"Lover's Vows Brings Down the House at Dec. Meeting

A large crowd of JASNA members and their guests enjoyed a condensed "readers-theater" version of the 18th century play, "Lover's Vows" by Elizabeth Inchbald at the December meeting. Director Caroline Davis enlisted JASNA members as well as local actors and actresses to enliven the 1 hour performance. Comedy, melodrama and surprises marked this play which Caroline described as unlike the play in "Mansfield Park" because "Lover's Vows" in Austen's novel was practiced and never performed; this play was performed but never practiced!!

Jane Austen Centre Giftshop in Bath Offers Unique Christmas Gifts

Christmas cards adorned with Georgian-era shoppers, cross-stitch samplers, Jane Austen calendars, Pride and Prejudice earrings, Elizabeth Bennett lotion and tea towels imprinted with Mr. Darcy's proposal are just a few of the extraordinary Christmas gifts which the Jane Austen Centre Giftshop in Bath sells. Lovers of Jane Austen's works may find all sorts of special Austen-themed items online at: http://giftshop.janeausten.co.uk/acatalog/Christmas_Gifts.html

The Christmas tree ornament pictured above is a "literary ornament" which is filled with strips of texts from old editions of Pride and Prejudice topped off with a black ribbon. What more could any Austen fan wish for at Christmas?

New Austen-Inspired Book: Short Stories, Not Monsters!

Although many Austen fans have been overjoyed with recent "mashups" like Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Ben H. Winter's Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, I am happy to see a more traditional Austen "follow-up" book to enter the market: Dancing with Mr. Darcy: Stories Inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House. According to a RobAroundBooks internet site, "Dancing with Mr. Darcy is an anthology of twenty Austen-inspired stories, all of which were selected from the entrants of the recent 'Jane Austen Short Story Award 2009,' a competition which marks the celebration of the bicentenary of Austen's arrival in Chawton." Sounds like a book many of us would enjoy!

Austen Exhibit at the Morgan Library and Museum

The Morgan Library and Museum in NYC is sponsoring a special exhibit now through March 14, 2010 entitled, "A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy." According to the Morgan Museum's website, this exhibit "offers a close-up portrait of the iconic British author, whose popularity has surged over the last two decades with numerous motion picture and television adaptations of her work, the show provides tangible intimacy with Austen through the presentation of more than 100 works, including her manuscripts, personal letters, and related materials, many of which the Morgan has not exhibited in over a quarter century.

A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy also includes first and early illustrated editions of Austen's novels as well as drawings and prints depicting people, places, and events of biographical significance. A highlight of the exhibition is a specially commissioned film by the noted Italian director Francesco Carrozzini, featuring interviews with artists and scholars such as Siri Hustvedt, Fran Lebowitz, Sandy Lerner, Colm Tóibín, Harriet Walter, and Cornel West.

The exhibition is organized into three sections: Austen's life and personal letters, her works, her legacy, and concludes with the documentary-style film."
For more information about this outstanding Austen exhibit, go to: http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/exhibition.asp?id=22'

Change is "Afoot" : English Country Dancing at October Meeting

Instead of participating in a Regency melodrama as originally planned, Middle TN JASNA members are invited to put on their dancing shoes for a rousing program of "English Country Dancing" at the upcoming Fall meeting. Host Phil Staples will help each one of us, including some who may demur that they have "two left feet," to participate in an afternoon of sipping tea, repasting on fresh baked delicacies and dancing (almost as elegantly) as Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley!

December's meeting will feature a group rendition of "Lover's Vows" led by thespian Caroline Davis at the home of Paula Covington.

Details:

Date: Sunday, October 18

Time: 2:00-4:00 pm

Place: Anne Potter Wilson Room in the Patrick Wilson Library at Montgomery Bell Academy, 4001 Harding Road, Nashville, TN

Instructions: Bring cookies, scones, cake, tea sandwiches, etc. for a High Tea which will take place beginning at 2:00 pm. Dancing will follow. Female members are encouraged to invite male friends, spouses, relatives who would like to join us at this meeting. Ladies, if you can't find a partner, please don't hesitate to come anyway! All who wish will be able to participate even if there are more ladies than gentlemen present.

