and typical suppers at a ball.
This volume is full of lovely illustrations and
should be a candidate for the bookshelf of every
lover of Jane Austen’s lively novels.
Susannah Fullerton is president of the Jane
Austen Society of Australia. In addition to her writing and speaking engagements, she has led literary
tours in her home country, in Britain, and in the
U.S.
A Dance with Jane Austen: How
a Novelist and her Characters
went to the Ball
A Book Review
by Victoria Hinshaw
Through the centuries,
dancing has been an
activity practiced by
large numbers of people. Look at all who
love to watch Dancing
With the Stars and the
great response to Mad
Hot Ballroom programs for teens in the
public schools. Dancing is a delightful way
to spend social time,
unless one is as clumsy as I am! Then, it is an activity devoutly to be avoided.
A Dance with Jane Austen by Susannah
Fullerton was published in October 2012, with a
foreword by Deirdre LeFaye, by Frances Lincoln
Limited, $24.95.
Two hundred years ago, local assemblies and
balls were popular
with the gentry, as
were folk dances in
the countryside.
Jane Austen herself
loved to dance and
in her letters to her
sister Cassandra
often told about her
Susannah Fullerton & Wisconencounters at varisin’s Susan Richard at the AGM. ous parties.
Susannah Fullerton, has turned her attention
to this happy form of expression – after her previous book, which certainly surveys a darker side of
life. Her Crime in Jane Austen is an excellent
source for students of JA’s work as well as for the
casual reader.
According to Fullerton, “Dances in the Regency era were almost the only opportunity young
men and women had to be on their own without a
chaperone right next to them, and dancing provided
the exciting chance of physical touch.”
24
Jane vs. George
by Susan Flaherty
“A reader marvels at
Jane Austen’s cleverness, but is astonished by George Eliot’s intelligence.”
Agree ? Disagree ?
Any comments may
be addressed to Rebecca Mead, the author of “Middlemarch
and Me,” published
in the February 14 &
21, 2011 issue of the
George Eliot
New Yorker. The essay is about George
Eliot, pen name of Mary Anne Evans, English author (1819-1880), but mentions Austen. Mead
writes about the George Eliot Fellowship, a society
of admirers of the author.
“In the (nineteen) nineties, the Fellowship’s
ranks were modestly swollen by what the British
papers called
‘Middlemarch mania,’
following the BBC’s
dramatization of the
novel; at its height, the
fellowship had more
than six hundred members, including a Japanese chapter, based in
Osaka. These days,
there are about four
hundred members – a
figure that compares
unfavorably with the
popularity enjoyed by
Jane Austen, whose society in North America
alone has four thousand members, and whose
works are the inspiration for bankable spinoffs,
from Clueless to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”
“Austen’s greater current popularity is understandable: she wrote crystalline, comic novels of
medium length. Eliot’s work was more varied in its
attainment, and more verbose: one publisher recent-
ly released a volume called The Mill on the Floss:
In Half the Time, an abridgement for those unable
to countenance a six-hundred page book. ... Eliot
admired Austen: she and (George Henry) Lewes
read Austen’s novels aloud to each other in 1857,
when she was embarking upon her own first effort
at fiction – the stories that became Scenes of Clerical Life. But George Eliot, as she became known
when that collection was published, went on to surpass her precursor. She is as adept as Austen at the
ironic depiction of high- and middle-class society:
Mr. Brooke, Dorothea’s middle-aged uncle, is a not
too distant cousin of Mr. Bennet; and Mrs. Vincy,
the exquisitely banal mother of Rosamond, might
easily have found her way to Middlemarch via
Highbury. But Eliot’s satire, unlike Austen’s, stops
short of cruelty. She is inveterately magnanimous,
even when it comes to her most flawed characters;
her default authorial position is one of pity. Rosamond Vincy is foolish and intractable... But the sequence of chapters in which self-involved, trivial
Rosamond realizes that Will Ladislaw is in love
with Dorothea, not her—she is ‘taken hold of by an
emotion stronger than her own, hurried along in a
new movement which gave all things some new,
awful, undefined aspect’ – is a masterpiece of sympathetic imagination. A reader marvels at Jane Austen’s cleverness, but is astonished by George Eliot’s
intelligence.”
