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Tuesday, August 31

Where is Waldo, er .... I mean, Jane?


Penguin Books is celebrating its 75 year anniversary and placed an offer on Amazon with 75 books! And who is among the company? Our dear Jane, but it is not that simple to find her.

So you must click on the image in the Amazon site, where you can zoom, and have fun!

Posted by Raquel Sallaberry, Jane Austen em Portugues

Sunday, August 29

Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Throwdown

Gentle readers: I've been curious about your devotion to Pride and Prejudice for a long time. How many of you have read the book and seen a movie? How many of you have seen all the films, as well as a stage production? And have you read a sequel or prequel, or other Austenesque books? Or own a DVD or soundtrack CD of the film? Let us know.

You may click on as many Pride and Prejudice categories as apply!

Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Throwdown
I've read Pride and Prejudice once
I've read the book multiple times
I've seen a film adaptation
I've seen more than 3 film adaptations
I own at least one DVD of a film adaptation
I own an audio book of Pride and Prejudice
I've listened to an audio version of the book
I've seen a stage play of Pride and Prejudice
I read Pride and Prejudice prequels and sequels
I've read Pride and Prejudice mash ups
I've read Pride and Prejudice, the comic
Other
pollcode.com free polls
  • If you clicked on at least ten categories, then there's no hope for you. You are a confirmed Pride and Prejudice addict.
  • If you clicked on at least six categories, you are a Pride and Prejudice expert.
  • If you clicked on three or more categories, you are a confirmed Pride and Prejudice fan.
  • If you clicked on only one category, you have years of joyful exploration ahead of you.

Saturday, August 28

Jane Austen's Regency World Magazine: A New Issue

The September/October 2010 issue of Jane Austen's Regency World magazine is published this week.

Featured on the cover (copy attached) is a scene from The Secret Diary of Anne Lister, the BBC's new drama about a Georgian heiress who follows an unconventional path in life and love.

Jane Austen's Regency World magazine is also delighted to announce that it will be at the following events:
- Bath Jane Austen Festival, country fayre at the Guildhall, Bath, on Saturday, September 19

- JASNA AGM, Regency Emporium, in Portland, Oregon, October 28-30
Readers are invited to visit our stand and say hello!
Highlights of the new issue of the magazine include:
  • The Latin touch: how Jane's fame is spreading in Brazil
  • A very secret diary: the heiress Anne Lister's love for a woman has been turned into a film
  • A Cornish exile: Maggie Lane explores the life and times of Charles Austen, Jane's seafaring brother
  • Jane's best jest: Paul Bethel compares Emma with Mansfield Park
  • Required reading: Sue Wilkes explains how no Georgian gentleman could afford to miss
  • Enter stage right: Jane Austen would have known the old Theatre Royal in Bath
  • My Jane Austen, Marsha Huff: The outgoing president of JASNA shares her love of Jane Austen

Full details of Jane Austen's Regency World magazine, which is published every two months, are available on our website www.janeaustenmagazine.co.uk

Friday, August 27

Follow: Friday Jane Austen and Her Regency World

Several months ago I set up a group on Facebook called Jane Austen and Her Regency World. I place items of interest about Jane Austen, many of them not featured here, on that page. For example, I linked to Jane Austen's Fight Club when it had only 600 visitors. For breaking news about Jane, join Jane Austen and Her Regency World, and find out everything you wanted to know about her but just don't have time to Google or Bing.

Wednesday, August 25

Images from Colin Firth's Latest Flick: The King's Speech

Colin Firth and Helena Bonham-Carter as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

Can you stand to wait for the premiere of The King's Speech, biopic about King George the VI and his stuttering problem? Here are a few images and a movie trailer/interview.



Interview with Colin Firth about the film on Serenity of Period Films


Director Tom Hooper and Colin Firth


Article in the Daily Mail: A majestic opportunity beckons for King Colin the Firth

Geoffrey Rush as the speech therapist

Tuesday, August 24

Pride and Prejudice at Historic Alnwick Castle


Alnwick Castle. The setting cannot be more romantic for Pride and Prejudice. Scheduled for September 5th, the savvy traveler still has time to purchase tickets to watch the production. Read the full story here.

Posted by Raquel Sallaberry, Jane Austen em Português

Monday, August 23

Did Jane Austen Visit Tenby?

