Jane Austen Society of North America-Middle Tennessee Chapter

The Middle Tennessee chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) meets 4-5 times a year. Upcoming 2014 Programs: Feb.: Coordinator: Andrea Hearn; Reader's Theater Rendition of "Lovers' Vows" -4:00 pm Vanderbilt Alumni Hall." May 18: Presenter; Bridget McAdam; "Lizzie Bennet Diaries." Summer: Popcorn and a Movie: "Pride and Prejudice-Having a Ball." Oct. Book Discussion of MANSFIELD PARK. Dec. Celebrating Jane's Birthday with Music and Cards."

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Coming Soon! 4th Annual Jane Austen Festival in Louisville--July 9-10

Click this link for more information about JASNA Louisville's 2011 Jane Austen Festival

The 4th Annual Jane Austen Festival at beautiful Historic Locust Grove will take place July 9 & 10. Back by popular demand will be the Shoppes of Meryton with many new vendors, and the Regency Style show

and fashion display, the four-course afternoon tea as well as music,entertainment and workshops and the Grand Ball.

New this year: Ladies Archery Competition, "Cheers for Chawton" play performance, Children's Tea.

Rick Steves Radio Interview--A Proper English Hour: Home, High Tea, and Jane Austen's England

Click on this link to hear this Rick Steves broadcast

Bill Bryson examines private life during the Victorian age; London guide Britt Lonsdale explains how to enjoy a proper afternoon tea service; and screenwriter Andrew Davies shares his appreciation for the works of Jane Austen, whose books about the gentle folk of rural England were first published 200 years ago.

Penguin Classics Internet Programming Highlights Austen

It's hot outside...the perfect time to pull up to your computer for reading, viewing and listening INDOORS. Penguin Classics "On Air" offers programming that fits this bill quite nicely. The latest addition to their literary library features Austen scholar William Deresiewicz, author of A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter. In two Internet programs, Professor Deresiewicz shares his thoughts about a male's perspective on Austen's writing as well as why he thinks Austen fans sometimes harbor misconceptions about Jane Austen's actual social status. Baby, it's HOT outside, so treat yourself to some AC and lively conversation ideally suited for Janeites.

Click here to view Penguin Classics On Air

Thursday, April 21, 2011

May 1 JASNA Meeting: Discussion of Sense and Sensibility

"But at last a soft, genial morning appeared..."
as spring arrives in
Sense and Sensibility.

Please join us for the spring meeting of the Middle Tennessee JASNA Region on Sunday, May 1 from 2:00-4:00 pm. The afternoon's program will focus on Sense and Sensibility, a novel published 200 years ago and still loved today!

This meeting will be held at Yvonne Boyer's home. Background/historical information will be provided by Cynthia Trainer followed by a group discussion about the novel led by Caroline Davis.

Address: 3609 Bowlingate Lane, Nashville 37215

Parking is limited, but you are welcome to park in the driveway. As always, please bring a treat to share for tea.

Tea and Book Discussion at Belle Meade Plantation

Belle Meade Plantation's Jane Austen Book Club extends a cordial invitation to all those interested in attending its April 30 meeting.

3:00 pm - Christine Shih will be speaking about Jane Austen

4:00 pm Tea and book discussion about Jane Austen: A Life

RSVP to Genevieve Joyner, Living History Coordinator at Belle Meade Plantation

by April 26 at 615-356-0501 x 22

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Elvira Casel Presents "The Abduction of Catherine Morland" at Feb 13 Meeting

Middle Tennessee State University English professor and JASNA TN member, Elvira Casal, will present "The Abduction of Catherine Morland" at the upcoming Feb. 13 meeting. In this presentation, Dr. Casal promises to "look at the ways in which the parodies of abduction in Northanger Abbey invite us to look at the connection between controlling a person's boy and controlling a person's story. Specifically, I look at the ways in which men try to tell women's stories and how Catherine in a sense resists being 'abducted' by either John Thorpe or Henry Tilney's storytelling."

This meeting will be hosted by Christine Shih from 2:00-4:00 pm at her home in Sugartree. Please bring a treat to share for tea and RSVP directly to Christine at christineshih101@hotmail.com.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Confused About the Arcane English Property Laws in Downton Abbey? Read On!

A recent post on the "AustenBlog" site clearly explains the institution of "entailment.". To learn more about entailment as it relates to Downton Abbey as well as the novels of Jane Austen, click here.