Readers of Austen might like to tell an Eliot
from another.
Wisconsin’s Lily Miceli’s
Radio Show
Check out Lily Miceli’s radio show, using the
links below to the website. All her shows are archived there, including one on “Music & Jane
Austen”!
In Between The Music WGTD-HD3 103.3 FM
Lake Geneva
"Where music gives voice to words"
http://www.inbetweenthemusic.blogspot.com
WGTD http://www.wgtd.org
25
Wisconsin’s Own Victoria Hinshaw’s
Novels Are Now Available as E-Books
If you find yourself missing the excitement of the
presidential election, this was spotted on the
Huffington Post: “Jane Austen Weekly: Jane
Austen Votes for President,” posted by Susan
Celia Greenfield of Fordham University.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-celia-greenfield/janeausten-weekly-jane-a_b_2059973.html
***
Holiday Shopping!!
Yes, Her Solar Majesty is
available, just in time for
Christmas. She waves in all
her regal pastel regalia, complete with diamante crown and
brooch, powered by the royal
solar panel on her purse.
That’s her loyal, royal corgi, Elroy (get it?) by her
side. He wags his head, also in a regal manner.
See more at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Kikkerland-JubileeCommemorative-Limited-Edition/dp/
B007EBGUKM/ref=pd_bxgy_hg_img_y
Editor’s note: My husband bought these for me
as a cheering gift for me, and let me tell you, you
can’t be anything but cheerful with Her Majesty
waving at you!
Victoria Hinshaw announces
the re-publication of two of her
novels as e-books, available from
Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords
websites in November, 2012.
In The Fontainebleau Fan,
Miss Meg Hayward paints trifles
to sell, a way to avoid poverty.
When her copy of an antique fan
is sold as the real thing, she must
find it and make amends. Nicholas Wadsworth, the
Earl of Wakefield, believes he was swindled by the
lovely young artist. How could he know that
spending weeks with her at his estate would lead
him from anger and humiliation to sympathy and
affection?
The Eligible Miss Elliott is also a traditional
Regency Romance, set in Bath. Miss Rosalind Elliott, in possession of a handsome fortune, is understandably suspicious of suitors who pursue her. Instead of admiring her pretty face and enjoying her
witty charm, they show more interest in the size of
her bank account. To the gossips at Bath’s Pump
Room, Naval Captain Philip Caldwell seems just
another fortune hunter. How can Rosalind and Philip prove them wrong and find true love?
Both novels were originally published by Kensington-Zebra Regency Romances in 2002 and
2003. Four more of Hinshaw’s traditional regencies will be available in the next few months. All
are intended for a general audience, including
young adults.
As half of the team Summit Wahl, Hinshaw is
also the co-author of the family saga BirthRights:
A Dangerous Brew, set in Milwaukee from 18701920, available as an e-book from Kindle, Nook or
Smashwords. Originally published in 1983 by
Pocket Books, the novel follows the career of Adam Koenig, who establishes a brewing dynasty but
leaves a troubled legacy for his family.
For more information, see Victoria’s website at
www.victoriahinshaw.com or her pages on Facebook (also as Summit Wahl) and her blogs, particularly www.onelondonone.blogspot.com where she
and co-blogger Kristine Hughes write about their
love of and travel to England, as well as Jane Aus26 ten, Charles Dickens, and assorted topics.
For mailed checks send National JASNA dues to:
Carole Stokes
3140 S. Temperance Way
Boise, ID 83706
Membership Reminder
by Judy Beine
Wisconsin Region Membership
Coordinator 2002-2012
IMPORTANT REMINDER
From National JASNA
Wisconsin Region now numbers
169
with
eight
new members since September 1.