Gentle Readers: Tony Grant has been on holiday - to Bath and the West Country. His last letter to me was filled with wonderful information and images. Enjoy!
Tenby in the rain

Hi Vic,

Got back from Tenby yesterday.

The weather was wet.

I feel all fired up to write a Bath article for next week if you can forgive me for having disappeared for a while.


The town

While we were in Tenby we went up to the excellent museum they have on Castle Hill. I asked whether Jane Austen had stayed in the town. The people there seemed to think she had. They weren't sure which house she stayed in though. When I pointed out that the only reference to Tenby I have found, is in one letter and that mentions acquaintances going to the seaside resort. It didn't faze them in the museum. Everybody wants to claim Jane, whatever the the slim connection might be it seems.
Tudor merchant's house

Anyway, George Elliott did stay there for a while with her lover and future husband and actually was inspired to begin writing Silas Marner while a resident.Also Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton stayed in one of the town houses inTenby. Edmund Keen, the actor, a favourite of Janes, stopped off while sailing round the coast on his yacht. He was persuaded to perform his, Shylock, in the town theatre for one night.

George Elliot stayed here

There are some beautiful 18th century town houses in Tenby.

Harbour view

Hope everything is well with you.

All the best,
Tony

George Elliot stayed here

Posted by Tony Grant, London Calling



Sunday, August 22

Jane Austen Character Throwdown

In several novels Jane Austen showed the results of bad behavior by young ladies. Eliza, seduced by Willoughby and the ward of Colonel Brandon, lives in obscurity in a cottage with the child she conceived out of wedlock, her young life ruined. Willoughby's callous actions and attitude towards her showed his true character. Two other young ladies were meted out punishment by Jane for their rash actions: Maria Rushworth née Bertram and Lydia Wickham née Bennet. Whose punishment was worse? Maria's or Lydia's?



Maria was engaged to Mr. Rushworth when she set her cap on Henry Crawford. Their flirtation continued even after her marriage. When Fanny Price rejected Henry's advances, he ran away with the married Maria. His punishment? Loss of respect. For Maria the consequences were more severe. Mr. Rushworth divorced her, and her father, Sir Thomas, banished her to live in a remote cottage with Mrs. Norris.

Maria had destroyed her own character, and [Sir Thomas] would not by a vain attempt to restore what never could be restored, by affording his sanction to vice, or in seeking to lessen its disgrace, be anywise accessory to introducing such misery in another man's family, as he had known himself.

It ended in Mrs. Norris's resolving to quit Mansfield, and devote herself to her unfortunate Maria, and in an establishment being formed for them in another country—remote and private, where, shut up together with little society, on one side no affection, on the other, no judgment, it may be reasonably supposed that their tempers became their mutual punishment.


Lydia's punishment for being giddy, impetuous and foolish resulted in lifelong unhappiness. Her parents' leniency towards her brash behavior allowed her passion to rule her. Too late Lydia learned that passion rarely lasts.
"It had always been evident to [Elizabeth] that such an income as theirs, under the direction of two persons so extravagant in their wants, and heedless of the future, must be very insufficient to their support; and whenever they changed their quarters, either Jane or herself were sure of being applied to for some little assistance towards discharging their bills. Their manner of living, even when the restoration of peace dismissed them to a home, was unsettled in the extreme. They were always moving from place to place in quest of a cheap situation, and always spending more than they ought. His affection for her soon sunk into indifference; her's lasted a little longer; and in spite of her youth and her manners, she retained all the claims to reputation which her marriage had given her."


pollcode.com free polls
Whose punishment was worse?
Maria Rushworth's Lydia Wickham's   



Saturday, August 21

Sense and Sensibility, Comics

Gentle Readers, Sense and Sensibility, the comic book version from Marvel Comics, has been out since late May. Volume 4 of 5 is now available. The following images (from Comic Book Resources) provide previews of each volume so far. Click on each image to enlarge and read it. Enjoy. Story by Jane Austen and Nancy Butler; images by Sonny Liew.

Volume 1: The death of Mr. Dashwood creates hardship for his widow and daughters. While John Dashwood, the son from a previous marriage, promised to look after his stepmother and half sisters, Fanny Dashwood persuades him from honoring his obligation....













Stay tuned this week for previews of the other volumes.


Friday, August 20

Follow Friday: Raise funds by clicking for Chawton House

Intrigued?