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JASNA Eastern Pennsylvania Region Sponsors Jane Austen Day 2014

New Book for Janeites: JANE AUSTEN'S ENGLAND

A cultural snapshot of everyday life in the world of Jane Austen Jane Austen, arguably the greatest novelist of the English language, wrote brilliantly about the gentry and aristocracy of two centuries ago in her accounts of young women looking for love. Jane Austen’s England explores the customs and culture of the real England of her everyday existence depicted in her classic novels as well as those by Byron, Keats, and Shelley. Drawing upon a rich array of contemporary sources, including many previously unpublished manuscripts, diaries, and personal letters, Roy and Lesley Adkins vividly portray the daily lives of ordinary people, discussing topics as diverse as birth, marriage, religion, sexual practices, hygiene, highwaymen, and superstitions. From chores like fetching water to healing with medicinal leeches, from selling wives in the marketplace to buying smuggled gin, from the hardships faced by young boys and girls in the mines to the familiar sight of corpses swinging on gibbets, Jane Austen’s England offers an authoritative and gripping account that is sometimes humorous, often shocking, but always entertaining.-Amazon review

Jane Austen Playing Cards for Sale!

llustrators featured in this deck are Hugh Thomson & Chris Hammond. These beautiful cards feature quotes from Jane Austen, English novelist whose works, though satirical, realistically depicted the gender inequalities in inheritance laws that made women dependent on marriage for their economic security. The card suits correspond to these novels: Hearts ~ Pride & Prejudice, Diamonds ~ Sense & Sensibility, Clubs ~ Emma, Spades ~ Persuasion . For more information, click on the photo of the cards!

A Body in Highbury? Oh My!

Jane Austen's Emma has been described as a detective story without a body - except for those who read carefully, there actually is a body, and the potential for an excellent mystery story. Set about a year after Emma closes, The Highbury Murders pays homage to the wit of Jane Austen and the whodunits of Agatha Christie. You do not need to have read Jane Austen's books to enjoy this novel, but if you have - if you regret that she wrote only six - The Highbury Murders is a welcome extension to her world. Pour yourself a cup of tea, settle somewhere comfortable, and indulge yourself with the proverbial good read.

New Book for Janeites by Scott F. Southard

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM, by Scott D. Southard. All her heroines find love in the end–but is there love waiting for Jane? Jane Austen spends her days writing and matchmaking in the small countryside village of Steventon, until a ball at Godmersham Park propels her into a new world where she yearns for a romance of her own. But whether her heart will settle on a young lawyer, a clever Reverend, a wealthy childhood friend, or a mysterious stranger is anyone’s guess. Written in the style of Jane herself, this novel ponders the question faced by many devoted readers over the years–did she ever find love? Weaving fact with fiction, it re-imagines her life, using her own stories to fill in the gaps left by history and showing that all of us–to a greater or lesser degree–are head over heels for Jane.

Dolley Madison "Squeeze" at The Columbus Museum

Austen Inspires Short Stories by Many Contemporary Authors in JANE AUSTEN MADE ME DO IT

Edited by Austenprose.com’s Laurel Ann Nattress and published just in time for the 200th anniversary of the publication of Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen Made Me Do It: Original Stories Inspired by Literature’s Most Astute Observer of the Human Heart is an engaging collection of 22 never-before-published original short stories inspired by Jane Austen. The treasures in this volume include exclusive short fiction and reading group material from beloved bestselling authors Jo Beverley, Syrie James, Adriani Trigiani, and Lauren Willig; top Austen sequel writers Pamela Aidan, Stephanie Barron, Carrie Bebris, Amanda Grange, and Laurie Viera Rigler; mother and daughter (Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway) and husband and wife (Frank Delaney and Diane Meier) teams; and a brand new voice in Austenesque fiction—Brenna Aubrey, the recently announced Grand Prize winner of a short story contest hosted by Ballantine Books, Austenprose, and the highly trafficked Austen fan site The Republic of Pemberley (Pemberley.com). For more information click on image.

Vampires and Jane, "Oh My!"

It’s 1810, and just as Jane Austen is penning her greatest masterpieces, old Undead friends become new neighbors and raise hell in her tranquil village. The Damned are out of favor and have been banished from polite society just in time to interrupt Jane’s work and her peace of mind. Instead of writing, she has to deal with a niece who flirts dangerously with vampires, a formerly respectable spinster friend who discovers the joys of fornication with the Damned (and borrows Jane’s precious silk stockings for her assignations), murderous creatures haunting the village’s peaceful lanes, a civil war between the Damned, the return of her vampire characteristics, and a former lover who plans to blame her for his broken heart for all eternity. It’s measuring up to be a busy year for the productive Jane.

Etsy and Books Collide: Penguin's New Hand-Sewn Covers

Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron: Being A Jane Austen Mystery

In her tenth Jane Austen Mystery, Barron introduces her novelist heroine to the poet Lord Byron, who is famously regarded as being “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” Not surprisingly, then, when a beautiful young woman, who has rejected the poet’s unwanted advances, is murdered, the Romantic rakehell is the chief suspect. Ah, but could he have, in truth, perpetrated the foul deed? Fans of the series will not be a bit surprised to learn that Jane is determined to find out. As always, Barron does an excellent job of capturing Austen’s first-person voice, and she gives lavish attention, as well, to period detail. Perhaps too lavish in this case, since the book is slow paced, and there is often more attention to atmosphere than to mystery. Barron’s many fans will not be particularly bothered by this fact, however, and will be delighted to learn—in an appended Q & A with the author—that an eleventh installment in the series is already underway. --Michael Cart (Booklist)