To all members—above all Life Members—
It is very important to communicate to JASNA
your new address, whenever you move. JASNA
News (and any other correspondence) that are not
deliverable as addressed are returned to me. I noticed that more than 50% of the JASNA News returned had been addressed to Life Members. When
this happen, the member does not get one of the
benefits of membership and JASNA, on top of the
cost of the publication, has to pay $3.10 for each
returned JASNA News.
Welcome to New Members:
Emily Kingman, Essay Winner,
from Cottage Grove, Wisconsin
Prof. Scott Mellor, Emily’s Mentor
Dr. Joseph Vitolo of Brookfield
Mary-Phyllis Balsitis of Walworth
Nancy Cincotta of Brookfield
Elizabeth Hamill of Hudson
Penny Hase of Mequon
Jennifer Thill of Belgium
Thank you,
Isa Schaff
JASNA Data Base Manager
However, 38 members have not yet renewed with
National for September 1, 2012 through August 31,
2013. Remember, to remain in JASNA and
Wisconsin Region you must send your check, or
pay by PayPal (see jasna.org website), payable to
JASNA:
JASNA-WI members: All
members of JASNA who live
in Wisconsin are automatically members of JASNA-WI
Region.
Student annual (full-time)
$18
Individual annual
$30
Family annual
$45
Sustaining annual
$60
Individual life
$350
Convert to Family life
$150
Family life
$500
Please keep your email, addresses, and other contact
information up to date with
our new membership chair,
Jane Kivlin.
Send all contact information changes to:
Jane Kivlin, [email protected]
For further questions on membership, please call 1800-836-3911 or e-mail the US/International Membership Secretary, Carole Stokes,
[email protected]
27
If you provide our Membership Coordinator with
your email address (or have already done so), you
will receive an electronic version of the Wire,
JASNA-Wisconsin’s newsletter, free of charge. If
you don’t have an email address, you may receive
a paper copy of the Wire by mail by paying a subscription fee of $15.00 per calendar year. Make
your check payable to JASNA-WI and mail to
Jane Kivlin, 1870 Elm Tree Road, Elm Grove, WI
53122.
Joining us for the Birthday Luncheon? Please fill out the following
portion. You may pay the JASNA-WI Wire paper version subscription
fee and your Birthday Luncheon Fee with one check PROVIDED
you fill out both forms COMPLETELY and put a memo on your
check. THANK YOU!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Milwaukee Birthday Luncheon Reservation
Please reserve _______ places for the Birthday Luncheon, Saturday, December 15, 2012:
Entrée choice:
______ Traditional Beef Wellington with Madeira sauce
______ Parmesan Crusted Salmon
______ Grilled Vegetables with Seasonal Greens and Dressing
______
Add Chicken
______
Add Shrimp
(Price includes champagne, dessert, and gratuity)
$30.00
$27.00
$20.00
$26.00
$29.00
Lunch total $____________
Member’s Name ___________________________________ Phone: ___________
Please indicate Guest’s name and entrée choice
___________________________________________________________________
RESERVATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2012.
Send your check payable to JASNA-WI and mail to:
Jane Morris, 2767 South 43rd Street,
Milwaukee, WI 53219
Questions: 414-541-8410 or [email protected]. No telephone or email reservations will
be accepted.
Directions to North Hills Country Club for Birthday Luncheon
North Hills Country Club is located at N73 W13430 Appleton Avenue, Menomonee Falls (262-251-5750).
From the south and west: Take Hwy 45 to Hwy 175/Appleton Ave. exit and to northwest (left) on Appleton for about 2 miles.
After the intersection with Good Hope Rd, the second driveway on the right is North Hills.
From the east: Take Good Hope Rd. west to Appleton Ave., make a soft right turn onto Appleton; turn into the second driveway
on the right.
From the north: Take Hwy 45 to Good Hope West exit, turn right at the stop light onto Appleton Ave., turn into the second driveway on the right.
28