You can now raise funds when you search the web!
Use easysearch every time you search the Web and we'll give 50% of the fees paid by our advertising sponsors to Chawton House Library - less info...
Use easysearch instead of Google or any other search engine and you can make a real difference to Chawton House Library. By making just 10 searches a day with easysearch, you can raise around £20 a year.



As well as raising funds, easysearch also gives you the best search results available on Web. Today, the Internet is so big that different search engines will deliver different results for the same search. So, by combining the strengths of several search engines together - Yahoo!, Bing, Ask.com, MIVA, and many more - you get the very best results in terms of accuracy and relevance, which means you'll find what you're looking for quickly and easily every time - all in one 'easy' search! Click here to visit the site.

Thank you Christine Stewart for alerting me to this site: Embarking on a Course of Study

Thursday, August 19

Thoughts About Jane Austen

Poking around the internet always leads to interesting new trails and information. Case in point, the Bookstove, a site that collects articles and reviews. Two anti-Jane posts caught my eye:

Going off Austen: This writer is considering taking Pride and Prejudice off her book shelves. Do you agree, disagree? Inquiring minds want to know.

Five Reasons Why Mr. Darcy Can't Satisfy Today's Woman is sure to get your goat. Or perhaps not if you are a Mr. Knightley, Colonel Brandon, or Henry Tilney fan. Enjoy the article, then let us know what you think of the author's opinion!

(Icons created for a 2007 Jane Austen Today contest)

Wednesday, August 18

Trip to Bath: Milsom Street

Inquiring Readers: Tony Grant has been on holiday visiting Bath and the West Country. He has sent me some glorious images. These, taken on Milsom Street, remind me of the post I had placed on this site just a month ago: Shopping and Milsom Street, Bath.


I had always thought of Milsom Street as being a shopping district, but when Catherine Morland sets out to find Miss Tilney in Northanger Abbey, it turns out that the General has rented a house in Milsom Street:
Catherine cheerfully complied, and being properly equipped, was more impatient than ever to be at the pump-room, that she might inform herself of General Tilneys lodgings, for though she believed they were in Milsom Street, she was not certain of the house, and Mrs. Allen's wavering convictions only made it more doubtful. To Milsom Street she was directed, and having made herself perfect in the number, hastened away with eager steps and a beating heart to pay her visit, explain her conduct, and be forgiven; tripping lightly through the church-yard, and resolutely turning away her eyes, that she might not be obliged to see her beloved Isabella and her dear family, who, she had reason to believe, were in a shop hard by. She reached the house without any impediment, looked at the number, knocked at the door, and inquired for Miss Tilney.

Studying the images that Tony sent, the street must have been loud and bustling with activity. Granted, today's Bath is filled with tourists and cars, but back then, on rainy days, women wore pattens that clattered on cobblestones, carriage wheels rattled, horses' hooves clopped, and the cries of street sellers rang through the air.


Image from Victoria Art Gallery, Bath; Photos from Tony Grant, London Calling

Tuesday, August 17

Ungrateful! A discarded Jane Austen Book

I won a gift of Jane Austen's complete works, which was bought in a second hand book store. The book is wonderful, but what caught my attention was the dedication of love on the first page. The lovely words must not have touched the book's recipient, for shortly after receiving the gift that person sold the book to a second hand book store, where a friend of mine bought it.
Poor boy... I hope the author of so loving a dedication will have a beautiful life and forget this ungrateful creature!

Posted by Raquel Sallaberry, Jane Austen em Português

Sunday, August 15

Jane Austen Throwdown

The settings that Jane Austen chose for her characters were important to her plot. Much of Northanger Abbey was set in Bath, Elizabeth and the Gardiners traveled to Derbyshire where Pemberley lay, Lydia got into trouble in Brighton, and Box Hill, where Emma was so rude to Miss Bates, is set in Surrey.

We now ask you to choose two of your favorite Jane Austen locations. Bath or London? Steventon Rectory or Chawton Cottage?

Two of Your Favorite Jane Austen Locations


Bath, an ancient city, whose Roman Baths and drinking waters attracted rich and poor alike. It was said that more doctors and apothecaries were licensed in Bath than any other city in Great Britain.


London, the largest city in Europe in Jane's day. She would visit her brother, Henry, who lived in town and acted as her agent. Jane most particularly liked London's parks and gardens, and would frequent the shops, bringing back items for her family.


pollcode.com free polls
Bath or London?
Bath London


Steventon Rectory. Jane spent most of her childhood in Steventon Rectory. Here is where she learned to write, and where her close-knit family nurtured her talent. When she learned that her parents had made plans to move to Bath and from a home she loved, Jane fainted.