Directions: From I-440/West End Ave-Harding Rd. interchange, exit west on to West End Ave-Harding Rd. MBA's main entrance is on the left at the 4th traffic light. From Bellevue/Belle Meade/White Bridge Road, MBA's main entrance is at the 4th traffic light past the intersection of Harding Road and Woodmont Boulevard.

You may park in any of the school parking lots off of Montgomery Bell Avenue. Maps located on the campus will direct you to the Patrick Wilson Library building.

A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen

A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, a new collection of literary criticism will be released in November by Random House just in time for holiday purchases for Austen fans. Edited by Susannah Carson and with a foreward written by Harold Bloom, this volume includes opinions by mid-twentieth century critics such as Virginia Woolf and C. S. Lewis as well as thoughts from more contemporary writers like Anna Quindlen, Fay Welden and Jay McInerney. According to a Random House advance press release, "We read, and then reread, our favorite Austen novels to connect with both her world and our own. Because, as A Truth Universally Acknowledged so eloquently demonstrates, the only thing better than reading a Jane Austen novel is finding in our own lives her humor, emotion, and love."

2nd Favorite Authors Highlight May JASNA Meeting

At their May meeting, Middle TN JASNA members shared titles of novels other than ones by Jane Austen which they enjoy reading most. Nineteenth century classics as well as mysteries seemed to crop up frequently in their discussion. The following is a list of specific authors and titles which Middle TN Janeites highly recommend:

Carmen: William Dean Howell's The Rise of Silas Lapham, George Eliot's Middlemarch and Sarah Orne Jewett's Country of the Pointed Firs, A White Heron

Christine: Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, Edith Wharton's novels, A.E. W. Mason's The Four Feathers

Cynthia: Henry James' The Golden Bowl, The Aspern Papers, Washington Square; Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Pair of Blue Eyes, Far from the Madding Crown, Return of the Native; Charles Dickens' Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, David Copperfield; George Eliot's Daniel Deronda

Fran: Dostoyevsky

Helen: Anne of Green Gables, The Great Gatsby, The Book of Three

Jo Ann: Anthony Trollope's The Warden and Barchester Towers, to start, and then the Palliser series: Can You Forgive Her?, Phineas Finn, The Eustace Diamonds, Phineas Redux, The Prime Minister, and The Duke's Children

Kathie: Katherine Mansfield's short stories, Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman, Carlos Fuentes' Death of Artemio Cruz and Antonio Machado's poems

Mary: Alexander McCall Smith's The Space Between Us

Mildred: P.D. James and Alexandra Stoddard.

Renee: Barbara Pym's novels, especially her last novel, A Few Green Leaves

Roberta: Agatha Christie

Sharon: Lafcadio Hearn (who wrote of his impressions of Japan), Thomas Hardy (for his beautiful descriptions and sense of place), and Vladimir Nabakov (for his quirkiness and verbosity)

Susie: J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series 1-7

Susan: Anne Perry (who wrote two mystery series with social causes) and P.G. Wodehouse

Yvonne: Elizabeth Peters, author of the Amelia Peabody series. Start with The Crocodile on the Sand Bank

Summer Meeting Information: Box Hill Picnic

All Middle Tennessee JASNA members are invited to a "Box Hill Picnic"

• Date: Sunday, August 23, 2009
• Time: 2-4 pm
• Location: Arrington Vineyards in Franklin, TN http://arringtonvineyards.com/
• For Directions, go to: http://arringtonvineyards.com/directions.html
• This event will be a potluck-style picnic, so bring picnic food (i.e. small sandwiches, fruit, salads, desserts, etc.) Mildred will provide plates, napkins, cups, and eating utensils as well as iced tea and water. Jo Ann is planning to bring chicken salad and deviled eggs. If anyone wishes to purchase wine at Arrington Vineyards, this is an option. Everyone should bring something to sit on (blanket or quilt) in case all of the tables are taken. We will want to carpool as much a possible, so let Jo Ann or Mildred know if you plan to attend.

Now if we can just figure out how to get all of the servants there to wait on us.........

Jane Austen

Jane Austen, one of England's foremost novelists, was never publically acknowledged as a writer during her lifetime. She was born on December 16, 1775 and died on July 18, 1817. Austen's skilled use of irony, free indirect discourse, social commentary and memorable characterization has delighted readers for over 200 years.