Chawton Cottage was refurbished by Jane's rich brother Edward, who invited her, Cassandra, and Mrs. Austen to live there. Jane spent her most productive writing years during her time in Chawton, revising Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey, and writing Emma, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park. She began Sanditon there, completing 11 chapters before succumbing to her fatal illness.


pollcode.com free polls
Steventon Rectory or Chawton Cottage?
Steventon Rectory Chawton Cottage


Saturday, August 14

Joanna David: Character Actress in Jane Austen Film Adaptations

My favorite portrayal of Mrs. Gardiner is Joanna David's in 1995's Pride and Prejudice. In this film, she had an opportunity to work with her daughter, Emilia Fox, who was acting in her first film role and who sweetly interpreted Georgiana Darcy. The mother/daughter association with Jane Austen does not end with this film. Emilia read Pride and Prejudice for Naxios audio books in what has to be one of my favorite readings for the novel.

Before her stint as Mrs. Gardiner, Joanna played Elinor Dashwood in 1971's Sense and Sensibility. She also narrated Claire Tomalin's Jane Austen: A Life for audio, as well as Pride and Prejudice.

Joanna recently married actor Edward Fox (Emilia's father, below), who had been her partner for over 30 years.

More information about her from this link on the 1995 Pride and Prejudice site.

Friday, August 13

Follow Friday: Versailles and More


Catherine Delors, author of For the King and Mistress of the Revolution, maintains a lush and informative blog about the Georgian era in England and the Revolutionary era in France. Click on this link to visit Versailles and More and allow yourself to be informed and entertained in a most beautiful and sophisticated manner.

Thursday, August 12

Drawing Jane Austen

Jane Austen's image in a book

Sketching Jane Austen

Jane Austen's silhouette major big time

Warhol Jane

Jane surreal modern

No matter how you slice it or dice it visually, Jane Austen rocks!

Tuesday, August 10

General Tilney: father

This week, I have been writing about the abbey in Northanger Abbey in honor of Friday the 13th, (in August... oh, horrid day!) and Fathers Day (August 9 in Brazil). I have discovered one facet about General Tilney that I hadn't noticed before.

In chapter 22 , General Tilney praises Woodston, Henry's property, to Catherine, who he thinks is an heiress and therefore a very good match for his younger son. Excited to share his idea he describes how he would have educated his sons:
[...] Perhaps it may seem odd, that with only two younger children, I should think any profession necessary for him; and certainly there are moments when we could all wish him disengaged from every tie of business. But though I may not exactly make converts of you young ladies, I am sure your father, Miss Morland, would agree with me in thinking it expedient to give every young man some employment. The money is nothing, it is not an object, but employment is the thing. Even Frederick, my eldest son, you see, who will perhaps inherit as considerable a landed property as any private man in the county, has his profession."
General Tilney was a stern, almost tyrannical, father, but he was right in this particular subject. Well, that is my opinion. What do you think?


Robert Hardy as General Tilney in Northanger Abbey, 1987
He portrayed Sir John Middleton in Sense and Sensibility, 1995


Posted by Raquel Sallaberry, Jane Austen em Português

Monday, August 9

Vin de Constance

Several months ago, on Jane Austen Today, Raquel Sallaberry posted an article about a wine that Jane Austen refers to in Sense and Sensibility: "Jane Austen and Wine: The Sweet Wines of Constantia."

Here is a quotation from Raquel's blog:
In Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Jennings, like every good soul, believes that is possible to cure all illness with a drop of any beverage - from water with sugar to wine. After Marianne's unfortunate encounter with Willoughby in London, she has a conversation with Elinor:

“My dear,” said she, entering, “I have just recollected that I have some of the finest old Constantia wine in the house that ever was tasted, so I have brought a glass of it for your sister. My poor husband! how fond he was of it! Whenever he had a touch of his old colicky gout, he said it did him more good than any thing else in the world. Do take it to your sister.”
As Marianne was already asleep, Elinor, even amused at the vaunted efficiency of that wine for so many problems, decided to drink herself, the wine, since she's also had her heart broken too!

This was an opportunity too good to waste. I did a quick Google search for wine merchants in South London that might sell this amazing, Vin de Constance. I came up with two very near where I live. ”South African Wines,” near Colliers Wood tube station and, “Wimbledon Wine Merchants,” just off Wimbledon High Street. I cycled into Wimbledon first and struck lucky immediately. Wimbledon Wine Merchants had four bottles on their shelf.

Yesterday, Marilyn (my wife) and I opened our precious bottle of Vin de Constance and imbibed.
The bottle is curvaceous in a rugged, peasant sense. The neck is sheathed in a tight, smooth black waxen sleeve, soft to the touch. The wine had a syrupy aroma with a slight lemon tang. We poured a little of it into our two glasses. Subtle aromas pervaded my senses, cinnamon, lemon, blackcurrant, natural sugars. Then we both sipped, experiencing this pleasure together.

Marilyn and I sat, satiated, complete, with the sensory pleasures of Vin de Constance.

To imagine that Jane Austen must have experienced the sensual delights of this wine as we had, made an emotional and imaginative connection to her. We wanted more.

Posted by Tony Grant, London Calling

Sunday, August 8

Jane Austen Character Throwdown: Two Villains

In the past we have asked you to vote on various aspects of Jane Austen villains, and this week is no exception. Two of Jane Austen heroines found something wanting in these men. Which villain's public persona is worse in your estimation? William Elliot's super polite facade to the world, which Anne Elliot suspects because of his unwillingness to share his true feelings, or John Willoughby's effusive likes and dislikes, which gain Elinor Dashwood's notice?

I dislike this villain's character more:

William Elliot (Samuel West), Persuasion

After a short acquaintance, Anne Elliot begins to find Mr. Elliot's unvarying affability a bit unsettling:

Mr. Elliot was rational, discreet, polished,--but he was not open. There was never any burst of feeling, any warmth of indignation or delight, at the evil or good of others. This, to Anne, was a decided imperfection. Her early impressions were incurable. She prized the frank, the open-hearted, the eager character beyond all others. Warmth and enthusiasm did captivate her still. She felt that she could so much more depend upon the sincerity of those who sometimes looked or said a careless or a hasty thing, than of those whose presence of mind never varied, whose tongue never slipped.

Mr. Elliot was too generally agreeable. Various as were the tempers in her father's house, he pleased them all. He endured too well,--stood too well with everybody. He had spoken to her with some degree of openness of Mrs. Clay; had appeared completely to see what Mrs. Clay was about, and to hold her in contempt; and yet Mrs. Clay found him as agreeable as anybody.


John Willoughby (Dominic Cooper), Sense and Sensibility

Early in their acquaintance, Elinor begins to see cracks in John Willoughby's character, as in this instance when she, Marianne, and Willoughby discuss his observations of Colonel Brandon:

"Brandon is just the kind of man," said Willoughby one day, when they were talking of him together, "whom every body speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to."

"That is exactly what I think of him," cried Marianne.

"Do not boast of it, however," said Elinor, "for it is injustice in both of you. He is highly esteemed by all the family at the park, and I never see him myself without taking pains to converse with him."

"That he is patronised by YOU," replied Willoughby, "is certainly in his favour; but as for the esteem of the others, it is a reproach in itself. Who would submit to the indignity of being approved by such a woman as Lady Middleton and Mrs. Jennings, that could command the indifference of any body else?"

"But perhaps the abuse of such people as yourself and Marianne will make amends for the regard of Lady Middleton and her mother. If their praise is censure, your censure may be praise, for they are not more undiscerning, than you are prejudiced and unjust."

"In defence of your protege you can even be saucy."

"My protege, as you call him, is a sensible man; and sense will always have attractions for me. Yes, Marianne, even in a man between thirty and forty. He has seen a great deal of the world; has been abroad, has read, and has a thinking mind. I have found him capable of giving me much information on various subjects; and he has always answered my inquiries with readiness of good-breeding and good nature."

"That is to say," cried Marianne contemptuously, "he has told you, that in the East Indies the climate is hot, and the mosquitoes are troublesome."

"He WOULD have told me so, I doubt not, had I made any such inquiries, but they happened to be points on which I had been previously informed."

"Perhaps," said Willoughby, "his observations may have extended to the existence of nabobs, gold mohrs, and palanquins."

"I may venture to say that HIS observations have stretched much further than your candour. But why should you dislike him?"


pollcode.com free polls
I dislike this villain's character more:
William Elliot, Persuasion John Willoughby, Sense and Sensibility